May's events - in no particular order!

I loved your May 28th blog post Jaylene! Well said! It lifted my spirits and helped me find extra push to get this post done....so here's to you, literally. This photo is from the Families Supporting Adoption organization's Birthmother's Day celebration. They had some games, treats, roses for the birthmoms who attended, and these signs to show support for the many special birthmoms around. It actually was fanstastic to hopefully help the boys understand there are others with similar life stories to theirs. We love you J! Our lives have never been so blessed!

A quick update on the lambs, they are all alive and doing well (I was concerned about the littlest one at first but now it's hard to tell her apart). The bottle feeding is almost over, probably by the end of the week they'll just be grazing on the alfalfa and the grain they occasionally get. It has been fun to invite many neighborhood kids and friends to see them and help feed them. Props to Jared for the experience.

Our oldest is now a kindergarten graduate. Here he is performing one of several songs they sang at the ceremony. He loves school, is a little sad it's over but takes comfort knowing he'll be back for 1st grade.

This was Paxton's teacher. I thought she was great; enthusiastic about teaching but firm with class rules and expectations. Paxton did very well in the classroom, when I volunteered several times I noticed he was much more quiet for the most part, except at recess of course! We love that he takes pride in his ability to read well. Paxton is generally a great big brother and best friend to Bennett.

Bennett is a lot of fun these days. And stubborn at times! Here's a few quotes from him, which all often revolve around food:
"I LOVE cheese. I could eat cheese all day."
"Can I have some maple syrup without any pancakes?"
When I asked him if he wanted one waffle or two he said, "No, I want them all."
We were talking about birthmoms this month and he said he "climbed out of his birthmom's stomach" and that's how he got here.
He frequently wears his Superman costume that one of his grandmas made so he can "save the day".

 I thought I'd show some photos of some oil paintings I did that took much longer than expected, but turned out to be really enjoyable. These were commissioned by Jackie Brady, who is someone I adore, and happens to be my grandmother. She has memories of this small home in Monroe, Utah (the home isn't there any longer) and through photos and discussions we put together this representation.

I so enjoyed the other photos she had to share that I talked her into doing the following three small ones too.  All of them were interesting and challenging to do.  They have various family members of hers at and around the home depicted in the large painting.

And my gardening hobby is producing lettuce, spinach, peas (soon) and broccoli if it doesn't have worms that gross us out. I speak from experience.

Lastly, just a few pictures from the Tulip festival at Thanksgiving Point. This year was amazing, they seemed taller and even more packed in than usual. I chose some non-tulip images too so you could see what else they have to offer, which is actually a lot even while the tulips are on display.