Freedom Run 2010

July 5, 2010

One of our new family traditions is running the Freedom Festival 5k during the 4th of July celebration. This year my niece, two nephews, Dad, brother and sister joined in the fun. I use the word fun cautiously here.

The whole group after the race. It was awesome having my mom there to take pictures and drop us off at the starting line. Parking is terrible the morning of the race.

Connor and Jaxon. Jaxon may have won his division; however, it may have to do with the fact that we accidentally switched his and Connor's time chips. Studly 9 year old dominates most 6 year olds. I'm hoping to have Chandler and possibly Preston participate next year.

And then there's me. Still not a fan of running, but hey, I did it. And took a couple minutes off of my last time with little to no training.

Easter Sunday outfits

Easter Sunday was the same day as General Conference this year, so the boys wore their matching outfits the Sunday before Easter. Easter and Christmas are about the only times I dress the boys alike, but they sure look cute. Chandler is starting to resist matching the younger brothers, so we'll see how long this tradition lasts.

Easter 2010

This year, Easter weekend was FREEZING! We started off with our neighborhood egg hunt.

Jared and Ashton, struggling to keep warm

Preston and Chandler ready to start the hunt.

Our whole group at the egg hunt. Toril and Maggie (visiting from Norway), Mallory, Ashton, Jared, Me, Preston, Chandler, Julie and Mason. Heidi, Devin, Tyson and Holly left early to get out of the cold.

Ashton on Easter morning. It snowed Easter morning. The Easter Bunny forgot to check the weather report and hid all of the plastic eggs in the backyard late the night before. They were buried in snow and so the egg hunt had to be postponed until the snow melted in the late afternoon. Note to reader: jelly beans can survive in plastic eggs buried in snow!

The "real" Easter bunny showed up for a scavenger hunt at the Hemmerts. Ashton warmed right up to him. You'd almost think they shared some DNA (hint, hint).

Preston and the Bunny

Chandler and the Bunny

The kids also had a fun "treasure" hunt with their Tucker cousins. Due to all of the snow, it had to be held in the basement so I didn't get any action shots because it was too dark.

**Chandler, Connor, Preston, Ashton, Hailey, Braxton and Jaxon**

St. Patrick's Day 2010

March 17, 2010

I am way behind and someday will be caught up, but I'm trying to make amends to posterity in advance so excuse the outdated posts!

Our boys are getting to an age when the holidays are so fun. Chandler and Preston were so into "catching" leprechauns this year. Chandler made some fake gold out of paper and built a trap out of an old shoe box in order to catch one. Unfortunately, the leprechaun stole all of the gold and left a note that said, "I got your gold, but you'll never catch me. Have a happy St. Patrick's day! Love, the Leprechaun." We decided the joke was really on the Leprechaun because the gold wasn't even real! ha ha. Take that, Leprechaun!

We decided last minute to have a green dinner as well. The kids really liked it. We had green soup in green breadbowls, green jello, celery sticks in green dip, green Sprite and green donuts for dessert. I did learn that next year I need to order my green breadbowls in advance. I got the last two so Mom and Dad had to eat in regular bowls. No fun!

Christmas 2009

Here comes the required Christmas post. This year we spent Christmas Eve with the Hemmert side of our family. We saw The Princess and the Frog mid morning and then spent the afternoon cooking and preparing for the feast. It was well worth the wait. Yum! After dinner it was program time. After the nightmare that occurred last year during the 'nativity recreation' aka Hemmert boy mayhem, I was surprised that Joyce wanted to attempt it again, but I definitely underestimated her. She was all for it again this year. However, they did try to shorten it by 'paraphrasing' Luke 2 instead of reading it.

Chandler, one of the handsome shepherds.

Preston, another studly shepherd. Yes, he has that look of mischief in his eyes.

Fortunately, we were just spectators of the show. Ashton, however, being the youngest baby had the "starring" role. Yes, that one!

Some of the shepherds, wise men, and an angel.

Joyce even got the little boys to perform a bell ringing performance. Daniel Hemmert has started piano lessons this year, and so he performed (awesomely) one of his songs for the program. When he was done, Chandler said he wanted to play a song. Everyone looked at me wondering what he was going to do. I had no idea. This kid has not ever had a lesson in his life. We don't even have a piano. I had flashed of him suddenly coming out with some huge Beethoven symphony or something, but it was about 5-6 notes long, and he couldn't have been prouder. Love that kid.

Christmas morning mess. Dad helping the boys with their Lego projects. What is Santa thinking bringing toys with so many pieces? Yes, Preston is glowing. I also love Ashton staring up at Jared. Priceless.
For some reason, I didn't take any pictures at our get together Christmas day with the Tucker side of our family other than this gem of my niece, Hailey, with Ashton. We had a yummy brunch and a rousing game of Malarky with my parents and Natalie. Lots of fun was had by all. We also took some family pictures for our "New Years" card, but I don't want to spoil it until you open yours in the mail!

The rest of our 4th weekend.

So our 4th of July weekend actually included more than just the 5K.  After the race, and a shower (trust me, I needed it) we headed down to Provo for the big parade.  The last 5 years we have been lucky enough to sit with our great friends, the Shallenbergers, on their bleachers.  Parking is still a problem, but finding good parade seats is not a problem anymore.  Thanks a million Shallenbergers!

Jared, our boys, and both Steve Shallenbergers.

Jared and Dave Shallenberger.

Chandler holding Rob's daughter, Lana Rose.  Isn't she gorgeous?  I think Chandler has a crush already.  I double and triple checked my camera.  I can't believe we didn't get a picture with Rob and Tonya!  Sorry guys!  At least we got their cute baby.

Jared being the "pyro" in our neighborhood.

My cute boys enjoying the fireworks at home.  From this picture, you'd never think they fight!

The next day we finished off the do-it-yourself fireworks at Jared's parents house with the Hansens, who were in town for the holiday weekend.   It was a great weekend.  We can see the Stadium of Fire Fireworks from our back yard so we watched those from home and saved ourselves a wad of cash!