Summer Fun, Part One

School is back in session, which leaves me some time to sit back and wonder what happened to summer. From swim lessons to family vacations and everything in between, summer flew by leaving us some awesome memories and wishing it would've stayed a bit longer!

Summer started off with three basketball camps right in a row. First Maple Mountain High School, where both Mac and Jaxton earned more medals and trophies than they could carry home, second was BYU camp, where Mac was named to the All-Star team, and third was USU camp, where Mac also claimed a spot on the All-Star roster.

Now that we're officially locals, we attended Springville's Art City Days and rode a few rides.

Swim lessons with Mark are always a big hit.  It was Jilli's first time with swim lessons and by a total of one hour of lessons, she was swimming the full length of a large pool.  Mark said that she's a "natural."

Kim's family came into town from OH and we had lots of fun cousin time.  Among other things, we spent the day at the Spanish Fork Reservoir,

played outside A. LOT. and made lots of messes,

and went swimming at the Provo Rec Center pool.

Before Kim and her family headed back home, we snuck in a quick photo session of the cousins.  What a great group of kids!

The Olsen reunion was a fabulous trip.  Our first stop was at Bear World.

We then made a stop at Mesa Falls

and then we were off to stay in a big cabin in Island Park for two nights.

We also made a stop in Yellowstone

and then we were off to Jackson Hole to stay another night.

Seven years ago was the last time that the whole family had been to Jackson together, so we thought it only fitting to recreate the picture that was taken all those years ago.  The kids have definitely changed and how lucky we are to have added three more to the mix since then.

*Notice that we tried to recreate every detail from the stuffed dog, to the dirty looks, to Beckam sitting in a carseat.

Fourth of July was spent with Nate's family.

It's not summer if you don't run through the sprinklers at least a dozen times.

And that only gets us to about mid-July.  Part two is coming very soon.

Take Me Out to the Ballgame!

I love baseball season! One, because it signifies warmer weather and two, because I'm a sucker for a boy in a baseball uniform!

Mac had a great season on the Cardinals. His team only lost one game and went on to the second round of the state tournament. Mac started most games as pitcher and then also played first base. He was a good solid hitter, with a beautiful swing, and was a very dependable player. Another mom with a son on the team said that he came home one day after practice and said, "Everyone on our team is pretty good, but Mac is definitely the all-star!"

Jaxton played on the Orioles team.  He played pitcher, 1st base and short stop.  Jax hit great, usually hitting doubles each time he was up to bat.

Beckam played up on the 1st grade Orioles team and did great.  He played a variety of positions and got to the point where he was consistently hitting triples pretty much every time he was up to bat.

Love my boys and love their desire to play team sports and be active!  I hope it remains a lifelong love for them!

Seattle

Nate and I have never been away, just the two of us, since our first anniversary (although once we went to Park City without our kids overnight, but we were only gone for 18 hours, so that doesn't really count). I never really felt bad about it -- our circumstances just didn't allow it since we always lived away from family. But, now that we live back by family, I jumped at the opportunity to meet Nate in Seattle after his work conference was over and my mom, bless her heart, agreed to keep the kids. My parents also offered to take me to the airport so that I wouldn't have to worry about parking and shuttling in. Long story short, between forgetting my luggage and having to return home to get it, two separate lane closures due to construction, lane closures due to a massive wreck on the freeway and getting dropped off at the wrong terminal, it was obvious that I wasn't going to make my flight. I pleaded at the check-in counter for another option and sure enough, the dirty scoundrel offered me one -- a flight that left the next morning and was going to cost me $500. That's when my dear husband Nate stepped in and saved the day. He called customer service, explained my predicament and the agent kindly put me on a flight that left an hour later for $25. It was amazing to me that my husband could bail me out even if he was hundreds of miles away. I love that I can count on that guy anytime, anywhere.

Once I arrived in Seattle, we had a great time. We slept in, went out to eat, toured the area, went to the movies, shopped and reconnected without any little people around.

I do love this man . . .

Hoping it won't be another 11.5 years before we get away again.

Mother's Day (better late than never)

Not sure how I missed posting about Mother's Day and this wonderful lady . . .

It was the first time in 10 years that I got to actually spend Mother's Day with my mom.  How grateful I am to have her in my life.  I love her, I respect her, I admire her.

Now if only these kiddos will grow up to feel the same about me as I do about my mom -- how awesome would that be?

Happy Mother's Day (a few months late).  So eternally thankful to be a mom and equally grateful to my mom, my mother-in-law and all the other awesome mother's that surround me.

School Year in a Nutshell

I suppose it's time to write about the end of the school year -- I think I'm still just coming to terms that another year is over.
The kids joined their new classes in late November and each of them, thanks to their teachers and friends, had a smooth transition.
Beckam went from Miss Faerber's class in NC to Mrs. D'Haenens class. He loved school, learned a lot and didn't even mind going from all day kindergarten to 1/2 day. At his graduation, Beck even got a little teary-eyed and told me that he was going to miss school.

Jillian went from Mrs. Andrew's class to Mommy and Me Preschool.  Bless her heart, she never complained about being stuck with me as a teacher and when people would ask her about preschool she would happily exclaim, "There's only one student in my whole class and it's ME!"

Mac went from having Mrs. Parks in NC to Mrs. Nicholls in UT.  Mac seemed to have the smoothest transition into school and friends.  Right from the start he found a great group of friends who made being the "new guy" not so bad.  It also helped that he had his cousin, Camdyn, in class too.

This was the first year that Mac got to compete in the Hershey Track and Field day.  He ran hard and did well, but mostly enjoyed hanging with his buddies.

Jaxton had Mrs. Baker before the move and then got Miss Hicks here.  Jaxton always came home with the best, most dramatic stories from school and if he could tell that he had a captive audience, then he'd tell you story after story all about his day.  Jaxton was also lucky to have Colton in his class to help him ease into a new class.

For the last day of school, the big boys wanted to do something funny, so we buzzed all their hair off except for a strip in the back.  Jaxton loved it but Mac was a nervous wreck about it and couldn't wait to get rid of it.

On the last day of school, I helped put together a surprise water fight for the kids and some of their friends.  The mom's and little kids were ready to attack the big kids when they arrived at Benny's house.  It was a great way to start off the summer.  I also had a treat/surprise bag for each of the kids to celebrate the beginning of summer.

So far we've had an awesome summer and we're looking forward to the rest of it! We're hoping school doesn't come too quick!

Boys Growing into Men

I'm scared that before I know it my children are going to be grown and moving out of the house. I have know idea how the last seven years went by so quickly and how my sweet Beckam could be turning SEVEN years old.
Thankfully on his birthday I got to wake up to this little face next to me.  Beck is my only kid with dark eyelashes and lots of freckles -- I never tire of looking at that face.

Nate and I were asked to speak at church on Beck's birthday and considering that we have 9:00am church and that we rolled in from out of town late the night before, it was quite the busy morning.

Funny face vs. cute face

After church we had cupcakes and ice cream with Nate's side of the family. At one point Beckam walked into the house and everyone started chanting "Be-ckam, Be-ckam!" as loud as they could.  Apparently Beckam was so surprised at all the attention that he got really excited and even had happy tears in his eyes -- sweetest thing ever!

The next Sunday we were in Logan to celebrate Father's Day.  How grateful I am to have a husband who loves his kids and does his best to raise them and provide for them.

The kids and I wrapped each of Nate's gifts and then wrote what they loved about him on the front of each one.

I'm equally grateful to have my dad in my life.  What a rock he is.  I couldn't ask for a better guy to call "dad."  In my mind, he is a product of all things wonderful.

It won't be long before this boy will be off on a mission, get married and have a family of his own.  My hope is that this little boy will grow into . . .

a man like these two. How awesome that would be!

Happy birthday, Beckam Lee -- we love you forever and ever!  And happy Father's Day to Nate, my dad and all the other wonderful fathers in my life.  How grateful I am for each of you.

Be Still My Heart

Jilli had her first REAL dance recital. She was as beautiful as ever dressed up in her costume -- her favorite was the red lipstick, which she applied several times to both her and I over the last couple of days.

She had a wonderful group of supporters who drove 4 hours round trip to watch her dance for a total of 3 minutes -- now that's love!

When it was time for Jilli's big stage debut, she was quite nervous.  Later she would tell me that she kept whispering to herself, "Just do your best and forget the rest" over and over (thank you Tony Horton and the P90X workout videos for instilling in my child those inspiring words).

Nerves or not, as soon as the music came on she danced with the best of them.  Her graceful butterfly arms were the most beautiful up there.

My heart was so full watching my lovely daughter up on stage doing something she (and I) loves.

And since I'm not above bribery, I let her pick out a toy beforehand that she would receive if she danced big and beautiful so that we could all see her.  She got the toy.

We also celebrated with dinner out afterwards.  Jilli never made it long enough for her dinner to arrive.  It's tough work being a dancer.

And just for the record, the boys think it's completely unfair that Jilli gets showered with gifts from everyone for performing once.  They reminded me that they perform in ballgames weekly and all they get is a "thumbs up."  Sorry boys.