Firsts

I thought that once the kids were older and in school most of our firsts would not be as frequent. I know that we will have a first license, Preston; our first teen accident, Madi; first date again, Madi; first wedding of kids again, Madi; first to graduate school, Preston. But I never thought I would have so many firsts in a short amount of time at this stage in their lives. So let me begin.

Preston had his second swim meet in Salt lake. See below. The next week at practice his coach handed him a ribbon for first place. That's right he took first in the freestyle! Awesome! He not only took first he beat all the kids his age range who have been swimming for a very long time and it was only his second meet. It was also his first swim where his goggles stayed on. SO there are two firsts for him.

Madison and Abigail. It was their first to go to a concert. Mac Christensen the President of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir asked my Dad if he wanted tickets to the Christmas concert. The one with David Archuletta. The one everyone was trying to apply for tickets. So my Dad told him that Chris was flying in that night from Afghanistan. Mac said not a problem I will send you six for him. (This was before people even found out if they had tickets back in October. And no I didn't apply for tickets. That's another story.) SO anyways last thursday Dec. 16 we went to Salt Lake with Abbie, Mads, my mom, my sis Lala, and Chris. It was also Abbie's first time at the Conference center.

Luke's first was actually two in one. He lost not only his first tooth but his second tooth thanks to Dr. D. They gased him up and pulled away. The toothfairy brought him $4 bucks. Thanks to Aunt D. she has instilled in the kids that when your tooth is pulled by the Dentist you get pain and suffering. I can't wait for Sammie's first tooth to fall out. It was also Luke's first to outspell Abigail. That's right, the kid who refuses to say the alphabet and refuses to read because I read him stories at night out spelled his smarter 2nd grade sister who is at a 5th grade reading level and taught herself to read before she was out of pre-school.
SO here is how it went down. The boys are huge BYU fans. One day we were all in the van talking when they saw a dreaded U sticker. They started talking about how wonderful the Y is and they will go there because their Grandpa did. When all of the sudden Abbie pipes up and says:
"How do you spell BYU?" (Chris and I were Totally stunned that she said that. I thought she was having a Lala moment.)
She was dead serious.
Luke responded by saying "B-Y-U! Duh!"
His first time out spelling his big sis. Way to go!

Swim meet

Saturday was a great day! Preston had a swim meet in Salt Lake at Cottonwood High School. I was amazed that at 7am he was up and ready for the day. So excited to go and race. He has really enjoyed being in a swim club.
A lot of the swim meet consists of sitting and waiting around. He competes in 3 strokes. Breast, back and freestyle. He does an amazing job. His coaches are surprised at how skilled he is at the breast stroke.



All three of the kids were such troopers. They were very well behaved for having to get up early on a Saturday.

















Preston is so ready for this.


He did a beautiful job. He was in 4th place at the wall. He then turned and kicked off and glided ahead of everyone.


He took 1st place for his heat. It was awesome! I am so proud of him and his accomplishments he has made.





Thanks Mom and Dad for coming and waiting with us. Mom thanks for the pics.

Disney!

We made it! Finally, after a year of feeling guilt, sadness and failure. I helped Abigail finally fullfill a dream. A week after Chris came home we went on our celebratory trip to California. Five days of parks, walking, sightseeing, climbing, riding, eating, shopping, and more walking. Very exhausting but very rewarding. And the very first thing we did was for Abigail. A year ago we missed her most favorite character at Disney. (Mom was in a rush to see everything and bypassed this place.) So here is to Abbie and her favorite cartoon.

The excitement is building. She can hardly stand it. For a year everytime we talked about our trip Abbie would remind me of who we didn't see.

Tinkerbell! That's right Abbie finally met her and loved every minute of it. That was the first time I have seen her this speechless. I don't think she even giggled.

She loved every minute of this precious moment. So here's to Abbie and her hero. Way to go girls.

Abigail also had the chance to duel with Darth Vader. She had the force. Again, all 4 kids were picked to train as Jedis. It was awesome. I so loved that they were all picked. Abbie, was picked as the the special Jedi in training to fight Vader and knock him down. The Master couldn't get her to stop giggling long enough to knock over the troopers. She had the whole crowd laughing. It was great. If you look at the pic above you can see the clone troopers falling back as she uses the force.

What great parents we are. One of my favorite rides is Splash Mountain. I love long log rides. We made all the kids go on this ride. If you know anything about our kids it is that Prest hates rides. IF it goes higher than about 15 feet he won't go near it. Well, our luck is that has rubbed off onto fearless Lukers. He was at one point fearless, and now with the great influence of big brother he has no desire to go on "BIG" rides. He squeezed the life out of my arms on this ride as he clung to me. At the end Chris got this great pic of him. I am sorry but it was well worth it.

This is the first family trip that I actually let Chris take pics of me and not erase them. I have thrown a few in. Finally getting over the feeling of ugly pics. Might as well enjoy life and have some proof for years to come.

The girls chillin' with Chris. They kept him busy. It was great to be with him.

Toontown is one of our favorite places to goof off! The only problem was they couldn't keep us in jail.

Mickey Mouse's house. It is so much fun. They have done an amazing job with his house. It is a neat place to explore.

No explanation needed. At least I hope.

Oh yeah! Who's the tough one?! Obviously me. Wait...

Preston cheated. You can't use fingers.

The girls are in Heaven!

Still the strongest. Sorry Chris.

Luke could not get enough of Mickey and his house. He was lovin' the place. I really think he would live there if he could and if they had nintendo.

Preston needs some practice.

I think that Luke got to see Mickey 3 times and was still asking to see him again. He had so much fun. So while the girls and Chris were riding big rides I took the boys to see him again, and again, and well anyways you get the picture. Actually you see the picture.

Disneyland really is the place where Dreams do Come TRUE! Madi is the one child that has had a hard time growing up. She would still play dress up if we could find outfits her sizes. So there we were at the princess shop and sure enough we found a Cinderella dress her size. She couldn't hardly stand it. Madi had it on before we could even pay for it. She could not stop smiling. She then was able to meet her favorite character. Perfect ending to a good day. Love ya Mads!