May

At Cole's piano recital, he received his 1st TROPHY EVER!!!  He scored high in his festival and earned that fancy trophy all by himself.  He was EXTREMELY proud of it!

This is just a pic of the gang lounging on Mother's Day...  ah, love those cool evenings the BEST!

Danny completed his first year of preschool.  Thank goodness for cute mom's who put together the hats, the little ceremony, and cute goodies.  Whatever I contributed isn't memorable.  I love all these little friends and it's been a great year exchanging preschool classes in our homes.  I learned a lot as a mom/teacher/and about me.  I can do it - but it stresses me out!  I'd rather teach 70+ kids with band instruments.  Call me crazy...

For the past 6 months, Hunter has been studying piano with a top notch piano teacher.  While he is at his lesson, I take the younger boys to visit Great-Grandma nearby.  It has been such a treat to have this weekly time with her.  She always makes us a meal - she certainly didn't have to - but it was her way to shower us with love.  I took my camera along for one of these visits.  I loved that my boys were able to grow a special love for great-grandma.  It's sad that we've decided to move Hunter to another teacher - especially since we won't be next to Great-Grandma's house regularly now.  I have every intention of still visiting often - but chaos usually does settle in around here.

And just a random pic that I love- Grandpa in the hammock with Danny and Skye.  Gotta love the summer days coming!

Just another church meeting...

We are sitting in church - in the way back of course.  Because Skyler is constantly roaming around (despite trying to block him in the row), the others just don't understand the concept of "whispering" despite our please.  So, yeah, we sit in the back section (plus we tend to be late too).  We sit down and just a few minutes into the meeting Danny is PLEADING to go to the bathroom -

"Please Mommy!  I need to go SOOO BAD!"  
It can wait until they finish passing the sacrament (they had just started passing the bread).
"But I need to go POO!!!"  (very loud and makes me cringe) - and he's starting to bend over and acting like his insides are going to fall out.
Fine, go quickly - but you have to go by yourself.
"But what if I can't find the bathroom?"
It's just out in the hallways, you'll see it.  (He's been there before...)
He goes out, and comes back in.
"I can't find it Mommy!" Now he's crouching and wailing and I'm trying so hard to shush him...
Cole, take Danny to the bathroom please and don't take a long time!
(I'm starting to feel myself melt into my chair and hoping that everyone in the last 20 rows didn't hear about Danny's woes.)
Cole obediently walks out of the chapel with Danny in hand, and as he exits he yells (in the big Cole voice)
"And save me a water!"

I guess some people didn't even notice (his dad), but I felt like calling it a day.

goldilocks

Night before: what will I do if it's raining?

6:30am: well, it looks dry and there are breaks in the clouds, there's a chance it'll be a nice day

8:00am: It's start time and it's POURING, do I really want to do this?

8:10am/Mile 1:  Why am I doing this?

Mile 2: Whoa, fingers wet, legs wet, jacket soaked, and my shorts are soaked... wet, wet, wet.  I should have bought rain gear.  No, I shouldn't buy rain gear - I'll never do this again.

Mile 3: I should have brought winter gloves that are waterPROOF

Mile 13: Sun! Sun! Sun!

Mile 23: I can't feel my feet, but there's a rest stop soon, right?

Mile 30: I love hot chocolate and baggies over my freshly changed socks (now dry).  The fig newtons are also hitting the spot.

Mile 35: That's too soon for a lunch break!

Mile 40: Rain Rain go AWAY!  (And this rain is fiercely attacking me! PAINFUL!)

Mile 42: SUN!  

Mile 43: What? Rain, AGAIN?  Why do I feel puddles in my shoes?  Why does this black cloud keep following us?

Mile 50: I can miserable for ten more miles - I know I can, I know I can...

Mile 59: I swear that it said 2 more miles 4 miles ago....

Mile 60: Not the longest ride I've ever done, but it was the most physically demanding.  Not sure who I proved anything to, but once again, I have proven to myself that I can do hard things.

I'm so grateful for Rach and Lynnette who kept me moving.  I definitely felt a tug to quit at the start and I honestly don't know if they ever wanted to quit - so I just had to keep going! I also loved having Shayne there at the finish for me - usually my rides are too far away for the family to come.  The boys almost saw me ride in but, they were busy playing.  Their favorite part was my buffet at the end of the ride.  Thanks hon for supporting and humoring me in this fantastic hobby of mine!  I do love to ride my bicycle...

PS as documented by the photos, I rode this entire ride without touching my handlebars.  ha ha ha  

Notice the puddles of water on the ground as I took off my "booties"...

Bird Catcher

"I thought I was a bird catcher but I'm not. I told them I was a bird catcher and they said 'catch that bird,' but I didn't catch it. So, I'm not a bird catcher." -Danny

Eight is GREAT!

My sweet Cole is officially 8 years old.  I've heard it said, kids grow up too fast!  And sometimes you can almost believe it, but when you have a birthday like this one you think THAT WAS TOO FAST!!  Here are some photos over the past 8 years celebrating Cole.

This year, Cole took a few friends to Planet Play - a local spot with a pizza buffet, arcade games galore, and Lasertag.  The boys had a great time!  (And Cole purposely smiles just like that when I whip out the camera!)

On Mother's day we had a picnic with all of our family and I made this "CREEPER CAKE" - what  is a creeper?  It's part of the Minecraft game - and if you don't have it in your house yet, you must not have a boy between the ages of 7-12.... Cole was thrilled with his cake.  (yeah!)

What I love about Cole:

He's thoughtful, makes amazing love notes frequently, his enthusiasm about science, friends, parties, and making smoothies, how he plays and cares for his little brothers, he's his big brother's best friend (most of the time), and you always know when Cole is in the room - he lights up our world!

My favorite quote from his project all about Shih Tzuz dogs: "I wouldn't watnt to be this anaml.  One reasan why I dont wont to be a shih Tzuz is that their life is boring.  They eat disgusting food. Umm... and oh, yeah... I hate walks!"

La-La is coming to town!

La-La came to town and brought Julia too!  We had a week full of adventure - meal time, sick time, birthday time, and of course play time!

Papa would say, "do you know what time it is?"  

Tickle time!!

Dancing and getting those moves on!

Rest time... they both love their Baby Einstein

 Play time...

Water break!  Lara is known for having a water bottle with her all the time - ALL THE TIME - and I couldn't miss this photo op of Julia with her very own water bottle!

Kissing time?  Julia - close your mouth!

Relaxing time...

fighting time...

packing time...  boo!  And for the record, this little mommy WAY OVERPACKED.  She thought it was still winter in Utah and brought the closet with her.  Funny girl!

Love you Lara and I hope you can come back again soon!

Tea Time

We celebrated Cheryl's birthday by having a girls' afternoon at the gardens and tea time at the Grand America Hotel.  It was such a wonderful afternoon.  Sadly, Chanin couldn't join us for the gardens portion - but we were all together for the tea time.  My favorite quote of the afternoon,  "I'm celebrating 59 years and I'm doing something for the first time!"  (tea time)  It was such a treat!!  - the company and the whole experience!  Love you all and I'm so grateful to a part of this family (thanks to Shayne!)

The Gardens

(My life motto)

Tea Time

 This flowering tea started with the flower bud, and bloomed with the hot water!

My amazing (AMAZING) Coconut almond hot cocoa....  yummmmmmmmm