Yikes!

I opened my cupboard in the morning and found myself staring at a face.  I was a bit startled, and then I had to laugh.  Allie is pretty funny sometimes.

I told Jason and Nate to hide it in her bed and she was a bit startled later on that night. Good pranks can be pretty awesome.

A Few Days Work

Jake and a few of his friends got offered a job helping a neighbor clean up their yard and prepare it for a wedding.  It was fun seeing them ride up to their house every morning on the motorcycle.  The neighbors were really grateful for their help and I was grateful that Jake had something to do for a few mornings.  The added bonus of money in his pocket was good too.  :)

Coach Pitch (For Nate)

Nate was really excited to play baseball this year.  He is on a coach pitch team and has a great coach.  I am always so grateful for people who coach these teams.  These kids always have so much energy and don't always listen very well.

 Nate gets a hit nearly every time he is at bat, and he is a good fielder too.

He played catcher for one of the games and did a great job.

He's cute in a baseball hat too. :)

My new camera takes videos, so I forget to take pictures too when I have it out.  I have lots of videos of Nate playing, but not so many pictures.
I love watching baseball and some of these kids are really good.  Nate likes the sport, so we'll keep him going through the years.  So fun!

T-Ball (For Jason)

Jason did not want to try t-ball.  He was afraid he wouldn't be any good.  I dragged him, kicking and screaming, to the first practice where he found that everyone was starting out and no one was any better than him.  That relieved him and now it's his favorite sport.  His coaches got all excited because he can throw, catch, and bat all equally as well with both his right and left hands.  

The first game was pretty funny for me.  He was playing short stop and he was fielding all the balls that came anywhere near him.  He'd throw it to first and the first baseman would drop the ball.  He watched as player after player was crossing home plate.  I watched as he got increasingly frantic about losing.  He was keeping score in his head and he kept yelling at his teammates that they needed to step it up or they'd lose.  

After yet another fumble, he got in the first baseman's face and yelled "you've got to catch these balls!  We're going to lose!"  Then he yelled at his team that they were losing and they needed to get some people out.  I knew I needed to intervene or he'd start hurting people.  I came over to where he could hear me and told him that everyone gets to score and that even if he got them out, they still got to run the bases.  He stared at me in confusion.  He wasn't really happy about that.  He wanted to win.  I told him to chill out and after that, he started to just mess around and he quit yelling at everyone.  This kid is intense.  

After that first game, he started to just act like all the other kids out there.  He chatted with everyone who came across his plate and didn't seem to care where the ball was.

But he could hit from the coaches pitches, so that's pretty cool.

He still has to ham it up out there though and after running to first, he turned his helmet around so he could make people laugh as he ran the bases with his helmet on backwards.

He is fun to watch though.  When he's not playing a position on a base, he goes after any ball that is hit in his direction and he's fast.  He swings with all his might, and when he runs, he runs fast.  Go D-backs!

A Daredevil in PJ's

We watered a neighbor's garden and lawn for a few weeks while they were out of town.  That meant that we walked down to their house a few times a day to change out water.  Jason and Nate loved coming down with me because they could ride their bikes and inspect the garden for raspberries.  

I came around the corner of the yard to find Jason attempting a daredevil stunt off the front porch. 

He chickened out when I told him it wasn't a good idea.  It was still pretty cute though.  The kid is funny about his wardrobe choices.  He won't let me change his clothes without a fight.  Sometimes it's just not worth the fight.

I'm Jason, I Gotta 9 Pack

I'm Jason, I'm awesome, I gotta nine pack...

The Lego Batman movie is one of Jason's favorites.  In the movie, Batman says, "I'm Batman, I'm awesome, I've got a nine pack".  It's been one of Jason's most quoted lines.  He has a Batman mask and he runs around saying that into his mask.
This week, the new thing for Jason, is to write all over himself with markers.  He did this one himself.  I wish I had a picture of the one Nate drew for him.  Nate was able to draw more defined pectoral and abdominal muscles.  :)

Cooking Merit Badge

Jake is really close to earning his Eagle.  Mike was just made the scout master, so it's pretty much a given that we're going to be encouraging him to finish it off.  He went to a merit badge camp earlier in the summer that helped him to earn 3 citizenship badges and the American Heritage one.  Now all he's got to do are the ones that take time.  Family life, Physical Fitness, and then work on an Eagle project.  

He was pretty close to being finished with the cooking merit badge, so we sat down and did the things we needed to do to finish it off.  He has to cook some meals at his super activity and he helped plan the menu for that.  He also helped plan a menu at home and cooked some meals.  

He is a pro now at scrambled eggs, bacon, hash browns and toast.  He also learned about balancing out a meal and made sure we had lots of blueberries and orange juice.

He'll make someone a lovely husband some day.  :)

Sam's Friends

We met up with Sam's friends at the splash pad again.  It was fun to see them again and remark on how much everyone has changed.  Jake wasn't able to be with us because he went to work with Mike.  That's a bummer.  We still had a great time.  It was a bit chilly, so we were all huddled in towels...but that doesn't mean the sunshine can't burn the skin.  I came home fried.  Ugh.

Cale's family is moving to Colorado.  That's a sad though.  I hope we can still get together at a time when they are here in Utah for a visit.  We've gotten these three families together for 6 years.  I hope it doesn't end.

Jason's always throwing signs in pictures.  I guess if he's going to try and be a ganster, at least his sign is "I love you".

We love you Sam, Merideth, and Cale!  I hope you guys get together once in a while in heaven and enjoy each other like we enjoy getting together with your siblings!

Bread Pans

I try not to use the oven much in the summer.  It's just too hot.  I had to make some cookies for a party and I pre-heated the oven...only to find a whole bunch of bread pans in my oven when I went to put the cookies in.  I had forgotten that I hid them in there when I made bread last time.  We were going out of town and I didn't have time to do them, so I shoved them in there so I wouldn't have to look at the mess.  That was a bummer.

When I make bread, I use up every pan that I own.  That's probably one of the worst things about bread days...doing the dishes.  Ugh.

Hammocking

Allie loves lounging in the hammock.  Her new favorite thing to do is to sit out there on Sunday afternoons and listen to books or write in her journal.  Hammocks are awesome!

Mesmerized

Jason was being really quiet the other day and I came in to find him staring at the fidgit spinner.  

It's so cute to see his little fingers spin it and then watch as he sits back to watch it move.

I should have taken the pictures in a slower shutter speed so you can see the movement of the spinner, but oh well...

Camp

Our lucky Allie girl got to go to Y/W camp this year.  She turns 12 this summer so they let her go.  S

They went to Lava Hot Springs where the YW president has a piece of land in a really beautiful area.  There were 11 girls that went, so they were able to bond and have a great time.

I don't have any pictures of camp, but I hope to get some from her leaders.

 Allie's favorites were the zip line, hiking, and lounging in the hammock.  She came home smelling like camp fire and full of little jokes and riddles.  She loved going and was so glad she overcame her fears and went.  I am so glad she was able to be with some of my favorite women up there teaching her that she is a daughter of God.  The theme was "Happily Ever After" and she learned that even if her happily ever after doesn't come how or when she wants it, it will come.
I love that Allie girl and as much as it pains me that she is almost 12, I love the young woman program of the church and I am so excited for her to be a part of it.

Celebrating Fathers

Our father's day was pretty low key around here.
I wished my dad a happy father's day in heaven and tried to make the day nice for Mike.
Our grill bit the dust last fall, so it was a great time to get Mike a new one.  We did some research and decided to get a smoker.  Mike had to cook his own father's day steaks, and they were great.
We let him have a nap and when he woke up, we gave him some gifts.

Allie gave him some of his favorite snacks and treats and a nice note.

Nate gave him a wrench set and a nice note.

By this time, Mike was sick of smiling, but we couldn't just not take pictures of the other kids, so even though his father's day request was to not take more pictures, I just kept taking them.
Jason gave him some drill bits and a nice picture.

Jake gave him a file set, some coupons for chores that he will do, and a funny note that thanked him for being a good dad.  We got a laugh out of the line "gas, food, and braces don't just appear out of nowhere".

We made Mike pose for one more picture.

These kiddos sure do have a good dad.  He works hard to provide for us and he makes life fun.  We are all so very grateful for him.

Happy Father's day Mike!

Fish

Mike took Allie, Jason, and Nate to the fish ponds west of us and they caught some fish for a little while.  

There aren't any pictures of Jason, but he was there.  They had a good time and came home with stories of the fish that they caught.

Smelling All The Things

We were watering our neighbor's lawn and that meant going down to her house several times a day.  The boys loved going with me.

Jason thinks he's hot stuff on his bike now.

Nate was smelling all the flowers.  He sniffed and sniffed the ones he liked, and was grossed out by the ones he didn't like.

I had a bit of fun with my new camera...

We have so much of this cotton from the cottonwood trees.  It is everywhere.  Our garages are filled, it's all over the gutters and grass, and you can't walk around without getting a mouth full of it.

...so, of course, we had to stop and play in it for a while...

Jake suddenly has allergies and Mike has always been plagued in the spring time.  I'm not sure if it's the cottonwood trees that bother them, but we sure do have a whole lot of it in our neighborhood if that's what it is.  It's really not fun, but these kids sure make it look fun!