Halloween

I know Halloween was A LONG time ago but I have not blogged for awhile. Things are finally starting to slow down for us so I thought I would take a moment to catch-up on what we have been doing. Here are pictures of the kids in their Halloween costumes
Andrea is a "friendly ghost"

Bizzy is a witch

Alex is a "manly" soccer player

California

Alex, my Aunt Deb and I made a flying trip to California this weekend to see Alex's dad. He was diagnosed with what they thought was a brain tumor a little over a month ago and recently got really ill. They are not sure what is going on but he called Tuesday and asked if we could make it out there by the weekend to see him. This was a hard trip but I knew it was an important one to make. As a parent, you want to shield your children from any unnecessary pain so I prayed that this visit would be what it needed to be for my son. The day we left to go down there, he had been put in the cardiac intensive care unit. By the time we got there Friday morning, Cesar was awake and alert. It really was a miracle! He was really weak but so happy to see his son. We just wanted to share some of our favorite pictures from the visit:)

The next day he was sitting up and we even got to have lunch with him. Alex and Cesar were able to spend a couple of really good days together.

He even felt good enough to take a walk around the wing with us. It was really fun to watch Cesar introduce Alex with such pride to the nurses and doctors. Many times they would reply, "This is your son you have been talking about so much? It is nice to meet you. Your dad is very proud of you!" That meant so much to Alex. His dad had lived in California for five years and hasn't been very close to him so to hear that he is proud and talks about him made Alex so happy! As a matter of fact, after the first day, I asked Alex ,"So....how are you doing?" He replied with a big smile, "I'm good mom. Did you hear the nurses? My dad talks about me!"

just a picture of Alex, his dad and I.

Alex got a chance to meet 2 (there are 11!) of his aunts and uncles while we were there. The rest of them are still in Guatemala. Alex loved seeing the other part of his family though.

By the time we made it home, his dad had gotten really sick again and wasn't allowed to have visitors. It truly was a blessing that we were able to spend the time we did with him and that Alex was able to have some very tender moments with his dad. I am thankful to all the wonderful people in our lives who have prayed on our behalf. The prayers were felt. I have an amazing group of friends who have provided unconditional support to me and my kids! THANK YOU EVERYONE

REAL Salt Lake

About a month ago Alex and I got to go watch REAL play a game. The club he plays soccer with gets deals on the tickets so several of the boys he plays soccer with were there. It was a good game and the boys had a lot of fun.

Here is Alex with his friends that came to the game with us.

This was my favorite part of the game.....the elderly dancing ladies. My friend and I have decided that we want to try-out when we get a little older:)

UGH!

I got on my blog today and noticed that it has almost been a month since I have posted ANYTHING! Well, it's not that we haven't been doing things, it's because either (A) I have forgotten to take my camera or (B) I have been so overwhelmed with school work, I have forgotten to post. I started a masters program about a month ago and I feel like this is ALL I have time to do anymore......

so I can do this........

and then work looks like this for me!

I am thankful for this amazing experience but MAN ALIVE......I HOPE I SURVIVE!

Spider monkey!

Our little kitty Sasha has been a mostly indoor kitty but last night the kids took her outside to play. I was inside working on a paper when the kids came in yelling, "Sasha is a spider monkey! She climbed to the very top of the tree!" I wasn't concerned because one, there are not that many tall trees around our house and 2, the kids are sometimes a little over-dramatic.An hour later, they were still worried about her getting down so I went outside to help her and this is what I found!

It took us about an hour and a half to get her down. I don't think that she will be going outside to play again anytime soon.

And they're off!

The soccer season officially kicked off this weekend. Alex had his first game on Friday night. This is the first year that Alex has played for a state-level club and I am still learning the parent etiquette. Saturday morning at 7, we loaded up the van with some boys from the team and headed to the next game.

It was a good game that ended 1-1. Alex is having a lot of fun and learning a ton!

While we were away, the girls stayed with Aunt Debbie and did some shopping. I am not sure how to feel about these hot little boots they got while I was gone but the LOVE them!

They also made sure that Sasha got something new too....the found this little red dress at the dollar store:)

We will spend the next couple months watching Alex play soccer and are sooooo excited about it!

Demolition Derby

Well, I finally did it. I broke down and went to my first demolition derby. The thought of paying to watch people crash cars didn't sound like a real great idea but my kids convinced me to go. I LOVED IT! We had so much fun picking what cars we thought were going to win and watching all the interesting people that showed-up to the derby. They had people walking around throwing prizes and I even caught one! I wouldn't say it was the best night of my life but it was fun! I didn't get to many pictures to share but here are a few.

Back to school

Ready or not, the kids went back to school last Wednesday. We have been getting ready for the last 2 weeks with 8:30 bedtimes and 6:30 wake-ups so on Wednesday morning, it still didn't seem real.

Bizzy and Sasha-Lou

The whole crew ready to go!

Andrea-my beautiful 3rd grader

Bizzy-I can't believe she is in 2nd grade:(

Alex didn't need me to walk in him for his first day of 7th grade so this is the picture I got

The kids LOVE their new teachers and we are looking forward to an AMAZING year filled with learning new things and making new friends!

County Fair

Yesterday we went to the county fair. I don't really like crowds of people and hot sun but since they set-up a block away from my house and the kids are old enough that I can't trick them, we went this year. I let the kids invite friends so here are the girls with their oldest and best friend Talya. Alex had a friend come too but he got there a little bit later.

The kids got bracelets so they tried all of the rides......

and the slides. Their favorite was the Gravitron. I think they must have set some type of record for most rides in one day!

It was hot so I had them take a break and walk around and check out the booths with me and get some water. They were excited when they got to meet Andy the Armadillo. Yep, that's right, Andy the Armadillo was at our county fair:)!

After a long day, Alex needed to refuel so he found one of his favorites......Chinese food:)

We had a lot of fun yesterday and I love that as my kids get older, I am still cool enough to hang out with.

Camping in the canyon

Recently, we did an over-night camping trip. We love camping and haven't done enough of it this summer.

Bizzy loves being outside and doesn't mind getting dirty. There are two things that I can count on when I camp with Bizzy.....1) She carries a journal to write or draw pictures about her experiences and 2) She looses her shoes. She had been walking around bare-foot and before we went to bed, I made her clean her feet.

I am not sure why my Alex thought he needed his sun glasses. I think his words were, "because I look good!"

The next morning we took a short hike and I let Andrea take pictures. This is how she saw the hike.

home, home on the range.....

This is the first summer since living in Utah that I have not taken classes all summer and would just be working so I was looking forward to a fun-filled summer with the kids. I had so many plans for camping trips and fun little vacations but I found myself busier than ever. We didn't get to do as many fun things as I wanted and the kids start school next week so we are doing as many fun things in the next ten days as we can! This is the first time the kids have been miniature golfing.

They had a lot of fun and were pretty good.

As a matter of fact, they were so good, we thought we would hit the driving range.

Andrea was a natural!

Trip to Price

We had our Robertson family Reunion in Huntington, UT this year. We actually stayed in Price which has a great dinosaur museum. Bizzy had a great time putting on a puppet show for me.

The kids enjoyed looking at all the exhibits.

Of course Alex never misses an opportunity to be a clown:)

The next day we headed out to the reunion....well, what was supposed to be the reunion and nobody else showed up. We hung out all day and the kids found ways to entertain themselves. They played several hands of fruit snack paper,rock scissors

They also spent time in the water. Bizzy said she felt like she was swimming in-front of a painting:) It was really pretty out there. Although there was a lot of miscommunication and not a lot of family at the reunion, the kids really enjoyed their little weekend get-away to Price.

Great to be 8!

Andrea turned 8 last week and this past Saturday, she was able to baptized and is now a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. She has been anxiously awaiting this day and I am so proud of her for making the decision! Two of my sisters, their kids and my mom were able to make the trip out here to support her and it meant the world to Andrea.

Andrea got to do a special musical number and she asked her sister Bizzy, her Cousin Ashley, her Aunt Jan and her friend Shelley to sing with her. They did a really great job

This is one of the only pictures I was able to get of my sisters. Jaime just wouldn't look at the camera. Every time I thought I was sneaking up on her, she would hurry and drop her head.

After the baptism, we went to the park to celebrate. Here is a picture of my mom.

Alex modeling the food we ate......it was a great day and I am glad that Andrea had so many people there to love her and support her in her big day!