1st Day of School

Another new school year is upon us. I can't believe how big my kids are getting! Aubree is in 4th grade this year, which means a new school. They call it Middle School, but it is an upper elementary for grades 4, 5, and 6. She has a man teacher this year, but he is a great teacher, so we were really excited for her to be in Mr Murphy's class.

Kaden is in 3rd grade this year in Ms Jacobson's class. He is most excited because his best friend is in his class again. He is about the tallest kid in the school, too.

Tyson started Kindergarten this year, which is a big adjustment for me. you would think by the 3rd child, I wouldn't get so emotional, but it is so hard to see them grow up and not need me as much anymore. His teacher is Mrs Riser, which is who Kaden had, so I know she will be great!

My afternoons are so quiet now, with three kids at school and Brennen and Cambree napping. I don't quite know what to do yet. Brennen just wanted his picture taken like everyone else, and it turned out pretty cute.

More Cambree

Here are some more pictures of our new little angel.

Mom and Cambree after delivery.

Dad and Cambree

All of our kids.

Aubree finally has a sister!

Kaden and Cambree.

Tyson and Cambree

Brennen was not quite sure. He wouldn't hold her until the second day!

I'm so thankful for all the people who helped us out. For the nurses who were so kind to us, especially Tara and Vanessa. They were girls I taught in Young Women's, now all grown up with nursing degrees. They were so kind to us and took great care of us. To my neighbor and dear friend Holli for taking care of all my kids until Grandma could get here. It was a lot to ask of her, but she did it cheerfully. And to my mom for all she did, for taking time out of her busy life to come and stay with my kids, and staying and helping take care of Cambree and I. I have the best mom in the world!

Cambree Lola Guymon

Here is our beautiful new addition to our family. Cambree Lola Guymon was born Aug 19, 2009. She weighed 7 ibs and 1 oz and 19 1/2 inches long. She has beautiful red hair just like her big sister. We are home and doing great! I wil post more pictures later.

Larsen Reunion

We had a great time last weekend going to Cleveland to the Larsen family reunion. We always have it the weekend closest to Grandpa's birthday, Aug 12. It is so fun to go and see all of my cousins and their kids. I can't believe how big some of them are getting. We have a big pot luck dinner, and Grandma makes her famous (at least in our house) chicken wings. Bruce and Kaden could eat them all day! Then they have lots of games. Kaden had a great time with the games, and did really well! Aubree loved the hula hooping! Tyson just wanted to dig in the sawdust pit for prizes. Brennen had fun until I offered to hold Kacie's little girl, then he got a little jealous. (Thanks Rissa for the pic) And to top off the day, we went ice blocking (Yep, we're rednecks!) Thanks to everyone who made it such a fun day!

American Idol

So anyone who knows me at all knows of my love of a show called AMERICAN IDOL! OK, so it's more of an obsession, but honestly, I can't get enough. So my wonderful husband has let me get tickets for the past two years to the concert. I love it! We had good seats this year. though not as good as last year. However, this year you could actually hear the singing without all the David Archuletta fans screaming. But I digress. The first few acts were good. they start at #10, which was Michael Sarver, followed by Megan Joy. Scott McIntire really surprised me by how entertaining he was. I am amazed at what he can do on the piano, especially being blind. Lil Rounds did a great impression of Beyonce (sorry I was never al that impressed with her). And Anoop can sing, but was pretty boring with all the ballads, until he broke into Bobby Brown's "My Perogative".
The show really got good with this guy......

Matt Guirard. The dude has got mad skills! He made all the others before him look like amateurs. He OWNED the stage! And he is even better looking in person than on TV. He was my second favorite of the night. I also loved him and Scott McIntire's dueling piano sets they did throughout the show!
After intermission, Allison took the stage. I Cannot believe that girl is only 17! She is amazing. Not many vocalists can take on Heart's "Barracuda" and make it sound so good, especially at 17!
Sorry to say, but Danny Gokey disappointed me. He did the Santana song "Maria" and at the end did some weird salsa dancing thing. Didn't he get made fun of on the show for his dancing? Weird. He did do a great rendition of Rascal Flatts "What Hurts the Most" and "My Wish". He also talked a little about his wife whao passed away and his foundation, which was sweet.
OK, this may surprise some of you, but for the most part, I did enjoy Adam LAmbert. I think there was a little too much crotch grabbing for me, but he idi "Mad World" and there is no denying he can sing. However after his last David Bowie song, anyone could tell which way he swings. A little too much for me. Bruce was just relieved he didn't do his funky Middle Eastern version of "Ring of Fire"

Yes, here is my favorite of the night. I truly was a Kris Allen fan from the top 13. His talent is so immense, but he is so humble and down to earth. He started off with his version of "Heartless", which if you haven't heard it, you are MISSING OUT! He did a few other songs, including Matchbox 20's "Bright Lights" where he started on Piano and ended in guitar. Who does that? Kris Allen, that is who. Glaringly absent was the lame winner song Kara Dioguardi wrote. He eneded his set singing Hey Jude, and was joined by all the other contestants, who then ended the show with "Don't Stop Believin" (is it just me, or that song everywhere lately?)

This is just a really cool picture of Allison and Adm's duet, so I threw it in there.
Thanks Bruce for indulging my obsession. I had a great time!

Fackrell Family Reunion

The 3rd weekend of July is always the Fackrell Family reunion. This is Bruce's mom's family. It honestly is such a fun reunion. This family is so neat! I love being a part of it. I didn't get many pictures because of camera issues, but this is a picture of the Guymon family who was there. This year we did shirts to honor Bruce's oldet brother who died of ALS (Lou Gerhig's diesease) in September. On the back was a palm tree with the words Be Still. David's motto the last few months of his life was "Be Still and Know that I am God." There was such a reverant feeling as his son explained the meaning of the shirts to everyone.
There were also lots of fun things going on. The kids always do a treasure hunt. This year's was reallly cool because the older kids put it together for the younger ones. They also tubed down the canal which Kaden was excited to be big enough for this year. Saturday night is swimming at the Lyman pool, which is the funnest pool I have ever been to. There's lots of food, lots of conversation an catching up, lots of fun.

Salt Lake Vacation Day 3 & 4

Thursday morning we went to the Utah Museum of Natural History at the U of U. I don't have any pictures of that because we were still having camera issues, but it was pretty fun. Not near as fun for the kids as the museum at Thanksgiving Point, but I think they still enjoyed it. They have their frog exhibit in the summer and the kids really liked that and the bug exhibit. Also, Kaden wowed the lady working in the Dinosaur exhibit with his plethora of knowledge about Dinosaurs. He is a really smart kid! We also learned that the first Utah T Rex was discovered by Orangeville Utah!
After that we went to the Gateway and to the Discovery Gateway aka the children's museum. My kids could stay there all day! These pictures come from the Kid Town exhibit. If you have never been there I highly recommend it to anyone with children.
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A lot of the activities encourage cooperation and working together. Here is Aubree working the kid town crane.

Kaden at the kid town farm riding the "horse".

Of course Tyson was working in the kid town water center. Any opportunity to get messy is alright with him!

Brennen loved being a firefighter -- wearing the hat and driving the truck. He is still working on the whole cooperation bit though.
After lunch at the Food Court, we went to the Clark Planetarium. They have a lot of hands on exhibits that my kids love, and it is absolutely FREE!!!! You cannot beat that! Aubree and Brennen decided to "go to the moon".


Kaden and Tyson went a little farther to "Mars"


The IMAx movies are not free, but we had one included in our connect pass. Here we are in our glasses waiting for "Under the Sea 3-D" to begin. The kids really liked this show, as did mom and dad. Brennen just slept through the whole thing. It was his nap time after all.

This is what Brennen's face looked like through most of the trip until we went.....

here. Brennen absolutely loves the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and watches their broadcasts with intensity every Sunday morning, so we took them to a practice of the choir Thursday night. Then his face looked like this

He was so cute as soon as we walked in, his eyes got big and he looked up at Bruce and said "Choir?" like he couldn't believe we were there to see them live.
Thursday night we also had dinner at the Lion House, which was included in our connect pass and took a tour of the Beehive House, which the kids surprisingly enjoyed.
Friday morning we took the kids to Build a Bear to use up the rest of their gift certificates from Christmas. Then it was off to see Ice Age 3 in 3D. Really not worth the extra money, but the kids had fun.
Then we headed to Mountain View Wyoming for the Fackrell Family Reunion!