Saturday, October 17, 2009

Caleb's Baptism

Today was a very special day for Caleb. He was baptized! We are so proud of him and grateful for his example. He is such an amazing kid. We love being his parents and watching him grow.


Blake enjoyed the baptism...especially the refreshments. When Caleb went into the font with Michael, Blake kept reaching for them and saying, "I want it, I want it." I'm pretty sure he thought they were swimming and wanted to join in.



Sadly, the best shot of the whole crew. I adore these guys!

Saturday, July 4, 2009

The Frog Tower


Wednesday, July 1, 2009

An Evening at the Beach

This evening we went out for pizza at Grotto's and then walked along the beach for a while.  We were dressed up and couldn't resist a mini photo shoot.  After all... we are Swenson's. 

The boys thought jumping off the life guard stand was as entertaining as it gets.  

I enjoyed the band playing in the gazebo on the boardwalk.  Blake and I danced a while and were joined by the rest.  The evening ended with a little Rita's Italian Ice.  It doesn't get much better then that.

Swenson Family Reunion















We had a great family reunion in Bethany Bay.  Thanks Dad and Mom for all your efforts.  It felt so nice to relax and spend time with the family at the beach.  

Blake's "Na Na"

"Na na" is Blake's word for food and drink.  I think it stems from banana (his favorite food), but I'm not sure.  Most days that's about all Blake  has to say.

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Great Advice

Caleb and Dallin have enjoyed playing soccer this spring. Both boys have done really well and have been on winning teams. Because of this, they often share their scores with pride and compete with each other on personal stats. It's been fun for me to watch and listen.

The other week, however, the boys played some difficult teams and were humbled a bit. Their teams were playing a neighboring community called Elk Ridge. This is a smaller community with fewer children. They have to combine their age groups in order to field teams so Caleb's 2nd grade team played their K-2nd and Dallin's 4-5 year old team played against their pre-K team. Caleb's team struggle, but ended up with a tie 2 - 2. Dallin was in the middle of his game, but getting increasingly frustrated by his failed attempts at scoring. At half time he wanted to go play at the park instead of finishing his game. I told him his team needed him and he'd have to finish his game before going to the park. He then sat down next to Caleb to take a drink. Their conversation went as follows:
Dallin: This team is way hard.
Caleb: Yeah.
Dallin: Their so fast.
Caleb: Last week was more fun. Did you know I scored three goals and my team scored thirteen?
Dallin: You told me already.
Caleb: We were doing so awesome my coach said we'd get a milk shake if we score just ten goals and we scored thirteen and so we got a milk shake.
Dallin: I KNOW!
(So at this point I'm thinking Dallin doesn't need to hear any more of Caleb's bragging about glory days and I'm about to intercept with some motivational advice when their conversation takes a turn).
Caleb: Last week we did really good, but did you know this week we almost got beaten by a bunch of kindergartners?
Dallin: Really?
Caleb: Yeah kindergartners.
Dallin: That stinks.
Caleb: Yeah, so sometimes you do your best and you score lots of goals and get a milkshake and sometimes when you are doing your best you almost get beat by kindergartners. You just gotta still try hard and do your best anyways. So good luck!
Dallin: Thanks
(Dallin runs off with renewed energy and goes on to score a goal that half).

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

I love this photo


Monday, May 11, 2009

Summertime Fun

I came across this old video of the boys and got really excited for summer break (just three weeks left of school).

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Feeding Horses


Blake loves looking out the window at the horses. Today I decided to take him out to feed them carrots. He was a little confused at first and started eating the carrots himself.


Then he caught on.


Pure delight.

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Rock on Mike!


Michael has been working hard in Colorado (and practicing a little guitar hero on the side) while the boys and I finish up the school year in Utah. Its been hard to be separated. We miss him. We love him. Tonight we thought we'd write to say hello.

Caleb says: "Dear Dad, I liked the picture of you in the wig playing Guitar Hero. When is next time we are going to see you? We'll try to call you this week so you don't tickle us. Yesterday I got 100% on my spelling test and my soccer team won. The score was 11 - 1. I scored three goals and my team scored the rest. I wish you could see me and I could see you. I am excited to go camping with you and fishing with you this summer. I love you.
Love, Caleb

Dallin says: "Dear Dad, I hope you have fun in Colorado. I hope we have fun there with you, too, when we move. Today I helped mom clean and jumped on the trampoline with Blake and Caleb. Blake thought it was funny to bounce. I love you. Oh yeah, I ate chocolate milk with my cereal ... you gotta try it. You just take Cinnamon Toast Crunch and you put chocolate milk in then take a bit. It sooo good. Also, I can catch the Yo-yo now. I'll show you next time. Mom says I need a hair cut tonight, I say no. What do you think? Call me tonight. I am at our house.
Love, Dallin

We're looking forward to being together soon. Until then, Michael, Rock on!

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Lessons Learned

Today, I was unpacking from our spring break trip to Co. I asked Dallin to help me with the boys suitcase before playing with his friend. Blake was following us around. As I unloaded the boys suitcases, Dallin ran and put the items where they belonged. While we were in the boys room, Blake became interested in his big brothers toys and started wandering around pulling things out of their places.

My conversation with Dallin went as follows:

Dallin: BLAKE stop making messes when mom and I are trying to clean.

Blake: huh?

Mom: It's not a big deal, Dal!

Dallin: It's a big deal to me cause I'm the one haveTing to clean up after him.

Mom: I'll take care of it, let's leave him alone and focus on what we're doing.

A few minutes pass, Blake dumps the bucket of Lincoln Logs

Dallin: No, no, no, Blake.

Blake moves on to a Lego horse in the mouth

Dallin: Blaaaakkkeee deep breath pleeeeaaase stop!

Mom: Hey Dal, really don't worry about it.

Dallin: But there is slober all over my Lego mom.

Mom: Educational opp. Babies learn by getting into things. It's important for them to explore. They make messes because babies need to touch things, look at them, and sometimes even taste them in order to learn about them. Blake's just trying to discover what these big boy toys are all about. Let's just leave him be while we finish up here, Okay?

Dallin:No comment, slight nod.

A few minutes pass

Dallin: Mom?

Mom: Yes

Dallin: I understand how we need to learn to be smart and grow bigger ... but how come it is so important for babies to learn how to just make big messes and then five year olds need to learn to clean everything up?????????

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Star of the Day - Part 2


On Saturday Blake turned 1 year old. We celebrated with some chocolate cake and ice cream. This year has gone by so fast I could hardly believe this little guys already one. Blake has been such a pleasant addition to our famliy. His big Hanchett grin and belly roll laugh keep us entertained.


At one year Blake...
*refers to food as na na (I think because he loves bananas). He will request it pleasantly at first, but quickly demand it(na na, na na, Na NA, NA NA, NAAAAA NAAAAA).
*loves to take baths. The other day, I was running a tub and doing my hair. Blake was standing at the side while the water filled up. I looked down when I heard a splash and saw that he had climbed in with all his clothes on. He was soaking wet and smiling.
*is beginning to walk. He has been timid up until now, but lately has been braving it on his own.
*enjoys wrestling and tickling. He'll jump in on the boys wrestling matches and crawl up to me requesting ickle, ickle:) Love it!
*refuses to cuddle. He is so active that cuddling with him is rare.
*adores his big brothers. When he's awake, he wants to be with them. Often when I go in to get him from his nap he is looking out the window at his brothers playing basketball or jumping on the trampoline. He also knows where their room is and will crawl to the door and wait for them there. It's awsome to see.






Chocolate kisses from Aunt Sarah??? I don't think so!!!

Star of the Day - Part 1

On Friday, Caleb had a school program in which he was excited to sing and give his part. It was a special treat to have his Aunt Sarah watching him. After the program, I was really proud when his teacher complimented him for a job well done. Especially, because she singled him out as being responsible and told me she had selected him to be in charge of the microphone and stool during the program because he is such a great helper in class. I really appreciate this quality in Caleb.


Caleb has been fortunate to find a few close friends at school. These guys all play on the same soccer team and live in our neighborhood. It's fun to watch them pal around together.


Big responsibility...the microphone.


Caleb's part: "Children from all over the world enjoy music. Listen as we sing some songs that we have learned from different countries."



His adoring audience


Aunt Sarah:)

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Double Stuffed!


This little man has got his mom's sweet tooth and his dad's smile.

Monday, March 30, 2009

Homemade Slide

This week we had a great time with cousins. The Willis girls came for a visit and they were lots of fun. For their spring break, they decided to join us in snowy Utah. We took a few trips out in the snow, but had just as much fun indoors. On one morning we decided to make a slide using the boys beds. I don't know what was more enjoyable...the actual slide, or making funny faces for the camera.



The human train was a one shot experiment. There was little padding provided at the bottom and this train ended in a pile up.



We decided to take it one at a time instead.








Dal loves these girls.



P.S. At first I thought it wouldn't be nice to post this picture. Upon further thought, however, I decided it's just far to funny and needed to be shared. I especially love the look of pure delight on Mary's face. Good thing she's such a great sport.