Last Day of School, Utah Soccer Tournament, Grandma Sue’s Visit, Caleb’s 10th Birthday

Well the kids have been out of school now for almost a month. Avery’s last day of Kindergarten was on Thursday, May 24^th and the boys were done the following day on Friday, May 25^th. I took their pictures in front of my front door on the last day of school so I could compare how much they changed from the first day of school. The boys changed a little but I could BELIEVE how much Avery had changed! I posted this on Instagram and everyone was like, “That’s crazy! No way!” So here is the change picture from first to last day of school.

I think Avery's stance may also contribute to the “I’m too cool for school” picture. Lol

Josh also took a picture of Drax in front of the door. I take pictures of the kids. He takes pictures of his dog. Basically that’s how our life goes.

Josh has been working really hard with Drax to prepare for his test, which is happening this week (On June 20^th). It’s the test to determine if he is ready to be certified as a “bite dog”. He already passed as a “drug detection dog” and has even searched a few cars for drugs and done well. But the big thing that he’s been having a hard time with is STOPPING Drax from charging at a person when it’s a “bite” situation. So basically there will be a guy standing off in the distance in a bite suit yelling and waving his arms and Josh will be standing and having to like, hold Drax back. Then Josh will give the command to “GO!” and Drax will take off towards the guy full-speed, like hes sooo excited to bite him! Lol But then Josh has to yell “STOP!” and Drax is supposed to just freeze and lie down. That’s the part that isn’t going to perfectly. Most of the time, Drax WILL stop… but he will stop about 2 feet away from the guy. It’s like he wants to listen to Josh, but yet he wants to also be close enough to bite the bad guy easily if he needs to. It’s pretty funny to watch. I guess he will still pass the test as long as he doesn’t TOUCH the guy. So it will hopefully be okay! Hopefully Josh will be a lot less stressed after Wednesday if he passes.  Then on Monday, June 25^th, Josh is leaving for the trip he’s been wanting to go on pretty much his whole lifetime. He is going to Alaska with his dad, his brother, two brothers-in-law (Jake and Ben), and their two dads. So it will be three older men and four younger men. Hopefully they survive! (Hopefully I survive all this time alone with the kids!)

Anyways, getting back to the last week of school. After the last day of school, we left for Utah for Gabe’s soccer tournament. He had a game on Friday night and then two games on Saturday in Kaysville, Utah. We left for Utah at about 2:00 once the boys finished their last day and got down there in time to eat some dinner and head to the first game. Gabe’s coach had told us at the beginning of the season, “I’m not gonna lie. We are going to go down to these tournaments in Utah and just get our butts kicked.” So I was a little apprehensive going into this! He was just trying to tell us that some of these Utah teams are a lit more experienced than us. So anyways, they did lose the first game on Friday night. But then they won their second game on Saturday! Then they had a really close game for their third game and barely lost. But it was still an exciting tournament! Stacey came down and watched some of it and we were able to sneak off to Ikea for a little bit on Saturday in between games.

We stayed Friday and Saturday night at Chris and Holly’s house. The kids are obsessed with staying there now. They think it’s so fun because 1) they have a fun dog named Mojo (who is about ten years old) and they like to give him constant treats. 2) They have a massage chair that the boys like to sit in. 3) Chris has a fancy drone that they like to fly outside. And now 4) They have twin baby boys that are really cute and we all take turns holding. Their twins were born at the end of February so Josh got to see them when he was in Utah for his dog training with Drax, but this was the first time I got to meet them. They really are soooo cute. Their names are Indie and Easton. Here is a picture of me and Caleb holding them.

On Saturday night after Gabe’s game had ended, we went to this movie in the park thing that Chris had organized. We watched “The Sandlot” on the projector screen in the park with Chris and Holly and some of their friends. Then Sunday night we headed back to Rexburg.

Monday (Memorial Day) Josh took the kids up to Grandma and Grandpa Park’s house and had some fun with our new inflatable canoes on the river. Here are a few pictures of them hanging out with Grandma Park.

The excitement continued on Tuesday night when my mom arrived from Wisconsin for a visit! She flew into SLC but then took a shuttle bus to Rexburg. I picked her up from the AmericInn hotel at about 6:00pm and then we headed right over to Gabe’s soccer game (which was in Rexburg that night). So she got to see her first ever game of Gabe playing soccer! I honestly can’t remember if he even won or lost. I think it was maybe tied.  Afterward, we went to eat dinner at Freddy’s and then we came home and relaxed.

The next day, Josh had to work so my mom and I spent the day with the kids seeing the exciting sights of Rexburg. This included Soda Vine, Porter Park, the Teton Dam flood museum, Panda Express, and Gravity Factory. Then Josh got home and we went to Caleb’s pack night together at the BYUI gardens. At 7:00, I was happy to escape my children after a long day and my mom and I went to my friend, Amber’s baby shower dinner at the Red Rabbit. It was nice to get out and just have a fun dinner with a bunch of ladies! My mom and Amber’s mom were the only two women over 35 there. They seemed to hit it off well and chatted it up the whole time! Amber and I have gotten a lot closer in the past few months. So I’m very bummed that both her and my other friend, Lauren, are moving soon! L Plus Amber is having her baby any day now so she will probably be in hibernation mode. She says she doesn’t want to be in hibernation mode and she likes having company when she has a new baby, so hopefully it really does go like that! After that I will have to visit her in Arizona. Maybe in November would be good!

So anyways, then the next day was Thursday and my mom and I went shopping in Idaho Falls. A crazy storm came through suddenly when we were about to check out at Kohl’s and the power went out! So we put our stuff on hold and drove over to the Chick Fil A to eat lunch. But then as we were sitting in the parking lot of Chick Fil A, the pouring rain turned into hail and then the hail size kept growing! I was getting seriously worried about hail damaging my car. So I looked around for a tree to go park under but the few tiny trees already had cars hiding under them. So I eyed up the TJ Max store across the parking lot and looked at the awning that was over the door and decided I could probably drive up the sidewalk and squeeze my car under there. So that’s exactly what I did. My mom was saying “You’re not really going to drive up there are you?” Yup. Yup I did. My car was safe. The hail only got to about the size of marbles, so no real damage probably would’ve occurred, but I wasn’t taking any chances.  Here is a picture of my mom with the hail.

So after the skies cleared we ate at Chick Fil A and then went back to Kohl’s and got our stuff. Then we went to a couple other stores and headed back to Rexburg to celebrate Caleb’s birthday a little early with a BBQ. The skies were pretty scary driving back and there were even some tornado warnings. But I assured my mom that tornadoes in Idaho are not like tornadoes in Wisconsin. If we even have them (which is very rare) they won’t even touch down. It’s not like entire houses get picked up and destroyed.  So we had our BBQ (and it did rain and lightning, but we were inside the rest of the night) and made Caleb his rainbow chip cake. He got a big Lego set from my mom and a couple other little things. The next day was Friday and we mostly just hung out and I can’t remember if we did anything else too exciting. Oh I know! We went to dinner at Da Pineapple Grill and Caleb spilled his fruit punch all over my mom! That was memorable. Poor Grandma. Lol

The next morning was Saturday and my mom and I woke up early to drive her down to Salt Lake for her flight. My friend, Kamrie, who had been in Blackfoot for the week, asked if she could catch a ride back down there with us, so we picked her up on the way. The three of us had lots of conversations as we drove from Idaho to Utah. Then when we got to Salt Lake, we had lots of time to spare so we went to the Utah State Capitol building and walked around. Here are some pictures of us at the Capitol.

 Then we went to Zupas for lunch. After lunch we dropped my mom off at the airport and Kamrie and I headed on to Orem to her and Stacey’s house. I was pretty depressed about having to say goodbye to my mom. But then we went shopping at Plato’s Closet (a second hand store) and I scored two pairs of cute shoes and a shirt so that cheered me up somewhat. Then we ate dinner at the Cheesecake Factory and went to Cravings for cupcakes for dessert. It was a very fun weekend! Then I had to drive home by myself on Sunday morning so that park kind of stunk.

After that, I feel like the first real week of Summer Vacation started. Me, home alone, with my kids, for like 9 hours a day every day. TONS of neighbor kids coming in and out, in and out, day after day. My backyard is like the freaking neighborhood park I swear. We have a trampoline, a basketball hoop, a playhouse with a slide, a nice sitting area with benches and a table…. We have definitely brought this popularity on ourselves with our yard. Plus I make chocolate chip cookies and then with Gabe, Caleb, Noah, Kohl, Porter, Max, and Aiden (to name a few) they disappear in minutes. I do prefer to know where they are so I don’t mind them in our yard. But then when they start coming in and raiding my fridge that’s when I start to get cranky. Yogurts, string cheese, pretzels, chips, and more… I swear my wallet is feeling the hit this Summer. Plus it feels like my boys have all these activities that they want to do and it’s like $50 here… $100 there… Gabe is doing a junior lifeguard training camp in July, then Boy Scout camp for a week. Caleb has a one day camp for Cubs and then he also did a football camp. I asked Avery if she wanted to do a summer dance class and she said no. I didn’t even push the issue because I’m kind of happy with the break.

So anyways, I’ve tried to get the kids away from the house (and the neighborhood kids) a few times. We went to the historic Teton Dam site and walked around. It was interesting to see where there used to be tons of water and then it just all broke and flooded all the nearby towns. Now you are able to hike down into that valley and stand where the water used to cover it all. Here are a few pictures of that.

We took the kids to a couple of lakes, Egin Lake and then Rainbow/Wakeside lake. I would not recommend the second one. Caleb got a bunch of bites that swelled up huge then next day and I had to take him to the doctor. He’s been taking Prednisone (a steroid) for the past few days now to get it to settle down. So I don’t think we will be going back there any time soon. The lack of nice swimming lakes is one thing I really miss about Wisconsin in the summer.

Last but not least, we celebrated Caleb’s 10^th birthday by going to Fat Cats. He wanted to play this virtual reality game they have there but it was kind of pricey, so we said he could choose two friends. So he chose Benson and Max and then it was Gabe and Caleb and us. We let them do the game for 15 minutes each (two went at a time) and then we bowling after that.

 We had pizza while we were bowling and then we came back to our house for cake and opened presents. Caleb got a bow and arrow from us and a Lego set. Avery and Gabe picked out a laser tag game for him (that I paid for) which they had so much fun with that Gabe ended up going back to Walmart the next day and buying two more guns so that four people could play at a time. The only bummer is it’s more fun in the dark so you can actually see the lights on the arms when you hit someone. The neighbor kids have had some fun with that on these summer evenings.

So that is the Summer so far! Next week, like I said, Josh will be gone to Alaska. He will get home right before the 4^th of July. Then we head to Utah for the weekend of the 6^th to a cabin with Chris and Holly and some friends. Then we will have my birthday the following week and Avery’s 6^th birthday the week after that. I’m sure July will go pretty fast. Josh will be working the rotating day shift in July, which means he will have more days off during the week. So hopefully we can take some fun day trips to Yellowstone and swim in the Firehole, hike to Packsaddle Lake, and visit Wade Lake with the kayaks. Those are some of our goals for July and August!

That’s all to report for now! Here are a few more random pictures:

End of the School Year Activities

This past couple of weeks has been sooo crazy for our family! Between soccer practices and games, church activities, dance, and Josh’s work schedule it seems like a very rare occasion that we have even been able to sit down altogether for a family dinner! It’s kind of making me pretty grumpy. I’m really ready for things to get wrapped up and settle down. I do worry about school being out and my kids driving me crazy all day this summer though! We have so many kids in this neighborhood so hopefully they will find things to do and not be saying “I’m bored!” All day. We only have three more days left of school!

Some of the highlights that happened recently were:

Gabe had a few different soccer games. Their team seems to be getting better every game. At the one on Saturday in Driggs, Gabe’s team was down 0-2 and then Gabe scored an amazing goal and turned the momentum around. His team came back and won 3-2. Gabe also gave his first talk in sacrament meeting at church on Sunday on “what it means to sustain the prophet.” He did a great job! As his days at the middle school are wrapping up, he has had a field trip to the movie theater and is going to Porter Park for a Carousel and water park day on Thursday. This weekend after school ends, we will drive down to Utah for another tournament.

Caleb has had a lot of things going on the last few weeks. Right when I returned home from Italy, Caleb had a solar system project due and also the Pinewood Derby for cub scouts. He made a Batmobile car and had a lot of fun. He didn’t take first place like he did last year, but it was still a fun time! Also at school, he was excited to get the park of William Clark for his “wax museum” where he had to write and memorize a part about the Lewis and Clark story and paint his own backdrop. His good had the part of Lewis so that made it even more fun.

Avery had her last couple weeks of dance class at Fuzion with Miss Breanne. She had her dance recital over the weekend and did a great job! She had two dances: the “Cake” dance where she was dressed like a little baker girl with a pink checkered apron, and a “Princess Leia” dance with a white costume. Caleb enjoyed watching the Star Wars themed dances the most. Avery also had a school program called “The World of Animals” where she talked about bunnies as her animal of choice. This last week at school was her “spotlight” week so we made a poster with pictures of her on it and she brought a treat to school (mini donuts). She also got to go on a couple of field trips this week. First, they did a "community" field trip where they ent to a bunch of places in town including the police station where Josh was there to show the kids his dog and make a little presentation. Then yesterday she went to the Madison gymnastics center. She has had such a good year of Kindergarten. Her teacher was Mrs. Williams (there is a picture below.)

Josh has been busy finishing up the new floor in our kitchen. He has also worked a lot between covering someone else’s night shift, teaching his Alive at 25 class, and doing lots of K9 presentations for various school field trips and Cub Scout meetings. Police Appreciation Week was also last week so they had some fun things going on. My contribution was contacting the Cookie Place and having them donate some cookies for the police department (I’m to that point in my life right now where I’m really good at delegating versus actually baking 50 cookies lol) They were happy to do it in exchange for a picture of Josh and Drax for their Instagram page (talk about good publicity lol)

I have been busy with Etsy orders, finishing up painting in the living room and kitchen, and decluttering and cleaning the house. As well as keeping everyone’s schedules straight and driving kids everywhere! I think I’m the Fall when things get back into a routine of school and kids are all there for six hours I wouldn’t mind getting a part time job somewhere. But for now I think I’ll just try to enjoy the Summer!

Here are a few more pictures of a day when we went to Grandma and Grandpa Park's house in Ashton recently and the boys both took turns driving the gator down to the river.

And here is a quick BEFORE and AFTER of our kitchen! Josh just has to finish the floor in the laundry room and then put the trim back on in a few places and it will be DONE!!

My favorite part of the kitchen is the dining room!