May

All of the 4th graders this year had to do a report on a Utah county.  We just happened to travel to Washington county for Spring Break so that is the county that Caleb decided to do his project on.

He chose to do a diorama and did AMAZING!!  He just had to have a mountain lion in there too.

He chose to do a diorama and did AMAZING!!  He just had to have a mountain lion in there too.  He has always been a very artistic boy!

Casey & I went on a double date with Angela & Jeff.  We went to midget wrestling in Logan.  It was just ok.  We left a little early and found a bar that was completely empty and played some pool and some air hockey.  That was the fun part of the night for sure!

 Shelby & Casey have a fever.  Gold fever.  I'm glad that they have found a hobby where they get to enjoy the great outdoors!

 I took my babies to The Peak for a play day.  They were adorable and ran of a whole lot of energy!

 One day at my parents house my kids tried hula hooping.  Rylee picked it up pretty quickly and Caleb was the bomb!  I've never seen anyone hula hoop so dang good!

 Playing Guess Who with my bug-a-boo!

 Oh my - on dance recital day Taylor crashed on her scooter on the way home and could NOT compose herself.  She was certain that her arm was broken.  She was crying like I have never seen!  She usually just bounces right back with a happy, "I'm OK!"  But not this time. So I called the Doctor to see if we could zoom in for an ex ray and they said yes.  So I hurried and got their hair and makeup done and we flew to the Dr's office.  It wasn't broken!!  Hooray!  We managed to make it to the recital just in time and they all danced beautifully!  And of course - their flowers from Grandma were the highlight of the evening.

My little shadow has been was so sick for several days!  It was the strangest thing.  Both his sickness...and the fact that every time I turned around he wasn't right there with me :(  It's weird that I took so many pictures too....sleeping littles (sick or healthy) are just pretty dang precious I guess.

He finally got feeling better though!!  Luke the tool man!

 Costco had a pretty sweet pool on sale when I was there one day.  It was finally warm enough to give it a try!

  My mom treated my sisters and me to pedicures for Mother's day!  We are so good lookin.

 Seriously....I love these ladies so dang much.

Caleb received an award at school!  I thought that it was just something they did for very kid - but NOPE!  He got an award for exceptional growth in math!  That makes me so happy.  Math is so dang confusing sometimes.  I'm glad that it clicked for him.  THEN - he placed third in the school pentathlon for the high jump!  I was one proud mama.  We're white...jumping isn't easiest thing.

Eva came over one afternoon and swam in the pool with the girls.  They had a blast.  Hooray for sunshine!

Mother's day flowers and notes from some of my little people!

For the kids teachers end of year gifts I made them each a personalized cross stitch.  They turned out pretty cute!  Being a teacher would be such a hard job - but probably so rewarding seeing the growth in the kids that you teach.

Lantern Festival

Angela had some extra tickets to the Lantern Festival.  I'm so glad that Caleb & I got to go with her!  It was such a fun atmosphere.  On one side of they had set up several food vendors, bounce house and face painting stations.    Ashley's family and my parents had also bought tickets.  You were handed a cute little kit with smore makings and then you went to find a fire pit.

We snacked on ice cream cones and milk shakes while we wandered through all of hte food trucks trying to find what we wanted for dinner.  Caleb decided on cheese pizza and Angela introduced me to cupbop - delicious!!!  We also got a corn dog - you just never know if you're going to need one of those.

You also got a lantern and markers when you checked in.  We decorated our lanterns, played phase 10 and visited while we waited for dusk. 

It was a very nice night!  Not cold, now windy, not hot, just right!

The lanterns were a bit frustrating to get off of the ground.  It took Caleb and I quite a while!  It was a really amazing sight to see once our lantern was up and we could enjoy the view.

 I'm excited to go again sometime and let my whole family experience it!  I know that Taylor & Rylee will absolutely love it.  It's just like a scene out of Tangled.

I've said it once, but I'll say it again.  I love my people.

Field Trip

I got to join Caleb Bo Baleb on a field trip to the Museum of Natural History!

This little boy of mine sure does have a class clown mentality!

 I attempted to take a selfie with this giant sloth - because sloths are Casey's favorite animal and I'm his favorite person! 

 CALEB!  The alligator is eating your head!

 I would recommend going to this museum!  It was very clean and very interesting!

 We ran into one of Caleb's friends from church, Josh.  They wanted a picture so that I could show Josh's mom.  Cuties.

 They had so many displays that were amazing.  How could you find so many species of butterflies AND preserve them for this??!!  This isn't even half the size of the butterfly display.

And so many different rocks and gems!!   I didn't even take that many pictures because I was trying to keep track of crazy kids, but I'd love to just do a date night to this place!

Another picture for Casey.  Ha!

I love seeing my kids interact with their friends and see their personalities away from home.  I hope that they choose good kids to hang out with and are nice to others!  Field trips are a perfect way to spy on them to see how they are doing.

April

Nicer weather called for Fiiz cookies park time with my toddlers!

It's crazy how little people think everything us bigger people do is so awesome.

I hosted bunco in April and made these cookies.  Trust me - they tasted almost better than they looked!

My Caleb really made some major improvements on the soccer field this spring!  His coach was really good at making sure he had opportunities to take the ball down the field and try to score.  He's not a very aggressive kid and has a hard time processing his frustrated emotions - but I saw improvement in so many areas.

I was working at Crystal Inn one night and saw these pictures on Instagram.  The things that happen when mom isn't home!  Casey let the kids help him spray paint a zombie and then they tried to kill it with throwing knives.

We had a wedding to attend in the SLC area one afternoon and I wanted to check out Gardner Village in the springtime.  They had a fun little fairy scavenger hunt that the kids liked doing.

And beautiful wings all over the place for photo opportunities!

The girls had a field trip to the zoo.  It just happened to be on a Monday so we found a sitter for Luke & Lexi and both accompanied the girls and some of their friends at the zoo.  I was quite nervous because we arrived before their bus and so many buses full of children were being dropped off...I was positive it was going to be crazy once we got inside.

It wasn't that crazy at all!  We were able to see most of the exhibits just fine.  And watching them interact with their friends was pretty fun.  For how much these little girls look alike - they are so very different in every other way!

It was hat day/crazy hair day at school one day.  We put some pom poms and feathers in Taylor's hair and Caleb & Rylee wanted to wear their hats.

Casey has been wanting to buy a handle for this ax head forever...he finally remembered to do so and had his brother, Colby, personalized it for him.

The girliest girl in the world taking a little snooze!

Branding Festival

This guy needed some extra hands the last weekend in April - if you put all of us together we come up with those extra hands!  Some of my groups hands aren't that helpful yet, but they gotta learn!

 These ladies had so much fun.  Taylor was in LOVE with the hot shot and got nicknamed Tazer Tay by the end of the day.  And they rarely get their own pepsi - so WIN for them!

Rylee was quite curious at what all the guys were doing to the calfs in the chute - she got  right up front and watched the process go down.  Her face speaks volumes.  It was so funny.

 My 'big' boy!  I had him wake up early and go out with Casey.  He wanted to earn some extra money for a book and I told him that if he didn't complain all day long, he could earn $5 to go towards it.  He didn't complain once!  It was hot, dusty, and stinky (not complaining....just saying)  I'm hoping that he learned that your attitude can either make or break your day in so many different situations!  He was in charge of the gate and did a great job.  He also tried his hand at gleaking.  Good watching.

I'm glad that my dad has these cute brothers of mine to help him out.  I'm happy that they also enjoy the work!  That makes it easier for them and their dad.

 Angela smoked a brisket that turned out super tasty, I made dutch oven potatoes, and my mom brought all of the other lunch necessities! 

Luke got a little bit braver this year.  And he also got his own pepsi!  I told him that he had to stay behind Caleb and I think it is so adorable that he his hanging onto his big brother in the bottom picture.  Melting!

 Best part of the day.....BABY BUNNIES!!!

Everyone loved them so much!  When we were loading up the car to go home I couldn't find Rylee - she was over by the rabbits kissing them goodbye.

You are probably wondering by now - where is Alexa??  She actually got invited to go to the Dinosaur Park in Ogden with her cousin MaKayla.  These two ladies are best friends and so adorable when they are together.  From what I understand they had a blast!

 I came home and got everyone so fresh and so clean clean, and then it was my turn.  I put on a charcoal face mask after my shower and EVERYONE (except Caleb & Casey) just had to try it.