MAY

CINCO DE MAYO - At the last minute I we decided to get a birthday party organized for Kasen.  We kept it simple with just being at our house.  He invited 9 friends plus himself for 10 since he was turning 10 yrs old.  He wanted it to be his favorite things: football, basketball, pizza, and ice cream. :) Ava made him this football cake. We started off with pizza for lunch.  The weather was so perfect and it was a really nice day.  It even got a little too warm on the deck while everyone was eating!  Dallin of course had to be right in the thick of everything.  He thinks he is a big kid like everyone else.  He even jabbered along and ate his pizza like everything he said made perfect sense.

The boys played basketball for awhile and got nice and hot and sweaty.  They were pretty intense!  Jed was home which was nice he could be the regulator and coach.  They also played touch football games.  Between the two sports they played for almost 2 hrs straight.  Their faces were so red and sweaty I finally made them stop and come get ice cream because I was worried someone was going to die!  In the shade the weather was lovely, so Kinsley and I watched and walked around and admired our first flowers of the season.

At Christmastime, Kasen got some basketball cards as stocking stuffers.  I hadn't really heard about kids playing with them or collecting them again.  But Kasen loved them and started telling his friends about them and then they started building up a collection.  For his party I got everyone a pack of cards and they were all so excited about it and started trading cards.  Kasen said that for most of them it was their first pack of cards ever.  (Sidenote: now when he goes to friends' houses they spend most of the time trading cards.)  So I feel like I started the trend of bringing bball trading cards back.  :)  The party was a lot of fun and having lots of space outside for 10 boys to run around in made this one of the easiest parties of all time.  Kasen had a great day and we love him so much!

BIRTHDAY BOYS - Three days later this kid got to really celebrate being 10!  His birthday was on a school day which is actually way more fun as a kid.  Then he had piano lessons and football practice that night.  There was only a slim window of time for presents.  Luckily he's fast at ripping open the wrapping.

Kasen wanted his birthday dinner at 5 Guys after football.  It was a pretty late night for a school night, but it was fun to celebrate with him.  Dallin must have realized that he was basically the birthday boy too and felt like being older because he lasted about 1 min in his high chair and then he wanted to sit in the chair like a big boy.  He also wanted to run around and move cones and not listen so he really is just embracing being 2 yrs old already.  Just when I'm ready to get mad at him he runs over to me and gives me a big hug and says, "Wuv you momma!"

Then 2 days later it was his turn for a party.  We had Tresa over for cake/ice cream and presents.  She gave Dallin a set of sports balls.  Even though he has about 100 already he was in heaven to get a few more.  This kid is obsessed!  They did not leave his grip the entire weekend.  Dallin loves Toy Story so much right now that he got a few presents from that.  Woody pj's and a Buzz Lightyear toy that talks and makes noise.  He was so excited for both!  He watches Toy Story any chance I'll let him.  It has been really cute watching him run around with Buzz and make him fly or "blast off" or shoot his lazers.

Kasen really wanted an ice cream cake for his birthday so we tried to make our own for the boys since buying one is so stinking expensive.  It turned out meh ok.  Dallin loved it though.  He started stealing other people's bowls and eating with both hands as fast as he could.  He is such a stinker.  We really can't believe he is already 2 yrs old.  Time goes by so fast.  Dallin is a whirlwind of noise, energy, roughness, silliness, etc and some days he definitely makes everything we do harder, but we love him so much.  He brings so much happiness, laughter, and love into our family.  I'm so thankful that Heavenly Father knew we needed him in our lives and sent him to us.  I can't imagine our lives without him and it is crazy to think that if it would have been up to us we would have only had three kids.  We all adore him and his funny little personality.  I'm also really thankful that both my boys have birthdays so close to each other.  They are two of my most special Mother's day presents!

MOTHER'S DAY - This weekend I wanted to do something fun with the kids so we used our groupon tickets to the Boise Aquarium.  I used Dallin's little backpack with the leash and let him walk around instead of being in the stroller.  He loved it, but I got lots of weird looks and double takes with it. :)  That night Jed took me to Barbacoa for dinner.  That place is so awesome! 

Mother's Day was a great day.  Church was wonderful.  During 3rd hour all the women met in the gym and had a lesson from the Bishop and then we were treated to amazing desserts that had been catered in: key lime pie, fruit pizza, chocolate bombs, eclairs, etc.  Then the YM and men all came in and sang Love at Home.  It was nice!  After church I wanted a picture with the ones that made me a mother.  You can see the progression of how Dallin takes pictures lately.  Keep in mind this was in about a 90 second time frame.  Picture 1: (from Dallin's mind) This is fun to be all close together.  Kasen is pretty funny. I like my family.  Picture 2 - Dad's making a funny commotion over there saying "cheese".  I like that guy too.  Picture 3 - Ok why am I still sitting here?  Picture 4 - Enough family bonding already! I want to go shoot my basketball!!!

I invited Tresa and family over for dinner.  Jed grilled steak kbobs.  He and Ava made Italian sodas.  They also made brownies and ice cream for dessert.  It was lovely and we hung out outside and played lightning.  One of the cutest moments of the day was when Dallin woke up from his nap.  I brought him upstairs and he saw Tresa in the kitchen from down the hall and he yelled, "Tre-Tre!" Then he sprinted down the hall and gave her the biggest hug.  It was so cute.

I think fathers get a little jipped with their holiday.  Mother's day is during the school year, so teachers always help students prepare cute notes and even some craft or gift for us mothers each year.  I loved my notes and crafts from Kasen and Kinsley.  Ava wrote me a poem - superhero style since Jed and I had gone to see the Avengers for our Mother's day date.

The weather was so nice on Mother's Day that we decided to go for a drive.  Kinsley opted for the sun roof view.  We drove up past the temple and Ava got this amazing picture.  She is really getting good at taking amazing pictures.  We had a moment of sunny rain, as I like to call it.  (When it starts raining during sunny time of the day.)  The girls decided to go dance in the sunny rain and then out came some beautiful rainbows that Ava caught.  Out the backyard view there even appeared a double rainbow.  These always make me think of my two grandmothers. I feel like it's their way of letting me know they are still close by. It was a sweet ending to a wonderful Mother's day.

SPORTS, SCHOOL, & ACTIVITIES - Spring sports went by really fast.  Kinsley finished up soccer with her friends.  During one of the practices she collided heads with another girl.  Her coach told her to decorate her goose egg like an Easter egg.  She thought that was a pretty great idea.  I couldn't believe how big her goose egg was though! Ouch.

Ava finished up volleyball as well.  This club season was pretty long.  The team definitely improved each week and it was both fun and tortuous to watch them at tournaments.  :)  It is really hard for Ava not to win and even harder for her dad I think.  But I have to admit it was frustrating to me as well.  Even though winning isn't the only important thing it is hard to lose so much.  There was an end of year party at one of the girls' houses and the coach gave them cards with their stats for the year.  The top is Ava's personal stats and the bottom are the team's numbers.  Of all the stuff blocks Ava scored 11 of the 12 and 22 of the 33 block touches.  So it was a great reminder of how good she did and how much she improved each week as well as the whole team.

Kasen also finished up another season of football.  This year they ended up getting 2nd in the league.  I think it was probably good for them to not win the championship again.  There are a few boys who are moving on to tackle, but Kasen will keep doing flag for awhile.  Because soccer and football were always at the same times I only made it to two or three games.  Kasen also qualified for the Mustang Mile race.  It was the top 10 kids who had the fastest time on the mile.  There was a girl's race and a boy's race.  Kasen ended up 4th I believe.  He sprinted the entire mile and at the end was so fatigued.  He was still able to raise up both arms as he crossed the finish line though.  lol

It felt like the kids had a million school projects this month.  I'm not sure why teachers do that.  Ava had to create a board game with strategy based off her novel research.  She read "The Fantastic Voyage" and so she decided to recreate it.  The players had to travel through the human body.

Kasen also had a big final group project in GT.  The nice thing about GT though is that they rarely have to do things at home.  Which I never thought I'd be the parent that would say this, but if a kid is in school for 8 hrs a day do they really need to have homework??  I understand some reading, spelling, or a few math problems, but other than that I think it should all be done at school.  Anyway, the GT had an open house for families to come see everyone's final projects.  Kasen's group had a chemistry unit where they performed different experiments with food.  His group did a great job. He really likes his GT teachers.

The kids also finished up their piano for the year with Piano Olympics (where they were judged and received scores and medals) and a group piano ice cream party.  They had to perform in front of each other and then got ice cream at the end.  They have all improved a lot and are moving right along with their piano skills.

KASEN DAY - Already time for Kasen day 2.0.  This time he chose to go down to the Boise State stadium for some football fun.  A friend in our ward had told us about an annual event they put on down there and it correlated perfectly with Kasen and his interests so we went down.  Two of Kasen's friends were there so they played on the turf together.  We got to meet the Bronco mascot and participate in all sorts of throwing games.  There was also hot dogs and cookies.  Kasen was in heaven.  This boy sure does love football and basketball.

It was unusually warm, especially down on the turf, so on the way home we stopped and got Coldstone ice cream.  It was a double bonus for Kasen because after we got home he decided to go with his dad to rope too.  So he got to do so many fun things the entire day without any of his siblings.

MORE MAY DAYS - May was the month of sunny rain - especially Sunday sunny rain.  Ava never missed a chance to go out and dance in the rain.  She is getting so tall and zoomed through another growth spurt!  She is well past me and now chasing her dad.  She really wants to be as tall as him - 6 foot.

We loved the spring weather this month!  Especially Dallin.  He loves being outside and has found his new happy place on the swings.  He loves getting pushed and will swing for hours!  Along with the beautiful spring weather we had to start taking taking care of our yard again which means - weeds!  I can not believe how many weeds we get and how fast they grow.  The phrase "growing like a weed" is no joke!

Kinsley had been complaining about her eyes being blurry for awhile so I finally took her to the doctor.  It turns out she has an astigmatism in one of her eyes so she had to get some glasses for reading.  She was pretty excited.  The good news is that it will probably resolve itself over time.

One night Kasen decided he would read to us from the kid Old Testament book.  Ava asked her dad if he would braid her hair and then Kinsley lined up to get hers done too.  It was a cute little line of braiders.  Kasen was reading along and then all of a sudden he came to a part that was weird to him (which honestly could have been any story in the Old Testament!) and he looked up with the funniest look on his face.  Luckily I was able to capture it because I also feel like I make that face anytime I read from the Old Testament too!

At the end of the month we heard some sad news.  Jed's mission president's wife had passed away after a long battle with cancer.  Jed has not been the best at keeping in regular contact with President or Sister Smith over the years so he felt really bad about that.  He was able to quickly rearrange his schedule so he would be able to attend the funeral.  We drove down that morning and took Dallin with us.  Malorie watched him during the funeral and then we picked him up and drove home.  It was a long day of driving, but we were glad we went.  There were a few other missionaries that Jed knew so that was fun for them to catch up.

During playtime one evening Kinsley dressed up like a superhero and she got Dallin dressed up too.  Every since then he has been on a superhero kick.  He has been cruising around in her pink cape and matching mask that he will only wear pushed up on his forehead.  lol  It is so cute to watch him stretch out his arm and say, "To Infinity!" and then zoom forward and run around.  One night he decided to take along his buddy Buzz Lightyear and zoom around the deck.  Ava brought her turtle out and the kids had fun following it around.  Kasen thought it was extra funny to have it crawl across his arm with those pointy toes.

I got a call from the Silverleaf YW President who was called after me inviting me to a little breakfast party for the graduating senior girls.  These are the same girls that I started in YW's with back when they were 14 yrs old.  I was really sad to leave them in particular when we moved.  There was one girl missing but it was fun to catch up with them and hear their future plans.  Jenna was attending art school in Portland hoping to eventually get a job as an animator for Pixar.  Makayla was heading to BYU hoping to revive their debate program.  Sophie was heading to her parents alma-mater Utah State.  Katie was on to UofA.  Hailey off to ISU accepted into the Dental Hygiene program. It was also great to catch up with the other leaders that I served with too.  The YW president before me was there as well as their new leader (who ironically is the lady that bought our old house!)

MEMORIAL DAY - Memorial day started off with some yard & garden work.  Ava took some more pictures from cool angles. Jed and Ava set up the volleyball net for the first time too.

I think we will officially make this into a yearly tradition... we headed over to the park in Eagle by the greenbelt.  They set out the flags for all the veterans.  We did this same thing last year (left pic).  It is a nice reminder why we celebrate Memorial day.

Last year we also went on a little walk along the greenbelt.  It was during this walk that the people that ended up buying our house went for yet another showing.  They ended up making an offer later that day that we accepted.  So I will always remember that on Memorial day.  It is crazy that that happened a year ago already.

I love this bridge across the river.  It is so cool looking in photos and my kids love running across it. Kinsley loves leaping across it. 

It turned pretty hot while we were out and so we decided to get a sno-cone.  It was the first one of the year.  (And ended up being the only one all summer!) It hit the spot and these little piggies slurped it down in about 2 minutes.

We had invited some friends - Danny Ricks family  - over for a bbq.  Ava and Avery were really good friends and Ava has been wanting to get together again for the last year.  We had a great time with their family eating and catching up.  We also did some running races with the kids and arm wrestling and so on.

We lit up the fire pit for the first time this year for some smore making.  They were enjoyed very messily!

LAST WEEK OF SCHOOL! - Wow the last few days of school already.  We were all so nervous for this school year with all three kids starting over, but it has turned out to be a great year.  The 3rd grade all made tie-dyed shirts for field day at school.  Kasen even made a perfect heart on his shirt on accident.  Kinsley had a fun camping week in 1st grade with cute activities.  She has loved her teacher so much.  I found out this week that her teacher has been having some personal things going on (divorce, friend dying w cancer) that I wish I would have known about sooner to offer more help in the classroom or something.  I always hate finding out someone has been struggling after the fact - I feel bad I hadn't helped more...

The very last day of school Ava had to take in a Cell cake for an assignment.  Really on the last day?!  She got together with her friend Ava and they made this cake using candy for all the different parts of the cell.  I dropped her off for the bus that morning.  I love that even in middle school she still turns around and waves at me before getting on the bus. 

There was a school assembly for the elementary kids.  Kinsley was nominated by her teacher for student of the year from her classroom out of all the girls.  Kinsley was so proud.  She got a medal and her friend Mallory was also student of the year in her class. The only way I could keep Dallin quiet was feeding him candy.  Then I ran out and he went crazy and we had to leave early.  Story of my life with that kid. :( The kids also got rewards from their walk-a-thon donations this week including Menchie's gift cards and smelly pencils called Smencils.

We were able to watch Kasen at recess for a few minutes after the assembly.  He was playing basketball with his friends.  He has made good friends with Bryant and Will this year.  They call themselves the 3 Musketeers. The kids loved looking at their yearbooks and getting signatures from friends.  The thing everyone writes now is  HAGS which stands for Have A Great Summer.  We were invited down to the Cantwells for the end of year swimming party. There were so many kids!  Even Dallin got in.  He thinks he is as big as all the older kids.

Av had been invited to another pool party with her 3 closest friends from school.  She met back up with us later.  We were also invited to an outdoor movie at the Crawfords.  It was so fun.  People around here really know how to celebrate the end of the school year!

Here are their 1st day of school pictures and last day of school pictures!  Ava and Kasen no longer fit in their 1st day clothes or shoes.  Kinsley grew out of her shoes, but her clothes still fit just fine! lol

GARDEN UPDATE - Here is a picture comparison of our garden at the beginning of the month and at the end of the month.  It is crazy what some sunshine and warmth will do in a few short weeks.  I was obsessed with watching for little things popping out of the soil.  It is so cool growing things.  These pictures were taken on May 4th. We had only planted a few things like lettuces, potatoes, peas, onions, radishes, etc.  Our first thing to pop up was kale.

By May 31st we officially had a garden!  Look at all that green stuff growing.  We also finished planting all the rest of our crops.

We decided to just try everything  we wanted.  I gave each kid their own box to plant whatever they wanted.  The rest were filled with a variety.

After I thinned out the raspberry plants Jed was so concerned that we wouldn't have any raspberries at all.  But they were already thick in 4 weeks again.  Dallin spent lots of time outside with me getting things ready in the yard and garden.  He learned about bugs and also learned the word "YUCK!" thanks to them.

Our little buttercups were in full bloom by the end of the month.  They are so pretty.  They are wildflowers and just explode.  I love them when they are bloomed and then mid-summer I pull them all out because they stop blooming and just look like weeds.  But we enjoy them while we can.  Every since Kinsley was a little baby I would sing her the "My Little Buttercup" song from the Three Amigos movie.  So the buttercups are her favorite flower in the yard!