Wow! I am behind! So I usually have tried to post once a month around Avery's monthly birthday but I totally missed her 11 month one because we were in Wisconsin!!! Sorry Avery! There will forever be a gap in your monthly pictures between 10 months and 1 year! :(
So, since I posted last, we had lots of big things going on.
FIRST! We took a kind of last-minute drive to Logan, Utah because my mom and Jesse were coming out to Salt Lake for a wedding and said if we met them in Logan they would give us some food storage! We were bribed, but it was worth it. We also got to experience a restaurant called "Chuck-O-Rama" for the first time. Don't be fooled by the vomit-sounding name folks, it was actually very classy and good. :) Then we drove over to the Logan Temple and took some great pictures. I had never been to Logan before and I gotta say it is very beautiful! It looks like a castle/temple! So we were just there for a few hours and then drove back home! A lot of driving, but I got to see my mom! And it wasn't so hard saying good-bye knowing we'd see them again in less than a month!
SECOND! Caleb turned 5!!! My big little boy weighs about 60 pounds, wears size 7 clothes, and size 13 shoes, and definitely has no shortage of testosterone in his body. He resorts to punching his brother daily (which we try to stop, but honestly Gabe DOES know how to push his buttons and does it way too often on purpose) He can also be so sweet and cuddly and I think it's obvious he was the baby for four years because sometimes he totally pretends he can't do something (i.e. put on his own shoes) which I know he CAN do, just in order to get mom to do it for him. Hopefully he will become a little bit more independent and confident this fall when he starts Kindergarten. Right now, his best friends are the neighborhood kids, which are also Gabe's friends, and I fear too often he gets left out and it' really starting to affect his self-esteem. Just tonight he was telling me before bed time that nobody likes him. At first I thought he was just being dramatic to get sympathy from mom, but now I am starting to worry he actually believes that. I hope he can make some friends in Kindergarten that are just his. Gabe just gets how to play with kids. He is naturally someone that attracts people because he just has that personality. Unfortunately, Caleb often gets left out then and not chosen over Gabe. But Caleb just says the funniest things without even realizing it. Even adults tell me how awesome he is. He just needs to realize it when it comes to his friends. I love my little Caleb and am so glad he is in our family - especially because of the constant entertainment he provides! But onto his party now!
His birthday was June 6th but Josh was out of town so we waited until he got back and had his neighborhood, backyard party on Saturday the 8th. I like that his birthday is during the Summer so I can be lame and just tell everyone in the neighborhood to come over and play. I have always done these planned out, theme parties for Gabe (age 5: Pirate Party in our apartment movie theater with all 20 kids from his preschool... age 6: Dinosaur Party, with dino egg hunt, jello dino fossils, etc.... age 7: Lego Party...) so I feel a little neglectful having these lame backyard parties for Caleb, but he hasn't complained yet! I even suggested we do it at the local spray park for a change of pace, but he said he wanted it at our house! Technically the theme was the Avengers, but we didn't really have much organization. There was a piñata, a "Pin the star" on Captain America's shield game, and some water balloons. I also had my friend make his birthday cake, so that looked good. But it was a pretty relaxed party. Which I needed because Josh had been out of town for the previous 6 days and then worked the following week for 80 hours!!! Seriously, it was crazy. He worked everyday right up until we left for Wisconsin. That brings me to event number 3!
THIRD! Wisconsin trip!!! We left for Wisconsin on Tuesday, June 18th and got there June 19th. It took us two full days to get there. On the first day we made great time and made it all the way to Fargo, ND (right on the border of Minnesota). Then the second day, we took a slight detour to the Mall of America so that Gabe, our Lego fanatic, could see Lego Land. I think it is different now than it used to be. Before it was more of a museum. Now it is more of a giant store. But it was still cool nonetheless The boys had been working hard to earn "fuzzies" in their fuzzy jars for the past month and each fuzzy was equivalent to $1 (a pretty large rate I thought... but it was dad's idea), so they each had about $25 to spend on a toy. They each picked out a Lego set - Gabe a "Golden Ninjago" set and Caleb an Iron Man Boat set. The other exciting part of the Mall of America was that this lady and her young son ended up GIVING us a free pass to go on about $80 worth of rides!!! It was crazy. We were just standing around, looking confused I guess, and trying to decide which one ride to let the kids go one because they were about 5 bucks per person per ride, and this lady comes over and says, "Do you guys have wristbands or tickets yet?" and we were like, "No, we are still trying to figure it all out." And she goes, "Our school sells these mystery tickets as a fundraiser and we have been here for a while and are ready to leave. They expire today and this one has about $80 in points left on it. We want to give it to a family that will enjoy it. Do you want it?" I swear, I may have actually teared up a little. It was awesome!!! So then the boys went on about 10 rides and Josh and I took turns riding with them. We did that for a couple of hours, then ate lunch at Rainforest Cafe. I spent about 20 minutes in Forever 21 (which could have easily been more like 3 hours, but it was probably good I only spent 20 minutes) and then we were on our way by about 4:00.
Once we were in Wisconsin, we spent a lot of time going to rummage sales (I returned home with two huge garbage bags full of kids clothes in our car-top carrier), eating out (Josh and I returned home with 15 extra pounds collectively), and doing a small-turned-large landscaping project at my mom's house. It started one day because we had gotten locked out and had to go around to the back yard and try to get in the deck door. While we were back there, we were like, "Whoa! This is soooo overgrown! We should weed this and put down pavers for her." So we did that (by we I mean Josh) and then decided we should just do it all. So we ended up tearing out her 20 year old bushes that were pretty ratty and overgrown and putting in all new rock, retaining wall border, and shrubs. It was an experience. Hopefully it lasts her the next 20 years.
We also got to see my brother's wife and kids who were visiting from Montana. Funny that they live in Montana and we live in Idaho and we meet in Wisconsin to see each other for the first time in about 2 years!
The kids also had fun at the Madison Zoo, Lakeside Park with Grandpa Jack, going to McDonald's, and the Fondy waterpark. It was a good Summer trip, but Josh was happy to get home to Idaho where the night time temperatures average about 55 degrees.
FOURTH! The boys have been into lots of Summer activities. The did T-Ball in the first half of June, but then missed the last two weeks of it when we were in Wisconsin. That's ok though. It was their first T-Ball experience and it was definitely not too serious. Caleb was often busy talking to the baseman of the other team when he was supposed to be running to the next base. His coach would have to yell, "Caleb!!! Ruuuun!!!" and then he'd be like, "Oh! Gotta go! Talk to you later! bye! and jog over to the next base. I think football will be more his sport.
Now we are back and Gabe is doing Soccer for the month of July and Caleb is doing gymnastics weekly for the rest of the Summer. Gabe had his second game recently. They did not win, sadly, BUT Gabe scored one of the team's 3 goals!!! It was on my birthday so he was pretty excited.
Yes, I will add briefly that I turned 29. I guess I have 1 good year left. It's all downhill from 30.... :(
FINALLY! Sweet little Avery is definitely growing up! Her birthday is next week and she is getting so much more mobile and fun! Also, I think she is getting more teeth (to add to the four she already has!) because her sleeping has been horrible the past few nights! I hope that passes soon!
Well I have about a million pictures to go through, so those will be coming later!
(Here they are! Finally.... and this is about 1 tenth of them all...)
