Waldameer

We hit waldameer on the last day of the season this year for the first and last time! This seemed like such a busy summer, as they all are! The kids had a blast with our friends on the rides! I think the favorite ride for the kids was the log ride ....... mostly because I screamed like crazy on that drop and tend to freak out a bit on rides and of course they thought that was hilarious! I got a shot of the little ones on the frog hopper and Wes and the kids on a small coaster everything else was a little blurry. I was so very impressed that Reagan rode the ravine flyer, it's a pretty fast and very intense old wooden creaky roller coaster and she was one of the youngest on it! When she got off she was a little shell shocked ...... don't know if she is going to trust her Daddy again when he says "come on Rea it'll be fun!" The kids can't wait until it opens again!

UTAH ..... need I say more??

Our trip to Utah this summer was FanTastic .... once we finally got there! Me and the kids flew out about a week before Wes could and we had not 1 not 2 but 3 flight cancelations/changes! Luckily we were flying out of Erie our I would have really lost it as it was I only lost it a moderate amount ;-)

Once we got to the land of milk and honey we had a great time! (warning this post is going to be long with picture overload!) We had a lot on the agenda and our families had a lot going on too, so scheduling was not always perfect and things occasionally went down the drain or kids/Mom or Dad had a meltdown here and there. But how very lucky and blesses we are to have The BEST family to visit and the BEST cousins to play with that made all the travel and tiredness SO Very worth it! Wish we lived closer ...... one day soon I hope :-)

Here are some of the highlights and pictures of our trip! Click on the photos to enlarge them.

Staying at Bridget's House!

Rogers' big 8th birthday! What a kid!

Cousins, Water and Sunshine!

7 Peaks!

New Baby Marcos!

Fun With Friends!

Cousins! .........

Grandma May's House!

The Lion King! Amazing Show and SO much fun!

The Nephi Rodeo!

Watching Grandpa's Awesome Fireworks!!

Getting Spoiled at Trafalga!

BBQ with the Fam!

Fun Fishing!

Goodbye Wonderful Family and Friends, until next time ...... we had a Fantastic Time!

Goodbye KindeeeeGoten

Dylan had his big end of the year Kindergarten Field trip to the Zoo! I got to go and help out walking him and a couple of friends around in our group. It was so fun to see him having a great time with his friends and his class. I can't believe he's finishing Kindergarten, WOW that went too fast for me! Way to go Bubba!

Gymnastics and Friends :-)

As you can see below the kids did a Gymnastics class this spring. The older 2 had classes one right after the other, so I was there for at least 2 hours on the hard gym floor ..... ouch! Sometimes 3 hours if the coach invited Reagan to stay for the last class to work on her back handspring! I am so glad Micah was there with her girls for at least an hour of that, sometimes longer if we got to chatting :-)

The kids LOVED these classes and Dylan was more then thrilled to have Tayla in class with him! They are such great friends, never fight always have fun together and are sad to go home! Good friends are priceless!

Reagan had a great time learning new things and getting really close to doing a back handspring! We are going to find another one in the fall so watch out she may be bouncing by soon enough. The question is will Jack just watch this fall or do I need to find a class for him too? These kids are going to wear me out! Good thing they are worth it :-)

I am into these collage things lately. Click on them if you want to enlarge them.

Out on the "Town"

Once in a while Wes and I do have a life, and once in a while it is Fantastic to get out of the Mom Zone and enjoy some time with Adults!

In April I got to go to River Dance with Jen and Erica! I had a Great time with the Girls. It was fun to have a night out with fun friends, going to dinner and a show! The show was Amazing, yes I said River Dance, and yes it was Amazing!

In May Wes and I got to go to a party for the CRNA Graduating Class of 2010 as well as the schools 2010 Graduation Dinner this year. Both were a lot of fun, as is any date I get with Wes! Wes tried an oyster for the first time at the party, and I finally got to see what kind of face he makes when he eats something he doesn't like ;-) They were fun nights and we are so happy for our friends who've graduated, but miss those that have moved on.

Jack Is 3

It's amazing how fast life goes! It seems that Jack got to 3 SO much quicker than Reagan or Dylan. I am sure part of that is that he was born close to 10lbs and he's been jumping off of the kitchen table since he was 18 months! He's just never been my "baby" even though I call him that, he's just to grown up! What a fun and happy little boy and what a blessing he is to our family :-)

We had a Birthday Party with some of our friends here, it was a good time! Reagan made Jack's Dino cake and frosted it herself. We had lots of sugar, laughing, presents and even a little dancing! I've said it before and I'll say it again, we are SO blessed to have great friends here!

"It's the Milk Chocolate oh oh"

For those of you who have been to Hershey PA you know why I now have the singing cow song pop into my head now every time I think of chocolate or hershey. It's very catchy and who wouldn't remember a song sang by cows?

Wes just HAD to go to Hershey for an anesthesia conference, one of those education credit hour things for school and the rest of us of course HAD to go with him. It was a blast, really a fun place to visit especially since we got to go with not 1 but 3 great families that we consider great friends who were also there for the same reason as us ..... and that was the free mini sized Hershey's chocolate bars :-)

The amusement park was opened the Saturday we were there and the kids LOVED it! Reagan went on a ride that I didn't even want to look at! I got a pic. of her coming out of the gate at the end of the ride, pure shock! After that she was a little more "reserved" like her Mama when it came to rides. Both the boys enjoyed the rides a lot more than I expected them to, especially the rollers coaster they wanted to do that one again and again.

Dylan had a blast swimming in the hotel pool with his friends and got really brave jumping into the water from the pool deck. This was all thanks to the encouragement and example of his buddy Max, and of course the cheering of "Dylan, Dylan, Dylan" from Max's Mom Kortni! I was next to tears watching him actually ask for her to loudly cheer him on while he jumped into the pool with Max! What a great group of friends we have here, we are SO blessed.

And what a great trip this was ....... see ya Next Year Hershey!

A Dog Day ..... Birthday that is :-)

Ever wonder "What kind of people put a party hat on a dog?" ...... US!

It was Wally's Birthday on February 26th and we had a little puppy party. Ok we just stuck a hat on him, sang, and Rea and Dyl helped him open his presents. But Wes said "I better not see any of those pictures on the blog" so just for Wes ....... here's a picture of the older 2 kids and Wally on his 1st birthday. 7 in dog years and such a good dog!

(glad we don't go by dog years, I don't want to think about how old I'd be)

More Snow

I know, I know we have TONS of snow pictures up on the blog, what do you expect we live in a place where winter lasts an eternity and we are doing our best to make the most of it! Really I can't wait for spring. The spring here is truly a rebirth and so beautiful, I have never loved spring more than I have since living here. So much blooming and sprouting, and filled with tons of green leaves and blossoms and colors, plus the added bonus of some sunshine ..... how I miss you sunshine, you have no idea! So this is yet another snow picture but one too cute for me not to post .... Here's hoping we have a quick thaw and get to see wonderful, beautiful ........

Spring Soon!

ok one more

Happy Heart Day

Hope you all had a fun Valentines Day we Sure Did .... I LOVED the Heart Day weekend with the Kids, and of course Wes too! Cookie decorating with friends was full of sugar and fun. Jack's first cookie decoration was quite the masterpiece, he was making it for his Daddy. Me and the kids made some Valentine cards for each other, and we all swapped a few little gifts as a family. We didn't get anything mailed out to the cousins or grandparents this year, sorry.

Hope ya all know we love you!

Zoo Boo, Trunk or Treat, Piano Recital and Halloween ..... Oh My!

This was a SUPER busy Halloween!! The kids dressed up 5 out of 7 days the week of Halloween, and I was sick of it ..... ok looking back it was pretty fun. We went to the Erie Zoo Boo for F.H.E. to start off the week. The Ewell's came with us and of course Wes and Andrew talked a little school/O.R. but once that was out of their systems they loosened up and had a good time! Our kids loved the Zoo Boo. Dylan was a little nervous with a few of the costumes, especially the man dressed as a gorilla, but he stayed close and was ok. Wes got to see how much Jack loves the carousel and the ducks. Reagan came straight from Takekwondo so she was dressed as a yellow belt, (real life costume) yes she is moving up fast! She had to break a board with her hand to move up a belt and did it not problem, pretty cool! She's good at it and she loves it. We also hit the Ward Trunk or Treat held in the church gym. Both me and Wes had to help with a booth, and after that the kids did more candy grabbing, trick or treating around the halls.

The next day the older 2 took their costumes to school for the parade. And then came the big Oct. 31 .... We went and picked up a couple of girls in the Ward, Kate and Hannah, their little sister was sick and their Mom couldn't take them out. We trick or treated in their fantastic neighborhood, sidewalks, street lights, and happy neighbors! Jack had all his gear, flash light, umbrella, pumpkin, hat, glow necklace and he wasn't letting go of anything! He zonked in the stroller part way through, made it nice for the big kids. Dylan did really well this year, he was excited for Halloween and spent a lot of the night laughing and telling Kate "it's not real the scary costumes and stuff, only pretend." The school helped talk a lot about that with him for the parade and so did we for the BIG 31 night. Halloween night was when Reagan's foot got so bad that she ended up getting piggy back rides to finish out the trick or treating and to get to the car. She's pulled some tendons and bruised a few bones! Yeikes :-(

Oh I forgot, another night this wonderful costume filled week we got to go to Reagan's Halloween Piano Recital. She did SO great, as usual. She is very talented and Wes was more than impressed as was I. She is really enjoying piano and she has a Fantastic teacher who get's her! All in all we are sugar loaded and I am wiped out, fun stuff!

Dylan's 6th Birthday ... Holy Cow Dylan is 6!

I can't believe how fast the last 6 years have gone. Dylan Wes Ewing 7lbs 13oz 21&1/2 inches long was born 6 years ago on September 17, 2003. He was born bright eyed, and happily absorbing the world. He's had his share of struggles in life so far, and continues to have a lot of the difficulties he came to earth with. He's a positive kid and has always been fun and easy going. Dylan was my easiest baby and is a talented, determined and happy boy.
Dylan has brought so much joy and laughter to our lives and family! I still can't believe he's in Kindergarten ALL day. He loves his family, video games, school, friends, his teacher, & chocolate!

Dylan had a really crazy and fun birthday party with his friends in the back yard. We had a HUGE pack of kids there both boys and girls! We had a BBQ, shot marshmallows at each other (the Dad's liked this) jumped on the tramp, played games, hit the pinata, Dylan opened presents, and we ate cake. Talk about over stimulation! It was a fun evening and I'm so glad we have such great friends here in Erie! We hope you had a Happy Birthday Bubba!!