Family Pictures - June 2017

So every year I make my family take pictures. Yes, they hate it. Yes, Josh complains about it more than anyone else. But do I force them? Yes. Someday they will thank me for it. Someday I want to have this big wall somewhere in my house where it's like a HUGE collage of all our family pictures over the years. lol But here are some of my favorites from this year!

We had planned to go to Cave falls area again (where we went last year) but then this hail storm came through the area a couple of days before our scheduled day and so the photographer (Peyton Tanner of Paint the sun Photographer) emailed us and suggested we go to this Upper Mesa Falls area instead. I honestly am glad we did. Aside from the mosquitos, which were about to lift us up and carry us away, it was soooo beautiful. I also love that it gave our pictures a different look than last year's.

So here are some of the best ones!
(Note: No, Caleb is not taller than Gabe… he was standing on a rock in some of these, thus throwing some people off… lol)

End of School for the Boys, Avery's Dance Recital, Idaho Falls Temple, Camping, Caleb's 9th Birthday, Mom's Utah Trip

Lots of stuff to catch up on here!

End of School Year for Boys
First off, the boys both ended school just before Memorial Day, I believe it was May 25th. They had lots of fun activities on the last week of school. It was like one big party week! Caleb had to leave Mrs. Burt behind and I am so sad about that! She's so amazing. I had these little potted mums that I got for each of the boys' teachers with a candy bar and a thank you note. So they gave them those and said their goodbyes! I took a picture with the boys in front of the house, showing my sad face that school was out and they are happy! lol It is in contrast to the one we took at the beginning of the year where they are sad and I am happily jumping for joy!

Avery's Dance Recital
Then Avery had her big dance recital at Rigby High School. They struggled with some technical issues with the sound, but it was still sooo cute. Avery did two dances - a Cinderella one in a blue costume and a "Candy Girl" dance in a pink polka dot costume. They were both really fun to watch. Avery mostly knew what she was doing haha. Stacey (my friend/Avery's best friend lol) drove all the way up here from Utah just to see her dance and then drove all the way home the next morning to catch her flight to LA for the Memorial Day weekend. That's true friendship! Avery was so excited to see her there.

Idaho Falls Temple Dedication
So the Idaho Falls Temple was actually built originally in 1945, but about two years ago they closed it down for refurbishment. They had to get rid of some asbestos and redo a lot of things to make it all fresh and new I guess. So it took a LONG time but it was finally done! They had the open house going on for about two weeks where you can walk through it with your families (Mormons and non-Mormons, anyone who wants to) and so we took the kids to go see it. Then on June 4th it was dedicated. So here is a picture of us at that!

Camping
My idea of a perfect camping trip is getting to the campsite at about 6pm, cooking hot dogs and smokes, going to sleep, and leaving to go back home at about 10am the next morning. That's about my extent of living outdoors. So thats about what we did one night. We drove to this spot by the river in Rigby where Josh's family owns some riverfront land (I say family because it's kind of in question right now as who actually owns it since his grandma passed in November…) but we set up our tent there and built a fire and had a fun evening. The boys even swam for a little bit in this little section of the river that is kind of closed off and doesn't rush by.

Caleb's Birthday
Caleb was so excited for his birthday. I think he had a count down going on for about two months leading up to it. He decided he wanted to go to Squealers again for his birthday this year. So he invited Kayson, Tom, Douglas (all from his class), Noah, Porter, Carter (neighbors), Gabe (of course), and Avery and me and Josh. We got there at about 4 and did the go-carts, climbing wall, buck-a-roo, mini-golf, etc. and then we came back to our house and had Little Caesar's Pizza and cake and opened presents. We didn't end up taking boys home until about 8pm. It was a long day! lol But Caleb had a lot of fun and it's good to have him have a special day. I'm just glad it's only once a year… lol

Mom's Utah Trip
So the weekend after Caleb's party, I took a little trip to Utah to visit Stacey and Kamrie. Kamrie was in the play, Hairspray, and it was so cute. It was at this outdoor theater in Orem, Utah. She has been working hard on it for the past couple of months and it was so well done. So I drove down for that on Friday night and then on Saturday we went to a pool at Stacey's friend's apartment, went shopping, ate a lot of food… all the good stuff! Then I drove back on Sunday afternoon. It's always a fun getaway!

Hanging out at home
Here are just some pictures of daily life! Mostly it consists of the boys playing with legos and outside with friends. Avery likes to be outside too and we bought this little kiddie pool! She loves water. She takes her little princess toys out there and they all go swimming together! She also LOVES going to the Carousel at Porter park and getting cotton candy afterwards. She would do that every day if I'd let her! There is also this thing going on in Rexburg right now where people paint rocks and hide them around town. We have painted and hidden some too. But Avery found one at the park one day and was so excited! I have a feeling this summer will go fast. We really only have a month until we go to Wisconsin and then when we get back it will be a week until school starts! So that's all for now! I just got our family pictures back so I have to do a separate post with all my faves of those!

Avery's End of Preschool and Happy Mother's Day!

End of Preschool for Avery
I can't believe that Avery had her last day of preschool. I think she is just as sad about it as I am! Last night she said to me before bed, "Am I almost done with preschool?" and I said "You had your last day already last week! Remember we had the pancake party and we said goodbye to Miss Sarah?" And she threw herself on the floor and said "NOOOO! I don't want to be done with preschool!!" I know, girl. Me neither! I liked that time to myself for a couple of hours on MWF mornings! lol She had some really nice teachers - Miss Sarah and Miss Angela. Both were young teachers in their early 20's and super nice. Miss Sarah actually won't be coming back next year because she is pregnant with her first baby, due in September. I feel like Avery improved not only in her academics (learning her letters, shapes, numbers, etc.) but also just in her social interactions with her peers (not being so bossy, not pouting when she doesn't get her way, not yelling… she still does those things.. just LESS often than before…)

So now I have a whole Summer to look forward to with all three kids at home. SAVE ME!!! Then I will officially have all three of my kids in school! So crazy! How long has it been since I haven't had kids at home following me around?? Um… 11 years?! What will I do with myself for three hours every day?! I'm actually pretty excited.

Here are some pictures of Avery on her last day of school:

I also opted to have her class photo taken a couple of weeks before school ended and in my opinion it turned out super cheesy and weird looking. Here it is… you be the judge:

Don't get me wrong, she still looks super cute. I just think the background looks really photoshopped and weird. Then here is the official class photo! She had some of her neighborhood friends in her class, including Kendalin, Evan, Jacob, and Adrie. It's crazy that this year flew by so fast!

Then here is Caleb's official Spring school photo (yes, we did totally forget it was picture day… haha)

Caleb's teacher this year was Mrs. Burt, who Gabe also had. I've raved about her before but she is honestly the best teacher ever. She's so sweet. I really hope she is still there when Avery gets to third grade! I had the honor bestowed upon me of being the parent chosen to decorate her door for teacher appreciation week (not really so much an honor as the room mother desperately begging me so she didn't have to do it… haha) If it were anyone but Mrs. Burt I may not have said yes so willingly. But she is just amazing. So here is also a picture of Caleb's third grade class and Mrs. Burt and Caleb outside her decorated door.

Then just a few other things…
Avery had her little friend, Annie over to play one day and they were cracking me up with their swimsuit poses. They were having a beach party in the backyard! And then her at her last official dance class! She is going to be having her dress rehearsal and her recital this week and then next week so it's pretty much the end of dance class for a while! Unless I sign her up for a Summer class at a different studio this Summer. Still trying to decide about that...

Then here are a few more random moments: Gabe and his friend Porter looking super bored on the swings at the park (this is what I have to look forward to all Summer?!), Gabe's choir concert (this was the only picture he would let me take of him… and he didn't know I took it), and Josh at yet another training in Boise. He literally went to two different week long trainings in between April 10 and May 10 and then worked night shift all the days in between. This month has been pretty crappy as far as his schedule. I feel like I haven't seen much of him at all. Which brings me to….

Mother's Day
I really shouldn't complain because I got to sound Mother's Day with my three wonderful children… but Josh had to work basically the whole week before Mother's Day (he was in Boise from Sunday until Thursday and then worked from 8am to 8pm Saturday. Then on Mother's Day Sunday he had to sleep during the day and go in at 6pm to work until 6am.) So I really didn't get much of a celebration in my honor. Mother's Day is one of those holidays where you don't want to be like, "Oh please fawn all over me and shower me with presents!" But you're then actually secretly hoping they do anyways and are kind of put out when they don't! I'm hoping that maybe on Wednesday when Josh is actually off for a few days (after working the past 9 out of ten days) I will actually get a dinner out or something. We will see! But here are some pictures I forced my kids to take with me on Mother's Day.