Being Holly

Elizabeth Turns One!

I can't believe it's already been one year since a girl joined the ranks of the Sandall family. What a joy she is to all of us. She is also shaping up to be pretty darn tough thanks to her four older brothers. Here are some of our fun times with sweet Lizzie from this last year.

Trip to NYC and Connecticut with mommy and Aunt Lisa

This was Elizabeth's birthday party. I gave her a big chunk of cake and she just grabbed it and stuffed it in her face. I think she likes chocolate cake! She is also the best eater I've had yet. She loves to say dada and mama. Her favorite game is climbing the stairs when no one is looking. She also loves it when her brothers push her around the house in our little red car.

Having a girl is everything I hoped it would be. I am so grateful we have one to go with all these awesome boys!

Summer So Far

What a fun summer we have had. From special trips to special visitors things haven't slowed down since school let out June 1st. Here is a picture diary of what the Sandalls have been up to.

Our vacation this year was to Nauvoo, IL where my parents are serving a 12 month mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Later-day Saints. Our first big activity after flying into St. Louis was to visit Mark Twain's Cave in Hannibal, MO. We all had lots of fun exploring and listening to fun stories about the cave.

The best part of our trip was definitely being in Nauvoo with my parents. What a special place.

Inside Carthage Jail

Carthage Jail

Waiting for "High Hopes and River Boats" to begin

My awesome parents as Jed and Annie

Liberty Jail

Sandall boys at a Royals Game

When we got back from our trip we jumped right into baseball with Paul, Austin, and Luke.

We also enjoyed a mini reunion with some of my siblings and their children. Of course the time passed too quickly, but it always does when we are together.

Monster Jam Meets the Sandall Boys

Well, they spent a year dreaming and almost that long saving up for the Monster Jam World Finals in Las Vegas. For six months Paul, Austin, and Luke worked extra hard to earn money for their portion of the special double down tickets to the world finals. Double Down meant they got to go one day early and get up close and personal with all the trucks and their drivers. They tell me all that extra work was worth it, I'll let you be the judge.

Monster Truck Ride from Holly Sandall on Vimeo.

These boys have an awesome dad who is really still just a kid at heart! Here are some pictures of the actual competition. As you can see they had great seats; they wore their voices out with all the screaming they did.

Sweet Baby Girl

It is hard to believe, but I have been the mother of a sweet baby girl for a month and a half now. This is awesome! Being a mother of all boys was definitely amazing, but I've always dreamed of having a little girl too.
This is little Elizabeth Holly Sandall. I think she's pretty darn cute; in fact, it's hard to take my eyes off her cute little face to get anything done. Her brothers and dad think she's pretty special too. The most common debate at our house these days is who should get to hold Lizzie first. Of course, after me daddy gets first dibs. 

This is some of his competition...

Elizabeth has been an angel baby and a joy to all of us. Blessing day was just beautiful and especially fun because we had so many visitors. She was perfect during her blessing; she didn't even make a peep and she kept her dress beautifully clean until all the photos were taken. We love you Lizzie!

 

Three Boys and Three Sheep

Well we were at it again this fall. Placing our small children on the backs of unpredictable, fast moving animals. This was a special year though because it was the only time we would have three in the competition at once. Yes, tiny little Luke made the cutoff and took his first ride across the ring on the back of a sheep many times his size. It was actually so cute to watch him. He was amazingly tough and didn't even cry when he flipped off the sheep and ended up in the dirt. In fact, he was all excited to do it again next year (Let me tell you not all of my children have felt this way. I've heard these words through tears before "I don't like that, I don't want to do that again".). Yes Luke is probably the toughest child in our family so far.

 

Here he is in his Mutton Busting uniform.

Austin was the one that was robbed this year. He was doing his best ever when suddenly his ride was cut short. He wasn't bucked off or pulled off, no he casually stepped off when the sheep stopped its run and sat down in the center of the arena. Austin was a bit confused and he threw his hands up as if to say "what was that all about?". It wasn't until a few minutes later that he realized his chance to win the big trophy was over, and that is when the tears started. I felt so bad for him. Here he is on his sheep. 

 

And here he is, the big winner of the night!!

Yes, for the second year in a row Paul went home with the big prize. He rode his sheep all the way across and down the side of the arena until a clown grabbed him off.




This was his last year, so next time Paul will have to sit up with the rest of us and watch his brothers do their stuff.

River Fun

On Labor day Stuart and I decided to do something we had never done before in all the years we've lived here and that is take the kids on a hike under the Perrine Bridge in the Snake River Canyon. To tell you the truth, I had no idea there was even a trail down there. Anyway, we loaded up with lunch and headed out not really knowing what to expect. The scariest part of the whole thing was descending this very old, very steep iron staircase to get to the canyon floor. I wish I had pictures of all of this but our camera only works intermittently. Anyway, the hike turned out to be very pleasant with streams,waterfalls, and lots of greenery. (As a side note - I ended up with poison ivy from this nice little hike, so I'm a little leary to do it again.) Then, just as we were getting close, two base jumpers took the dive off the bridge. It was so fun to watch. After about an hour of walking we arrived at the flag just past the base of the bridge. Yes, and here is the proof that we did it.

This is the flag that the base jumpers aim for when they're trying to land safely. As we were eating our lunch, two more jumpers took the plunge. Paul and Austin had to run over and give them high fives.

Later that week we went for a river float with all the boys in the same area. We have no pictures, but it was beautiful and very relaxing. This time we saw six base jumpers do their thing and they waved as they rode past us on a boat. We also saw deer along the rivers edge, not far from where we had walked a few days earlier. I'm sure we will do this again, we have to take advantage of this amazing place where we live.

Our Trip to Beautiful Destin, FL

What can I say about this amazing place, it was all that we could have hoped for. My wonderful sister Wendy and her husband own a condo in Destin and were nice enough to let us use it. We had no idea until we got there of what it would be like. Wow, this is not your Grandma's condo now, this place is top of the line.  It's the tall one in the distance.
We took this while we were across the bay hunting for little crabs or crabbies as Luke would say.

The toughest part of the trip was of course the getting there. Spending five hours in the Salt Lake airport in the middle of the night with four active boys was something I had feared for months in preparation for the trip. Lucky for me, nothing's usually as bad as I imagine it will be and this was no different. We got through it and as a bonus I ended up with some pretty cute pictures.

One of our favorite activities in Florida was playing mini golf. We did it five out of the eight days we were there. To add to the fun we promised them a shake if they could get a hole in one. The kids loved it, although we had to adjust it to a hole in two to keep everyone happy. We ended up going through a serious amount of ice cream on this trip!

 

The best thing about Florida was the beach. The water was the perfect temperature, the sand was as white and clean as can be, and the sunshine rarely failed us. Needless to say we are counting the days until we can return. Thanks Wendy!

    

Two Graduations in Two Months

Well it has finally happened, Austin graduated from kindergarten and I graduated from my very favorite college, Brigham Young University.

  

Just because I bleed blue didn't make it happen any sooner, obviously. This was a long time coming, but it did, finally! My journey through college is finally complete. Anyway, let me tell you a little about Austin's experience and then I'll get back to mine.

Here is Austin looking so cute in his cap and gown. 

Austin's graduation was a lot of fun with singing, poems, and of course the classic "When I grow up I want to be a _____" procession. And, just as his big brother Paul said two years earlier, Austin said he wants to be a Cabinet Worker. Stuart must get a kick out of that. If I ever do have any girls I hope they say they want to be a MOM. Austin sang all the songs very well and was so fun to watch. He has grown so much over the year. Here are some of my favorite images of Austin's last nine months.

 

Congratulations Austin!

Now, let me get back to my graduation. What a blast! I tried to savor every moment of my graduation experience. On Thursday April23rd we drove down to Provo and I picked up my cap and gown at the beautiful new Hinckley center at the Y. I felt so excited but also a little strange thinking that I was so much older than most of the other graduates.

 

Following that we went to a special BGS luncheon with the other people in my program. BGS stands for Bachelor of General Studiesand this is what they say about it on their website. "The Bachelor of General Studies program is designed to help you finish at home what you started at BYU. Apply previously earned credit and complete the rest of your degree from anywhere in the world through taking BYU Independent Study courses." In my case I had completed three years at BYU so in theory I didn't have that much left to do. I started the program right around when Paul was born and I figured I could have it all finished in a year and a half. Eight years and four boys later I am finally done. Hallelujah!

 

After lunch we walked around taking pictures here and there before commencement.

Commencement was amazing! My favorite part was walking by and smiling at President Uchtdorf and Elder Nelson on our walk into the Marriott Center. What a thrill to see these men of God up close and in person. Inside, my seat was awesome. I was right in the center and on about the third row up. What a view and what an experience.

 

  

We stayed the night in Provo which we all loved because we got to go swimming at the Hotel. My parents stayed at the same place and we all had a lot of fun swimming together. On Friday morning we went to the Bean Museum on the BYU campus and had a blast looking at all the animals. We even found Shasta the Liger - I remember seeing him at the Hogle Zoo when I was a kid and always wondered what they did with him.

 

Friday Afternoon was my convocation. My parents, Stuart's mom and Grandma Costley, and of course my little family were all there to witness me cross the stage to receive my "diploma" (which I had actually received in the mail four months earlier).

 

Thanks so much to everyone who helped me to achieve this lifelong goal. Special thanks to Stuart for his patience and to my parents for their numerous hours of babysitting so I could get my classes done. It's finally over(:

Austin Turns Six!

Another month and another boy has a birthday. This time it was Austin Duke's! When it comes to asking for presents he is just the opposite of Paul. Paul makes a list with 20 things he wants with stars on the most important items, whereas with Austin it's like pulling teeth to get him to give you any ideas. As you can see I came up with a few on my own. Because Austin's birthday fell on Spring Break, we were able to have his friend birthday party in the morning. For the treat I did these cute clown ice cream cones that my sister Cheryl has created in the past (mine were not nearly as cute as hers). The kids seemed to like the cones but then they asked where the cake was. Ha ha. The party was a lot of fun because I let Austin pick out all the games (pin-the-tail, balloon pop, star wars bingo).

That evening we had a small family party with cake and gifts. It was much more relaxing of course. Austin asked for a Dukes of Hazzard cake which I did but was not pleased with. I waited too long to do it so I didn't have all the right materials. Oh well, he loved it anyway. On the left is a picture of the cake I made for him this year and on the right is the one I made for him when he turned three.

Not so Cool                                               Cool

  

    

Paul's Birthday and Baptism

Well, it's official. Paul is now a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He turned eight last month and was lucky enough to be baptized on his birthday. It was an amazing experience. I know more of our family wished they could have been there, but we were very grateful for the ones that could come. Paul did have a lot of friends present, even some surprise friends from Plain City, UT.  The night before his birthday, Paul's good friend Hadley Taylor came up with her family from Utah. They ate dinner with us and then we all went swimming in their hotel's pool. It was a blast! The next day we took the kids to The Golden Corral (Paul's choice) for his birthday lunch. My niece and nephew Michelle and Nathan Jackson were with us which made it even more fun for everyone.(We watched them for a week and a half while my sister and her husband went on a cruise to Mexico. Ole!) Then at 5:00pm it was time for the baptism. Stuart did the baptism and the confirmation. It was a very special experience that I'm sure Paul will remember his entire life.

Following the baptism we had a few friends over to celebrate Paul's birthday with cake. Paul is a purist so he wanted the cake to be all chocolate. Chocolate cake, filling, and frosting - Yummy! After the friends left, we took time to open Paul's gifts. He got a ton-mostly because he got them for his baptism as well as for his birthday. The only bad thing is that the other boys expect to get just as many on their birthdays. Oh well, there's always the dollar store.

I still can't believe I have an eight year old. Before I know it he'll be double that and then a few years later he'll be on a mission serving the Lord. Where does the time go? Not so long ago he looked like this...

 

And now look at him...

I just love being a Mom!