Family Reunion Time!

My siblings all got together this past weekend and had our family reunion. It was great to have everyone there from Idaho, St. George and Virginia. We had a great, chaotic time. Whenever my family gets together, it's always crazy. Usually fun, but never short on craziness.

Saturday we spent the day at Deer Creek. My parents rented a couple of wave runners and we found a decent 'beach' spot and soaked up the sun. Here are some pictures of our day...

Ty couldn't wait to ride on the "boat".

The boys loved the sand, the water and getting dirty! I was amazed at how long they stayed entertained playing on the beach.

Jordo couldn't believe he was actually allowed to be getting so dirty, and he took full advantage. We all agreed the kids ate way too much sand that day, but what can you do?!

Ty loves to throw rocks in the water. Every morning on our run we have to stop at the canal and throw a few rocks in. The beach was no exception, except there were a few to many close calls with so many people around. So he kept wandering off to his own spot where he could throw rocks without endangering his cousins.

We tried all day to get a picture of all five grandsons playing together, but as soon as someone would take the picture, one of them had walked off. So we set them up for a try. Here are a few of our tries:

Not so great, but still five cute boys. Can we get a girl you ask? Pam is having another boy in a few months and Jim and Cassie are actually having a girl in November! It is fun to see the family growing and having cousins around for Ty and Jordo.

4th of July Celebrations!

The Fourth of July is Kev's favorite holiday, which makes it a lot of fun at our house. He gets everyone really excited for all the activities and never seems to slow down. I think that is where Ty gets his enthusiasm. Here are a bunch of pictures of our fun, and it was FUN!

Thursday morning watching the hot air balloons with Grandma and Grandpa Shaw. The boys loved it!

Loved it so much that when our friends, the Browns, invited us to go on Friday, we went again! The boys had lots of fun again and weren't even grouchy from waking up early two mornings in a row.

Next stop was the Provo parade, which we normally wouldn't do. It is always chaos, hot and crowded! But we dared the crowds with the Browns and stayed just long enough to see Kev's parents' Stake float. Ty and Grace are definitely pros at the 'cheese' thing.

And the night finished with the ever traditional Cul-de-Sac of Fire. This makes the 4th for Kev and now I'm sure will be one of our kids' fondest memories.

Ty is trying to be brave and hold his flag during the National Anthem, but the fireworks were a little close. I was videoing, so thanks Lexi for watching out for him.

Ty could have thrown Snaps all night. He felt pretty cool and got very creative on how and where he would throw them.

At first you think Jordo was having a great time....

only from a distance I guess.

(He did get better as the night went on though.)

With fireworks and glow sticks, who wouldn't love the 4th!

Happy Independence Day and a special thanks to all those that served and serve now to keep our country free!

Hooray for Construction!

I know many of you are wondering what this is all about. Most of us, me included, are sick of avoiding all of the construction that seems to be never ending. Especially in Orem, it seems we take 3 to 4 detours just to get to somewhere that should be five minutes away. It is getting out of control. Shouldn't they combine all their forces and finish one project at a time and then move on to the next?

Well, my street happens to be one of those projects and we were blocked in for a time. Not a big deal, we were home cleaning and didn't have plans to go anywhere. But Jordo was having one of those days! He is my drama kid and seems to always need me, attention, or food. And it never seems to be enough. I love him dearly, but the whining gets a little old. That's how our day was. I was trying to clean, he was hanging on my leg or crying or climbing onto things, falling and then crying. After I had about had it they started construction on my street and I have never been more grateful for those men in orange vests and their noisy machinery.

But after this, all I had to say was, "Where are the tractors?", and Jordo was at our window glued to the 'tractors' (I know they all have names, but to Jordo, they are all tractors) working on our street. Sometimes he would lose interest or remember he was supposed to be whining and he would come find me. I would ask him where the tractors went and he was off again to find them. I hope you don't consider this neglectful parenting. I just really treasure those times when the boys can entertain themselves, and today it was all due to construction.My boys are all boy. They love balls, dirt, rocks and big tractors and trucks, and today it was a really good thing.

Here are some cute pictures of the boys at the Orem Summerfest Parade, somehow I forgot about these when I thought I had nothing else to post about.

I love Ty's enthusiasm for everything! Kev's mom says that's how he was growing up, and who are we kidding, still is, and so far Ty seems to be just like his dad. He is so fun to do things with. Jordan was only interested in the loud things and those were usually too loud, and the dogs barking at the house we were by. If you ask him what a dog says, he sticks his tongue out and pants, it's pretty cute. He pretty much spent his time getting wet and dirty. Definitely a boy!

Just an Update

Nothing too big and exciting going on here at the Shaw home, so I thought we would just give a little update on what we have been doing.


Kev just finished his first block of summer semester, Hurray! Physiology is done, and now he's on to Statistics, yuck, but only seven and a half weeks of that one. If it didn't help speed up the process, I would say that summer school of any kind should be outlawed. The summer time is for playing. But Kev's a good sport and does what he needs to and I love him more everyday for the sacrifices he makes for our family.


The boys are great. Besides the occasional, or quite frequent squabbles over toys and who gets the sippy cup first, they get along great. Check out this picture I took when I caught them both in a priceless moment:

Too Stinking Cute! Ty was reading Jordo this book. Did you catch Ty's mouth? I think he's saying 'Wahoo', which is really what that page says. Both boys love books and read them all the time (thanks Rach and Mike for a book that gets well used). There's nothing better than having your kids play happily together and getting along. I hope these two always stay close.

And as for me, the picture above pretty much says what I've been up to. With the weather finally warm we are outside in our little pool A LOT (I'll take some pics and post soon!)and when we aren't we are still usually outside doing something. These boys keep me very busy, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Fathers and Sons Freezeout (posted by Kevin)

This past weekend, Ty and I went on the Fathers and Sons Camp out just above Hope campground (for those who don't know where that is, it is right next to Squaw Peak. We've all been there before one way or another right?...sinners). We have been trying to get Ty prepared for this all week long. I had to take a test before we left. When I finished taking it, I called home and Ty answered asking me if I wanted to go up the mountain with him and throw rocks and jump in the mud. How could I say no? I've always wanted to jump in the mud with my son. It's bonding at its best. I quickly changed into camping clothes with Ty knocking on the bedroom door the whole time telling me to hurry. We finally left in my in-laws Expedition and made it up there.

(Sorry about side-ways picture)

As soon as we got there, we got things unpacked and made our way to the fire. The first thing Ty did was grab a handful of dirt and throw it in the fire. That is where we had our father-to-son talk about what we can and can't throw in the fire. Once he found out that he could throw sticks in the fire, that's all he did for the next hour. Boys have this natural obsession with fire and my son is no exception (bless his heart). He quickly became friends with the other little boys and ran around the campground the entire time. I tried to let him go on his own as much as possible, and it was fun watching him interact with others.

When it got a bit later, we pulled out the marshmallows and tried to cook them. I put one on Ty's roaster stick and he rubbed it back and forth on the firewood. I think he was going for the organic flavor. We decided to try again with my help and once it was ready to eat, he didn't like it. He is a visual eater and didn't liked what he saw. He is used to white marshmallows and he was now seeing black and brown ones. I tried to tell him not to be racist against black ones, but he insisted on only eating white ones. So I roasted my own while he just ate uncooked ones. Once it got dark, he saw the other kids with flashlights and he wanted his own. So I got ours out and he with the rest of the kids went on a "bear hunt." Ty had no idea what was going on, but he ran around with the others looking in the wilderness for bears. Once that was over, Ty came and sat on my lap and kept looking at the garbage bag hanging from the tree. He finally said, "Dad what is that? Is it a monkey?" I guess if you had no idea what it was, a black something hanging from a tree can look like a monkey. I think the bear hunt was getting to him. Then he kept looking around to make sure no animal was going to jump out at us.At about 10:45, he told me that he was tired. We got in the tent and he was almost giddy when getting in his sleeping bag which was a blessing. He snuggled right up and fell dead asleep. It was a chilly night, so I gave him all of the extra blankets. He slept like a rock! I, on the other hand, got a grand total of 2 and a half hours. I was so uncomfortable and it was freezing! I lost feeling of my toes at around 2:30 and when things couldn't get worse, it started to rain. It never stopped raining, and when morning finally came around, I was an ice cube. I opened the tent door to find it snowing! The fire was out and everything was soaking wet. I just grabbed everything and threw it in the car and we drove home. We were home by 7:15am.
(If you can't tell, that is snow and a VERY wet campground)

This was our first time to such a camp out and even though I've never been so miserable and cold before, I would do it all over again because Ty had the time of his life! He has memories to hopefully last until the next year (or at least he better!) when we do this all over again, but with the Jordan tagging along too! I'll also fast and pray for warmth the Fast Sunday before we go.