Best Seat in the House

Dallin found himself a place to sit. Right on my face!

Tee Ball

One of my favorite things to watch is Tee Ball. I love all of it. The hats are cute, the kids are cute, it is summer time!

Kyle wasn't interested this year, but Blake gave it a try. I wish soccer came after tee ball. Since Blake had just gotten out of soccer, which is very active and busy, he was a little bored in tee ball. But he still had fun.

The first time Blake hit the ball, instead of running for 1st base, he ran to get the ball he had just hit! It was so funny to watch.

Blake's team was the Indians. The neat thing is that he had the same coach Kyle had a few years ago.

Blake's nickname at our house now is "BEEP" because that is how Dallin says Blake. Everytime Blake would hit the ball, I would clap and yell, "Go Blake!" and Dallin would clap and yell, "Go BEEP!"

Here is "BEEP" on base.

Dallin got bored, and he would wander off a little. My big helper Kyle would go and entertain him.

Ever since Dallin saw our sprinklers come on in our yard, he has been so obsessed with them. No matter where we are, if he sees one, he will yell, "wa wa!" Then he has to stop and inspect them. When we were looking for a spot to sit at the last game, Kyle carried my chair for me. He purposely set it down right in front of a sprinkler so that Dallin would be happily occupied, for a few minutes at least. I told Kyle what a great idea that was and how smart he was for doing that. Kyle said, "The student becomes that master." Ha ha!

Kyle took some pictures for me with my camera. He did such a good job! It was cute to see him walking around with my camera, getting pictures of Blake. I wanted a picture of Kyle taking a picture of Blake. :) Actually Kyle took the one below: I love my boys! I love summer time!

Treasure Hunt

The boys were bored one afternoon so I told them I would do a treasure hunt for them. That sure got them excited!

They had to wait inside while I put it together. Blake couldn't help but peek once. I wasn't doing anything important at that point but I had to sternly warn him against doing it again. After all, it is supposed to be a surprise. He behaved after that. First Clues!

Running from one clue to the next.

We were all over the place, even across the street at the park.

They had to climb to the top of the big green slide.

They took turns getting clues, but Blake usually had to have big brother read them for him. So there was some team work involved.

And finally, the LOOT!

Totally worth it, they had a great time.

Two of my boys had last days of school! Kyle wrapped up 2nd grade and Blake is done with preschool. I will have a 3rd grader AND and a kindergardener. Wow. Here are my boys with the cute neighbor kids. Love them.

Kyle was sad to say goodbye to Mrs. Allen. She was a great teacher for Kyle, very encouraging and positive. She did extra special things with her class too like a Dr. Seuss readers theater. So much fun. She is a wonderful lady.

And Blake said goodbye to Mrs. Jones. She is such an amazing preschool teacher, always warm and friendly. Kyle had her for preschool too. Blake will miss her.

Moving on in the world, always changing. These boys of mine are getting so big!

Wildcat Run

One of the great things about Kyle's elementary school is that they do something called the Wildcat Run. Every kid in the school runs 1 mile. Parents and teachers show up to cheer them on. Even the last kids to make it to the finish line get cheered on.

Last year, I wished that I ran with Kyle. A lot of parents did. So I thought this year I would. I figured I could encourage him to go faster and not stop. Little did I know how fast he was! He took right off, and didn't look back. I definately couldn't catch him. I was so proud of him! He did amazing. I wish now that I didn't run, because I didn't get to see him cross the finish line. But it was still neat to be a part of it.

I think this yearly event teaches the kids a lot. They learn physical lessons as well as endurance. It is amazing to see.

Next year, maybe I will run with Blake, and just watch Kyle from the sidelines. He is fast! My kids are lucky to have such great schools.

Somebody told me that the month of May was busier for them than December. I am starting to see that is true. There is so much going on at the kids' school with the year end. Plus it was soccer season for Blake and Kyle. Throw scouting in as well as Brian finishing school and both of us starting new jobs, it has been a very busy few weeks. But lots of fun!

Soccer! I loved watching the boys do soccer. They both did really well with it.

Blake surprised me with his defense. One game in particular, he stopped 6 goal attempts and stole the ball I don't know how many times.

Here is Blake as he is about to make his first, and only goal. So fun! I think I was happier than he was.

This was Kyle's first attempt at soccer too. I think he liked it and we will do it again next year. Most of the other boys had played before so he had some catching up to do. But he got really good at getting aggressive and started going for the ball more.

I had a little debate after it was all over. There is a very competitive league for soccer here and I considered putting Kyle in it. Knowing Kyle, I strongly feel that he needs a sport to focus himself into. Not just for confidence but also for an outlet for him. He has some natural leadership tendencies in him. But it is very time consuming and I just don't feel that we are ready for that level of competition. Once you start that, it is a commitment. I know those kinds of things will come soon enough. So not yet, but maybe in a year or two if he wants. In the meantime, recreational games are good enough for us.

A Baptism

The big milestone for 8 year olds is to get baptized. So on the first Saturday of May, Brian baptized Kyle. It was a beautiful day and wonderful experience.

I love this picture. What a great day!

I wish I had thought to get more pictures with Kyle and Brian still wearing white. I kept thinking there would be more time later but by then everyone had already changed.

Look how happy Kyle looks! What a great smile! Kyle, you are so much fun to have around! You are a good and sweet boy!

After getting baptized, Kyle was confirmed a member of the church. This also entails Kyle being given the gift of the Holy Ghost. This basically means that he has the priviledge of feeling promptings and warnings. During his confirmation, Brian was able to bless him to recognize the peace and comfort of the Holy Ghost.

It was such a neat experience and I hope that Kyle remembers it very clearly. His little brothers are so lucky to have him.

I am a lucky mom!

The Zoo

For Spring Break we made it on down the the Zoo. We haven't traveled a whole lot, partly because it's hard with a 2 year old. But seeing all the pictures on my computer of how many fun places we went before Dallin was born made me want to get out there and do stuff with the boys again. The drive down to SLC was timed so that Dallin would take a snooze in the van and therefore be a happy baby. The only problem was that he didn't fall asleep until 5 minutes before we got there. So we took our time finding a parking spot and he ended up with a whopping 15 minute nap. I wasn't very hopeful that he would be a good boy for the day but it turned out just fine. He did really good.

Here he is seeing the elephants for the first time!

It really was fun to watch Dallin explore and see new things. What a fun little guy!

I think Blake and Kyle may be getting to an age where they want more excitement than the zoo can offer. Kind of a bummer that they are there already. But they still had a lot of fun and were good boys. They stayed close by and were happy. I think they loved the monkeys the best. So cute!

Cousins Jake, Allie and Nate came. That made the day even more fun. My kids love them!

It was a really good trip with all three of the boys. Everyone had fun. This outing made me excited for summer so that we can go do more stuff together!

Yogurt

You can drink it too!

Deodorant

Mmmm, teeth tracks through my deodorant.

Why is it that I offer yummy food, like tortillas, bread and jam, crackers and cheese, turkey, cereal and noodles, and he will push it away, only to go foraging for things on his own?