The Batson's: June 2009

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Splash Pad

A few days ago I met Heather and her family at a park in Herriman for a picnic lunch. The kids had fun on the playground and splash pad. I wasn't sure if Elizabeth would like the splash pad, but she LOVED it! And it was only a 20 minute drive!

Monday, June 29, 2009

The Fruits of my Labors

The beautiful lettuce, green onion and cilantro in this salad all came from my garden! The cilantro and onion were delicious. The lettuce, not so much. I think I should have harvested it a couple of weeks ago, because now it's a little bitter. Oops.

Here's my garden just 2 weeks after my last garden picture. Pretty soon I'll be harvesting peas, grape tomatoes and carrots!

Bug Lover

Elizabeth is such a little bug lover. She's always outside collecting bugs. The other day she brought me a "butterfly". When the little neighbor boy told her it was a moth she yelled at him like he was an idiot for suggesting such a stupid thing. Silly girl.

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Picnic at the Park

Last week I took the 4 younger kids to the park. We were supposed to be meeting a group of friends at a park in Highland but couldn't find the entrance so we went to a different one in Pleasant Grove called Discovery Park. The kids thought it was awesome. We stayed for a couple of hours while the kids ate a picnic lunch and had fun playing.

Friday, June 26, 2009

Sometimes I'm a nice mom

A few days ago I sprayed an entire bottle of shaving cream on the sliding glass door and let the kids play in it. They couldn't believe I would do something like that. Eventually they got over the shock of it and enjoyed themselves for a full 5 minutes before returning to arguing with each other.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

My Little Princesses

Every year Lehi has a Princess Party for ages 3-6. I had orginally only signed Lauren up. But when Elizabeth found out about it she insisted that she was a princess and that she needed to go to "Lauren's Party" too. And she was so cute about it so of course I signed her up! They both had so much fun on Saturday. What a fun town to live in!

My Garden!

This year is the best my garden has ever done! I'm so excited. Everything I planted came up this year. That, by far, is the best outcome I've ever had. I already have lettuce and swiss chard and carrots ready to harvest. Now to just get out there and harvest it all!

May 9, 2009

Just 5 short weeks later!!! (June 11, 2009)

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

BYU Museum of Art

A couple of weeks ago I took the kids on a field trip to the BYU Museum of Art. There was an "I Spy" exhibit and the museum had lots of fun things for the kids to keep them entertained. Zach and Haylee were the only ones to join us on this field trip. Lauren was sick so Jordan (how sweet) offered to stay home with her (and play the Wii!). Elizabeth had pre-school and plus, I am a mean mom and hate taking (very) little kids to a museum.

The project below that Zach is working on was something you could build and then blow bubbles through it. We were both having a really hard time making the pieces stay together. Zach was insistent that he do it. But after about 20 minutes of it breaking over and over again he gave up (with my pushing him too). He was really upset that he couldn't do it. I felt so bad for him. (But not bad enough to sit there for an hour til the dumb pieces decided to stay together.)

Haylee felt bad for him and tried to cheer him up.

After getting her face painted of course! (This is serious business, don't smile.)

Decorating Cookies!

Eating cookies! (with Savannah and Jackson)

One of the pieces of "artwork" in the museum that day was 3 blowers and a pile of packing peanuts. The 3 blowers were pointed toward the pile of peanuts that were sitting in the corner of a room. Every few minutes the blowers turned on and blew the peanuts up into the air. I think this was the kid's favorite part of the whole trip! It WAS pretty cool.

Monday, June 22, 2009

Our Trip to Arizona

To kill some time while Chris is gone we decided to go on a fun road trip to my mom's in Arizona. We did some sight-seeing on the way there. The first day, as soon as the kids were out of school, we drove 4 hours until we reached the town of Springdale, Utah (at the mouth of Zion National Park) where we stayed the night in a hotel. The next day was a six hour drive (plus all the stops we made, which made it about 8 or 9 hours on the road). Our first stop was beautiful Zion National Park. The kids loved it and were in awe. I really want to go camping there someday! It's beautiful!

About 30 minutes out of Zion's in the little town of Kanab, UT is Moqui Cave. I've driven past it on a couple of occassions when headed out to my mom's, but have never stopped there. This time we did. It was nice and cool inside and they had some pretty cool Indian artifacts. The kids each got to pick out one cool thing to buy. Of course Lauren and Elizabeth wanted candy. Zach picked rocks. lol.

Two hours before getting to my mom's house is Flagstaff, AZ. That's where my sister Dani, her hubby Adam, their dog, 3 cats, bird and 2 geckos live. It's a full house in a TINY 1-bedroom apartment. When I say tiny, I mean it. I think the apartment complex used to be a motel. Seriously.

We celebrated Lauren's 6th birthday while we were at my mom's house. We had cupcakes and home-made ice cream. Can I just say YUM! To start her birthday off I brought her Starbucks hot chocolate and a pastry. She's my little Starbucks buddy! Needless to say, she was stoked. Later that day my mom and I took her birthday shopping. This year Chris and I haven't bought the kids birthday presents. Instead, we thought it would be fun to take them shopping to pick something out on their own. So far they have loved it and it makes it so much easier for mom and dad! Happy Birthday, Lauren!!! I hope you had a fun day!

Zach ADORED my little sister, Chantelle. What's not to love? She's beautiful, sweet and funny!

Lauren had wanted to have a fire and roast hotdogs and marshmallows on her birthday. But since it rained that night, we did it the next night instead. We all had fun, even if it was a day late!

The kids needed to get out of the house one day so we packed a picnic lunch and went to a park near the lake. They had fun playing on the playground and feeding the ducks. I think the ducks were sick of bread, though, cause they refused to eat it. Can you blame 'em?

You might ask, "Is THIS the 12-year old that you're so ready to give away?" Yes, I must admit it is. I know, he looks so angelic here. But believe me, looks can be deceiving.

After the park we stopped for some delicious ice cream! The kids were super excited because mommy is never this nice. BTW, this happened to be the ONLY sunny day we were there. Good thing we chose that day to go to the park or it never would have happened.

We had a ton of fun hanging out with my mom, step-dad Doug and sister Chantelle. Thanks for letting us crash your pad for a week, Mom! We also had a visit one day from Dani and Adam. On our way home a week later we drove for 6 1/2 hours the 1st day. We drove a different way for part of the ride home. We drove over the tip of the Grand Canyon....which is SO incredibly deep. We also went through a town called Cave Dwellers. It had a bunch of HUGE boulders with caes carved out of them and cool rock formations.We also drove through a national forest that was such a beautiful drive. Sorry, no pictures of any of these places cause at this point I just wanted to be done with our trip. We stayed in the town of Hurricane, UT that night. The next day we only had 3 1/2 hours left on the road. It went by quickly. One town I must mention that we drove through is near Hurricane. It was the town of Toquerville. I want to live there someday...BEAUTIFUL!

It was a fun trip and I am SO glad we broke the trip up by staying in hotels!

Sunday, June 21, 2009

School Lunch

Wow. Listen to this til the end. That's the most powerful part.

Friday, June 12, 2009

I can't believe how old I've gotten!

Seriously...who'd have thought my oldest was already going to be in Jr. High in a couple of months. Jordan graduated from 6th grade just a couple of short weeks ago. I can't believe that it seems like just recently that he was 3 and playing with toy swords and duplos. He's changed so much, yet has stayed so much the same. He's still my little boy and I adore him with all my heart. He is really growing up into a good kid and I think he'll make an awesome dad someday (afterall, he has a wonderful example!).

Jordan, I love you and appreciate all you do to help out around here while you're dad is gone. I hope as you grow up you will continue to keep other's interests a priority and that you stay close to the church, the gospel and your Heavenly Father.

Graduating Class of 2009

Jordan and his awesome principal, Mrs. Johnson

Mama's Boy and Mama =)

Peek-a-Boo

Elizabeth loves to act goofy...

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Field Trip to Farm Country

For pre-school last month, Elizabeth's class went to Farm Country for a field trip. Since Lauren had afternoon kindergarten, she was able to come too. Elizabeth adores her big sister!

Seriously...where DOES she get her sass?!?

This girl just totally cracks me up! She is such a poser for the camera it kills me!

Over the River and Through the Woods....

...To Grandpa's House We Go...Seriously, he lives way out in Heber.

My kids love hanging out at my dad's house. They love the huge yard, Nikki (the dog) and the horses. Why I only have a picture of them watching TV gets me.

My Dad and his Fiance' for life, Barbara. =) They really do make a good couple!

Me & My Daddy!

Cousins

Last month my cousin Jenny, her husband and kids all moved to North Carolina. Even though we hardly saw each other it was nice to know we COULD see each other if we wanted to. Now she's so far away! I love you, Jenny! Hope things go well for you guys out there!

Jenny & I