Little things
There's a lot of catching up to do in the "little things" department. If you can't tell, I have a bad habit of wanting to document every single living moment. So we'll start back in April with a picnic lunch at school. Ryder was so excited to hang with the big kids. And get a kid's meal. I love all the different activities they've put together at the school. Another favorite was a book exchange, for every used book you brought in you were able to take another used book home. Such a great way to update our home library.
During the spring when the weather was just right the boys would love coming with me on my morning runs. They rode their bikes and as an added bonus we would stop at the park. Jayden would come and run with me a few times and I was totally impressed with his endurance! He could run the full 3 miles, stopping only at the park, and he had a pretty quick pace too.
Enjoying the park days before the beautiful weather came to an end. Spring in the desert is perfect. After school I would bring a book to the park while the boys played at the park and Jayden played basketball with his friends. Loved these days.
We had some visitors in April. My brother, Troy, is an accountant so after the busy season came to a close they needed a vacation and we're so glad they chose to come see us.
My kids were still in school so Ryder got to have the cousins all to himself during the day. We hit up the park and splash pad, but the water was still a little cold.
Outdoor movie parties are our favorite. And I introduced them to the perfect marriage of butter popcorn and Hot Tamales.
They had a BYU fan day while they were here. The boys were in heaven meeting the players. While they were there I took Kylie dress shopping for her 8th grade formal. Buying her first dress for her first dance was a little surreal. Love spending time with that girl. Especially when it's shopping.
The pool was still too cold for me, but it didn't keep the kids out. We also took them to the lake, although Brenton woke up sick that morning so I volunteered to stay home with him so Sam could go with her family. They had a great time, and I have to admit that it was kind of nice having a quiet house. This was week 7 of having house guests (the Kiwi boys were still here at this point) so it was a luxury to sit and do nothing while Brenton slept. But I also love the happy noise that comes with having family visit!
Maddox has been working on perfecting his dive this year
I tried to convince him to let me spike his hair. He would have nothing of it. He's more of a perfectly coiffed clean side part kind of gentlemen. He would have thrived in the 1930's. A top hot and bow tie are his preferred fashion statment. Love him.
I love having this little side kick. He's the best at giving his opinion about household decor. We spent the day store hopping looking for the perfect desk chair for the kitchen. We weighed our options and finally decided on this one. He wanted to take a picture posing by it to send to Jason. This boy...
Jayden had his final band concert. So proud of him for trying something new.
The 8th graders got to take a trip to Six Flags. Lucky ducks. They left at 11 pm, drove in charter buses to California where the spent all day at Six Flags then loaded up and came home at 6 am the next day. They were exhausted but had the best time. I'm still just wondering how they managed to feed two full buses of kids at Denny's and In-n-Out. My heart goes out to those employees.
And then before we knew it, school was out and summer was in session.
The first day of summer we woke up early and rode bikes to Dunkin' Donuts. Except for Kylie, she celebrated by sleeping in.
I love the slow mornings of summer. Jason bought me a Belgian waffle maker and I found the best buttermilk waffle recipe. Top it with warm Biscoff, seasonal fruit and freshly whipped sweetened cream, then eat it by the pool while the kids play and I can think of no better start to the day.
Maddox's teacher let him bring home the extra sunflower seeds since the ones they were growing at school didn't work out. This is probably his 5th attempt at growing a sunflower as tall as him. Poor kid, this round couldn't handle the summer heat either. One of these days!
One of our former NZ missionaries, Elder Bawdin, got married in the Mesa temple. Another old missionary and his newly wed wife came down for the wedding and stayed the weekend with us. Aside from the wedding stuff (which was beautiful) we had fun going to the lake and hanging out with them.
Maddox's final football game. He improved a lot, made new friends and had a great time, so I'd say it was a successful season.
Loving the beautiful evening desert sky. It never gets old.
The kids always look forward to summer birthday parties where they get to see their school friends. Maddox and Tate picked up right where they left off. They are two peas in a pod, so grateful he found such a great friend, it really was a turning point in the school year for him last year. And I'm so grateful to find out that they'll be in the same class next year as well. And that's a wrap!
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