No more pencils no more books.....

The end of the school year is here, and not too soon! All of the boys spent their last day a little different...

Ian spent it like it was just another Saturday morning

Andrew had a dance festival, that he was so excited for, and graduated 6th grade

Gavin went to the dance festival to mock his brothers

And Matthew, well, Matthew may have been the most excited of all

New Dew!

This weekend we discovered there were three new Mountain Dew flavors. We went through 9 cans trying to determine which new flavor is the best, as only one flavor will be chosen to stay. Most of the boys liked the Revolution flavor but we did come to a common conclusion on one thing, ALL DEW IS GOOD!

Nationals

Heather and I spent Saturday at the National Alpaca Show at the Sandy Convention Center on Saturday. Mom, Dad and Aaron had been there since Wednesday and were not quite as enthused as us at that point. I think everyone enjoyed it and we got a taste of what the shows are about. Hamilton and Heather did great in the ring. Dad was on channel 2 news and the boys were excited their grandpa continues to be famous.

FINALLY!

Matthew has been greatly anticipating his birthday since, well, the day after his last one. Thank goodness he doesnt remember all the things he has asked for over the last year and we have told him "Not right now, that would be a good birthday present". It may be wrong but it works. There was so much excitement and we had so much fun we celebrated it over 2 days. He was able to spend time with his friends and family swimming, eating pizza and going to a movie. There have been transformers running around everywhere. Matthew is excited to be 8 because now he gets to play football, and his dad had no influence over that. He is the last one of the boys that actally wants to be anything like his dad. The countdown has already begun, only 363 days until his birthday!

Happy Bithday Mom!

We have been able to celebrate mom twice this week. We all know how much mom enjoys having her birthday close to Mothers Day, especially when it falls on Mothers Day, NOT! I think she enjoyed both days this year though. She has officially joined the digital age with her first IPOD from dad. Now she just needs to learn how to fill it. We love you mom!

Training For Nationals

Last Saturday we were able to spend some time at the ranch. Hamilton was finally able to do some halter training with Heather. He thought she did pretty well......

The Great North Western Celebrity Alpaca Tour

Mom, Dad, Aaron I spent last weekend touring the mecca of alpaca ranches. We were able to see some of the best alpacas in the country in the likes of El Ninio, The Godfather, and Kahuna. The setups of the ranches were incredible and they were HUGE. We enjoyed the green country and experiencing some of the Oregon rain, not too much though. The best part was learning from and visiting with the Aussies at Pucara International. They were very nice down to earth people with a lot of experience, not to mention good food, to share. It was a great motivating weekend......

Masked Matty

Matthew made his dad's day with this picture. Anyone who knows Matthew knows he loves costumes, year round. He frequents the breakfast table dawning one of his masks. We love having a little boy and are obviously having a hard time letting Matthew grow up. Maybe it is time we have another.....maybe not.

Matthew will always be welcome to eat breakfast, with a side of Dorritos, in disguise. After all, who doesnt like eating breakfast with a superhero?

Some of our favorites......

Welcome Baby Hannah

Congratulations to the Olsens on their beatiful new baby Hannah!

Hannah was born Thursday March 27th. We were able to visit with the Olsens last night and take these pictures of their sweet girl. Gavin was looking at the pictures this morning and the first thing he said was "Wow, that babies head is perfect!" She truely is a beautiful girl. Heather and Gavin are more baby hungry than ever.

Who is more tired.....Mom, Dad or Hannah

Happy Easter!

We have spent Easters in Bloomington where it has snowed before but it melted by mid-day. This year there was several feet still on the ground with temperatures in the teens in the morning. We brought basketballs, footballs, laser tag and other outdoor spring games but traded them in for gloves, hats, sleds and late night board games. All of the snow and the blue skies made for a beautiful and fun Easter. The kids enjoyed hunting eggs on the frozen tundra. It was easy to hide eggs in the boot holes and snowdrifts. Most of the boys had fun doing a geo cache for their Easter candy but not as much fun as Heather and Seth had creating it, including getting stuck in the snow. We spent some time at Ollies' where Ian and Aaron also found some treasure. We loved being together as a family and missed Jenny and Justin. As usual, it all went too fast but we have some wonderful memories...

Happy Birthday Heather!

One of my many favorite pics of Heather

Today is Heathers 32nd Birthday. It was beautiful weather for a beautiful birthday girl. Unfortunately she speant more time with Barbara than with us. Although Heather had to work, we had fun going to lunch at the Olive Garden and it seemed to make Barbara's day to. We are planning on celebrating Heather this whole week. The boys are excited to take her to see 10,000 B.C. this Friday. We are so thankful for Heather's loving nature, beautiful smile, and frequent off color comments.

Jr. Jazz

Matthew and Andrew's basketball season has come to an end. Both enjoyed the season and improved dramatically since the beginning of the year. Matthew was thrilled with his gold medal while Andrew was disappointed they didnt make it to the championship. I guess as you get older you realize that winning is all that matters. If you don't win, it isnt any fun!
Matthew is now ready for spring football training! He has been thoroughly brainwashed by his dad that he will be the one that truly loves football!


Gavin also had his Jr. High band concert tonight. He is enjoying and improving on his drumming.

So much for 19 and 0! Congrats Uncle Dookie and the NY Giants!

The holiday of all holidays! It does'nt get much better than this. We celebrated the Giants upsetting win, JoAnn's birthday, and the League of Fantasy Connoisseurs team party all in one fantastic evening with friends and family. With amounts of good food that only Thanksgiving can rival; only substitute wings, brats, little smokies and nacho cheese for the turkey and yams. Thanks to all of you who made this possible!

Tonights MVP's were JoAnn, Uncle Dookie, Ryan Olsen, and the Bratwursts!

Congratulations Fantasy Football Champs Tooele Wild Mustangs!

St. George in January

This past week we were able to spend a few days in St. George. While still a bit chilly, it seemed tropical compared to the snowy frozen tundra of Tooele. Heather particularly enjoyed the weather. It was a temporary break from her annual winter depression. Thanks to the Wihongi's we were able to stay in a beautiful condo for two of the three nights. Seth was considering leaving his wallet this time to see if we could get a few more free nights next time.

While Seth was touring the southern utah desert via a big brown truck, the boys and Heather swam, went hiking and watched almost every episode of the three seasons of the office. We especially enjoyed the hot tub on the patio. Matthew swam so much his skin was visibly burned by the chlorine.

It was a welcome break for the boys and heather and while Seth was still working, it was a nice change of scenery.

Below is a picture of the boys in the desert we took in 2003, how they've changed.

Thomas Gavin Is 13!

Today we celebrated Gavin. He is officially not a "pre-teen" anymore. In Gavin's words, "It feels pretty good to be 13". I suspect he has been looking forward to this day for quite some time. He has long since felt he is ready for girlfriends, cell phones and watching bloody horror movies. Sometimes he tends to think he can skip ahead to his 18th birthday.

We took Gavin to get the best steak in town, which also happens to be the only steak in town at Applebees. He was thoroughly embarrassed by the singing waitresses. We are so thankful for Gavins tenderness and thoughtfullness. We don't know what we would do without him in our family. Let us not forget who he is named after. Happy Birthday Grandpa Piggott! Happy Birthday Gavin!

Check out that hair!