June

It's been a great month. I had girls camp at the beginning of it at Heber Valley Camp and it went really well. The girls in our ward are fantastic and I was impressed with how they conducted themselves and treated each other. In addition, I had leaders there who are great examples of how to work and have fun too. This photo shows me with the girls of my cabin. We had a total of 45 girls, divided into 4 cabins. HVC has a lot to offer like canoeing, hiking, and a challenge course. When we had time at camp we made paper beads, played games, did Tai Chi and camp certification.

 A friend invited us to join them at a local pond to try out these kyaks they own. I was totally surprised how Bennett took the boat out by himself! Just a week or two after that he couldn't let go of the ladder in a neighborhood swimming pool for 20 minutes.

This shows both boys in an adult kyak. Paxton did really well paddling around considering how much bigger the paddle and kyak was. He did well with the small kyak too and he also loved swimming.

Paxton played coach pitch baseball this year. He is understanding the game better and his hitting is improving. Most of the time he only needs a couple pitches to connect. His favorite defensive position seems to be catcher as he is often the first to ask to play it. We had some hot days, but for the most part it's really enjoyable to watch him play.

The boys both wanted to participate in the Strawberry Days children's parade this year. Grandma has this gator ride-on vehicle that she decorated and they both wanted to be cowboys. Paxton drove responsibly while Bennett "shot" at everyone they passed.

Paxton's school was invited this year to march in the parade. When I took him to meet the rest of his school mates before the parades started, there were about 4 others and the principal. In fact, they joined in with another elementary so their group could be more noticeable. But it looked like Paxton had a ball, he waved and threw candy and gave me a nod (literally) when he walked by.  It's funny how fast being a celeb can go to your head.

This pretty pic shows what Jared did while working. Now I know you all may think he has a desk job, but the day he did this he was acting as some kind of Harry Potter character being chased by students. The staff and administration really do get involved in the activities but maybe next time Jared can pass. He heard a crack when it happened, but the dr said it's just a sprain.

At the end of June we went camping until the 4th of July, which is why I didn't post sooner. We went to the usual family favorite spot. Jared's parents traveled there a day ahead to get a campsite saved and it was beautiful. I never get tired of being in the mountains in the summer, away from 100 degree temps at home. We did have warm days but it felt great to me.

There are 3 lakes (technically reservoirs I believe) in close proximity to our camping area. We went on two of them. Gma and Gpa have a canoe as well so we toured the lakes and did a little fishing.

The boys both loved the archery set their grandparents had brought. Paxton can do quite well, but the bow is a little too big for Bennett to handle easily.

I enjoy the beautiful wildflowers in the area. This is Colorado Columbine. I took pictures of 37 different ones and could identify 28 - not a stellar percentage, but passing I suppose. I want to learn all of them.

This little buck wandered through our camp one evening. We think we saw the same one again the next day with a doe following along.









One day we went on a hike that we'd been on before but we lost the trail and went a harder route. The next evening two of us tried it again and were able to figure out where we went wrong. It was the perfect time to spot wildlife like this herd of elk.

There were a lot of cows and their young ones; all making a lot of noise. We saw them cross the trail ahead of us and go through the stream below.

These two were right on the trail; they seemed to have come down the hill and were heading toward the large herd. We guessed there were maybe 75-100 spread across the hillside and moving along together.

They started to disappear into the dead trees, climbing up the opposite side of the little canyon we hiked.

The boys got to splash around in one of the lakes a couple times, they didn't get too far from shore and before long Paxton was shivering but he didn't care.

Bennett looks like the "happy camper" here but he had his moments of frustration. He wants to do everything his brother does but can't always make things work smoothly and he gets really frustrated. I hope he learns to cope....or grows out of it soon!

Bennett took this picture of me and my perfectly roasted marshmallow. Making smores never gets old. We had some other good desserts like apple crisp (with ice cream no less) and lemon cake. Trailer camping does have advantages, although this trip required several upkeep and repair jobs. Before long our "old" trailer will be new again : 0

May

Here is Bennett throwing at the potter's wheel. He and Paxton both like to make a pot when dad's working. The boys like to also just watch Jared, they'll literally pull up a chair and hang out.

This is the mini father and sons activity that Jared created since the original got rained out. They went to five mile pass and roasted hot dogs.

We went to a little town called Camp Floyd for Memorial Day. They have a few things to do and they let all the boys dress up. They taught them how to march, line up, and fire their guns. Bennett didn't want to do it but Paxton LOVED it. You can see it took it pretty seriously. Paxton is in the back row next to the older guy.

For some reason Bennett got the urge to "cook" so he made up this recipe. It had melted marshmallows, baby cereal treats, gummy somethings, and goldfish crackers. He said it was delicious. We probably watch "Chopped" too much.

I made these homemade oreos and Jared loaded one up with frosting that he thought I'd enjoy. I do like frosting, but not thaaaat much.

Due to our interesting weather year, we have had a lot of pretty skies to look at. This is just one of many; I have a whole file folder of just cloud photos on our computer.

April

I bet you didn't know that the word Easter can be a verb. Well, to my in-laws it is. We all went Eastering to the desert a couple days after the actual holiday. It happened to be Spring Break for many of the schools, including UVU, so we headed southeast. We had our choice of where to spend the day because apparently this part of the desert isn't a popular destination for folks from our area.

The rocks here are well suited to adventurous kids. But they are deceptively sharp on the surface so we had a few cuts by the end of the day. I ended up with a hole in my jeans and Bennett managed to get a giant tear in the seat of his pants. He didn't want anyone to see his underwear but we could see plenty. This kids archery set was fun for our boys.

For lunch we had hot dogs cooked on a tiny portable grill. And there was plenty of candy to go around. The unpredictable wind created a challenge for kids to fly kites but it was decent weather overall.



This egg hunt was unique for sure...but not original. We found eggs before our family had even hid any. But it was a fun day, a nice way to get away from the usual routine.

Oh, how time escapes me! It's unbelievable to me that Bennett is four years old. Today he said to me that he thinks he might be the smartest kid in the world. He is smart...and we'll work on his humility. I asked Bennett what kind of cake he would like for his birthday and each time it was different and often bizarre. Finally, when I was almost out of time to bake it, we settled on lemon-blueberry. There you have it, a bundt cake.

Bennett had repeatedly asked for a Luke Skywalker costume and this was the best I could do online. I hope he wants to wear it when he's 6 or so because it's pretty big on him. I am convinced that Star Wars will live on longer than any of us.

We had a triple birthday celebration for Bennett, Emmerson, and Austin. Heidi made these sweet little minion cupcakes. I made some trifle for dessert, the banana blackberry was a new combo for me and it's my new favorite.

We were lucky to have a visit from Jaylene and her two sweet little ones. Ellie here is wearing a bib as a cape and she sporting a necklace she found in Paxton's toy drawer. They spent a couple of days with us and we loved having them. Ellie was not shy about playing with the boys and she had a great time with them on the trampoline.

You might ask where the youngest one is...Cami was hanging out in the stroller. She is a beautiful, happy baby and I am a FOOL because I don't have a good picture of her! What's wrong with me? We all know the whole point of this blog is to SEE PHOTOS of the kiddos. Oh well, another excuse to plan a trip south.

 Here's the best shot I could manage with the camera strap wrapped around a pole to set up a self-timer shot. I'm not sure what Bennett is doing there but don't look too close : )

 

March

Our youngest brainiac. He came up with this combo by himself. He really does love to dress up, even in his regular clothes. I am trying to get him to only wear ONE set of clothes each day and it's a struggle. But we can't help but laugh! Bennett is starting to READ. Simple, three letter words but it is reading and he can write his name. I don't feel like I've taught him one bit about writing, he just wants to learn to make the letters. He'll be ready for preschool in the Fall.

I am part of a neighborhood play group that was organized in our ward. So far it's been great, I'll only host about 5-6 kids once a month and the other weeks Bennett goes to another family's home or to the church with two other moms and a bigger group. Sometimes it's hard to let him go, but then I realize how much I need and want to accomplish every day and then I think it's okay.

Paxton had a fun week at school as the "swashbuckler" aka star student. This entailed making a poster about himself, taking his favorite book, getting a letter from mom and dad and being "king" for a day. I wanted to put a photo of his poster here but his teacher hasn't given it back yet. This photo was an attempt to get both cats but they were being "catty" so we only got Chica. Even if you have been to our house, you probably have never seen her because she hides when most visitors come.

This is Paxton's new bed, made by Grandpa. Despite my sure belief that he would fall out of it, he hasn't! He loves it, and I like it so much that I positioned it to get a maximum view of it when I walk by his room : ) His brother and our giant cat Chico enjoy it too...sometimes too much.

Here's the chicken coop as we started to paint it. Bennett really did help, and he never got tired of it until we were done. It was the perfect painting project for a kid his age. We did the roof one day and re-coated the red another. It came from our neighbor's rental property and had been left so he suggested we use it and we really appreciate it. Eventually his flock could be combined with ours because he only has 3 chickens.

Here's the after picture...I like to call it the chicken church. The lower roof has two separate panels that lift up; one to feed them and the other has nesting boxes directly underneath it where we can collect eggs, hopefully this summer.

The is the enclosed run that they can go out into anytime and still be safe from predators. We also let them out of both of these when we're nearby so they can have more space and pasture grass to peck at.

Once they're full grown they can be out more because then even stray cats aren't likely to mess with a bigger bird.
They aren't chicks any more - they're juveniles now and they look basically like miniature chickens with almost all their feathers.

Jared has had some great results from his latest firing of the kiln. One of our favorites is this blue color he achieved on a couple bowls;  I turned that bottom right one over to show it off. The tall vase is his tallest yet at 12 inches. The narrow shape was challenging. The other vases have a nice combination of green and brown colors. In the back is one of several bowls on which the color sort of washed out instead of being red or brown.