Eeek He's Eight! All About Holden

I'm going to say the same thing I say every year. I can't believe my baby is eight! Where did the time go? He is such an amazing, smart, caring, inquisitive, athletic, know it all, leader. I can't imagine my life without this little jokester. He can turn any day into something positive and he knows something about everything. He is my dependable smarty pants. Happy eighth birthday Hono!!

1. What do you want to be when you grow up?
A- An NFL Superstar!

2. What makes you happy?
A- Broncos winning

3. What makes you sad?
A- Scary shows (you know, like evil gnome shows. ha!)

4. What makes you laugh?
A- Dad with the helium thing (he then did an impression. Priceless.)

5. What is your favorite color?
A- Orange

6. What is your favorite toy?
A- My Broncos football helmet

7. How tall are you?
A- 4 feet 5 inches

8. How much do you weigh?
A- 54 pounds

9. What’s your favorite thing to do?
A- Play football

10. Where is your favorite place to go?
A- Lagoon

11. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go?
A- To where the Superbowl is going to be

12. What are you really good at?
A- Football (Again)

13. What are you not so good at?
A- Basketball

14. What is your favorite thing about school?
A- Mathematics

15. What is your favorite food?
A- Elk steak (this is what he chose for his birthday dinner)

16. What food don't you like?
A- Every veggie

17. Are you a morning person or a night person?
A- Morning

18. What makes you proud of yourself?
A- Having a good score on my report card

19. If you were a cartoon character, who would you be?
A- Bugs Bunny because he's funny

20. What‘s your favorite TV show?
A- Football

21. What is your favorite movie?
A- Avengers

22. What is your favorite book?
A- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

23. Who are your friends?
A- Max, Isaac W, Adam, Cameron, the good Brody (because there is a bad Brody), Hyrum, Josyah, & Wyatt

24. Who is your best friend?
A- Max and Hyrum

25. What do you like most about your dad?
A- That he brings me hunting

26. What do you like most about your mom?
A- That she let me keep a BB gun

27. What do you like most about Beckett?
A- That he plays with me when Hyrum, Josyah, and Wyatt can't play

28. What do you like most about Victoria?
A- That she laughs at all my jokes

28. What do you like most about yourself?
A- That I'm good at football. (Exact same answer as last year.)

New Year Questions 2014

I decided to start asking my kids some questions every year. I think it will be fun to see how their answers to change from year to year. So here are the answers for 2014.

Beckett:
Favorites:

• cereal- Mini Wheats
• vegetable- carrots and celery
• drink- Sprite
• toy- My pistol I got for Christmas from Holden
• TV Show- Phineas and Ferb
• game- Skylander's Swap Force
• book- Fly Guy
• restaurant- Famous Dave's
• holiday- Christmas
• animal- Tiger

If you could change your name, what would you choose? Manning (big surprise)
What do you love about each person in our family? Mom- You getting me cereal. Dad- Making lunch. Holden- That he plays with me. Tori- That she doesn't cry.
Where would you like to go on vacation this year? California
What are some of your wishes for this year? Peyton Manning come to our house.

Holden:

Favorites:

• cereal- Frosted Flakes
• vegetable- I don't like any
• drink- Sprite
• toy- iPad
• TV Show- Power Rangers Jungle Fury (sigh. I HATE this show)
• game- Life
• book- A to Z mysteries
• restaurant- Rodizio
• holiday- Christmas
• animal- Bronco

If you could change your name, what would you choose? Bolden
What do you love about each person in our family? Mom- She's nicer than dad. Dad- He takes me hunting. Beckett- He plays with me. Tori- She silent most of the time.
Where would you like to go on vacation this year? Colorado (can you guess why?)
What are some of your wishes for this year? Go to a Broncos game

September Soccer

Obviously I am a big blog slacker. (Let's blame it on the pregnancy.) So I'm going to play a little catch up.

September was a fun month. The boys were finishing up soccer. And I was anxiously awaiting the end of it. Holden had practice on Mondays and Wednesdays. Beckett had practice on Thursdays. And both of them had a game on Saturday morning. I was on soccer overload. But they love it. Holden is very good and really gets in there. He goes after the ball and isn't afraid to jump in front of other players to steal it. I have loved seeing him progress and get better and better. He is a very athletic kid.

Beckett, on the other hand isn't sure. Tim and I were sure he would start soccer this year and be a star player. He's been watching Holden play for a couple of years and practicing with him in the back yard. But that was definitely not the case. He wouldn't even play the first half of his first game. He just sat on my lap and hid his head in my shoulder. Thankfully, he got over that. But he still doesn't usually know where the ball is. He just kind of runs around with his other team mates and swings his arms around. Although he does enjoy it. And that's really all that matters.

All About Holden Age 7: Football Edition

I know I say it every year, but I can't believe I have a seven year old!!!

1. What do you want to be when you grow up?
A- A football player

2. What makes you happy?
A- My baby sister

3. What makes you sad?
A- Being yelled at

4. What makes you laugh?
A- Dad tickling me.

5. What is your favorite color?
A- Orange

6. What is your favorite toy?
A- My guns

7. How tall are you?
A- 4 feet

8. How much do you weigh?
A- 49.6 pounds (yes, he weighs himself often)

9. What’s your favorite thing to do?
A- Play football

10. Where is your favorite place to go?
A- To the baseball stadium

11. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go?
A- To Denver

12. What are you really good at?
A- Football (are you seeing a theme?)

13. What are you not so good at?
A- Hockey

14. What is your favorite thing about school?
A- Recess

15. What is your favorite food?
A- All the meats

16. What food don't you like?
A- Veggies

17. Are you a morning person or a night person?
A- Morning

18. What makes you proud of yourself?
A- Winning a soccer game

19. If you were a cartoon character, who would you be?
A- Spongebob

20. What‘s your favorite TV show?
A- Football

21. What is your favorite movie?
A- Planes (he just chose the last one we saw in the theater)

22. What is your favorite book?
A- Record Breakers (it's all about football records)

23. Who are your friends?
A- Max and Cameron

24. Who is your best friend?
A- Max

25. What do you like most about your dad?
A- That he likes the Denver Broncos

26. What do you like most about your mom?
A- That she likes the Denver Broncos

27. What do you like most about Beckett?
A- That he likes the Denver Broncos (seriously!?)

28. What do you like most about Victoria?
A- That she's cute

28. What do you like most about yourself?
A- That I'm good at football.

Mutton Bustin'

Every year the rodeo comes to West Jordan. This year, we talked Holden and Beckett into doing mutton bustin'. If you don't know, this is where someone climbs onto a sheep and hangs on for as long as possible while the sheep runs away and tries to get them off. Both boys were really excited to try it and they did great! They were number 2 and 3 in line, which meant they didn't have to wait long for some fun.

Holden got a score of 80 and Beckett a score of 81. The 81 put Beckett in third place and qualified him for the finals on the next night. Holden was extremely upset that he didn't place and wouldn't let us take a picture. And Beckett didn't help with his excitement over his bigger trophy.

So the next night (Saturday) we headed back to the rodeo for Beckett to compete in the mutton bustin' finals. He was insanely excited to try again and to get another trophy. It was raining this night and the field was muddy and beyond filthy. Beckett was number 9 to compete so he had to wait a bit before he could get filthy. But he did get filthy. Although he fell off the sheep super fast this time and immediately started crying. He wasn't hurt or scared. He was mad that he didn't hang on as long as he wanted to. Which means he did not place this night and did not get another trophy. He did, however, get a belt buckle. 

We are so proud of both boys. They did amazing. They tried their hardest, showed no fear, and did something new and a bit scary. I couldn't ask for anything more.

Happy Birthday Holden!

Six years ago today I was sitting in the hospital waiting to hold my little Holden in my arms for the fist time. Tim and I had tried for so long to get pregnant and then we lost our Quentin. So Holden felt like an amazing blessing. I was induced and was only in labor for only seven hours before my 6 pound 10 ounce baby was born. And now look at how much he has grown! 

I am thankful every single day that he is part of our family. Happy Birthday Holden!

All About Holden: Age Six!

1. What do you want to be when you grow up?
A- An Army guy.

2. What makes you happy?
A- Playing with my friends and my brother.

3. What makes you sad?
A- Everyone being mean to me.

4. What makes you laugh?
A-Mom tickling me.

5. What is your favorite color?
A- Indigo or every color

6. What is your favorite toy?
A- My rubber band gun

7. How tall are you?
A- 61 inches

8. How much do you weigh?
A- 46.6 pounds

9. What’s your favorite thing to do?
A- Play with my dog, Charly.

10. Where is your favorite place to go?
A- The movie theater.

11. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go?
A- Australia

12. What are you really good at?
A- Punching

13. What are you not so good at?
A- Swimming in deep water.

14. What is your favorite thing about school?
A- That I get to make new friends.

15. What is your favorite food?
A- Chicken tenders.

16. What food don't you like?
A- Spaghetti

17. Are you a morning person or a night person?
A- Morning

18. What makes you proud of yourself?
A- Being nice

19. If you were a cartoon character, who would you be?
A- Iron Man

20. What‘s your favorite TV show?
A-Americas Funniest Home Videos

21. What is your favorite movie?
A- The Amazing Spiderman

22. What is your favorite book?
A- The Hunter's Code

23. Who are your friends?
A- Sevrin, Sofia, and Garrett.

24. Who is your best friend?
A- Sevrin

25. What do you like most about your dad?
A- That he can play football with me.

26. What do you like most about your mom?
A- That she takes me out to movies.

27. What do you like most about Beckett?
A- That he plays with me.


28. What do you like most about yourself?
A- That I'm nice to other people. Even when their not nice.

Seven Stitches for Holden

Four little monkeys jumping on the bed, one fell off and broke his head...

On Saturday we headed to my friend Charity's cabin for a fun weekend. It's about an hour and a half drive from our house and we love going up there. It's rustic enough to make the boys feel like we are camping, but has enough modern conveniences that I can feel like I'm not camping.

We got to the cabin about 3:00 and Holden promptly headed upstairs with Beckett and Charity's girls to jump on the bunk beds. At 3:10 or so Holden came downstairs holding his head as blood trickled down. I took one look and knew we needed to take him to see a doctor. Since we were out in "the wilderness" we had to figure out where to take him. We ended up at the Heber Valley Medical ER.

After about 2 1/2 hours Holden got a total of seven stitches in his forehead. He has two stitches on the inside and five on the outside. The doc had me hold Holden's arms while he gave him a shot to numb the area. Normally I have no problem with blood. But for some reason seeing Holden's deep wound exposed and cleaned out made me get a bit woozy and I had to sit down. Tim was enlisted to take my place. So they had Tim hold Holden's arms while a volunteer held Holden's head so they could sew him up. Turns out, Holden is awesome (who knew, right?)! He didn't need anyone to hold him. He just laid on the table and let the doc stitch him right up with no tears or moving at all. Such a trooper! Both the doctor and the volunteer commented on how well behaved he was. And the doc even said he wished all his patients were this good.

Before. This picture does not do the cut justice. It was pretty deep and nasty.

After. He was mostly just squinting from the light.

We are headed to see Holden's regular doctor today to get the outside stitches removed and glue the wound shut instead so he won't have much of a scar.

I honestly thought we would have to take Beckett to the ER well before Holden. Guess that'll show me.

Holden's Last Day of Preschool

Today was Holden's last day of preschool. I was prepared to cry and feel nostalgic, but it didn't happen. He was happy and playing the whole time in class. And he is beyond excited to start Kindergarten. Plus, Beckett will be starting preschool in the Fall so I know we will still be visiting our favorite school two days every week. Guess that's all it takes to keep my tears at bay.

Holden also got his end of year report card today and got an excellent on every single thing. Every thing! I honestly didn't expect that. He is growing into such a smart, caring, thoughtful, handsome little man. I love him to pieces and couldn't be more proud.

I will try to post pictures and video of his preschool program soon.

More Pics of the Cutest Boys in the World!

We won a photo shoot from Fotofly and had the boys pictures taken. We were their first ever outside photo shoot! I think the boys had fun running around outdoors, but they were definitely sick of pictures at the end. It's a good thing they can be so easily bought by fruit snacks.

All About Holden: Age 5!!!

1. What do you want to be when you grow up?
A- An Army guy and a Ninja if I lose that job.

2. What makes you happy?
A- Something funny

3. What makes you sad?
A- A yell that's mean

4. What makes you laugh?
A-Tickles

5. What is your favorite color?
A- Red

6. What is your favorite toy?
A- Optimus Prime

7. How tall are you?
A- 5 tall

8. How much do you weigh?
A- 41.4 (he weighs himself all the time)

9. What’s your favorite thing to do?
A- Play Transformers

10. Where is your favorite place to go?
A- McDonald's (ugh)

11. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go?
A- California

12. What are you really good at?
A- Being funny

13. What are you not so good at?
A- Waiting

14. What is your favorite thing about school?
A- Playing toys

15. What is your favorite food?
A-Peanut butter & jelly

16. What food don't you like?
A- Normal mac & cheese

17. Are you a morning person or a night person?
A- Morning

18. What makes you proud of yourself?
A- Being a winner

19. If you were a cartoon character, who would you be?
A- Freddy (from Scooby Doo)

20. What‘s your favorite TV show?
A- Transformers Prime

21. What is your favorite movie?
A- Normal Transformers

22. What is your favorite book?
A- Book of Mormon

23. Who are your friends?
A- Landon, Sofia, Shelby, Peytyn, Karsten, Garrett B, Colton, Lexi, Ellie, & baby Blake

24. Who is your best friend?
A- Sofia

25. What do you like most about your dad?
A- Wrestling

26. What do you like most about your mom?
A- Giving hugs

27. What do you like most about Beckett?
A- Playing with him


28. What do you like most about yourself?
A- Being proud

Holden School Program

Yesterday was Holden's end of year school program. They always sing songs and do little dances and stuff. Totally entertaining. This year Holden was asked to sing a solo. He loves to be the center of attention so it doesn't surprise me at all. However, we weren't told about it until yesterday either. So there wasn't lots of time to practice his song. But you can see it below. Totally made me cry. I know that's a shocker.

Holden also won the Jedi Genius award. They had him say his famous knock knock joke. You can see the video of that one below.

And you can tell from this picture that he was completely done with me taking pictures. At one point he yelled at me and told me I could take pictures of someone else. What!? Your friends are super cute, but that isn't who I want to remember forever. So proud of our cute 4 year old! He is so stinkin' smart!

Happy Birthday Holden!

Today is Holden's 4th birthday! I can't believe it has been 4 years since I held my little baby in my arms. He is stubborn, loyal, smart, rambunctious, loving, and funny.
I wouldn't change a thing about him and I wouldn't trade him for the world. He is, and always will be, my little Hono.

Two weeks old

Six months

One year

 Two years old

Three years old

Four years old!!! (or almost in this picture)

Happy Birthday Holden!

A Few of His Favorite Things-Holden 2010

In honor of Holden's upcoming 4th birthday here are a few of his favorite things right now. And stay tuned for more Holden themed posts this week.

Holden LOVES Star Wars the Clone Wars. This is what he will always choose to watch on TV. He dressed up as Anakin Skywalker for Halloween and also chose a Star Wars theme for his birthday party this year. He would wear his Yoda shirt every single day if I would let him.

Holden has a love for learning. He loves reading books and finding letters in the house. His TAG reader was one of the best presents we ever gave him. The other day we went on a letter hunt and he didn't want it to stop. He already knows so much. I am insanely proud of him.

He still loves Transformers. He got an Optimus Prime toy at his birthday party from his friend Karsten and it's his new favorite. This is what he has been sleeping with at night and it has rekindled the obsession. It reminded me of how much I now hate the Transformers movies. Watching them over and over again will do that to you.



One of my very favorite things about Holden is his outgoing personality. He will talk to everyone and anyone. And one of the things he likes to do most is make others laugh. Right now he loves knock knock jokes. Most of them are not at all funny, but if he finds one that makes you laugh he will tell it to you and everyone else over and over again.  He got the class clown award at school last year and I won't be surprised if he gets it again this year. Check out the video above of his favorite knock knock joke. If you haven't heard it yet then you haven't seen Holden in a while.

And the last thing on the list for this year is being outdoors. Holden loves to play outside. And he especially loves fishing or "hunting" with his Dad. 

I love this kids more than words could ever express. I can't imagine my life without him. He can infuriate me to no end and make me smile through my tears. He will fight Beckett for a toy one second and defend him from someone else the next. He is smart, loving, funny, outgoing, loyal, and perfect. I wouldn't change a thing about his stubborn personality.

Out of the mouth's of babes...4 year old edition

I asked all of the questions below to Holden today. I plan on doing this every year for his birthday so we can see how his answers change. Thanks for the idea Becky!

1. What do you want to be when you grow up?
A- Spiderman

2. What makes you happy?
A- Star Wars

3. What makes you sad?
A- Being in time out in my room.

4. What makes you laugh?
A- Funny sounds

5. What is your favorite color?
A- Red

6. What is your favorite toy?
A- Optimus Prime & Bumblebee

7. How tall are you?
A- 5 tall

8. How much do you weigh?
A- 9 inches

9. What’s your favorite thing to do?
A- Play video games with my dad

10. Where is your favorite place to go?
A- McDonald's

11. What are you really good at?
A- Jumping

12. What are you not so good at?
A- Somersaults

13. What is your favorite thing about school?
A- Learning

14. What is your favorite food?
A- Chicken nuggets

15. What makes you proud of yourself?
A- Learning

16. If you were a cartoon character, who would you be?
A- R2

17. What‘s your favorite TV show?
A- Star Wars the Clone Wars

18. What do you like most about your dad?
A- Kissing him

19. What do you like most about your mom?
A- Sitting on her lap

20. What do you like most about Beckett?
A- Playing with him

21. Who are your friends?
A- Colton, Lexi, Markus, Zack, Linkoln, Landon, Tyler, Beth, Karsten, Webster, Logan, & Daxton.

22. Who is your best friend?
A- Colton because he has the same color light saber as me