Braxtin's Sealing

My brother Justin and his wife Wendy adopted a little baby boy 6 months ago. At 6 months it becomes official and he was able to be sealed to them in the Salt Lake Temple. It was a great day.

Braxtin Allen Rickertsen

Justin, Wendy and Braxtin Rickertsen

Soren 5th birthday celebration

5 years ago this labor day weekend I was in LABOR with Soren. I can't beleive he is already 5. He is such a sweet little boy. I promised him a few weeks ago that I would take him to chuck E cheese as a family for his birthday. His birthday feel on a Sunday this year so we decided to go on Saturday. We went to a lowes building workshop for kids a few weeks ago and the kids had a blast. I found how home depot was doing there's on Soren's birthday celebration day and thought he would like that. They were making football display stands so I decided to get him a football for his birthday. Kaydence came along and made one too because she just loves crafts no matter what it is.

On friday we got a last minute invite to a birthday party from a kid in Kaydence's class. It was the first week of school so anything would have been cutting it pretty close :) So We took kids to Home depot at 9.30. Then straight to Chuck E. Cheese after. Then took Kaydence straight over to her friend Julian for his party. His dad invited us ALL IN so Soren got to play as well, and Craig and I got to chat with some parents from Kaydence class and got to meet some people. It was such a nice breezy day. Julian's dad had rented one of those huge bounce houses and had a trampoline as well so the kids had a blast. It was great, I was actually imagining throwing Soren a party very similar but just nothing seemed right when in preparation to plan. Both my kids birthday's fall on holidays and it's just so tricky to plan anything around them.

So anyway... it was nice that Soren got his big party with a bounce house and cake and ice cream at someone else's expense :)

We finished off the very busy and fun birthday celebration with Soren opening his presents. He was SO excited when he opened up the football. He said "ooooooooooh THANKS MOM!!!!! as he pulled it out of the bag." He got so excited about everything even thought it wasn't much. He got his "big" present last week with the trampoline, so I was a little worried he would have felt gypt on his big day. Also as I was walking around stores and looking online for something I couldn't think of anything to get him!!!!!

We didn't do a cake because he got cake and ice cream at julian's party but on Sunday when his grandparents came over they brought him one!!!!! It was perfect, I even had a 5 candle just sitting in my drawer. Everything worked out great this weekend and we still have tomorrow (LABOR DAY) to be as a family.

Kaydence is now in 1st grade!!!!

Kaydence started 1st grade this week. While most moms have been crying about this day, I have been waiting for this day for the past 6 years!!! She thrives on routines and crafts and busy work and I just can't keep up sometimes. Well the week before school started, it dawned on me that she was going to be gone ALL DAY. I would see her less in the day than she would be at school...which means others are going to influence her more than I will. All I wanted was to be able to do the dishes and not come upstairs to find a whole ream of computer paper and 5 glue sticks used up in one sitting. I think all I was needing was maybe 1 day where she was gone all day. When it hit me, I started to tear up myself. I really didn't think that would happen. Well it's too late now! It's friday and she is at school finishing up her last day of the first week of all day school. SHE LOVES IT, which I knew she would. And it has been nice to spend some quality one on one time with Soren. He starts half day school next tuesday so when he is gone I will get one on one time with just Ivan. A LOT of commuting back and forth taking the 2 to school and back but it will be nice to give each child some proper attention for a change.

vacation at snowbird in utah

My parents have had a time share up at snowbird ski and summer resort every august for the past 33 years and I haven't had a chance to make it up there with them since Soren was a baby ( 5 years ago). It was a lot of fun to see everyone. Craig stayed home and worked during the week so I took the 3 kids on our first long trip without him. The trip is about 5 hours to get down to utah and with having to stop and nurse and potty breaks it took a litttle longer than that but overall wasn't TOO BAD. I have a lot of memories as a kid at snowbird and love that my own kids can start making memories there too.

..............

When we all get together all the girls usually get pedicures together so this trip we did just that. Here we are getting pedicures with our little ones in our laps. mine you can see is not in my lap but in the stroller off to the side :) he didn't make it to my lap till after photo.

Here is me with my little ivan on the balcony. This is a great view of the mountains and so nice to wake up to in the morning.

Here is one of Braxtin smiling. He isn't as on demand smiley like ivan is so it was nice to catch him in a smile in this photo.

Here is ivan with Braxtin hanging out on the floor.

Here is one if Ivan with my mom. He is also sporting the fo hawk as well. Super CUTE!!!

And here he is with my dad. He got a little sun earlier in the day and you can tell by his red cheeks.

Here is everyone playing games.

here is one of ivan and me. He is such a cute!!!

Here is a picture of Ivan with my little sister Alyssa. The shirt she is wearing was a "reverse tie die" activity snowbird had during the week. reverse being that you don't add color but, by using bleach, take color away. To do so you simple use stencils and a stray bottle with bleach in it. All the shirts that my siblings made turned out really nice. I plan to do this activity sometime later for sure.

over the last few years they have accumulated quite the little theme park. Here is my brother Mack getting ready to head down the Alpine Slide

Here is kaydence on the trampoline. She is my little dare devil!

We took the tram up the mountain but Soren was on the onset of our sickness and couldn't stay awake. He slept right there the whole time we were up there.

Here is a view of snowbird as we are coming down the tram.

MY BOYS

Its been 5 months and I have yet to have the boys in a matching outfit. well I got a 5t which is the largest in the section of clothes and 12m which is the smallest size in the section and tried them out. I figured the 12month clothes would be way to big and wouldn't fit for a few months but they actually fit nicely. And I thought the 5t would be cutting it close for soren, but they still fit as well. Im sure after a wash the pants will be too short but I will just have to air dry them with my jeans. I think they look adorable!!! pretty much the cutest thing I have ever seen in fact. :)

We're NOT dead

So it's been a while since I've posted and my mom is wondering what's up... We got new phones and I have mostly been taking pictures with it rather than my camera. Also i can't find my camera since coming home from our trip to california :( But I really have been a slacker in the picture department this summer. Here are a few things we've done I have pictures for.

This is a picture of Kaydence on her last day of school. I have been wanting to get one of these pediskirts but they cost $50+ and now they have them at costco :) she looked super cute. She is now going to 1st grade!!!!

Here is just a random picture of the 3 boys one visit to connie and lindsey's. The twins are getting so big! But ivan is a monster so you can't tell :)

here is a cuttie of Ivan in the bath. I love his smile...who doesn't love a baby smile :)

Ivan is in the great stage of BLOW OUTS! I upped the size of diaper he wears and even changed brands but it didn't' help. I decided I needed to start him on rice cereal to thicken it up a bit.

Here is his first time eating rice cereal

A friend gave Ivan this little "chew toy" when he was first born. He really likes playing with it.

I've been having Ivan spend a lot more time on his belly to strengthen his muscles and thought this was a way cute picture of him

We all went to the sacramento zoo while in california. It was nice spending time with family for the week. Haven't been to visit my family in the summer in about 8 years or so and it was nice to actually be able to do things with them.

We had a lot of fun in my parents pool. I miss having a pool :( We always were able to learn how to swim by at 3 as kids and my kids are almost 5 and 6 and still have yet to learn. Tammie (she was a life guard for years and taught swim lessons) was able to teach kaydence a little while we were there.

The whole family went to six flags in Vallejo. It was a lot of fun. This is actually the last place I remember having the camera...This picture wasn't from me, it was from my aunt Bonnie's camera...who knows where mine is :(

Here is Ivan's first taste of grass. Most kids don't like grass but I don't think he minded to much. He had a nice time playing with daddy and our new dog out there.

We went to the Bosworth (craig's grandma on his mom's side) cabin for the Atkinson reunion and it was a lot of fun. Almost everyone was there and it was great to hang out and see everyone. all 5 babies were there, but we didn't get the napping schedules together for a photo :( hopefully we can in the next few weeks. Here is a picture of Kaydence her her hula outfit my mom got her from hawaii getting ready to head to the beach... and also a picture of Ivan with his cousin Julia.

Soren has defiantly fallen into the "middle child" scenario the last few months and has been neglected in the picture department. Well actually it's pretty much been ALL IVAN, but a few kaydence pictures creep in every now and again but Soren has been neglected but not forgotten. I went and cut the kids hair today, been putting it off for a LONG time and finally decided today was the day.

JUNE 2nd

Happy

Birthday

mommy dearest!!!!!!!