Rhett's 6

Today is our little - or not so little anymore - Rhett's Birthday. He has had a birthday countdown going for probably the past 10 days and was SO EXCITED. He would even tell random strangers how many days til his birthday and how old he was going to be. :)

Rhett is our - ONE OF A KIND KID! He likes things that most boys don't like. For his birthday this year he asked for zhu zhu pets, a radio (he loves music), and A BASKET FOR HIS BIKE! (*Giggle, Giggle*) He really does bring joy to our lives! He has his own little personality and I LOVE that he knows what he likes and it doesn't matter what other people think! So, about the basket....the only baskets they had at the store were those little princess baskets and I know he would have loved those, but we are trying to be supportive of what he likes while trying to avoid him getting teased because of it. So, I happened to find this grocery basket that attaches to a bike and it was PERFECT. He was SO EXCITED that it holds 3 carebears all at the same time!:) We decided to get him a new bike to go along with the basket because he has been riding Oakley's very 1st hand-me-down pink bike! You can tell from the smile he was happy about the whole thing!

Rhett wanted to have his friends party at the "rock" park. Since he is in afternoon kindergarten we had presents here at home this morning and then cupcakes and playing at the park and then over to Wendy's for some lunch before I took them to Kindergarten. He has been SMILING all day!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BUDDY! We love you so much!

Bear World

On Saturday after the JDRF Walk (which if you haven't read my post on that keep reading after you finish this post!) we decided since we had a $20 off coupon for Bear World we would take the kids. They LOVED the white elk.....my children have a huntin' father so elk are SUPER COOL at this house. They loved the grizzly bears and the wolves (which we are NOT usually lovers of) and feeding the fish and ducks and well, pretty much LOVED IT ALL!
My own little bear cubs!

The petting zoo! They had chickens and turkeys that Dallin chased all over trying to pet one....so funny!:)
The free (they call them free, but I am sure they took it out of my $37.50 that I paid them) amusement rides! Yay! We LOVE riding rides!

JDRF Walk to Cure Diabetes

Oakley and I got to do a neat thing today. We volunteered to be helpers at the JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation) Walk to Cure Diabetes. Last year was the 1st year we knew about it here in our area and I had just had surgery so we weren't able to be a part of it. So this year since I didn't really know much about putting together a walking team we decided to just volunteer to help out. It was such a neat experience! We stuffed coupons into water bottles, we helped man the breakfast table, we handed out the water bottles as they came to the end of the walk, we helped set things up and take them down and helped with some of the food for the lunch afterwards. We both loved working alongside all these wonderful people......some not even having anyone in their family with diabetes - what good people to come take time out of their busy life to support someone like my sweet Oakley!! We got to see some old friends and meet some new ones. Oakley always loves meeting other children with diabetes. We both agreed that we are DEFINITELY going back again next year! and we may even look for some recruits to take with us! :)

This is one of the ladies I have met through Facebook. I have a whole group of diabetic moms I have met and found support from on facebook and it was SO NICE to meet a few today!

This next picture is one I found when I uploaded the JDRF pictures that at some time that I am unaware of Oakley took of her monkey brothers and crazy lady sister! It makes me smile so I thought I would share! :)

Scrapbooking

Scrapbooking, scrapBOOKING, SCRAPBOOKING! Ahhhhhhhh!!! That is all I have done since Monday. That's right MONDAY!! It is ALOT of work trying to keep 5 scrapbooks up-to-date! I have 3, almost 4 kids finished so all I have left to do is the family scrapbook. I should be done tomorrow. I hope I am done tomorrow. I BETTER be done TOMORROW! TOMORROW OR BUST!!

Labor Day at the Fair

Every year we take our kids to the State Fair on Labor Day. We usually meet my parents and any of my brothers or sisters that can come that year there and spend the day together.COUSINS are my kids FAVORITE part of the fair!
Laiklie LOVES the miniature horses. She loves horses period, but couldn't get enough of these sweet little ones.

This year they had this Free Kids Zone play area that all the kids loved. It had such cool things for them to do. This one you would have one kid pedal the bike and it would cause air to blow bubbles. They had all sorts of crazy fun things like this for the kids to try.

We also like the free shows too. This year they had Doggie Diving. The dogs would run jump off a platform into this huge pool of water and the splash would get the kids wet and they LOVED it. They also had this stupid clown on one of the stages. He was so dumb, but we laughed SO HARD at him. He had this funny saltine cracker trick he kept doing that was so stupid it was funny! The kids thought he was great.

Also this year before we even left the house Dallin started telling me he was going to ride "The Bull" this year at the fair. I have never let him ride it before.....not so much because it scared me, more because of the price! Anyway - he rode to the fair with my parents and when we got there my dad said that he had told my dad he was going to ride "The Bull" too. I decided he was so set on riding that I didn't want to break his heart. He did great, but you can see (kinda see that is) from the last picture the terror on his face once they sped it up. They also make the bull chase them a little once they get bucked off and I WISH I would have gotten a picture of his face then! :)

This year the Labor Day crowd showed up earlier than it usually does so it was a nightmare getting all these kids through without losing one of them. We had a good time, but left without even getting cotton candy! :( You can't go to the fair and not even buy cotton candy! So.... I am really trying to talk Ryan (since he didn't go with us) into taking me down one of these nights maybe as like a date.....since married people should date too!!! We will see....it is hunting season! Ah!! My brother has a shirt that says "I INTERRUPT THIS MARRIAGE FOR..............HUNTING SEASON!" That is kinda how I feel sometimes - I may be making my trip back to the fair for cotton candy solo! :)

What? Summers Over?

I CANNOT believe summer is over! I have a LOVE/HATE relationship with summer being over. I hate having to wake-up early every morning. I hate starting back into all the after school activities that make me feel committed and tied down. I hate not having my kids home to just jump up and go where ever we want to go. I love that with school starting means Fall and holidays are coming and I love having schedule and routine again. So.....today was the 1st day of school and with that I have decided to do our

TOP 10 FAVORITES OF THE SUMMER!

(Random order)

1. Movies - we went to ALOT of the free (with our PTO card) movies this summer including: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Shrek Forever, How to Train Your Dragon and Tooth Fairy. We had alot of fun with the Free Movies!

2. Family Reunion at Harriman Ranch - this is one that the kids are still talking about. They LOVED it!

3. Road Trips - we took one to my sister's in Preston and one to my brother's in Twin Falls. My kids cannot get enough of their cousins!

4. Swimming - (duh, it's summertime!) we made 2 trips to Ross Park and spent many days at Heise Hotsprings and last week hit Rigby Lake. We also had lots of water ballons and days with the sprinkler under the tramp.

5. We went to atleast 5 new parks - One of our favorite things to do is find a park we have never been to before and try it out.

6. 3 trips to the Zoo - the summer isn't complete without atleast one trip to the zoo.

7. Grandma's Houses - the kids spent the week that I was at girls camp at their grandma's houses and ALWAYS have a good time there.

8. Fishing and getting Firewood with Grandpa Jacobson, trips to the ranch with Dad, weekly library visits and a day at Blastoff!

9. Birthday Parties - Oakley and I both have our birthday's during the summer. This year birthdays included bear world, kittens and a day in the temple. Yay!

10. FRIENDS, FRIENDS AND MORE FRIENDS - This includes cousin's too!

There you have it! Our summer wrapped up in a top ten list! So, here our our FAMOUS 1ST DAY OF SCHOOL PICTURES! Every family has to have them! :)

These two are my morningers and since school starts earlier this year - it really is EARLY in the morning - we had to get up pretty early. They did great this morning - we will see how the rest of the week goes.

And Little Man Rhett is my afternooner - which is just what I wanted. It makes it nice that he can ride the bus home with the kids.
WELCOME SCHOOL YEAR 2010/2011! HERE WE COME!!

Photo Shoot 2010

I took the kids out the other day to try and get a few pictures before school starts. I always like to get their pictures done around their birthday and since it is that time of year again where the Hawkins Clan is having birthdays I decided now was a good time. I took as many pictures as possible before the sun went down and haven't had a minute (or knowledge) to touch them with photoshop, so what you see is what you get. I did get a few cute ones though.....check out my side bar for some other favorites!

Laiklie is a nightmare to photograph....she doesn't ever smile or look at me....I think it is that she is 3! So, I didn't get very many even close to being good pics of her. Plus....you can see if you look close and maybe even if you don't look close the stained on orange kool-aid mustache. Oh well, we will try again another day.

And here is my little man Rhett. He is excited and nervous about starting kindergarten in a week. His mom is feeling alot of the same feelings.:)

This is "D" as he is known in our family....aka Dallin. He is going to be my big 2nd grader. He CAN NOT WAIT to get back to seeing his friends everyday.

Ryan is NOT HAPPY about the crooked hat. I LOVE it and think it was super cute. I tried explaining to him that I know in "real life" my kids are not allowed to wear their hats crooked or backwards, BUT for pictures it was okay. He came back with, "Well is it okay for him to get his ear pierced if it is just for pictures?" OKAY....he won! So, there will be NO MORE crooked hat pictures at this house!

Now our 10 year old, 5th grader Oakley. Just saying that makes me feel OLD!

I had the dentist pull me aside the other day and tell me....."You know she is gorgeous don't you? I mean, you know that she really is a beautiful girl." I have to agree with the dentist....she is gorgeous!

So, there you go. I am going to try and get a few more done this week in a different place with different clothes - we will see though. It is on the list with only a million other things I want to get done this week!