Boys will be Boys

Fathers and Sons Weekend!!  (June 8-9)  Thomas was counting down the days to this big trip with his daddy for months!  He could not wait to go camping and fishing with the boys!  And now he always talks about cleaning the fish and how they had to borrow a knife and they cooked it and ate it.  It's funny the little things that he remembers.

Yes, yes...he was a little grossed out...he'll learn!  :)

They had fun with all of the boys in the ward!!  We have such a great ward!

 They slept great!  Matt sent me these pictures at night as he laid there wide awake while Thomas was already sound asleep!  

 

Oh these pictures made me so jealous!  I could just imagine how cuddly cute my little boy must've been in that tent when he first woke up!  He is the cutest!

Some super fun video!  Oh I love listening to Thomas talk and tell his daddy everything!

 

 Pause the video for a picture!  :)  

(thanks to my husband and to Brother Jacob for knowing how much a momma needs pictures and videos of her little boy while he's not with his mommy)

Continue video!

 Thomas really had the time of his life!  It ended with a quick stop for lunch at one of our favorite post camping spots!  

I look forward to watching my boys take off on many more father/son outings!  Matt is such a great dad and loves to do things like this with his girls as well as his boys!  So many fun things to look forward to!

 And then Matt's summer of playing continues!  The young men in our ward are pretty spoiled but in a very fun, well-deserving way!  :)  All the guys, young and not so young, just have the best time together!  We are so blessed to live in this amazing neighborhood!  Here they all are getting ready to head down to Moab as part of their scout camp.  They actually did scout camp in 2 shifts.  This is the first (June 13-15) and the second (July 11-13) was a few weeks later white water rafting down the snake river in Wyoming!!  

 

MOAB

JACKSON HOLE SOUTH PASS

 

AND THE SNAKE RIVER (photos from facebook...hope the young man I stole them from doesn't mind...I'll make sure to ask)  :)  Matt is in the very back...our Bishop has the red life jacket and Matt has the yellow.  Looks so fun!  A member of our stake presidency once said to the young women at girls camp, "Have fun...and don't make the 5:00 news!"  Last year when the boys went on this trip and the biking to Moab trip I was a nervous wreck.  I thought for sure something crazy would happen.  This year I had a little more faith and was just so excited for them to be able to go and have the best time!

I LOVE this man!!  He loves life!  He loves it the same way a little boy does!  He just wants to laugh and jump all in and experience it all!  I love seeing that same excitement and determination in our kiddos!  I love the way he loves our kids and also the boys in the ward!  I love the husband, father and priesthood holder that he is! So hey...while we are add it I'll add the Father's Day pictures from the month of June as well!  Why not?!  Amazing amazing man!  I love him more and more every day! 

  

Blurry but great Matt smile!!

 Not quite as blurry...

 And sweet kids that just adore their daddy! 

9 Months Old

As I try to gather my thoughts and pictures for June I'll entertain you with this small post of our 9 month old little man (who, as I type this is getting closer and closer to 1!)  

Isaac is so much fun to have around!  Everyone loves to take care of him, play with him, do his hair and drive him in the jeep!  As you can see the brothers are good buds and hopefully will start playing together more and more as Isaac starts moving around more.  He's starting to walk around holding on to the furniture, crawling up and down the stairs and waving to us.  He has learned to click his tongue and usually does it with Kaylee...sometimes I wonder if that is his way of trying to say her name...still not sure, because he just loves to do it all the time.  I have fun watching him figure things out.  The videos below were just him and me at his 9 month appointment.  He kept watching those wheels and the spinning chair.  I wish I had captured the spinning chair thing better.  He kept pulling the lever back and forth trying to figure out how it worked.  I love summer babies that can just be in diapers or onesies!  It just makes his little chubbiness that much cuter!  

Anyway, more June posts will be coming soon and hopefully at a rapid pace so I can quickly get caught up!  :)

Last Days of School

And now we've made it through the MAYhem!  The end of school came and it was sad to say goodbye to amazing teachers and friends.  I always get emotional walking through the school on those last days.  Classroom walls are bare and desks are pushed to the sides.  However, I get so excited for summer!  We all can't wait to be done with projects and homework, but it is a sad thing to say bye to these friends that have become like family!

Emily was especially excited to be done with her last 2nd grade packet!!  This girl always seemed to have more homework than the older 2 girls combined.  In this video she was running around the house like a crazy person yelling, "MY LAST PACKET!!"  We had some rough Friday mornings trying to finish the packets up...but she did great and will be very prepared for 3rd grade!

I have my kids trained a little too good on my decluttering goals!  Taylor says, "Mom, hurry and take a picture so I can throw it away!"  I try to keep a few things....but I take a TON of pictures to get rid of the rest.  Hopefully my children aren't ever scarred from this...but it has to be done!  :)

 

The end of the year is crammed with last minute programs....

Here is Emily in the 2nd grade program:

The 3rd grade "Rock" concert...Taylor was so excited to get to hold up WY!!  Good girl!

 

And Taylor's 3rd grade field trip!  I think I may have mentioned in other posts how lucky Taylor was to have one of her very best friends in her same class this year!  As you can see...they really are literally attached at the hip sometimes!

And then Tradition!  We always like to go pick out fabric for our teachers and make them a quillo to give on the last day of school!  The girls always have fun being part of this and one of these years I'll get going on them way ahead of schedule so the girls can sew and do the entire thing!

Emily's teacher was so fantastic!  Her teacher had a baby with just a few weeks left in the school year.  In fact the baby came early and the kids never really had a chance to say good-bye so luckily on the very last day she was able to come back and have a little baby shower with the kids!  We sure loved her!

And already the tears start to flow before I even start talking about Taylor's teacher!  We can't say enough about Mr. O!  He was exactly what Taylor needed at this time.  Even still, with anything we do, Taylor has a Mr. O story that relates.  Taylor just absolutely adored him!  She learned SO much from him!!  I learned so much from him!  Every parent/teacher conference was like sitting in the Bishop's office...talking about what matters most.  The things he said always made me want to love my kids a little better and spend more time really being with them!  He definitely has a special place in our hearts!

Kaylee is just growing up way too fast!  She is going to be the oldest in the school next year and I can hardly believe it!  She also had a great teacher and great friends this year and has just really matured and learned so much!  

 

 Here are the girls (plus our neighbor) on the last day of school!  As cute as ever and ready for summer!!

  

 Kierra will be in kindergarten next year.  Every once in a while she'll do a little of this.  Hopefully it's no big deal.  I think the literacy center has prepared her pretty well for her first day!  She can't wait!

After the girls got back from school Kaylee pulled out the shaved ice maker and we had lunch and an icey in the back yard!  It was so relaxing and a good kick off to summer vacation!!