Monson family reunion 2009

Our family reunions every year are in Mexico, but due to drug wars and swine flu we decided to take a break this year and go to Las Vegas instead. It is just as hot, but not quite as pretty and tropical as Mexico:) We had a great time and our family felt very lucky to be able to go. The only reason we were able to is because my recovery went so well after Beckett and that was because his delivery was so miraculous. So not even two weeks to the day that he was born we hopped in the car and drove to Utah. We got there at about 3am and stayed with Garrett's brother Clayton for a couple of days.

The kids had a great time with their cousins Braden and Logan and we got to meet little Preston for the first time too. He is just four months older than Beckett so it was fun for them to get to see Beckett so little too.

A couple days later we headed down to Las Vegas. We stopped by St. George and picked up Abby on the way. It was so much fun to see everyone and for everyone to get to meet little Beckett. In traditional Monson fashion we had a reunion olympic day. This year Jordan and Danielle were in charge of the events and they did a great job! Since Danielle was an all star college track athlete, this is kind of her thing, so she suggested that the boys race the girls in a 4 by 400 relay. I of course could not participate because of just having a baby, but it was sure fun to watch! Jordan and Danielle organized all the games at the UNLV track which made it so much more fun. Unfortunately it was like 105 degrees the whole time.

The girls team: Danielle, Marianne, Abby, and Molly

The boys team: Garrett, Ben, Jordan, and Papa

After much trash talking and even some intense training, the boys came out on top! I must admit, everyone did awesome, but I was most impressed by the athletic ability of my 57 year old father. He was awesome. I hope I can kick my kid's trash when I am 57!

Next came the highly competitive children's 100. I love this picture because you can see how hard the kids are all trying.

Our cute, determined Carter pulled up the rear and finished strong! Surprise, surprise the children finished in order of age. First Nathan, second Aria, third Rylynn, fourth Thais, and fifth Carter. We can't wait till next year to see what kind of heat Reagan and Skyler are going to bring!

Aria is proudly displaying her medal which all the kids got for the race.

Next came the long jump and shot put competitions.

Nathan nailed his landing.

Is it just me or does this look like a Nike poster? Nice pose uncle Jordan!

Cute little Rylynn trying with all her might. There is no shortage of Monson competitiveness in this girl!

Daddy representing for the Hall clan.

"Daddy Jordan" (as Thais calls him) and aunt Marianne are cheering on little Thais.

Papa reliving his track and field high school glory days.

And of course no Monson reunion would be complete without countless hours lounging and playing by the pool.

Little Skyler showed off his mischievous smile!

Silly Skyley gathered quite the little crowd with his crazy tricks!

Rylynn jumping off the side which she did over and over again. She was such a confident little swimmer because of her swimming lessons this summer.

She loved just floating and swimming by herself for hours.

Carter had a blast playing in the sand in the "beach pool" and diving for rings with Daddy and Papa.

I found Carter flirting with some random middle aged ladies. For some reason wherever we take this boy the ladies fall in love with his big blue eyes and long eyelashes!

Daddy and Papa kept track of all the crazy kids in the pool. Good work men!

Molly and cute little Reagan enjoyed some splashing in the shallow pool.

The proud Daddies uncle Ben and uncle Jordan loved watching their babies play together in the shallow pool.

Again in true Monson fashion, we had fabulous food and great conversations. Papa shared a family history night about his father (0ur grandpa Monson) and Nana shared some inspiring family history she learned about our relatives at Martin's Cove. Garrett lead a book review on "The Alchemist" which we all read and loved discussing. And of course we had to have a gambling night "when in Vegas!" Papa bought all the equipment for craps and roulette. We had a lot of fun, and of course we played without money:) I have to say the highlight for me was to have my whole family there for Beckett's blessing. It was such a special memory for our family. It is always so sad to me to only have a short week together with my family all together. The cousins have so much fun and then they have to leave and wait a whole year sometimes to see each other again. Can't wait till next year!

The many faces of Beckett

Beckett is smiling a lot lately and he is changing everyday! I try to get pictures of him smiling but it seems like with child #3 the camera is just never around when I need it. He is especially smiley right when he wakes up in the morning so I decided to keep the camera on my night stand right next to my bed. Here is the result! Don't mind his male balding pattern. Rylynn went through the same stage. I assure you he still has tons of dark hair all around the back. We like baby mullets around here:)

Here is a tentative smile since Carter is coming to attack him with morning loves

This is the smiley face I get to wake up to!

His poor skin is so dry, so this is the result of putting lotion on his face. What is with my kids and majorly sensitive skin?

Seriously how cute is this boy?

And now, all the little faces in his repertoire...

distracted by sister, "she's funny."

blowing bubbles, "aren't I talented?"

"you're funny Mom."

"I'm tired of this photo shoot mom!"

"Now I'm worried"

"Okay now I'm just mad. Stop taking pictures!"

Oh Rylynn

I have been meaning to write down two funny things Rylynn has said recently.

1. I was sitting on the couch the other day reading something and Rylynn walked up to me and said, "Mom, you look like a racoon."

I asked, "why do I look like a racoon Rylynn?"

She said, "because the top of your hair is black!"

You know it is bad when even your 4 1/2 year old notices your ugly roots! Time for highlights!

2. The day after we got home from our reunion trip we were driving in the car and Rylynn stated some random fact as she often does.

So I asked, "how did you know that Rylynn?"

She said, "Because I know everything." I said, "Oh I didn't know that."

She said, "yeah because Thais knows everything and she taught me!"

Thais is her cousin who is 3. She and Rylynn had been inseparable the week before.

Beckett's Blessing

When Beckett was two weeks old we left on a road trip to go to my family's reunion in Las Vegas. It was a crazy day! Beckett had his two week doctors appt that morning and got circumcised (which is really weird, but they wait till the 2 week appt out here to take care or that). Then I had my two week appt and then we all jumped in the car and left. I felt terrible shoving Beckett in a car seat all day after getting circumcised, but he did really well. Anyway, we probably wouldn't have gone except that I really wanted to be able to bless Beckett with my whole family.

I knew if we didn't go, most of my family wouldn't see him until he was 1 year old. It was so great to see my family and spend some time with them. I will post about all the fun at the reunion later.

Beckett's blessing was so special and it was really neat for us to have my Dad and my brothers all in the circle. Garrett did a great job. It was a very special memory. There are so many people who already love this sweet little boy!

Love this picture with the arm up thinking!

Pre-K

Rylynn started Pre-K this week! It doesn't look like she is smiling in this picture but she is, she just is squinting because of the sun. We are so excited to have found a preschool that we love. I never thought we would find one as good as Carol, but we are really happy with this one. Rylynn loves her teachers Miss Teri and Miss Shakra and she is so excited to be back in school. Carter misses her terribly while she is gone.

My three munchkins all snuggled up. Rylynn and Carter just love snuggling Beckett every chance they can get!

My baby is officially 6 weeks old today! He is growing up way too fast. I just took him to the Dr. yesterday and he was 11 pounds 14 ounces!!! He is already outgrowing his 3 month clothes. He is super long too. He was 23" at his 2 week appt which is way off the charts. He's going to be a big one we think. He loves to talk to us (goo) and he smiles a lot. He is a really happy boy except when he is done eating. Poor guy has reflux and he spits up a lot! He has such a sad pouty face when he cries and when he is really sad his bottom little lip quivers. It breaks my heart! Is it just me or do you have to do laundry every single day with a newborn? I guess the reflux makes it worse. Oh well, we just love this boy!

Happy belated birthday

Garrett turned the big 3-1 on Sept 7th. He says that he officially feels old because now he's not just 30, he is in the "thirties". Our family reunion in Las Vegas/our cabin in UT came to an end on Sept 3, so we decided to head back through Boise and stop to visit with some of Garrett's cousins for his birthday. Four of his cousins live there and his cousin Allen was nice enough to let us stay with the for a few nights. The first day we were there they took us out on their boat.

We had so much fun and we all got to go tubing as a family!

Carter was really tired though since we went during his nap so he didn't want to ride for too long. So Garrett and I took Rylynn for a ride and he got back in the boat.

When we pulled up to the dock, this is what we found.

Poor kid was soo tired! He fell asleep holding onto the side for dear life. The next night we enjoyed the BYU v Oklahoma game with his crazy cousins (I mean crazy BYU fans!). It was so much fun and a great game! We also got to see our great friends from Provo, the Atwoods who are now famous:)

Monday was the actual day of his birthday which was very low key since he had caught the terrible cold that was going around at our family reunion. He basically stayed in bed all day, but he did get this tasty pie and some big old steaks for dinner! Since we had no money to go out to dinner, I made a steakhouse dinner at home complete with a steak house wedge salad. Then he got a big IOU for his present:) Next year will be better honey! We love you!

I'm really not dead

I know it seems like I died, but really I just have been the biggest blog slacker ever! We went out of town for almost 3 weeks before Beckett was even two weeks old, so I have a little bit of an excuse. Lots of posts and pictures to come, we had a family reunion, Beckett's baby blessing, Garrett had a birthday, and much more!

Also as a job update, I am happy to announce that we are seeing miracles left and right in our lives right now as pertaining to Garrett's "job search". I will explain more soon, but life is really exciting for us right now!