Leave it to Brettsky...

The other day at Trey's football practice, Brett found a big tattoo on the field. He was excited, and I figured I would eventually see it turn up on an arm or leg or belly sometime during the coming week.

The night before school picture day, he came down the hall and exclaimed, "Mom! Look what I did all by myself!" There was the "lovely" tattoo of a skull with roses for eyes plastered right across his cute little face.

I figured that since I wasn't planning on buyin the pictures anyway, and nothing had been said by the school about class pictures being taken, I would let him keep his beloved prize on his cheek. I got a call from his teacher at about 10:00am the next day wondering , "about the tattoo on Brett's face.....did I WANT that on in the picture?"

Come to find out, the reason no class pictures were being taken is because the school had deviated from it's usual practice of publishing only class pictures in the yearbook, and decided to publish individual school pictures of each child. !!!

I've decided the whole thing is quite comical, especially because little Brettsky is the LAST kid you'd think of wearing a huge skull tattoo! I'm interested to see how his pictures turn out....and wonder what the kids will say in years to come about Brett and his tattoo in the yearbook!

A visit from G-ma and G-pa

Gramma and Grampa Despain got to come out to Kansas for Treyton's 8th Birthday.

Thank Heaven For Grandparents!!!!

Things we did with Grampa and Gramma this week:

laughed

went for walks

caught bugs

played ball

told jokes

fixed our trampoline

stayed up late

made yummy treats

hiked

picniced

took them to church with us

roasted hotdogs and marshmallows

drew pictures

got nice big hugs

took them to see our school

popped poppers (fire crackers)

got Poison Ivey

What a week! Thankyou Mom and Dad.......hope you've recovered!!

Trey's Baptism

Treyton was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints on September 20, 2008.

All his little friends were there to watch, and were so excited! They have all been friends since they were in diapers (actually, Trey was the only one of them born when we moved here). His bud, Carsen, gave him a journal, and he's been writing in it every night.

Treyton was so excited to open his new scriptures and case. And was especially excited that they had his name printed right on the covers! He set about reading his new Bible because he's already been reading the Book of Mormon, and thinks he should be just as far in the Bible! He also received a book about baptism a few weeks ago from his Grandma Stewart. He's been reading a little every night on hiss own accord! Adam and I didn't put him up to all this! His Grandpa Stewart sent him a letter and card, and a book to record info. about his baptism experience.

Trey and his Daddy have always shared a very close and special bond. It was neat that he could perform the baptism and confirmation.

It was such a special day. Trey was so happy on Saturday night, and excited to stand up in church to be sustained as a new member of the church on Sunday. He's such a cute boy! We are so happy he's ours!

Farewell to Summer....

It's so sad to see summer end! But it's so great to see the kids off to school in the morning! This summer was SO fun! Although it was much different than we had planned (what with our trip out to Utah and all), we wouldn't take back any of it!

The boys got good and toasted in the sun, despite mom's constant spraying with the sunscreen bottle. They just hate that! Thank heavens for an alternative to the old fashioned rubbing....it's much easier to chase them down, then spray them as they run away.

Treyton officially learned to swim this summer, and was so glad he could go off the diving board and swim to the side. Aunt Wendy's pool is a good proving ground for that sort of thing! Brett can "swim like a frog", as Trey describes it. He can swim all over, but not with his head above the water. Cameron (he should have come with "no fear, no tear" stamped on his back) doesn't care if he can swim or not. He just jumps in. I had to save him - no literally - save him from drowning twice this summer.

Speaking of swimming.....We miss the Olympics already! The closing ceremonies were just tonight, but it's so sad!! The boys really got into watching Michael Phelps race, and even enjoyed the gymnastics. Hopefully, they won't try too many things they saw....

"I....am Michael Phelps..."

Treyton joined a local Cub Scout troop a few weeks ago, and has his first Den Meeting this Tuesday! I'm so excited for him to start into scouting! I have no idea what I'm doing, but I know it will be fun! The troop is a community one, but our Primary President is one of the Den Mothers, so they meet in our ward building. Very handy! If he attended only through our ward, he would be the only boy. I'm glad he gets to be part of a large group with lots of support.

Cameron starts Pre-K tomorrow at the

Trinity United Methodist Church.

He's so excited!! He's been waiting to go to preschool forever.

He'll go from 12-3:30pm Monday-Thursday.


(Trinity United Methodist Church)

Little Brettsky LOVES Kindergarten!!! He has a cute little teacher, and is so excited to learn how to read! He loves laying out his clothes for the next day every night along with Trey, and getting up at 6:30am. Breakfast is not his favorite, but I usually stuff a few forkfulls of pancakes or whatever in his mouth between his questions of...whatever! His favorite part of the whole day is riding the bus because, he says, "It has NO seatbelts!"

So between the gym, Cam's preschool in Hutch, the boys' school in Buhler, scouts, practices, and etc....

It brings to mind an old bumper sticker my mom used to have:

"If a mother's place is in the home..why am I always in the car?"

Tomkinson Reunion

The Tomkinson Family Reunion (my mom's family) was held in Fillmore, Utah at what we like to call "The Homestead". It's the same home my grandparents have lived in since just after they were married. The place holds a LOT of memories for 4 generations of kids! It has been labeled the "best reunion yet", and I'd have to agree. I really enjoyed it this year!! Adam was the only one missing from our clan this year. I've contemplated Photoshopping him into this picture somewhere....

Cam on the cable slide

Trey playing Badminton



Brett going for the gold during the Family Olympics

First Week in Utah!!

We almost skipped our yearly trip out to Utah to visit family this year! I'm so glad we decided to come! The first weekend proved to be a foreshadowing of what our entire visit would present: fun, family, and exhaustion! We traveled to Ogden to attend the FIRST Despain Family Reunion in 12 YEARS! Yes, the Joseph Despain family has not been all together since the early '90s. All the babies are now unrecognizeable teenage boys, and all of us gawky kids have grown up to have our own families! It was nice to see that one thing hasn't changed after all these years and added generations: the "Despain Nose" runs deep in our genes, and adorns most all the faces of our extended family!
Staci and I found some rather unusual ways to entertain ourselves involving the children's craft supplies.
It was great fun, but as you can see, also sort of....scary!! Ignore the blur - besides the fact that he was laughing, my dad (who was taking this shot) was also a little startled. NO, it's not photoshop! We are actually making that face!

I got to see my cousin, Christina Cook face-to-face for the first time since I stayed with her and her family in Ogden as a 12 year old, and toilet-papered a neighor's house with 64 rolls. Her oldest, and my youngest are the same age, and would be great friends is they ever saw each other again before they graduate from Highschool - note to Dad: tell your siblings you all need to get together more often!!
Everyone had a great time enjoying each other's company - I've never seen my Dad smile so much for so long! We stayed at Pres and Sheryl's house in whichever Jordan they live in (south, west, don't know!) , and visited Salt Lake City Temple Square. I haven't been there in about....9 years?! Alot has changed, and we really enjoyed it. My boys can't wait to go to their Primary classes and brag about being able to go to the Salt Lake Temple and see the statue of Jesus!
So thus began what would be our month-long invasion of Mom and Dad's house in Hurricane...good thing they have a basement!!

Our trip to HAWAII!!

My younger brother and his wife had planned a trip to Hawaii months ago, and when they found out that Adam had vacation time during the same week, they invited us along. How could we say no?!

We all met in Hawaii, and enjoyed a kid-free week full of sun, sand, and relaxation on Kauai. We kayaked, hiked, body surfed, snorkeled, swam, shopped, and just plain had FUN!!

Adam's mom came to stay with the boys while we were there, and ended up staying for a whole month. We always enjoy her stays, and it even brought on a week long visit from 3 of Adam's siblings. It was great!