BOO!!

HA-HA! I bet you all thought we were gone forever! Well, you're just not that lucky. :) The last year has been CRAZY around here and, sadly, neither one of us bothered to keep up blogging. I'm not even going to try to rehash the last 12 months but here's a little bit from the last few months just to get things rolling again. Hopefully, now that things are settling down - or at least getting back to the normal amount of chaos - we can put things like blogs back on the list.

The biggest thing that has happened is we bought our first house! We are very excited about this - especially after the year long wait we had to get it. It's a good thing we love it because this experience is not one we wish to repeat. Buying a short sale is definitely everything it is accused of being and then some but we survived and we are loving it! I realized I haven't taken any pictures of the house specifically since we moved in so here are a couple from last summer when we originally offered on it. I'll try to get some of the inside up here soon.

Yes, that is a really great park in our back yard! Walking trails, play ground, wetlands, open grassy areas and a gate in our fence leading right to it. The kids are in heaven.

Kaden turned three last month and we had quite a time filling his special cake order. He wanted four cakes! Never mind any presents - as long as he had a Buzz cake, a Woody cake, a GI Joe cake and a rainbow cake he was happy! We managed to get it all in (the rainbow part is in the cake itself....rainbow chip....and even had some room leftover for his last minute request of McQueen. Phew!

Somehow Emily is managing to receive nourishment in spite of her lack of teeth! She has lost so many teeth the last year and they're not coming in anywhere near as fast as they are coming out! This could be due to the fact that, at the first inkling that something is loose, she goes to work wiggling it. It usually takes her about 2 days to get it loose enough to hand off to Steve who pulls it out completely! We took this picture last week and it's already out of date! She lost another on Monday!

We had a really great time visiting with Ned and Rachel who came to play with us the end of May with their new baby, Jack. What a fun week!!

It didn't take the kids more than a minute to realize that in OUR house WE make the rules - including whether or not to have pets! We fell for it and now we have Max, a brand new Border Collie/Australian Shepherd mix.

Our new ward is awesome. It's very different from the one we left. You'd never think we'd only moved 2 miles into the ward next door. We are really liking it though. Everyone is super friendly and we already feel at home. They don't waste time around here either....we were only here about a month when they called Steve to be the YM President!

We were all a little nervous a few days ago when we woke up and saw a strange, glowing object floating up in the sky! Then we realized it was just the sun - FINALLY - and we've been having a great time. School got out last Friday and the kids have spent the whole time outside in the park, running through the sprinkler and catching frogs and salamanders with all the new friends they've made.

Another thing that got lost in the shuffle this last year was getting the kids pictures taken. SO - I took some myself for Father's Day.

This one's a bonus - it just shows his personality exactly! I love it!

So, there it is. Our lives in a minute.

I love summer!

I LOVE that Bailey likes to read! This last week she was really into her book and I kept finding her all around the house trying to do her normal day to day things with a book in her hand. Once I convinced her to put it down long enough to get things done she went right back to it!

Not much better than a sunny day, a warm trampoline and a good book!

I think we have a new tradition in the making! Every morning I hear: " It's summer! Can't we have a picnic for breakfast?" Why not! So, they've been eating breakfast in the back yard all week. Again I say: I LOVE SUMMER!!

Princess Emily

Emily had her big ballet recital on the 19th. She did such a great job! This year the theme for the lower school was "God's Little Princess". Bonus year for Smemmie! Not only did she get to dance like a princess but she got to dress up like one too! Congratulations Em on a really great job!


Here she is with our good friend, Jaime.

And her teacher, Miss Shauna

We took about 100 pictures that night! Em was having so much fun doing all sorts of different poses and in front of all the interesting flowers and scenery. She was also very excited to get a rose and wanted it in every single picture. Here are some of my favorites.


(she kept dipping her rose in the fountain - she wanted to make sure it wasn't thirsty!)

Kindergarden Here She Comes!!

Emily had her pre-school graduation the end of May. It was so cute. Lots of songs and projects to share. Congratulations Em!!



And thanks to Wendi, her teacher, for a great and freakishly creative year. You're amazing! (yes, that is a wooden school house in Emily's hand, which oh so cleverly unfolds to reveal her "diploma"!)

And the winner is......

I know everyone has been holding their breath with anticipation so here he is! The all knowing, all seeing, ever correctly guessing winner of Chamberlain Idol 2009! (along with his prize - a pink and silver tiara and matching earrings) Lori, - I don't think he's actually telling you to drop dead with his eyes ... but I guess you can't be sure.

OK - maybe I'm wierd

I won't make you look at millions of pictures of us on another historical farm visit but here are a few of the DIFFERENT things the Pomeroy Living History Farm had to offer on Bailey's class trip there.

They let the kids jump into giant hay piles which they thought was great.

Who knew that we would find our neighbor and friend, Lori, working at the farm that day!

And, looking through a real stereoscope was especially exciting for Bailey since this is one of the things she has learned about in her American Girls club.

Now, you might think this is strange but this kid was so interesting to me! If you knew Steve back when we were dating you might remember his cute floppy hair and the brown and beige coat he wore. This kid had something about him (blond floppy hair and a brown and beige coat maybe?) that kept making me do a double take every time he cut through the corner of my vision. It was like a warm, fuzzy deja vu kind of thing. Like when you smell something that reminds you of Christmas in the Hitchen Market or the weather reminds you of walking to class in High School. (I know -I'm wierd) Anyway, obviously this kid looks nothing like Steve (if he had I might actually have had to grab him and squeeze him!) but something about him brought back those warm fuzzy memories of the good old Provo days. (sorry to everyone who was not a part of that but the rest of you will understand!)

Kaden's birthday...Ka-chow!

Kaden's birthday was lots of fun. He got to help make his cake...

Then the girls took him to Build - A - Bear. They had some gift cards from Christmas and decided that they wanted to use them to let Kaden build something. It was so cute to watch them all... I'm not sure Kaden totally got the significance but the girls were SO excited to do it for him and that was well worth it.

Here they all are with the finished product - a puppy he named "Ruffin".

Kaden is TOTALLY into Lightning McQueen right now. He runs around the house vrooming and shouting "Ka-Chow!!" He was very excited to see his new plate and (even though he looks totally thrilled in these pictures) he was NOT excited to find his McQueen car smooshed into the frosting on top of his cake. I was very thoroughly told off about that one!

Happy Birthday Kaden!!

Life in the Poston Home

Just a few moments from life at our house over the last few weeks. It seems that as the school year winds down things start to get incredibly busy. But - we have found time to just hang out together and relax a little bit too.

A couple of weeks ago we hit record highs for this time of year. It was an amazingly great change after our record lows, rain, miserable weather from the previous few weeks. It hit the high 80's for over a week. SO - we broke out the new pool.


Kaden and Bailey were so excited that they couldn't even wait to change into swimming suits before getting into the pool!


Oh - and we also found a good deal on goggles! I think this is a nice look for him.


Now here is something that I intend to encourage! One day I was vacuuming the living room and Kaden kept trying to take it away from me with his usual cries of "Mom - mine turn!" I figured it wouldn't hurt to let him hold the handle with me. Nope - "I do it! I do it!" So, I turned it over to him completely. To my amazement, he put the handle in one hand, picked up the extra cord with the other and proceeded to vacuum the living room as if he'd been doing it for years! It is now one of his favorite things to do and he has even mastered it with a sippy cup in one hand. (you know how vacuuming can dry a person out!)



Steve has always said that Kaden has 3 mommies. The other day the kids were outside playing and Kaden slipped and cut his ankle. I set him down to go find a bandaid and the medicine and came back to find this...



(Yep - that is Bailey making bandages out of toilet paper with ribbon to tie it in place while Emily has his feet propped up, dabbing his wounds with a wet cloth!) He never sits like that while I bandage him up!!


Bailey's class was one of two that were chosen to participate in a civics type project at their school. The kids were elected to positions in the city council and then partnered with their respective ACTUAL member of the city council. They had elections, wrote up proposals, discussed things that were concerning them locally and then at the end of the project they attended a city council meeting where the kids were able to shadow their counterpart while discussing an aquatic center proposal - and they also enjoyed a pizza party. It was pretty cool!

(Bailey is almost dead center, pink sweater, next to the kid in the orange shirt and behind the girl on the floor.)


Finally, Emily gave our family our first ever black eye - well technically it was Kaden who gave it but I suppose Em should get the credit for wearing it around for 3 weeks! (these pictures really don't do it justice!)

Kaden is 2....

and still completely irresistible!!!

Happy Birthday Kaden! We love you!!