In Idaho

This past weekend we packed our bags and headed out as a family to Boise Idaho. Pete's sister just had a baby girl and we went to meet her, hang out with family and attend the baby blessing. Brace yourself... we just got a new camera and I took over 500 pictures in Idaho. Cancel your appointment, don't go to the gym, forget your shower and just scroll and scroll and scroll through this pictorial documentary of our time in Idaho. Yep, it just might take that long :).

Friday, June 5th -
Claire and Spencer on the airplane. I am so grateful to have kids who are such good travelers (the cookies and iPods help)...

We had a layover in Salt Lake City and finally arrived in Boise late afternoon. We checked in at our hotel where we were greeted by Dad and Mom Waldron, Steve, Mat, baby Emily, Cody and Grandpa and Grandma Murray. After much deliberation and driving, we decided to eat at Pizza Hut and had a great family dinner together...

Saturday, June 6th -
Each morning, we would all wake up and meet for breakfast in the lobby. We would hang out, talk and enjoy being together. I was grateful numerous times that there were not many people staying at the hotel because the kids were happy and loud. They blew up large balloons and let them fly (yes, even in the hotel lobby). We finally had them take it outside...

Claire had a tantrum, ran away, put her head on the cement and kept looking back at us to see if we were still watching. Grandpa Waldron decided to go over and keep her company. After their little chat she stood up, wiped her tears and came running back to the balloon fun. Ah, little girls...

We then went to a local park that was gorgeous. We spent all afternoon playing on the playground and swinging on swings (the swings seemed to be the highlight for everyone)...

Here are some of the boys hanging out in the park...

Grandma Waldron brought a fabulous picnic lunch that we enjoyed in the beautiful park with the beautiful weather...

After lunch, guess what we did? MORE SWINGING!

Across the park was a huge water fountain that the kids wanted to go "see". I told them to not get too wet...

That evening, Pete and I went out to dinner with some of our very favorite friends, Nick and Rachel. They happened to live about 10 miles from our hotel. It was so fun to spend time with them and meet their new little girl, Reece. It was also nice to have some of the best babysitters watching our kids (thanks grandpas, grandmas, aunts, uncles and cousins)!

Sunday, June 7th -
Emily's blessing day! We went to church, witnessed Emily's beautiful blessing and met up afterwords at the Fergie's cute apartment for lunch...

While we waited for the grub, the kids went and played on yet another playground...

We were exhausted, so we took a little "rest" in our hotel room(we all ended up playing with Daddy)...

We then drove in our fabulous orange minivan rental to the Cunnington's house. It was fun to see their home, see how big their little Cristian had gotten and to hang out again as families. We talked while the kids played in the backyard and finished off a fun afternoon with brownies and ice cream. We wish this fun family lived closer!

Monday, June 8th -
Our last day in Boise. We found another incredible park and took full advantage of it (why stop a good thing?). This park had awesome swings, marimbas, rocks to climb and even a mini-waterpark.

Spencer enjoyed swinging, but I think enjoyed the attention from all the loving grandparents even more.

After the park, we went and had lunch at Applebees and then went to visit little Cody in the hospital (he got really sick the day before and got dehydrated). The men gave him a blessing, we jumped in the car and sped to the airport. We flew from Boise to SLC and as we were landing in Salt Lake, this is what greeted us...

We were also happy to see this...

Uncle Dave, Aunt Erin and Aunt Jen drove from Provo to visit with us during our 1 hour layover in Salt Lake. We LOVED hanging out with them even if it was only for a few minutes.

Whew! That is the overview of our family trip to Idaho. We feel so blessed to have such wonderful families and friends... now if only we all lived a little closer.

Brainless Bird

Meet Dorkus, the newest Waldron "pet". We seem to be magnets for bizarre animals in our backyard... Dorkus the bird is no exception. Each and EVERY morning, we hear an odd pounding noise in our dining room. We quietly sneak over to see Dorkus, sitting in one of our little trees ramming its head into our dining room window... over, and over, and over, and over, and over again. Super-dumb bird, and yet great entertainment for my kids. They stand as still as they can while laughing their heads off. Let's just hope Dorkus' head doesn't come off. See Dorkus go:

Precious Performance

So I can't even stand it... Claire had her very first dance recital last Thursday evening and it was wonderfully adorable! After she put on one really cute monkey costume and a smidgen of makeup, she was ready to perform. It was an added bonus to have Nana (my mom) here to cheer her on. Here are some super-cute photos of two of my favorite monkeys (Claire and her BFF Aubree):

Of course my video camera died halfway through the performance, so thank you to the Crumps for this video. Claire is in the front, third from the right. Enjoy...

Good job Claire-Bear... I mean monkey!

Soccer Stud

Dallin rocked this soccer season! He was so aggressive, fast and focused. He had some awesome assists and even made a goal for me over Mother's Day weekend! The best part of this whole season for him, however, was playing on the same team with 4 of his very best buddies (pictured above): Ethan, Emerin, Jake and Trevor... Ethan's dad was even the coach! Here are some action shots of our awesome #5:As a result of this super-fun season, Dallin is currently obsessed with soccer... he wears soccer shirts, plays soccer at every recess, plays soccer when he gets home from school, makes up soccer activities for family night and desperately wants to go see the Sounders (the new professional soccer team in Seattle). I have a feeling that I will be an official "soccer mom" soon. I already own a minivan, so bring it on. Way to go Dallin on an awesome soccer season!

Vegas Vacation

Last weekend, Peter and I escaped to Vegas. We don't gamble, we don't drink and we really don't do anything that Vegas is famous for, but we did however have a blast! The worst thing that happened was the loss of our camera... we therefore have no photos, so here is the best recap I can conjure up:
We stayed here:We relaxed here:We had a beautiful view of this:We rode on this:We went to this amazing show:We attended this funny show:We walked through this incredible exhibit:We walked past this goodness everyday on the way to our room:We spent a lot of time shopping here:We ate too much in these:Thanks to Papa, Nana and Aunt Jen for being the best babysitters ever and for taking time away to be with our sweet children while we took our much-needed escape.

So this is the quick summary of our wonderful time in Vegas. I guess for us, "what happens in Vegas"... stays on our blog. :)

Pink Ponytails

It was crazy hair day today at Claire's preschool... here is the craziness:


She won the prize for the "craziest 11 ponytails ever!" When we washed her hair, the bath water turned a perfect shade of bright pink... could there be a better day for a little 3 year old girl?

Cute Claire

Some things in life are fact and some are opinion... in my own opinion, I think my little Claire is beautiful... inside and out. She is feisty, fun, happy, passionate, loving, kind, and darling. Oh, how I adore this little girl.
She loves pink, she thinks babies are fabulous, she adores books and even memorizes them so she is able to read them back to me. She could shop all day long (specifically for lipgloss, candy and pretty-girl-dresses). She enjoys talking on the phone and paces in a circle as she does so. She loves going to preschool where all her friends are boys. Her favorite day of the week is Wednesday because it means dance class. Her very favorite dance partner is her Daddy. There is nothing better in her mind than to dress up in a beautiful dress that spins (a prerequisite for any dress we purchase) with sparkle shoes, a little lip gloss and a pretty ponytail. I love that you could find her playing in the dirt with a princess dress on. To sum her up, she is pure heaven. Her name means clear and bright... this is my Claire.These photos were taken at a wedding reception we attended last weekend and they simply remind me of how grateful I am for my precious little girl.

Don't Do

Just don't.
:)

Easter Eggstravaganza

photo taken by Jennifer Nielson

Here is what the Waldron's did over Easter weekend:
First, we all attended Dallin's early morning soccer game. He is doing such a great job this season!

We then high-tailed it to Pulte park for the ward Easter party. Here is Bishop Waldron supporting his wife who is on the activities committee by holding Spencer the entire party.

photo taken by Todd Crump

The kids participated in a great egg hunt and scored quite the egg collection.

photo taken by Todd Crump

Next we went home, counted the candy, ate some and then decided that we needed some more.
Dallin, Claire and I hopped in the car, drove back to Pulte park for the homeowners association egg hunt and party. Not to be rude, but it was pretty lame. Not what I was hoping for the $60 monthly association fee paid by us each month. Claire, however, was in love with the Easter Bunny who roamed the entire party. She told him her favorite everything and was thrilled that he couldn't speak so she could do all of the talking. Dallin was pretty stoked when he saw the clown doing face painting. Check out this work of art:

Coolest Pikachu ever (who in the world is Pikachu anyhoo?)

Easter Sunday was wonderful.

The kids woke up to find Easter eggs strewn all over the house, but first they found their baskets filled with fabulousness and goodies. They then took their newly emptied baskets on an egg hunt... Spencer had a blast watching from the Baby Bjorn. After presents and eggs, we had a cinnamon roll breakfast and we felt so blessed to have Daddy/Bishop home all to ourselves for the entire morning.
We then went to church and our ward choir sang for the first time since its inception last month (I have been called as the ward choir director, so this was pretty exciting)!
We came home from a wonderful and uplifting day of church to a delicious Easter dinner with some special friends. Bill and Donna Cherry as well as Bob Hunt and Diane Burd all came over and spent the rest of Easter with us. It was so wonderful to visit with them and have a special Easter dinner and lesson with them.

What a great weekend filled with a special mix of Easter fun and it's true significance. How incredibly grateful we are for the birth, life, death and resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

He is truly what makes it a Happy Easter.

Happy Easter.

Monster Meal

These little mints have provided our little family with a game that will probably never be forgotten. First of all, if you know my Dallin you know how much he loves to eat at the Olive Garden. We go there every-so-often together as a family and this is what we do every time our meal is finished and the after-dinner mints are brought to our table:

1- the kids quickly get under the table armed with a fork to hide from the Olive Garden "monster"
2- when Peter and I "see" the "monster" getting closer, we begin to stomp our feet in a rather wild fashion (remember the kids are right there, under the table)
3-the kids poke the underside of the table with their forks (shh, don't tell the restaurant on us) in order to scare the monster away
4- the monster is so incredibly scared that he "poops" under the table and runs away.

The poop happens to be these delicious little dinner mints. The kids are stoked that they scared the monster away and are ever so grateful for the delicious "poop" left behind.

Not very proper or dignified, but Waldron none-the-less.

Brother Band

My cool and super-talented brother, Scott, is in an electro/synth band called Killing Thursby and they just debuted their very first album under the new name (they used to be called Mosiac)!

Check them out at www.killingthursby.com. Cool stuff!