Going to the Cabin

This last weekend Grandma and Grandpa "B" invited all of us up to the cabin. We (Aaron and I and the kids,) Grandma and Grandpa, Teri and her friend Jessica, Laura and Lindsey, Aiden, and Later Jonathan and Kimberly were all up there for a few days. I'm not sure who came later because Aaron and I took the kids home early Saturday morning.

While we were up there we played in the river, swung on the swing, played in the playhouse, roasted marshmallows, watched movies, and enjoyed each other's company.

One of the nicest moments was when Laura gave all the girls wonderful pedicures by the fire.

One of the scariest moments is when Savannah took a running jump into the river and nearly
was swept away into the current, luckily Aaron was right there and was able to catch her.

One of the funniest moments was watching Grandpa....

This is the Girls putting make-up on Grandpa when we went to the cabin in 2006.

This is Grandpa this year, 2008...Playing barbies with Savannah.

These are some other pictures of us up at the Cabin.

Partners in Crime are at it again...

Well I'm sure we all know by now that sometimes pictures just don't want to move where we want them to move. ( No matter how hard we try.) So, you'll see later that the kids are playing in our pool while Dayton is content sitting on the side line.


This is my favorite Dayton face. I see it quite often. In one expression he says, " I know this is wrong, but I'm having fun!!! So why are you getting made at me." Sometimes he'll add the sound effect, "HUH," to this facial expression.

The story behind these pictures is....I wasn't paying attention. I was filling up the pool for Ellie and Savannah while Abbie and Dayton decided it would be fun to play in the mud. Before I knew it ....we couldn't play in the pool until I had Abbie and Dayton's mess cleaned up.


I think we gave up on the pool this day. Within a few minutes Dayton was covered head to toe in mud, his favorite blanket was also covered, he had dirt in his mouth, (which is not unusual these days, for some reason he loves to eat dirt...GROSS!) and Abbie had dirt all over her hands and toes. (Which is unusual for her because she's like her mom and HATES to be dirty.)

Who knew that if you set up one little kiddie pool (which is really only big enough for Abbie and Dayton) that half the street would come over to play.

This is Ellie, Savannah, and Dayton playing with their friends in the pool. Ellie is taking charge which is how she is these almost eight year old days. Dayton doesn't really care for water unless it's in the bathtub. Once he was sprinkled with the hose, he had enough.



Abbie is finally being brave enough to check out the pool. She was fine until Ellie sprinkled her with the hose and than she decided not to play.



After being sprinkled with the hose, Dayton is content to sit and watch the other kids play. He found the perfect seat, the sprinkler box in the front yard.

Happy Father's Day

It has been amazing to watch Aaron grow as a father.
When we found out we were pregnant with Elizabeth I'm sure he wanted to hit the hills. At that time we were so young and barely prepared. But he didn't. He declared that he would always be there for me, no matter what happened. (and he has!) If you look at pictures of Aaron holding Ellie when she was first born and in the next few weeks after, you can see by the way he holds her how nervous he was.
After a few months he became pro. I was going to the U of U and Aaron was home with Ellie during the time I was at school. We had given up our U of U apartment and were living with my Mom. She would call me and say, " You won't believe what Aaron has Ellie dressed in." Not because it wasn't cute but he would have her all dolled up in an outfit, matching jacket, socks, and shoes, and she would have a hair bow in her hair. My mom thought there was no reason for all this since the two of them would be at home all day...However, I thought it was the sweetest gesture. At times I couldn't believe he would take the time to make sure she looked cute...for me...when I got home.
Savannah...with Savannah I could tell this nervousness for babies would still creep up but for different reasons. The time he had missed with Ellie (becuase he was in Basic Training) was were he picked up with Savannah when he came home from Korea. When he came home he had to learn how to take care of a baby who didn't want to sit in a bouncer or be held all the time. He was able to watch her grow. He was able to experience many firsts with her. Like her first step, her first tooth, her first babbleing. The things he was not able to see with Ellie.
Abagail was our mystery. We decided not to find out "what" she was when I was pregnant. When she popped out a girl I was sure I would see disappoint in his eyes, but I didn't. He was so excited. And when we were not sure between several different names, he decided she would be Abagail. Abbie is Daddy's little princess. She doesn't wrestle, she doesn't play basketball, and she she won't sit still during movies with daddy, but she has a sparkle in her eye when she sees her dad or she gives him a kiss.
Now Dayton. Daddy can't wait till he phases from a mommy's boy to a daddy's boy. He can't wait to play ninja turtles (those are still in, right?) with him or shoot hoops. This is a whole new experience.
Four kids later and I have to say that this nervousness for children has gone away. The person who said he would never have more than two children adores being a father. He loves being with his kids. And though I may not approve he loves wrestling with his kids. (They love it also!) He loves taking them to the movies for some daddy time. He loves when they come racing to the front door when they hear the key in the lock.
They love when daddy comes home from work. When they hear his key enter the door lock Dayton starts grinning from ear to ear and gets all excited, Abagail yells, "Daddy's home!" Savannah and Ellie run and hide becuase they love to have their Daddy find them. The kids love to have their Dad read to them and tuck them in at night. They love to play basketball with him. They love telling him about their day. But most of all, they look forward to his days off when daddy gives mommy a break and it can just be them and their daddy. They get 100% attention.
So on this day I wanted to thank Aaron for being such a great father and tell him how much I love him.
And I wanted to thank all of you for reading this and letting me share this with you.
The kids would like to tell their Dad how much they love him and are thankful for him.

We love you Daddy. Happy Father's Day!!!

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to our Daddy!

and...

Grandpa Bradbury and Grandpa Elwood

and...

Uncle Aaron, Uncle Paul, Uncle Adam, Uncle Robby, Uncle Nick, and Uncle Jared.

Love,

Elizabeth

Abagail

Savannah


Dayton

And...Aaron and Becky

"Aaron Dayton Elwood..."

Lately, I started calling Dayton, Aaron Dayton. When Aaron asked me why, I told him that I wanted to let Dayton hear his full name so that he can recognize that this is his full name. However, this has quickly changed as Dayton tries to cause more and more trouble. Now his name is usually said, "Aaron Dayton Elwood!" when I'm frustrated, the way our parents said our names when we were in trouble or they were frustrated....."Rebecca Lynn!!"or the one I heard most, "JONATHAN TAYLOR!" (Just kidding Jonathan.) I'm sure you all know what I mean!

But when you get down to it...can Dayton really get in trouble...Probably not. He has his Mom wrapped around his little finger. I think he is so adorable. I think having no other children (yet) follow him has been good becuase I have been able to enjoy every second with him. I've said it before, he is so different than my girls. He notices the nuts and bolts of everything. He sees the hinges on doors, he loves to play with and eat dirt, he loves when his Dad gets out his tools, he loves to climb and look for new adventures.

Sometimes I'm amazed at what his little body can do. Dayton is still very small, at ninteen months he's just barely over 20 pounds. This does not stop him. He climbs to everything
that he can't reach. If he needs some leverage he scoots a kitchen chair over to where he wants to reach. Because of this we put our kitchen chairs on the table in the day.

Recently Aaron and I have put locks on everything we don't want the kids to get into. However,
there is one cupboard, the cereal cupboard, that we have not been able to do this to and Dayton is in it all day long. He loves cereal. Sometimes he gets a little to excited digging into the
bag that he dumps the cereal all over the floor. (Usually when I have just finished mopping.)

We recently heard from Adam that Adam and Michelle love when Brigham gives kisses. This is true with us. These are treasured times. Dayton won't always give us kisses, but when he does, they are the sweetest. We make sure that when he is in kissing mode that he doesn't forget his sisters. They LOVE it!







These are some pictures of Dayton moving the Kitchen chair to find something on the counter that of course, he shouldn't have.

It's What Fun Is.....

On Saturday, we decided to go to Lagoon. The kids were very excited to go since they see Lagoon every time we go see Jonathan and Kimberly in Layton and ask to go each time. We will actually be at Lagoon a couple times this summer since Ellie and Savannah received Season Passports to Lagoon from Grandma Wendy for their Birthdays. We took Abagail and Dayton along this time, although, I'm not sure we will take Dayton again. I was surprised that he was upset by most of the rides, since he loved DisneyLand and DisneyWorld so much. The only time he was happy was if Aaron or I were able to hold him on the ride.
It was like pulling teeth to get Dayton to stay on Bulgy the Whale. Ellie held him down to see if he would like the ride once it started, but he was upset the whole time.

We tried once again to see if he would like the spaceship with his sisters, but still he was pretty upset. Abbie loved the rides. She would get off each one with a big smile on her face and ask to go again.

It was no surprise that Ellie and Savannah had fun. Ellie was excited that she is now tall enough to ride the big rides like Colassis. (I'm sure that's not spelled right.)

Here is a picture of us in front of one of the new Lagoon rides, Odysea.
We had a lot of fun. However, once you've been to Disney Parks twice in one year, Lagoon hardly matches up. In fact, its much of a disappointment. (For adult s anyway.) The lines are very unorganized and seem to take an eternity to get through. Especially when you have four tired kids. We only lasted at Lagoon for five hours. It was nice to do something different though. I think as the kids get older, they really enjoy getting out of the house and experincing something different than our normal routine.

Murder on the Grill

With the help of Uncle Jonathan and Grandma and Grandpa "B," Aaron and I were able to attend out monthly Game Night with Aaron's family. This night we participated in a Murder Mystery called Murder on the Grill.

Aaron was Johnny Angel, a mechanic who could fix anything on wheels. His costume was a black leather jacket, white "T" shirt, tight jeans, slicked hair, dark sun glasses, a switchblade and optional 57 Chevy. (To bad we couldn't find that.)

I was Barby Q, a dazzling blond who had it all. An IQ of 140 and heartaches by number. My costume idea was an itsy bitzy teenie weenie yellow polka dot bikini. I opted for a polka dot shirt instead of the bikini.

Apparently. Bobby Sox had a thing for Johnny. So I just wanted to share with her that she may have had the crush, but I ended up with the leather jacket. J/K.

Not only did we have a lot of fun, but the kids also had a lot of fun.
Below is a slide show that contains more pictures from our game night.

Murder on the Grill