Disneyland

For UEA weekend, my sister took the two older boys to Disneyland. They sure had a good time! Raymond and I wished we could have been there to see there faces. They went to the beach the first day and played in the sand, looked for seashells and chased the waves. The next two days were at Disneyland and California Adventure. They went on almost all of the rides. They decided Tower of Terror had too much terror, but they enjoyed The Haunted Mansion. They loved Indiana Jones and Splash Mountain. They also got to do Jedi training. My sister took them to a Halloween party at Disneyland too. It was fun for them to trick or treat and wear their costumes. A was dressed as Handy Manny (sp?) and got to meet him too!
Aa is already 3 months old. Can you believe it?

Camping, G, etc.

We have had a fun summer. In August my sister Lexi visited with her family so we went to Southern Utah for a fun family reunion. Monday we swam in the Great Salt Lake. It was pretty fun, but we didn't bring swim suits and just swam in our clothes. That was fine until G wanted to take his shirt off. That led to J wanting her's off too. I didn't think that was so bad (she's only two)so took it off her. Next she proceded to remove her shorts and diaper too. She wouldn't put them back on for anything, so she swam in the buff. Luckily the beach wasn't very crowded.
Later in the week we drove down to Bryce Canyon and Zion's National Parks. The kids had so much fun with their cousin! A wasn't so excited about all the hiking by the last day, so we started telling them we were going on a walk instead of a hike. He seemed okay with that. They loved playing in the river and climbing all the rocks. I loved seeing everyone and playing games. I'll post some pictures soon.
School started right after our trip. S and A are enjoying learning new things. G is enjoying preschool. Mommy's enjoying a quieter house.
We had a scare about a week ago. G had another seizure. He is taking seizure medicine now and we are hoping that will control it. Luckily he has only ever had them in night while he's been in bed. It's scary though. Hint: If someone you know has a seizure for the first time, film some of it with your phone or something. We did that and it seemed to help when explaining to nurses and doctors what happened.

J and A's Birthday

Because there is only one day between J and A's birthdays, we had a joint party for them this year with just the family. A was so excited to turn five. On Sunday he told us he was going to kindergarten on Monday since he was five now. We told him he still needed to wait a few more weeks.
J got a baby doll stroller and A got two video games for the Xbox. Now I can't get him to leave it alone. What was I thinking? They also got clothes from Grandma O as well as cards with money from their other grandmas. Sweet!
I made J a rainbow cake and A wanted another Spiderman cake. This makes my third Spiderman creation.

Newbery Books

Since I was little, I've always loved to read. I still do and I hate it when I finish a book and have to decide what to read next. I'm always asking for suggestions. My mother in law one mentioned to me that she was trying to read all the Newbery Award books. The Newbery Award is the longest running award for children's literature. It is voted upon and awarded by the American Library Association to the author of the book making the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children. The first winner was "The Story of Mankind" by Hendrik Willem von Loon way back in 1922. This is were my Newbery journey will begin. After I finish I will give a review and start another book. If you would like to join me, you can read and give your review as well. The next book will be this year's winner, "The Graveyard Book" by Neil Gaiman. Happy reading!
Follow my journey at www.newberyjourney.blogspot.com

24th and stuff

We had a good Pioneer Day. On Thursday we went to the Bountiful parade and the kids enjoyed all the candy they got. Friday we visited the Draper Historical Society museum. I have some ancestors that were involved in developing the area in pioneer days. It was nice to remember my pioneer heritage on pioneer day. Saturday we worked hard fixing up the yard at our Magna house. We've decided to sell it and Raymond has been working hard to get it ready. Later we went to the Olympic Park in Park City. We saw some freestyle ski jumpers and then went on the Alpine slide. Samuel and Gideon got to go down with Raymond and me. Poor Ammon got sick and threw up after we got there so he didn't get a ride. Raymond also went on the zip line. He really enjoyed that.
Raymond has been working with my dad as well as trying to get his own business started. He's also trying to get our house ready to sell. I've been getting used to chasing five kids around. It's been a challenge and I'll be glad when school starts to I can go to the grocery store again.

G Health Scare

After we went to bed on the July 4, I heard a strange noise coming from G in the boy's room. I went to check on him and discovered him covered in throw up and convulsing. I went and got Raymond and my mom. We called the paramedics. He went on for about ten minutes total. He had stopped by the time the paramedics got there. They took him to the hospital where they watched him for a few hours before sending him home.
The next two weeks were filled with testing and doctor's appointments. All of his tests have come in normal. We are grateful for that. Sometimes a child's brain will misfire in an isolated incident and it never happens again. Since his tests have been normal, that is what we think has happened. We think he'll be fine from now on.

Welcome Aaron

We are proud to announce the birth of our fifth child, Aaron Phillip Crane. Aaron was born June 30 at 7:50 in the morning. He weighed 8 lbs 1 oz and was 19 inches long. We are so glad he is here!

Summer flu

On Thursday evening I started not feeling so well. Friday I was still sick and A had developed a fever. J started getting a fever on Saturday and the rest of us were still sick, so we went to see a doctor.
They gave us a flu test (which was more uncomfortable than I thought it was going to be) and told us we all had influenza type A, which probably means "swine flu." Getting pandemic flu was not on my list of things to do this year. Luckily we saw the doctor fast enough to get the Tamiflu and everyone is feeling much better. I still have congestion and coughing, but the kids fevers are gone.
Raymond, S, and G haven't gotten sick. I'm hoping it stays that way.

Free Summer Fun

The kids are out of school. What are you doing to keep them busy this summer? We will be having our own little summer school. To keep it interesting, I've been looking into free or nearly free events to keep them busy and occupied. Here are some I've found mostly in Northern Utah since that's where I live. If anyone wants to attend these events with us, let me know! We'll have our own little summer camp.

-Saturday, June 6 Free Fish Day in throughout the state.
- Thursday, June 11 Free admittance to This is the Place Heritage Park
- West Fest, June 25-27 Parade Saturday morning
- First Wednesday of the month free at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts
- First Monday of the month free at the Utah Museum of Natural History. We will go on Monday, August 3.
- Free admittance to many National Parks across the USA on the third weekend of the month throughout the summer. See http://www.nps.gov/findapark/feefreeparks.htm
-Salt Lake County Fair August 5-8. Admittance is free, parking is $5.

That's what I know about so far. If anyone knows about others, please let me know!

Preschool Program

Well, A's done with preschool. His class wrapped up the year with their end of year preschool program. This program is something that even I did when I went to school there. A had the parts of the Beast in "Beauty and the Beast" (which is what my brother Josh did too) and the Huntsman in "Snow White." He did a great job on his parts. Now that school is over, he keeps asking if he's going to kindergarten next week. I have to keep reminding him that summer needs to happen first.

Disney's "Beauty and the Beast"

Many of you may know that for the past few months Raymond and I have been involved in our stakes production of Disney's "Beauty and the Beast." It was a lot of fun and we made many friends. We will forever be grateful for the opportunity we had to participate. Thank you to all those who could come and support us. Also a big thank you to everyone who watched our children so we could participate. I'm including some pictures for those who were unable to attend. To see more pictures, go to www.beautyandthebeasthuntercentral.shutterfly.com

G's Birthday!

G had a birthday on Sunday! He's a big three year old now. I made him a train cake and he got a train set to play with. We had chicken fingers for dinner, but of course he was much more interested in the cake. He also got a set of toy tools and a car parking ramp.
Yesterday he also went to the dentist and the doctor. The doctor gave us a referral an audiologist and a speech therapist for him to work with. He is 36" tall and weighs 32 lbs.

Easter

We had a fun Easter. Here are some pictures for you.

Josh's Cake

Here is a picture of the cake I made for my brother's birthday. If you can't tell it's a water polo player.

Samuel's Birthday

Although Samuel's birthday was a month ago, I wanted to post some pictures of his party. This year we let him have a party with some of the children from the ward. They made placemats with stickers, played the game Hullabaloo, and had cake and ice cream.
Samuel wanted a flag cake this year. I thought it was an interesting choice for a six-year-old, but whatever. I think he might of chosen that because they had been discussing President's Day at school.
We had his party the day after his birthday, so on his birthday, we had a special pizza and spaghetti dinner with his Grandparents. It was a lot of fun!

Thanks for voting!

Thank you to everyone who voted for my kids in the recent contest. Even though we didn't win, I really appreciate the love and support.

Pay it Forward

Good luck!{The Rules}

1. Be one of the first THREE bloggers to leave a comment on this post, which then entitles you to a handmade item from me - something crafty or yummy, who knows?!

2. Winners must post this challenge on their blog, meaning that they will Pay It Forward, creating a handmade gift -anything!- for the first THREE bloggers who leave a comment on their post about this giveaway!

3. The gift that you send to your friends can be from any price range and you have 365 days to make/ship your item. This means you should be willing to maintain your blog at least until you receive your gift and have shipped your gifts. And, remember: It’s the Spirit and the Thought That Count!

4. When you receive your gift, please feel free to blog about it, sharing appropriate pictures and comments! If you are not one of the Top Three Commenters on this post, you can still play along.Go ahead and start your own Pay It Forward chain, and encourage your blogging friends to do the same! SO, REMEMBER…Pay it forward

Please Help!

Hi Everyone!

Need your help. Recently my kids entered two contests to win a trip to San Diego, and we could really use a vacation. But, we need your help to win. I need you to go to a couple of websites and vote for my kids. Since you can only vote once per computer we are consolidating our votes on one child for each contest.

It's really easy and will only take you a second. Just go to each website, enter your email and vote for the number I ask you. Then check your email and follow the instructions to make your vote count.

First, go to this website. (You may need to copy and paste the link) Vote for 164. This is Janet.
http://www.kosy.com/pages/safekids_fair/vote1.html

Now go to this website and vote for 116. This is Samuel.
http://www.570knrs.com/pages/sandiego/vote.html

The more votes we get the better our chances, so please vote on all the computers you have access to. Also forward this note along to everyone you know, so they can vote too.

I know I've been posting this everywhere, and I'm sorry if you've seen it already, but I really want to win! Thanks for all those who have voted.

Please, please, please help us!!

Signs of the time

Raymond is still looking for a job. Everyday it seems I hear about someone else being laid off. We keep hoping things will turn around and Raymond will get a job that will meet the needs of our family. We are also hoping that some of the properties we have will be able to find buyers. It can be frustrating to have to wait and only have limited control over what's going on. We just keep trying to do our part.
There are six families in Raymond's family. Right now four out of six of them are now jobless. It seems unbelievable to me.

Sick Day

This past weekend Samuel has been sick. He has had a fever and sore throat, coughing. It's similar to the illness that took Raymond and my father out of the game for a few days. He's been missing school and he's still not better. He has been getting better though, so hopefully he can go back to school soon. I'm just hoping no one else gets sick.

Happy New Year

This year Raymond's family decided to have a New Year's Eve party with his parents and sisters who live in Utah. The kids were happy to see their cousins and spend a lot of time with them. We had dinner, played games, and watched the ball drop. Even Janet stayed up until midnight. Then we spent the night at Raymond's parents with everyone else. The next day, we played more games, built a giant 11 ft 2 inch snowman, and saw "Bolt" in the theater. It was a lot of fun!

Merry Christmas

We had a great Christmas this year. All the kids Grandparents were there to share in the fun. Gideon was the only one who didn't want to wake up, but he was fine once he went upstairs and figured out what was going on. Janet was more excited about everyone else's gifts than her own, but that's okay. She liked opening presents for the first ten minutes and then she was bored with it. Ammon liked his Curious George plush and super heroes.
Samuel was the funniest. It started on Christmas Eve when the kids got to open their special star present. It is always pajamas to wear. He ripped his open and then said, "Oh, it's just clothes."
On Christmas morning most of his toys were unwrapped in his Santa pile (Santa doesn't wrap things at our house), so wrapped under the tree was mostly clothes. Everytime he opened a clothes gift he would say, "Not clothes again!" or "There are so many clothes!" He was very disappointed by that, but Santa was good to him and left him lots of great toys.