The Koch Family

2011 is gone...

2012-02-02T07:37:00.000-08:00

February is here which means 2011 is officially gone. But I never had a chance to tell it goodbye and remember a few favorites that may or may not have made it up here...

Our biggest change was adding little emmers to the family. What an amazing addition she has made. We love her fiercely some kids might love her a little too fiercely sometimes! (but i won't name names)

she created a bit of a chain reaction- thanks to her addition we had to get a little larger- car that is. and we made the plunge to the mini van. (i think i just threw up in my mouth a little bit) i love it and hate it. They really are pretty amazing. But i still can't believe i am driving one. it has a tv and satellite radio oh and doors that open with the touch of a button. amazing. when they call my name after changing my oil i might slink up to the counter hiding my face in shame a little still though.

And the mini has satellite radio- which means that this past year has been draped in songs from radio disney- i could sing every song by justin beiber, selena gomez, lemonade mouth, tayolor swift (ok i actually really love her). I laugh every time camiron has to sing along. She is very determined in her singing and hopes to get every word right. There are car fights on who is better justin or taylor. thank goodness they also play adele. I love the raspy voice of adele.

We also officially made it through a whole year of troy in the bishopric. it has been touch and go at times. he never feels like he is never doing enough at home, work or church. i always feel like he is doing too much. he is amazing. i still wish our building wasn't 40 minutes away. that is still the hardest part. i am also grateful troy didn't have to deploy this year. unfortunately the rest of his department did- ok that is a bit dramatic. only half the department deployed leaving them half staff but the same amount of patients. we will just say he worked hard. really really hard this year. phew. but i was happy to have my guy here with me.

which leads me to 10 years. 10 years we have been married! how crazy is that. Troy went camping with his friends to celebrate. i was excited for him though, because he has been hoping to get on his boys camping trip with his buddies for the last 10 years. just so happened it fell on our day the year he finally got to go! but to make that up to me- we both finally got new wedding rings (mine was stolen years ago and his was lost- 12 times over until it officially couldn't be found again). it was fun to both have rings again. until troy lost his 2 months later. Hilarious!! so if you ever come across a mans wedding ring- there is a chance it could be one of troys lost ones?...

braden learned to read this year. really read chapter books and spell big words. he loves to be the star of every sport he plays. braden didn't break any teeth this year thank goodness, but did lose his first.
Camiron knows all of her letters and sounds and can count to 100. she made the gymnastics team and will apparently be competing this year. what does a 4/5 year old compete? i am really interested to know. she loves it though- especially after sitting out with her broken arm for 6 months. 6 months is an eternity to a 4 year old.
emory grew 4 teeth, learned to sit up, crawl, giggle, and wreck all wreckable toy items of the other kids. priceless.

loves to 2011 you brought us many good great and hard things.

ooh

2012-01-12T08:03:00.000-08:00

oohh is the noise that comes with this face.

we get this face a lot. especially when she is talking to other babies or pets.

how do you not love this face?

and she has crazy eyes. both the other kids were dark brown by this time

e has gray, green and brown in there. so i guess that makes her my

hazel baby? love them

christmas break is not a break...

2012-01-12T07:43:00.000-08:00

if we stay home braden and camiron fight, bicker, hit. there is a lot of yelling and timeouts.

but when we are out b and c are great. So we got out a lot.

2 week of everyone home is a bit too long.

disney on ice was a hit for everyone.

this was our first at disney on ice and it was above and beyond my expectations.

it was like cirque de sole on ice. pretty great.

Denton ridge lights. 50000 lights, a fabulous santa (except when he

told the kids he loves chocolate chip cookies- i soo was not planning to make cc cookies!)

a train made of golf carts, hot chocolate, marshmellows, fires.

it was a great time.

we made gingerbread trains this year instead of houses.

to me this is one of my favorite christmas activities.

my little reindeer

a trip to the rangers museum.

hiking raven rock

a painting adventure

(this really was a lot of fun)

and don't forget the movies, mini golfing, roller skating, bowling,

trips to the playground, playing in the sandbox, playing at the lake, making a fort

legos legos legos.

are you exhausted yet? i am.

merry christmas morning

2012-01-06T13:39:00.000-08:00

the cookies have been snarfed up.... that is a sure sign of santa

the carrots for rudolph?... gone

yep the big mans been here.

e missed all the present since she snoozed through the opening!

She got around to opening her presents around 5 that night.

b got the prized ds he has been hoping for

cam scored the bitty twins. lucky girl

and e has the cutest rocking horse which sings the funniest songs.

we all listen to the over and over because we think they are funny

and it was perfect to get to go to church and celebrate the true meaning of christmas

so perfect to have christmas on a sunday.

we had a beautiful singing program for sacrament- and troy even got to sit with me

because we were combined with another ward. That is a present on its own!

merry christmas!

goodbye little elfie

2012-01-06T13:19:00.000-08:00

our elf might have made a final stop off with each kid before heading back to the north pole for

the last time of the season.

And troy and i might have thought this was hilarious.

good bye until next year little elfie. thank you for helping us through a

few rough patches this year.

2012-01-06T13:11:00.000-08:00

christmas eve at the koch's has turned into our away from home tradition.

We love having a christmas eve party for the kids to get together with friends and run their wild excitement out of them. And because this makes a full decade of not going home for christmas- so it is fun to have our own traditions now.

this year we had the andersons, asmus, mayberry's and hancock's.

it was a full house with 10 adults and 17 kids.

We made homemade snow globes, ate dinner, frosted cookies for santa, had some extra crafts

and just plain ran amuck. it was perfect. Thanks dear friends for joining us this year.

mandy, sydnee, me, katie, jen

lil' santa leads the class

2012-01-06T12:25:00.000-08:00

B got to play santa (the lead) in his class play. He was super excited. (this followed just

after his first grade class election where he was elected "class president". He was

over the moon about being the pres and instructed that i call him pres.

he is unsure what being class president entails but it will have him doing "important stuff".

It was a vote where every kid had to vote for someone other than themself and

he got the most votes. Yea Braden. as a mom this means to me that he is nice

to the kids in his class and that is a great feeling as a mom.)

back to christmas... he played santa and then we had a class party. it was fun- as fun as class

parties ever are :) and he was super giddy to say goodbye to school for 2 whole weeks. ugh.

christmas program

2012-01-05T08:18:00.000-08:00

camers had her christmas concert for preschool.

she was so cute and sang hard. She was a doll up there.

Some of the songs were pretty funny with their extra glories and hallelulas and she loved it.

e didn't love it as much with nowhere to play except to pull things out of my bag.

after the show :)

with her best friend Bria. (bria got to be the angel)

breakfast with santa

2012-01-05T07:47:00.000-08:00

Santa number 2 for the season. our neighborhood had a yummy fun breakfast with santa. We need to stop seeing the big guy. a new wish and want comes each time. :)

But we had a great time seeing all of our friends from the neighborhood, making crafts and chatting with santa. perfect morning fun.

anderson creek ladies

2012-01-05T07:29:00.000-08:00

a delightful night with a few friends from the neighborhood. and i came

home with a lovely ornament.

yummy tree

2012-01-04T08:26:00.000-08:00

we love getting a real tree.

it smells yummy and it is so much more fun

to pick out.

I love the excitement that comes with a real tree.

sick e

2012-01-04T08:09:00.001-08:00

i realized i forgot to add little e's story of staph. I didn't take any pictures of my miserable girl so i didn't think to put it up. E got sick just before her 9 month apt. Camiron had just had strep and they warned me if Emory got a fever to bring her in. So she spiked her first fever ever of 100 ish so i took her in that day. she was miserable, but after some tylenol and motrin she was back to her normal self by the time we got there. They did a swab of her throat and her strep came back negative, so the dr sent me home and said, really don't bring her back in... just call if her fever sticks around. It was kind of the dismiss. So 4 days later she just kept getting worse. She was so pathetic and would wake up around 100 and go to bed at night around 103. So finally I just took her back in- after a really sad work up (they had to cathaterize her to get her urine to see if she had a uti, take blood, check her throat, ears etc) and the dr. finally decided to give her a really strong 3 day antibiotic shot to her butt. I had to bring her back 3 days in a row for it. Well by day 3 the dr. learned that she had bacteria in her blood which is really scary and if we hadn't done the shots she would have been admitted to the hospital no doubt. The dr told me that if I hadn't been so diligent she would still have admitted me just to make sure she got all the meds she needed to get it out of her system. So e had the 3 butt shots, followed up by 10 days of another oral antibiotic (the pharmacist had to triple check if e could really take that strong of one, it was only after she found out she had staph in her blood that she realized why she needed it). So now we are a first- our dr's first ever staph baby. don't know how she got it- hope she never gets it again. a bit scary especially in hind sight. phew. love her. i wish she would quit sucking on shoes- maybe that is where she got it. i am guessing it started as pnemonia its the one thing we didn't test for.... but what do i know :)

ward christmas party

2011-12-26T17:37:00.000-08:00

our ward christmas party was the first weekend in december. it was a perfect way to kick off the

holidays before it got too busy. and my kids had a chance to chat

with santa nice and early so they could lay out their wish list. too bad we saw santa 3

more times. seems like their list continued to grow and grow. each santa

had a new request. i need to cut down on the santa visits next year!

but we had a great time. their was a nice program, santa and mrs. clause, dinner, and crafts for the kids.

perfect. we really do love our ward and are so grateful for the friendships we have here.

nut cracker

2011-12-26T17:22:00.000-08:00

i took my two loves to see the nutcracker for the first time

we left excited and dressed for a night on the town.

I have to giggle because it was camirons dance teacher who was putting it on

with two other dance companies. Now I was thinking- there were tryouts for this

it was being held on a college campus... this should be at least ok. not so much.

I knew when we walked in and it was more of a jeans and mullet affair that i was in for a funny night.

the kids loved it. i didn't mention to them that the dancing bordered on terrible and that we were

the only, and i mean the only ones not in jeans. all in all a great night. maybe next time i will

be taking them to something a little more professional. at least for $5 a ticket i didn't feel bad

that camiron asked questions about what was going on the whole time.

breaking dawn

2011-12-26T17:16:00.000-08:00

thank goodness that even though I don't have my original twilight crew

around, I still have a few ladies willing to catch the newest twilight with me!

(they thought i was funny to need a picture- but it is part of tradition!)

margie, katie, me, christine, kendra, jasmine

a little slice of heaven

2011-12-26T17:12:00.000-08:00

like usual we didn't make it home for thanksgiving (this makes 10 years in a row)

but we were lucky enough to have good friends bring us in.

We were able to celebrate and give thanks with the coyles, collins and swopes.

We had so much fun. The kids ran and played amazing which meant the the guys

even caught some football and a nap, the girls had a chance to play some cards.

what a perfect day.

thanksgiving festivals...

2011-12-13T07:29:00.000-08:00

Bradens class had a little thanksgiving play to preform for the parents

followed up by lots of fun centers/crafts. loved it.

and camirons had a full thanksgiving feast. she thought

she was just the shanizzle...

too cute.

a new toy

2011-12-12T11:54:00.000-08:00

a new toy in the house. I love this neighborhood- you have a need

someone is likely getting rid of it. i bought this gem from a neighbor for $10.

it is a hit all around. Emors is not the only one in love with it.

the older sister with the deer in headlights is saying

"sure i promise to share with e"

yea right.

so dang cute

2011-12-12T11:38:00.001-08:00

really this is so dang cute.

i especially like the "hey braden lets play outside together" part.

favs

2011-12-12T11:35:00.000-08:00

why do kids love the dishwasher so much? emory can hear it open from a mile

away. it is amazing how speedy she is when she needs to be.

the dishwasher and fridge are her favs.

the other kids think it is funny and love to open them just to closed them again on her. mean!

2011-12-08T08:15:00.000-08:00

i have learned my lesson. I won't try and take pictures of all 3 on my own.

I attempted to get some cute fall shots. Attempt being the key word.

It didn't go so well. i was sweating, the kids were mad. There are a lot of

outtakes involved.

Braden apparently doesn't know how to smile anymore? I didn't realize it is a

skill that you lose. When I ask him to smile, he said he doesn't know how.

I hope to find it on the side of the road sometime and reapply it to him!

E was all but impossible. She wanted to crawl out of every shot, or look at the

ground to find a leaf or pine needle to eat. I promise you they aren't tasty E. Pine needles

poke. Quit eating them, look at me I am funny.

this is it. the best i got. hmmm. next time troy is so getting cornered into helping.

the final choices..

2011-12-07T08:18:00.000-08:00

braden and camiron had to decide for a full week on their choice of costume before I would

buy it. Braden picked jenka from bayblades and stuck with it.

Camiron changed at least 20 times. but Super Girl was the final pick and she stuck with it.

and loved it! (phew)

Emory- well she had no say. she wore cams old duck. you can check back to halloween of 07 to see cam in it. When I put them in the same outfits, they sure look a lot more alike!

2011-12-06T07:36:00.000-08:00

the ward put on an amazing trunk or treat this year. complete with

haunted house, games, pinata, carmel apples, trunk or treating, and a cotton candy machine.

great night for the kids.

favorite spot

2011-12-06T07:10:00.000-08:00

ems favorite spot in the house. she doesn't get it often because

i usually have to tub the 3 kids together and they also fight for this spot.

but when she gets it.... life is good.

2nd round

2011-12-01T07:58:00.000-08:00

we hit a second pumpkin patch with our ward friends. it was a perfect day

great weather and the kids were so happy to be there with friends. this one

has a little play area, animals to see and a hay ride. love it!

ben and braden

cam and gwen

funest pumpkin patch ever

2011-12-01T07:39:00.000-08:00

this pumpkin patch might be the funest patch ever. We actually left without pumpkins- but still

had an amazing time. there is the jumper- the playground- the hayride- the corn maze.

so much to do! the kids loved it. and they loved that troy got to come.

happy fall

night out

2011-12-01T07:10:00.000-08:00

dinner out with friends. its rare. like once every few years rare. so this might

be our first since being in north carolina. loved every second of it.

with the andersons, coyles, whitbys, footes and friends

season in review

2011-11-30T07:59:00.000-08:00

we love soccer.

it is fun to watch and fun to play. It was a blast having braden and camiron on the same team this

year. it will be the only year that happens. as soon as he is seven he bumps up a team.

so this is it.... and they were really cute out there.

unfortunately it was a bit of a rainy season, so we had a lot of games cancelled for rain.

thats always a bummer for the kids. and we had a bunch of weekday night games.

that is a little rough.

this year b really got the game. he scored at least 2 goals a game. he was usually the first to

score every game. he loved it. he is fast, all over the field, and likes to listen to what the

coach tells the other team to do so he can get there first and stop them. funny kid.

and cam- she loved being out there, got into the game with a lot of running and kicking the

ball. she did amazing for her first season and being the little 4 year old out there with the big kids.

and she really loved having other girls on the team to play with :)

justin, ryan, crystal (holding ethan and jamie) coach james with timmy

camiron, olivia, ben, braden, julie and ann marie. (missing rueben)

little hoover

2011-11-30T07:28:00.000-08:00

E is our only real crawler...

she started crawling back near the beginning of October

here she is getting started. She is trouble on the move.

She is our little hoover. if its on the floor- it will be eaten.

mini golf

2011-11-22T07:25:00.000-08:00

the end of the vacation pictures... finally.

on our way out of town we had to hit a mini golf range. Braden had been dying

to go since we pulled into town. they were everywhere you look. He loved it.

while the big kids (troy included) were busy putting

since just e and i were hanging out- i of course had to take the chance to take some pictures of her

just a few days before our trip she had started getting up on all

fours. she wasn't crawling yet- but it was soon to follow.

and the funniest thing she did is she would get on all fours, and then go back to a sit

but would have pivited herself. She used it as a way to get around- all fours, pivit, sit, all fours, pivit, sit.. hilarious! totally worked.

and the hamburger joint we stopped at had these darling chairs.

the kids insisted on pictures in them. who am i to deny them the joys of

getting their picture taken! so i had to follow orders!

magic

2011-11-17T15:06:00.000-08:00

as a kid the beach is magic. ( i couldn't stop adding pictures to the post so feel free to skip

it.) but i love watching the magic that happens between sand, water and kids.

it was not a warm day when we were at the beach- i had on a sweatshirt and jeans. Emory

was cozily taking a nap in the hotel room with troy. but braden and camiron ran like wild.

Braden spent a lot of time fighting with the ocean. Camiron spent a lot of time singing to it.

but they both loved running from its power.

perfect and magical.

a weekend at the beach

2011-11-17T07:50:00.000-08:00

we finally made it to the beach. We have talked about going since we moved here. The kids

were so excited and we had a fabulous time. Unfortunately by the time we went in September

it had cooled down a ton, but we of course still had fun.

We kicked off the trip with a day at the aquarium. Always a hit.

in case you can't tell there is a diver in the tank. the kids thought it was fun to give her high fives.

the hotel we stayed at had a whole indoor waterpark and game room that was a hit

with the kids. They froze on the waterslides and then braden loved loved loved playing

chess with the huge chess pieces. kind of funny. and really- why is making emory sit on the game

board with the oversize chess pieces cute? i'm not sure. but it really is cute.

oh the strange things you find at the fair

2011-11-10T07:50:00.000-08:00

this gem of a man made what might be the most expensive and worst balloon

items ever. and doesn't he look like he is enjoying his work. there is a chance he

does not nice things on the side. just saying.

a $5 parrott and $5 flower. really?

the kids had a great time of course. Em was a champ and put up with it for a long time.

Troy can no longer handle rides that spin. which is great because is there a ride out there

at a fair that doesn't go in some sort of a circle.

and the people watching. ohh the people watching to be done.

i can't help but wonder why girls wear hight heals with really short shorts or skirts to the fair.

don't they know that they will be walking around and around and

around and those shoes are going to hurt.

a morning at the lake

2011-11-05T16:49:00.000-07:00

Braden got a little obsessed with fishing our lakes. The sad thing

for him is that he just could not catch anything. he sure did try though.

(and yes there are plenty of fish in the lakes- they just didn't want to jump on our lines I guess).

Here is E watching the fishing extravaganza.

B working hard and concentrating.

and Camiron. she asked for her picture to be taken with these lovely flowers

she is such a cute little eskimo.... until you see the full outfit.

and troy. in full fishing jacket/ gear. fishing with Camirons mini Dora

fishing pole. I am pretty sure that mini pole is never going to catch anything.

Cam does not like fishing as much as braden. enough said.

exhausting

2011-11-02T08:42:00.000-07:00

its exhausting to be baby number 3. really really exhausting.

miss all your naps and put yourself to sleep on the floor kind of exhausting.

milestones - bike mania

2011-11-02T08:32:00.000-07:00

my little 4 11/2 year old can ride a bike. How can she be growing

up so fast?! riding a bike is almost like having a birthday. such a big milestone.

This is actually her second day riding. her first she was in rainboots,

a shirt and underwear. we laughed, a lot.

so day two- we are ready in a leotard, long socks and sneaks. oh and undies hanging out the side.

she was amazing, and proud of herself. and many thanks to an amazing dad who was willing to run by her side until she was ready for him to leave. he was a sweating. and many more thanks to a big brother who was willing to give her some space and not run her off the road

(which would be his normal brotherly kindness)

congrats my little one.

7 months

2011-11-02T08:00:00.000-07:00

my best attempt at 7 month pictures. not great. but she is still dang cute.

by 7 months she is scooting (mostly backwards) giggling at everything her brother and

sister do, siting fabulous, going from sit to crawl and rocking back and forth... but no official crawl yet

little stink

2011-11-02T07:47:00.000-07:00

this little stink would not look at me. the grass at the soccer field was really long

so i thought i would get some cute pictures of emory. too bad she also

thought the grass was fun and couldn't stop playing/ eating it. this was all i got!

i love soccer season

2011-10-28T08:25:00.000-07:00

this year camiron and braden get to play on the same team.

it is probably the only time that will happen because it is 4-6 yo coed team. so Braden

moves up next year. It cracks me up to watch them out there together. Cam

loves to wear her skirts to practice and is dressed in all pink and purple. and Braden

well, he is just die hard full out on the field.

Camiron: practice was so fun. the girls played this game if someone said pickle we

all had to fall on the ground.

Braden's response: while you were busy playing that, I was listening to the coach

and doing what she said so i can be a better soccer player

I laughed the whole way home!

cams first day

2011-10-28T08:13:00.000-07:00

on september 8th Camiron finally had her first day of school.

she was like an old pro. walked in, sat down, got to work. gave me a kiss goodbye,

and looked at the kid across the table from her who was sobbing and

told him it would be ok, they would have fun.

i love her!!

sweet....

2011-10-28T08:08:00.000-07:00

cam and i cooking... but really this one if you look close enough

can catch a nice view of her waxed eyebrow. and yet still adorable.

troy had to head out of town for a week for work and sent me this

lovelies while he was gone. how sweet is that. mmm i love tulips.

just because she is cute

2011-10-28T08:03:00.000-07:00

these were taken sept 1st. yes i am still 2 months behind. i had to put them because she is

so dang cute and i have to remember her little no neckedness.

*definition of no neckedness- she is like a turtle with no neck

"besties"

2011-10-28T07:56:00.000-07:00

i love that my kids are old enough to have friends that

they get so excited to play with. One of Cams nearest and dearest

is olivia. they spent most of their playdate dancing the time away in

their dance gettup.. the die hard dancing pics have me giggling every time i look at them

brings a smile to my face

2011-10-19T08:04:00.000-07:00

i love this little girl. she comes up with her own things to do and play

all the time. i had to catch a picture of this- she picked this outfit

and needed to jump a little rope. because why not.

i love seeing her own personality while braden is at school.

when he is around she kind of gets lost in what he wants to do- but

when he is gone.... the real camiron comes out to play.

b's first day of first grade

2011-10-19T07:54:00.000-07:00

Bradens first day was august 25th and he was excited to get started.

(so was i- after a long hot summer)

there are 4 other kids from the neighborhood in his class, which makes it

a million times easier that first day when you already have friends.

we love his teacher ms eichhorn- she has them working hard with weekly spelling

tests, practice reading and math. he is excited to go everyday... love that!

c didn't start preschool for a few more weeks- but of course needed to be a part of the fun

the latest injury

2011-10-19T07:43:00.000-07:00

after a minor door slamming incident involving an unnamed brother-

camiron ended up with a large gash in her eyebrow.

and as all good dr. do- they fix it at home so they don't have to wait in the

er. so here is the temporary fix- followed up by a durmabonded eyebrow.

the scar healed nicely- it is a nice pink strip through her eyebrow. the worst part

getting the glue out of her eyebrow. it ended up being a wax job- but only to half

the eyebrow. hilarious! too bad it hurt like crazy!

extra pool fun

2011-10-19T07:30:00.000-07:00

the day we got back from utah we jumped right back into swim lessons.

but that wasn't enough swimming for the kids- they made us set up our getto pool for some extra fun

(it was gross out. 100 plus and humid as can be. yuck yuck yuck.)

not forgotten

2011-10-19T07:25:00.000-07:00

* there were many fun friends/ event that missed out on the camera*

thanks to mar and abby to playing with us in eden while our husbands were camping together

lots of fun swim parties- cos ladies, brooke romney and kids

fun times with the cousins and grandma pam and grandpa steve

movies with papa, and shannon and kids

i know there are things i am forgetting...but know we love you and had a great time.

utah hope to see you soon!!!

I can't believe i have finally finished blogging it. it only took me 3 months! phew.

now to get up to date.

troys trip

2011-10-19T07:21:00.000-07:00

while i was hanging with the kids for the month-

troy flew in for the last week of our utah trip.

but he gave us the quick slip and headed out with this crazy crew for a week of backpacking.

he has been missing this trip every year since we got married and i am

so glad he finally was able to make it happen and have a great time.

(i must really love him, but he left for this trip on our 10 year anniversary.

happy anniversary t-roy!)

bart, brad, bryce

evan, troy, shooter, parker (brian was taking this shot)

troy, bart, shooter, brian, bryce, parker, brad

packing up

2011-10-19T07:14:00.000-07:00

my parents were great sports and while i was busy packing our month worth of clothes

and odds and ends, they took the kids for one last hurrah to doughnut falls. it turned out to be the

place to be that day and was crawling with people. so an extra big thanks to them!

gosh the second our plane took off we were already missing those mountains like crazy!

high school crew

2011-10-19T07:10:00.000-07:00

it is funny seeing all these kids together. (and i even forgot my camera

when we were with susie and jill for a swim party with their kids- dang it!)

who would have ever thought back in high school that this crew would be ours.

love them all

jake, andrew, kate, braden, emory, bo, ivy, camiron, sam, eliza, ashley and spencer

katers and E

e spent her time on this cute blanket....

while the other kids instead of playing on the park played in this great tree!

me, megs, brooke and ems (sus and jill i wish you were in this!)

e's fav

2011-10-19T06:56:00.000-07:00

Emory turned 6 months while we were in utah and it is amazing

watching her figure out her coordination. She learned to start putting things into her mouth,

how to play with toys, to stand up in the saucer and play with all the toys,

hold her head up much better (although she still doesn't have a neck :) )

and she has even started sitting on her own. happy 6 months e.

and she is just smiley and happy as can be!

the trouble trio

2011-10-11T09:41:00.000-07:00

utah is perfect for running through the sprinklers.

I remember as a kid we had this clown sprinkler head and it shot his hat in the air

we played with that weird clown for hours.

funny how things never change. running through the sprinklers is still a little slice of heaven.

this sprinkler adventure turned into the little trouble duo against papa.....

i'm still not sure who the winner was.

this is the kids "taunting" papa. I laughed so hard at the things they were yelling to

make him chance them. they sure are big thugs.

and then it turned into a wet t-shirt contest. I think papa might have been the winner

that time. then again since it is his shirt that ended up sopping.... maybe not.

better

2011-10-11T08:32:00.000-07:00

everything is always better (more fun) when it is with nana and papa.

the extended koch crew

2011-10-11T08:30:00.000-07:00

thank you again to dave and tina for opening their house to a family get together.

troy was only in utah for a couple of days with us

(he came for a week- but

ditched and went back packing with his high school buddies- and had a great time!)

so one of the only things he had a chance to do was see the family. loved it.

love everyone of them. and i also had a chance to get together with the

girls for a shower for kaitlin who got married just after we left. Congrats!

gardening+ yummy

2011-10-10T11:54:00.000-07:00

i can thank my parents for teaching my kids that you can actually grow (not kill)

things in your garden and then make something with it. Well not really anything my

kids will agree to eat, but others might eat it!

the kids had a blast making homemade strawberry rhubarb pie with nana.

they are pro at the criss cross crust now. i can promise you- they will likely never learn

this skill from me. and maybe just maybe next year they will

agree to try the pie!

med family

2011-10-10T11:39:00.000-07:00

medical school is well- a nightmare.

this is the family that kept us going.

We have such an important place in our heart for med school friends

and loved getting together with them while we were home.

we were able to round up a few that are now in slc. funny that still is 3 years or more away

for us. we are the slow ones getting back home :)

(the koch family, dayton family, lewis family, bachison family and marriott family)

these 3 were study buddies through the good and the bad.

casey and shane are amazing guys.

and i have such a special place in my heart for haley and dixie. love you girls!!

wheeler farm with the cannons

2011-10-10T11:29:00.000-07:00

i was giddy to get together with one of my dearest friends meagan and her kids

spencer and eliza. the kids had a blast together. we played at megs house for a while

and i got to see her new home. love it!! and then we braved the heat and headed to wheeler farm

which is always a winner with the kids.

can't wait to play next time!

singing in the rain

2011-10-10T11:21:00.000-07:00

we had some fantastic rain storms when we were in slc. the sky would get black and just open

up buckets. the kids thought it was amazing! they loved running around in the huge puddles that would appear out of nowhere.

dancing in the rain is one of the best parts of being a kid.

the smell of rain in utah = unbeatable.

even little e thought it was fun. or maybe she just thought her brother and sister

being wild in it were fun.

canoeing with the grandparents

2011-10-10T11:10:00.000-07:00

my parents took the kids canoeing- they forgot to take pictures of the

actual canoeing part- but did get these cute one from the day where they "landed".

*on a different note*

I added a few at the end because these pictures reminded me so much of a few

that i took a few years ago. The bottom 3 are from Hawaii when cam was about 2 and Braden 3 1/2

Notice camirons dress/ shirt. It was a dress when she was 2 and she refuses to give it

up and is positive it makes a perfect shirt. so here we are 2 years later, still wearing it!

24th of july

2011-10-05T17:06:00.000-07:00

we were pretty run down on the 24th of july (a holiday in utah)

the kids had a sleep over with all their cousins the night before and were

pretty done... so we set off a few early fireworks and called it a night.

(camiron hates real fireworks- she is scared of them, so this was just her style)

hill airforce base

2011-10-05T10:53:00.000-07:00

hill airforce base was a highlight for the kids on this trip.

they keep talking about having gone there and the planes they got to see.

this was one trip emory and i skipped so they had the day alone

with nana and papa and loved it!

(and i have to laugh, i wonder how many of my utah friends have never been there before??!)

the whole koch crew... cousins that is

2011-09-29T08:12:00.000-07:00

since we actually had all of the cousins together we had to grab a few

cousin pictures.

audrey, cierra, carson, braders

camiron, emory, coleman, mason, sage, keeley

with grandma and grandpa steve

and a few of my favorite individual shots

somehow i didn't take more pictures of the cousins. what was i thinking?

there was a lot of sprinkler time, we saw lindseys and tiffs new houses,

grandma pam had a cousins slumber party (she is crazy!) some little pools,

walking the dogs, i got to go to the temple, g. pam took the kids for a hike, and to the park,

and so many more fun things that you can only do with your cousins. we love them and

sure to miss them.

just chilin

2011-09-28T10:43:00.000-07:00

our mornings at nana and papas involved a lot of "just chilin"

always a must do

2011-09-28T10:41:00.000-07:00

the utah hogle zoo is one of the best zoo's we have been to.

the kids love it, it is beautiful, and there are fun things to see.

here we are waiting for the bird show. love it love it love it.

so i somehow gave in to getting these hats at the zoo. mostly to help with the sun.

the kids were pretty excited to be matching with papa. i kind of think they are

hilarious. guess we are ready for our safari. and you know when hat day comes

around at school exactly what hats my kids will be wearing!

back to my roots

2011-09-27T11:20:00.000-07:00

I grew up out in herriman and it is always fun to go back to my roots and see how much has changed.

lets be honest growing up out in the middle of nowhere- i never expected it to become

the new "spot" for the young families to settle. crazy!!

some of our closest family friends out that way are the butterfield

family. I love getting to catch up with them when we are in town

and my kids love getting to ride all their fun toys!

the joy of farm living! heaven for every kid (and clay)

B is the driver this round. scary- stay off the farm.

next up. i really don't know what this little truck is. so we will just say it was fun.

clay and sharon

I haven't been to the coppermine since I was a kid.

as long as we were all the way out there, we decided to head on over.

(we lived a few hills over from the coppermine and we could hear the blasting

and could hear the trucks dump their big loads down the side of the mountain

depending on what side they were dumping.)

checking out the trucks with papa

that is one big hole!

and one huge tire! (i am so glad they brought this from the old

visitor center. it is what i always remember as a kid. I was always mad that they had that plastic

in the middle of the tire because what kid doesn't want to sit in that huge tire!)

friends for life

2011-09-17T12:14:00.000-07:00

we managed a dc friends reunion (except troy of course) while in town

it was amazing timing- aryn and nate were on their way through from arizona,

jeff and tara were about to have a baby and move to colorado....

and ally and wes well they are the lucky ones to live in slc!

amazing that when we all met in dc, none of us had kids.

nate and aryn with luke ava and sophie

me and the kids,

tara with luck, will, kate and almost leah (and jeff is taking the pic)

ally and wes with ben, adam, emi and eliza.

the kids

the cute girls

the boys

the ladies

always a fav

2011-09-17T11:55:00.000-07:00

i love that my parents house is just minutes from millcreek canyon.

what is better than a quick trip up the mountains for a little hike, throw some rocks,

freeze your feet off. life is great.

checking the high river with papa.

since this was a flood year all the rivers were high and wild

so we really had to keep an eye on the kids.

and why not wear a dress.. this girl is a crack up.

E really might be the happiest baby i have ever met. all you have to

do is look at her and this is what you get in return.

ice cold water. suck your breath in ice cold.

"the boys"

2011-09-17T11:35:00.000-07:00

funny enough one of bradens favorite things he did in utah?

play bayblades with his boy cousins.

go figure. its the simple things in life and being with

cousins that make the world go round....

snow in july

2011-09-17T11:30:00.000-07:00

braden could see snow from my parents window

so he had had had to see it for himself.

nana and papa had a great time finding it in the mountains with the kids

liberty park... round one

2011-09-15T17:12:00.000-07:00

liberty park was an absolute hit with the kids.

i managed to catch my friend shannon just before she moved

to texas. why do we not live closer to each other?

our kids are like images of each other- they get along amazing

she and i had a chance to chat for 4 hours while they played. it

was crazy! i haven't talked to a grownup for that long in a row in ummm 6 years maybe?

loved every second.

cam and kara

(notice the difference when you ask girls to get together

for a picture and when you ask boys....)

braden and colby

and this sand pit was the biggest hit of all. at least 2 hours were spent here.

and in all this time did shannon and i get a picture together? of course not. lame.

dino's with the smiths

2011-09-15T10:56:00.000-07:00

our first stop in slc was thanksgiving point dinosaur museum.

it was a huge hit with the kids. i was ecstatic to see my good friend ally and her 4

kiddos. funny how the kids can not see each other for a year and

not care, just jump right in playing together. love it!! they had a great time.

eliza, ben, braden, camiron, adam, emi, and emory

(really 10 years ago when we met in dc there were 0 kids. now there are 7!)

this cute little one is eliza (she isn't mine, but is so stinkin cute how do you not post her with the kids?)

my kids could not get enough of sand on this trip.

they fell in love with this sand/ water play in the museum.

we ended the adventures with some ice cream, playing in a water fountain and running the gardens.

too bad i was too lazy to take pictures of all that because they had a great time!

our first "real" loss

2011-09-15T10:36:00.001-07:00

he did it-

B lost his first "official" tooth.

(there was that one that took 4 hours to remove by the dentist last year)

(and there is also that terrible dead one on the top row that i am

just impatiently waiting for it to come out. ugh)

but over the 4th of july weekend his first real loss happened-

popped right out into his had at the swimming pool. so glad we didn't loose it down a drain.

summer of pictures

2011-09-09T19:09:00.000-07:00

*this post is for my journal so if you are bored... skip it!
since it was 100 degrees and humid as sin i decided to get creative this summer. so we made summer "collages" we had photo sessions and then turned them into collages to hang in our toy room at the end of the summer. so I tried to only take a few from each session- but there are a million. and so many i loved from the sucker session that i had to put a bunch in.
and without further adoooo.... our summer picture session.

e turned 5 months

she joined in our lollipop series

bubble mania

the build a bear tea-party turned pose party

lego love

the sports star

the dancer

bayblade a thon

the princes ballerina

not to be outdone by the breaker

followed up by a breakdown

and finally where we spent most of our time... the pool series

phew.. and lets be honest that was only a tiniest fraction of the pictures in the series. but at least we had fun!

4th of july

2011-09-09T17:48:00.000-07:00

we had our first north carolinian fourth of july... it was fun but man was it hot!

we kicked it off with a go at the fishing competition at the pond- but the kids quit pretty fast

we followed it up by riding bikes in the bike- mostly golf cart parade.

(the kids really wish we had gotten a golf cart instead of new bikes! funny- in their minds they cost the same!) then we headed to the neighborhood bbq and water slide/ bounce house party, followed up by the swimming pool. the kids had a great day and were so worn out we skipped heading into fort bragg to watch the fire works. maybe we will see some next year :)

ready to ride....

c made me very nervous, she had just gotten her cast off and the

"no bounce house or slip n slide rules" don't apply on holidays b/c how

can you tell her she can't go on this?

even little e hit the pool. she loves it!

with friends page, payton, william and caroline.

family picture time....

2011-08-10T11:20:00.000-07:00

Braden: 6 yo

Camiron: 4 1/2 yo

Emory: (almost) 6 months

troy and i: old

a few favs

2011-08-02T14:34:00.000-07:00

so jackie had a photographer- so i was trying to catch a few candid moments that i thought might get missed. i didn't do any of the "real" shots and missed out on the fun wedding party shots. but here are a few of my favorites

jackie and jason

2011-08-02T14:06:00.000-07:00

i had another cousin jackie get married and had the chance to take pictures for her. it was a little crazy trying to take pictures and herd my 3 wild kids, and visit with my family. but it was great. and i had a really hard time deciding which pictures to put up since i took 1000. yes. 1000. (of the whole weekend.) Troy and drove up from nc to the wedding in maryland with kids. it was our first "roadtrip" and the kids were so excited, for about the first hour. by hour 8 not so excited. but we made it in one piece and jumped right in to the festivities. i joined jackie to take pics at the rehersal while the kids played at the house and then we came back for a family bbq and fireworks.

this pic cracks me up- if you read his shirt with that expression. i giggle every time i look at it.

watching fireworks

jackie and jason watching fireworks

eloise len, jackie jason, lenny peggy

carly, lj

frey family-

howard, melanie, donna and geri

eloise, annette, jackie jason, judi, marykay

my cute parents

braden refused to go out on the dance floor and only would dance in this corner-

which funny enough he had his own audience of people who came over to watch his breakdancing

moves. maybe i need to get him in a class!

with his new bud lj. they had a great time together.

camiron loved holding the "princesses hand" lucky girl

and i think i might puke. this can't be starting already. this little guy came

and asked camiron to dance. really? i mean this is adorable- but really! she is 4.

how can this be happening.....

the fam over to see their new house.

mike and debbie(

2011-08-02T13:20:00.000-07:00

this is a little behind- but over memorial day weekend i had a chance to escape for the weekend-(yes the whole weekend!) with just emory to California. It was a ton of flying, but she was a champ and I

had to chance to go to my favorite cousin mikes wedding. he married a darling girl debbie

and i am excited to have her in the family! It seems that we usually miss these fun events

since starting medical school, so it just was twice the excitement in getting to go.

Loved it! and loved seeing all my family. I hadn't seen a lot of them since troy and i got married 10 years ago. like i said, we miss it all!

(i actually forgot my camera- how is that even possible- so i have been at the whim of my moms pictures to get something posted. it was kind of nice to not have a camera and just get to enjoy. and most of the time i didn't even have e because she was passed around like a hot potato the trooper that she is)

My major

2011-07-26T19:37:00.001-07:00

I had the chance to "pin" Troy for becoming a major in the army. I am so proud of him. He has worked so hard at his career to get where he is and is the rock of our family. I always like a chance to meet some of his co-workers and it was fun to have the whole family along. Somehow we have missed all other rank changes- so proud of you Koch!!

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First foods

2011-07-26T19:31:00.001-07:00

How can she be old enough to be eating foods. It didn't go all that well for a first try but at least it was good entertainment for the other kids. They thought it was super exciting. We must not get out much.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:E Lincoln Cir,Salt Lake City,United States

Puke a licious.

2011-07-26T19:27:00.001-07:00

Why not jump in a picture with e's puke. They requested so if I must.... Funny

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Party party party

2011-07-26T19:24:00.001-07:00

We squeezed in a birthday pool party for Braden and friends. We invited two friends from church savanah and Ben and all of their siblings. Everyone had a fabulous time especially my big six year old. And we loved getting together with some friends before heading out to Utah for July.

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Does it get cuter

2011-07-26T19:16:00.001-07:00

I will never wear a yellow Polk a dot bikini again... But this little girl sure is a doll in hers!

The last bath

2011-07-26T18:46:00.001-07:00

It was a rough start to the summer and we were sooo happy to get this cast off. Phew! Happy day. Cam sure was a trooper And Braden was so sweet to still be excited for her even though she got it off on his birthday.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Location:Cove Creek Ln,Murray,United States

The big 6

2011-07-08T08:21:00.001-07:00

I can't believe my baby is 6. How did that happen! B is one of the sweetest, funnest kids around! He is also all boy and loves sports and really loves hitting things (namely our family and especially cam iron). But he has such a big heart and is friends with everyone, did amazing in kindergarten (he had a perfect report card which is pretty amazing for being one of the youngest in the class). We are so proud of you b!

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Best dad ever

2011-07-08T08:05:00.001-07:00

Happy fathers day to the best dad ever. Thanks to the best fathers day present ever we can now have waffles every day!

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summer rain

2011-07-01T19:03:00.000-07:00

we seem to get an evening rain storm almost every night...

and there is nothing more magical than getting to run and play in the rain when it

is nice and warm and you are a kid.

these smiles mean that this is just the joy of being a kid.

(and the beauty of rain after 104 degree humid day!)

and this is e's spot to watch. on the porch, nice and dry.

undie weather

2011-07-01T18:45:00.000-07:00

its not summer at our house if we aren't in our undies. all the time.

an adorable disaster

2011-07-01T18:42:00.000-07:00

this adorable cutie had her first dance recital to cinderalla. she was an adorable little fairy- and the only fairy with the cutest purple cast around!
the pros: she got to wear a little makeup for the first time.
gets to keep this super cute tutu to be played with- well forever
she had a great time and loved to perform.

the downside- the school we were going to have it at had tornado damage so we had it at a spot without a stage. so we didn't actually see any of camirons dance. i thankfully got to see her at the dress rehersal, but without a stage you just can't see over any other people. so there is no video footage- and we didn't really get to see her perform. bummer! rumor has it she was cute :) and without a stage, there was no curtain- and the kids just sat on the side of the room until it was their turn. so strange.

her two best ballet friends halle and kiera.

waiting to go on.

her little tap number

4 months....

2011-06-24T18:11:00.000-07:00

i had to capture a few of e at 4 months. what a precious age.

she is my happiest baby by far. she can't help but smile if you just look at her.

so here are a few of my favs that i caught.

(4 month stats- 25% in height weight and her head. guess she's little but even!)

she is also my drooliest baby. she loves to have her hands and feet in her mouth.

she doesn't care what fingers she is sucking on as long as there is at least one in there

and drool all over.

and if emory is getting a picture taken- you know camiron will jump on that bandwagon.

so here are a few of my favorites of my girls.

cast-alishious

2011-06-24T17:58:00.000-07:00

we had to get a few with this beauty. every person gets asked if they ever

broke a bone.... so she needs her proof. and she of course had to dance around

for the pictures. love her

t ball torture

2011-06-24T17:46:00.000-07:00

turns out braden found the first sport he does not like... t ball.

after the first couple practices he asked if he could quit. this is the kid who

loves all sports. I told him nope- he told ms crystal (his coach) that

he would be on her team and he would.

so we persevered through the season.

the treats of if you don't eat your dinner/ be nice to your sister/ stop talking back and

we won't go to practice tonight no longer worked. with other sports he would shape up

with t ball he would say- really i don't have to go?! funny!

here is the team

running to 2nd. with t ball there were no outs, everyone had a chance to hit. no matter

how far you hit the ball, you were only allowed to run one base. you had to wait for the

next batter to hit you to the next base.

e was happy to hang at the games...

but camers- it was not her thing. she was not happy to watch a boring sport in

100 degree heat with humidity and a cast....