August push!

School is starting! It starts so early this year, middle of August! What the?! So we have to hurry and go go go, do do do, and squeeze in as much summer fun as we freak'n can!

Aug. 1st

I had been wanting to take our family and hike up to Cecret Lake in Albion Basin at Alta ski resort. The wildflowers were in bloom and then Greg wasn't able to ever make it to go with us. By this time it was the tale end of the flowers so one morning I took the boys by myself. A little crazy I know.

But we did it. It was nice and cooler up there, we all got up there without too much work or drama. Slow and sure, we told Rafe he could make it to the top of that mountain and zig zag to get there. He was a trooper. We made it!

We found our own little (big) rock to explore on. I let the boys dip their feet in the water since we weren't allowed to swim in it. And on one side of our rock was steep and if you go into the water you will slip. Sure enough Bodie slipped and went in, and every time he tried to move to get out he slid more and deeper. He was scared, and I knew if I went in I would slip too, then we'd both be in the water struggling to get out. And we had an audience of people watching. So I grabbed Creed who was already wet and we made a human chain down into the water and retrieved Bodie, still on the slippery rock but up to his shoulders. 

So in the picture Bodie has his clothes off so I could ring them out before we went back down.

Back down, was a Rafe nightmare! We made it half way and something made him mad and oh boy he did his screaming and crying and carrying on. None of us could help him, he was just mad and stubborn. A few passer-byers looked at me and nodded and said "I've been there" - because everyone could hear that kid scream!

***

That same night Greg's work had an appreciation evening at the Zoo. So we went for free. Thank goodness we didn't pay because I would have been mad. Half the animals weren't even out. I would have thought in the evening when the sun isn't blaring over head and it's cooler they would be out. But nope. Empty! We still had a good time. But wish we could have seen... animals! ha!

The highlight was the tiger! And I love the animals the boys chose for the carousel. It fits their current personalities and recent interests.

Aug. 2, 5, & 7 ***

I caught Jax one evening while, his brothers were at a neighbors playing night games, being silly while he mowed the lawn. Waving, making faces, and this picture of him jumping and hitting his ankels. We had some water gun fights, and sometimes ends in anger. We had dinner with my mom one evening while Greg was out of town and walked around the temple. And for a few days we had lots of little rain storms. I caught a cloud on my way home and took a picture of it headed over our neighborhood looming in front of Mt. Olympus. Lots of cool lighting too.

Aug. 8 ***   I used my selfie stick (since Greg was out of town) and was trying to be sneaky taking a picture of the boys while we watched the Olympics one evening. And then when they noticed the camera, they all broke out being silly for the camera. Yeah, let me take a picture of your bum?!

We are all really loving watching the Olympics. The boys are all impressed with Michael Phelps and all that we watch. Best family TV ever!

Aug. 9 & 10th  *** One afternoon we went to Aunt Laura's neighborhood pool with cousins. The boys had some fun off the high dive. Creed did a flip and ended in a bad belly flop. Slapped him good, he cried a bit it hurt so bad. Poor kid. But he went right back at it. Bodie and Rafe had fun using their life jackets. How many more years of swim lessons until they can "swim" (sigh).

And the next day we headed downtown to Temple Sq. with our friends the Ungurens. We did the Children's church history musem, had lunch at the Gargden Restaurant, and went to the top of the Church Office Building to the observation deck and thoroughly enjoyed the views!

I love the picture of all 8 kids at the doors to the temple. All trying to get in "Let us in, Let us in"!

Aug. 11th ***

I truthfully am loving the the ages of my children. I can go do things I never would have done before with little toddlers or babies. I took the boys to a fun water park, Cowabunga Bay. All-by-myself again! It was such a fun day! I dare say my favorite day. We all loved it. It was warm, the water was warm, it was clean, it was fun for all ages, no deep pools for going under or drowning. Rafe was fine on his own. The older boys loved all the slides. Bodie, Rafe, and I had fun doing some of the "calmer" slides. 

Greg was planning on joining us around 4pm for the last few hours. But, Jax unfortunately jumped in the lazy river (we all LOVED) and he shouldn't be jumping of course and straight down on his foot and hurt it quite bad. We thought he might have broken it. So after pulling my boys away from the awesome day we took Jax to get an x-ray. And it showed he did not break a bone. Just a good painful strained ligaments or something.

It was a bummer missing out playing with Greg and leaving a little earlier than we wanted. But I know I will never forget the feeling I had that day with my boys and I all playing hard together. I will also never forget this summer, when I realized I can do things with my children I never did before. We are in the next phase of raising our boys, and I say bring it on!

Aug.13th ***

Saturday ended up being another favorite day actually! We went up to my favorite place. A Williamsen family reunion at the Valley in Eden, Ut. by Pineview Reservoir. Ok, so it wasn't the reunion that was so great, it was the location. We hung out and ate lunch, stuck together with my immediate family, the boys had a blast playing with all the toy cars on the tennis court, doing a zip line, playing with cousins and ending with a coin search in sawdust!

I loved being up there. Sure it's a little different, it's not "ours" anymore, my great uncle still owns the property, but it was so nice to see it again. And remember all of our great memories. I was mentioning to Greg about how a few times that afternoon I thought of my dad and almost teared up a little how he would have loved to be there and how weird it was to be with his family and he isn't here anymore. Then on the way home I was trying to tell Greg and I had a good little cry.

 Anyways, not to be too sappy anymore... Here are the boys and their excited faces riding the zip-line they had up there at the reunion.

 Aug. 13th cont.***

And then that night we headed down to Alpine for dinner at Greg's parents and played some, took our trailer back to it's 10 months out of the year parking home. And went to the local park and thoroughly enjoyed Alpine Days! So much fun things for the kids to do. And we also watched a pretty awesome firework show right overhead. It started way to late for so many kids, but oh well. We got home at almost mid-night. Ugh.

 A fun thing we did first was ride a wild bull! The boys thought it was great. I only have 1 or 2 pics of Greg and Rafe because they didn't last long at all and were thrown off right at the start. Ha! In Greg's defense the guy controlling it was pretty wild with the adults. :)

Now it's Sunday, tomorrow is back to school night, no plans yet for Tuesday and school starts on Wednesday. Ready or not!

Bobo is 7!

 Another year older. It amazes me how that happens. I can't believe Bodie is already 7. He seems younger to me. I think of him as like 5 years old still. It's weird. Maybe because I've spent so much time thinking of him and worrying about him and what to do with his future and deciding to have him do Kindergarten again. So I have kept him this little young boy in my mind. Sometimes he seems just so cute and little still.

Here's a baby picture when he was about 7 months. Such a cute HAPPY baby. Happy all the time!

But man, sometimes he seems like such a big boy. He is a big boy, literally a giant. As we've called him many times, he is our tank. I love his round chub on his hands and feet. I have Greg keep shaving his hair because I love how it makes his face and eyes look. 

Bodie is such a character. He is just like Greg and Jax. He loves to be silly. Sometimes we have to help him "tone" it down. He can be shy around others, but with family, he is pretty wild sometimes. He loves video games, hamburgers, pizza, ice cream, hotdogs, pickles, and Cheerios. He is content to play with his brothers. And is starting to pick on Rafe more. Some days he's excited for 1st grade, other days he tells me he's not and we discuss his worries. He loves to stay in his pajamas all day. With his 2 front teeth out his speech sounds are hard, it's going to be tricky to start speech again this school year since he needs those teeth to help him. I pray they come in already!

He has been really scared about things recently, especially at night in bed trying to go to sleep. It's been extreme actually. He heard some scary stories that terrified him. Traumatized is more like it. It makes me sad what he says he thinks about (zombies and such, etc.) We are making slow progress on getting him to be ok without all lights on, and singing many songs and him always calling us in the night. In the beginning he would cry and cry. After weeks and weeks this summer we are almost back to "normal". A process of baby steps but it is getting better. Phew.

Bodie is still a hoarder. We are always dealing with his collections, in his bed, night stand, spot on the couch, and the stash in the car by his booster seat. I throw a lot away when I can. Ha!

Anyways, so he's been looking forward to his big day. Counting down and telling us everything he wanted. 

On his b-day morning we only had half his presents, the rest arrived from Amazon later in the day. It was like the presents just kept coming. He got his Skylanders, Kylo Ren light saber, some books, cash, and 2 fun water gun blasters and building things from grandma's. Oh and a new water bottle. His old ones he chews on the spouts and ruins them. 

For his cake he said he wanted a flag cake. Hmm? Ok, maybe because the Olympics were going to start soon so he was ready to show American pride! Ha! I don't know but I happily decorated it as a flag for him. We all love a good spice cake.

That day we took him to get his balloons, and had lunch in a park and then played with his water guns for a week. He was a happy happy boy and it was a great birthday! We sure love him!

Summer happenings

 August will have it's own post. So here's what we have been up to this summer. Right after school got out Grandma Lorenzon had a "tea party" down at her house. Me and the older boys with cousin Soren in the picture. 

Greg got glasses. The boys still can't get over how he looks with glasses. Heck, I can't get over it. He looks so different. But older and more distinguished ay? He only needs them for reading at home up close. 

We had the city clean up and were trying to throw out all the boxes from our shed. The boys had a fun few hours playing in them. And those boxes are 2 big water heater boxes. Yes, that's 2 we had to replace. Greg is a rock star and did them both. One when out, and the pressure caused the other to go out. Fun for us! Bodie loved trying out Jax's friend Kaden's "tri-cycle" I called it a big wheel. 

And the boys dressed nice for Sunday. And the sacrament meeting picture I tried sneaking both Jax and Creed were mad a me so Creed wouldn't look at the camera and Jax turned after I took this. They were mad because they were of course being naughty and lost dessert or something for their behavior at church.

We've gone boating a few times. Not much though. We went on our annual camping trip to East Canyon with the Ungurens. And we invited the Wheeler family this time. It was lots of fun. I took a picture of all the kids swimming around. And finally! One of our boys has tried wake boarding. And Creed got up, just for a few moments. But he's up! And the boys hanging with cousin Liam and being "American Ninja Warriors" on the boat tower. We love that show man!

We got home from the Uinta's on the July 24th. And a lot of celebrations were happening on Monday the 25th. So we did a few sparklers to celebrate in our pajama's. And yes the 2 of the boys are holding their sparklers as if they might be peeing. Because they're boys! Greg and I taking a selfie after the temple one evening. 

Rafe posing with Creed showing off the 3 stickers on his shirt. He got them for the 3 shots he got that day for starting kindergarten. He was cute and gave 3 little screams each poke. He almost cried at the end but was brave and didn't, he will tell you. I'm just a little sad about the fact my baby will start kindergarten. I'm trying to gear up for it. And it's a normal thing in our house to break out in a dance party and shirts come off. Sometimes more comes off as well. Geesh!

Our Uinta's

And now time to document our annual camping trip to the Uinta Mountains. Greg's whole family, Bangerter cousin's and all goes to the Blacks Fork River area up in the Uinta's. The boys look forward to it every summer. And Greg especially loves it. It's his "home" as he calls it.

We left on a Wednesday evening, and just look at the beautiful cloud that welcomed us as we arrived. Big giant fluff with the sun setting on it. Beautiful! The next days the older boys were finally able to use their air-soft guns they got for x-mas and play a little BBGun war. We hung out and while Greg went fly fishing I took the other boys to play in the river. Creed's walk through the mud turned into a deep, quicksand scary mess, and then they all freaked out how cold it was and didn't want to be in the water anymore. Ha! And it rained a bit one day and we hung out in the camper and the boys watched the movie Clue while Greg napped.

We always love gathering with the Lorenzon family around the campfire, Smores, talking, hot chocolate, staying up till we are all so dang tired. The sky is always amazing. Pretty blue, then spectacular stars. We get to see the Milky Way! 

We went on a little hike and fished one day. The boys loved it! They kept catching fish and had to copy Greg and roll up their pants to retrieve their fishing lines that got stuck under rocks. 

I have to mention how Creed and Bodie kept 2 fish that we couldn't release and they played with them back at camp and ended up mangling them and finally said goodbye and had a burial for them. And Jax finally touched the worms and put them on his own hook this year. They are getting the hang of all the fishing grossness. Well I think it's gross. Ha!

Greg bought some ammo and the boys got to shoot his 22 gun. Rafe was a little nervous and didn't know if he wanted to or not. But had fun. And I shot it too. And am a pretty good shot. Just not a good shot with his 9mm Beretta. (Bo, Jax, Creed - me filming, and Rafe w/ Greg's help)

The bugs were out in full force. I didn't get one bite though. I give credit to the new found dryer sheet I wear around to repel mosquito's. So far with 4 different occasions it has worked like a charm. But I also did use bug spray because there were so many. My sis-in-law Alisa captured me being like a horse, swatting away the flies with my pony tail. Ha ha! Then the next picture is the usual scene I see when the younger 3 boys go to bed and line up outside the camper trailer door to be ready to jump in so they don't let any bugs in by opening the door too much. Jax always stayed up later.

Then the Lorenzon family dinner. The heard gathered around getting and eating Taco's. Everyone loves Taco's - we have it up there every year. The night Greg and I were in charge of dinner we had rice and meatballs. Everyone does such yummy meals.

The bottom 2 pictures is of the Hans and Franz skit Greg does (from Saturday Night Live). He had Abe join as Franz again and our boys have been dying to be in it with him and talked about it for a year or two. So this year Greg had most of the Lorenzon cousin's in it as well. I think they all were excited and had a good time. It's silly and always gets good laughs. That's a tradition Greg has done since his youth. They all had German character names and totally got into it and were brave in front of the crowd of Bangerter's watching. Greg did good in "pumping them up". In case Greg needs to remember, Jax is Dieter, Creed is Friedrich, Bodie is Fabian, Rafe was Uter.

On our hike to the 2nd crossing. Everyone but Alisa who was taking the picture. The Lorenzon Family campers! And we never made it to the river crossing. Everyone with the little kids split up and bailed and just started their picnics and fishing. We went ahead a little bit further and found a nice shady spot and fished.

It's such a pretty place up in the mountains. Even with all the burned tree's from the fire 14 years ago. One afternoon after it rained the sun was shining during it and made this misty scene on one side and the other we saw 2 rainbows. It was stunning! Alisa captured these since I didn't have my camera on me.

It was another fun year! Creed and Jax are giving me a thumbs up for a successful camping trip. And the pretty mountains that surround us while we camp. Took this picture on our way home on Sunday. Above Creed's thumb way back by those mountains tucked away by the tree's is where we all camp. 

4th of 2016

 Always have to document my favorite holiday. So this year instead of just going to the 4th of July Millcreek Parade, we entered the parade! For a few years now we've been meeting up at the parade with our friends the Davies. And have also talked about entering because the kids always love getting the candy and wanted to be the ones to throw it to the people. And we figured our kids are getting older and to the point they won't want to be in the parade. So we finally did it. 

We decorated scooters for Jax and Bodie, then Rafe was in the wagon with candy, and Creed, well he used his pogo stick the whole way down the route. He got lots of cheers. He took a few breaks, but man, what a trooper. He was super hot and thirsty after. What a stud! The boys had fun riding down Evergreen Ave. and didn't throw too much candy. But Rafe sure did. Just sitting and throwing while Greg pulled him in the wagon. We got seperated at the very beginning from the Davies being so much slower. But it was fun and the kids said they wanted to do it next year. Jax said he'd rather not and I know Greg sure doesn't want to. We'll see I guess.

 Then we came home, did some yard work, watched a movie as a family, and got ready for our annual party. We did the hot dog bar again and had a good turn out. Lots of neighbors, friends, and family came. You can see the big water balloon fight going on there in the picture after dinner. And as we started fireworks, the group just kept growing and growing. I think I counted about 100 people were there for the show. In the picture all the empty spots were eventually filled with people who kept coming. Another fun 4th!

Our Cali 2016 #2

 After driving to San Diego and then spending the day at Disneyland we took Wednesday and had some relaxation. We decided to stay at the condo and ended up staying for hours and hours at the pool. The boys had so much fun swimming and playing some fun games and having fun adventures in the pool.

Thursday we went to Universal Studios. The hard part was having to drive through Los Angeles in the morning traffic. Ugh. We had no other way to get across the city to get there. So that part was sucky. But we arrived a little after it opened and were busy going and going the rest of the day.

I got some tips from my friend and did the studio tour early, then headed to the lower lot to do Transformers Ride (which the boys LOVED) We came out and the boys got to meet Optimus Prime. It was funny, I was taking pics, Greg was filming the video and Optimus said to Greg "Dad, get up here, you know you've been waiting for this since 1984"! Ha! I love it! It was funny and so true, everyone laughed and cheered. 

Then the Jurassic Park ride. I was worried the little boys would be scared but they did good. Then back to the upper lot to catch some of their shows on the bleachers. And then Greg was in heaven living his dream of being in the Simpson's World. He got to eat a Krusty Burger and had a big pink donut and even got to meet Homer Simpson. He had fun with all of that. And the boys favorite ride of the day was the Simpsons ride, which they did more than once. All the simulator rides kinda made me sick. So I spent all this money to enter the park and then had to keep my eyes closed during some parts of all the rides (most are simulator) - But, awesome simulator.

The new Harry Potter World opened so we checked that out as well. Tried some Butter Beer and saw the lines all day like 60-80 minutes long at some points. When we went the roller coaster was only a 5 min. wait. Luckily - I timed it, it was exactly 30 seconds long. What!?! People waited up to an hour or more for a 30 second ride?! Ridiculous. If you build it, why not build it a little bigger and longer? And then Greg took the older boys on the big scary HP ride in the castle. And they lucked out and didn't have to wait an hour for that one.

All the boys LOVED Universal Studios. Greg said he liked it better than Disneyland. Both parks were fun and both so different. The boys had a hard time deciding what they park they liked more. I told them they didn't have to pick, Disney is the magic and fun, Universal was thrilling and fun. But the favorite ride at Disney was Star Tours - the simulator ride. So they truly loved all of the simulator stuff. After we were done we had a late dinner in the City Walk and then headed home to bed.

 Fav Rides - Greg Simpsons & the land
me - Not the Simpsons (too queasy sick for me) - Jurassic
Park ride.
Jax - Harry Potter, then Transformers, Simpsons, Jurassic Park
Creed - Simpsons, Harry Potter, Transformers
Bo - Simpsons, Transformers, Jurassic Park
Rafe - Simpsons, Transformers, Jurassic Park.

  

Friday - Yay! Newport Beach day! We love NPB and ate lunch and headed to the beach. More sand playing and this time it was full of sea shells. Tons of them. So the boys have quite a collection. Greg showed them how to not just build a castle, but protect it with walls and motes. Then the tide came in and overtook the walls and motes. Hours of fun!

Thumbs up are the thoughts on the beach and the boys laying down trying to stop the waves with a human barrier. So funny. What a great dad to dig and play. I sat and watched and took pics and relaxed. 

 We love the beach. Here's my new favorite picture of the boys in my life!

Saturday - Newport Beach again! Yay! We got there earlier because it was Saturday but it was still full of parking so we walked and fed the meter every 2 hours. This day was a long one. 8 hours at the beach long! Crazy! 11:30a-7:30pm. Having too much fun to leave. I was quite cold this day. The afternoon I just wanted to wrap in a towel. The boys backs all got sun burned. I feel bad, that's a parents fault ya know. Anyways, ice cream and donuts at NPort are the best! 

Playing in the waves, Rafe doing his hopping and jumping, hours of fun.

Now this day, Greg checked the tide schedule and we bought a bigger shovel. He dug a 15 x 15ft. mote and 3 walls and a bigger sand castle and a 2nd mote. Everyone walking the beach would stop and look and comment. The boys helped Greg create quite the fortress. Building the walls up and protecting their castle.

The fun started when the waves came. The surges would take one wall, then they'd dig and re-pile sand and work to keep it up while fending off the waves. Just for fun, to see how long it can last. It kept them busy. What fun they had. The ultimate sand playing fortress, trenches, digging, packing, preparing for the waves. 

I love their faces when a big wave would go over a wall, and the diameter would get smaller and smaller. The last picture is the last lone castle corner about to fall.

Sunday the 19th, Father's Day. We packed up and flew home sweet home. Thanks for taking us to and from the airport mom! And packing, traveling wasn't the funnest Father's Day, so we'll pamper Greg another day. :)

Gosh what a fun vacation! I am so grateful we were able to take our boys for a family vacation to California. We all had such a good time and talk about our trip often. Great memories we all will have. I love it!

Our Cali 2016 #1

 Our big summer vacation trip is now over. It was fun waiting and anticipating it, then we finally went and did it! What a wonderful time. I love traveling and being on a family vacation. And we all love California!

The following posts is our day by day with lots of pictures. I actually looked up my old blog post from our last trip to Disney to remember my thoughts and tips. So here we go...

Sunday the 12th we flew into LA and drove down to our condo in Dana Point, had some lunch and then dinner, drove to the Newport Beach Temple and checked out the sunset on the local Salt Creek Beach.

Monday we slept in and then headed down to San Diego. My grand idea when planning our trip was to take the kids to Tijuana, Mexico. But a few months ago they changed the rule that you need a passport now. And that put a damper on the plans :(  So we enjoyed the spectacular looking San Diego Temple grounds. Here's both temples from both days...

Then we headed to the Mormon Battalion. We all really enjoyed this. I enjoyed the story and the kids liked the real guns and searching for gold! And we had a "serious" old time photo taken.

After eating some real Mexican food in Old Town for a yummy lunch and spending way too long looking for the perfect souvenirs we finally headed to Coronado Island. The boys all got buried in the sand and we played in the waves and had a good windy time. And then way after dinner time headed back up to the condo to be ready for our big next day.

 Tuesday, we woke up early and arrived at Disneyland first thing in the morning. As we walked in we were some of the firsts to see Mickey and Goofy and got our rare picture with them. We were able to do lots of rides. Everything on our list. We waited to get the boys names on the list to do the Jedi training academy and used the fast passes and my handy Disney app on my phone and we really didn't have to wait in any lines for too long. Their were lots of crowds of people to navigate around and we brought our meals in a cooler and were the only ones eating in the picnic area. We are so glad we did that. 

The very first ride we did was the Matterhorn. Rafe and Bodie closed their eyes the whole time. They had to be a single rider and it jerks you around so Greg and I had to lean forward and hold the shoulders to keep the boys from smashing all over. But other than that we all loved it. Except the younger 2 boys. Bodie flat out said he HATES that ride. Because of the scary sounds and the red eye Yeti's.

While Greg took the older boys on Splash Mtn. I did Pooh Bear again and the boys got to meet some characters. Bodie went right up to Pooh Bear and bear hugged him and told him he has a stuffed bear of him. Luckily Pooh understood what Bodie said and reacted for him. So cute. 

While I took the older boys on the Indian Jones Ride he took the younger ones to Fantasy Land and rode Tea cups, Dumbo and the Carousel. 

We also went to Toon Town and the little boys loved seeing all the houses and another family favorite that we did this time was the Jungle Cruise, I liked it way better than the Pirates of the Caribbean. And Jax was the only child brave enough to try the Haunted Mansion with Greg.

Here is everyone's favorites this time.

Greg liked Star Tours, Space Mtn, then the Matterhorn.

My first pick is Space Mtn, Indiana Jones, and the Matterhorn.

Jax said his is still It's a Small World, then Space Mtn., Star Tours and all the Mountains tie for the rest.

Creed liked Space Mtn. Star Tours, Splash Mtn, and Indiana Jones ride.

Bodie kept mentioning them all. His favorite that we did more than once was Star Tours, he then said Space Mtn. But I know he was kinda scared in that, then he said meeting Pooh Bear. I told him he has to pick a ride for 3rd so said the Winnie the Pooh Bear ride, then Go Gadget, tea cups, etc...

Rafe said his is Space Mtn. (he was brave, we watched it on youtube so he knew what to expect) He loved Star Tours, Go Gadget coaster, teacups, the Paint the Night Parade, It's a Small World, Thunder Mtn. and 10th he said he liked going home. Ha!

Bodie and Rafe have seen our last home movies of their brothers doing it many times when they were babies and were dying for their turn to do the Jedi training. Creed decided to sign up again and do it too. We picked mid afternoon and am glad we had some "down" time for a bit. I loved the smiles Rafe and Bodie had the whole time. Loving every minute of it. Creed and Rafe fought the "Dark Sister" from the Disney XD cable tv cartoon. So we didn't even know her which was a bummer they couldn't have had Kylo Ren to fight. He did come out at the end and made an appearance. Bodie was happy he could confront and fight Darth Vader. We have him on video being a tough funny guy loving the whole light saber jedi thing. He totally got into it.

And as a parent I am so bugged, they ended up having Rafe and Bodie go up at the same time to fight! Ah! Who do I take pictures of? I was hurrying to snap some of each of them. It was tricky. Phew! Rafe was on the stage and Bo was down below.

We checked out the new Star Wars Launch Bay they opened while they are constructing the big new Star Wars land. And there we got to meet Chewbacca. They boys said that was their favorite character to meet (except Bodie - still loves his Pooh Bear) They gave Chewy hugs and then took a picture and then gave him bones (fist bump) as they were leaving. Chewy was funny and gave himself bones. As if the boys were teaching him what that greeting of bumping fists is.

We were later getting a crowded spot for the night Parade. And Greg was going back to a spot we decided on and I was going to look around a little further. And Creed turned to run and go with Greg but it was crowded and Greg was gone. A few minutes later I went back to Greg and then we noticed Creed was not with us!! Total heart panic! We told Jax to keep the little boys an stay put, while Greg and I ran around looking for Creed. I said a little prayer that we'd find him. Greg did as well. Jax said he did and of course Creed said he did as well. He was missing for maybe 7-10min. And I walked a ways away and figured I turn around and go back. Right then I turn around as Creed saw me and ran up to me and hugged me! Oh what a relief. It was getting dark and I knew it would be even harder to find him. I was just hoping someone would notice him and get him some help, then we'd talk to the park workers and I'm sure be reunited. What a scary thing. Poor Creed. We all gave long big hugs. And reviewed again what the boys are to do when they realized they can't find us. Stop right where you are and wait.

We waited around for the firework show, just to have them cancel them on us! So at 9:45pm we took off and left back to our beds. 

It is a pretty happy place on earth!

May = School Ends

Gosh, so many pictures and info to share. Here's our month in review...

Bodie had his kindergarten program. He has a music lady come all year and do singing with the kids. So they performed a concert. He was fun to watch. He didn't move his mouth much, but he sure did the actions! Sometimes he'd do actions when none of the other kids were. What a character Bodie is. It's so nice to see how he has done this year in repeating kindergarten. He was one of the top in his class, his confidence has grown, he feels capable and is totally ready for 1st grade now. Bring on the french!

Mother's Day was nice I sure did get lots of cards and many many plants/flowers this year. I love it! Greg had his birthday, we had yummy pie and then a Sunday dinner of his favorite spaghetti and meatballs in Alpine.

While in Alpine we stopped by Greg's grandparents farm to see the new baby filly. It was cute. She's just a few days old and was trying to run and jump around. I have a picture of her nursing. Rafe loves his spaghetti and it getting all over his chin. And then one night it was Rafe's turn to help daddy scrub the car before entering the car wash. He was so excited, he's never done it like his brothers have.

Bodie lost his 2 front teeth within an hour of each other, he was crying and scared. Greg finally was able to quickly do it and it wasn't so bad he said. Then the next day his bottom tooth literally popped out of his mouth in the morning. We had a ward party and they did a pinata for the kids. Jax and Creed taking big swings at it. And Rafe had his preschool Art Night. It was great, I dropped him off and picked him up on his last day of preschool. I kinda felt emotional. I can't believe all my children are done with preschool! And a picture of Miss Jen - the best teacher ever and Miss Jessica. Rafe has LOVED preschool this year (after we switched in October) My baby is sure growing up.

The school the boys go to is 60 years old this year. (same as our house, our ward building, Greg's high school, and Disneyland - all 60 yrs) so the students put on a big performance grade by grade. They each took a decade and sang songs from that era. Jax with his afro wig was from the 70's. Then a quick picture of Bodie and Creed singing.

And then the last week of school we had the Fun Run! I volunteered again, it's so fun. Jax's class all dressed up in silly costumes to run. Jax ran well as a hula Hawaiian fairy (red shirt). And Bodie was a good sport after his class was done (he got 2nd place) and stayed and rang the cowbell the whole time for all the other grades. By the end he wanted to plug his ears. Ha!

The last week of school was full of fun activities. Creed and the 3rd grade had a patriotic performance. I was so excited for this, he was learning so many patriotic songs. But in the end each class only did a few songs each. I guess they decided to make it easier for the kids to learn? But he was front and center, as was I. So I have good pictures of him. Even dancing to a french song in a beret.

And then it was beach day (which is their version of field day). Rafe watched for a while at all the fun his brothers were having with the whole school on the field playing. And I have Bodie being the anchor in his class tug of war, I love it he's really digging his feet in (light blue shirt). And Jax and Creed got sunburned. Creed's neck is funny, tan, then white, then all red on the back. They learned their lesson about sun screen or leaving your shirt on.

And before you know it, the last day of school arrived! Above is the group hanging out at 7-eleven drinking their Slurpee's. I always take them as our tradition and we had a few more join in. And we let the boys have a few friends over that night for a pizza party to celebrate the last day of school on Friday. They all played for hours and had a good time. Let summer begin!

And then we had Memorial Day weekend to kick off the summer. I finally planted flowers and have sore muscles because of it, Sunday we BBQ'd with my family in Bountiful and visited my dad's grave and my g-parents Jensen, uncle Bills grave, the whole gang was there (my aunt Merlene and cousins too) And Monday we visited G-pa Bangerter's grave and then had a picnic at the park with the Lorenzon family and then that night we had another BBQ with friends. Busy and fun and luckily good weather!

India

 Greg's been traveling, a lot. In fact in the last 90 days he has been gone traveling for 32 days. He was able to go to India at the beginning of the month. It took him 30 hrs. to fly there, worked a 40hr. work week and had to fly back another 30hrs. Ugh. The travel alone would kill me. But he's a trooper and did it. He flew via Amsterdam and then Delhi then onto Pune (a couples hours from Mumbai). Pune (pronounced poo-nay) is kinda like the silicon valley of India. But not quite as nice, he he. Here are some pics of his week there. Wearing local attire, view from his hotel room over the city, the streets, lunch with his co-workers, and shopping - he took of pic of a pile of bracelets where he purchased some.

 While there he ate local authentic Indian food every day, he loved it, but by the last meal, he was done and on the plane couldn't eat anymore either. They put spice on everything, including their snow cones! One day the people he works with took him up to a local ancient fort. Here's a picture of their monkey god, and the views. And a local guy preparing their lunch chopping on a dirty rock, right by his feet. Interesting... And took a picture of 15 people squished onto a tiny truck. The conditions the people of India live in are pretty diverse. Just as you hear, some living in tin shacks, poor working class, dirty everywhere, and the garbage stacked everywhere with no place to go.  But Greg says there were so many beautiful and amazing things about India and he really liked it a lot - especially the people he worked with.

On his flights I told him as he flies in or out of Amsterdam to take a pic of the tulip fields as they are in bloom. So he did. And the plane had to zig zag through the middle east airspace. Yikes. But when he came home we were sure glad. And gathered around his luggage while he got out the many fun souvenirs for all of us. (clothing, coins, jewelry, leather bracelets, piggy bank, pkg. Indian food and magnets of course)  He stayed at a very nice hotel, a pic of the lobby of the JW Marriott and loved their breakfasts. And then the Delhi Airport -which was really nice compared to the condition of the country itself.

Late April Stuff

 For family night one evening we went to the Utah Jazz bball game. And yes, we sat in the 2nd to last row in the arena. The boys had a good time. Jax and Creed really wanted to stay. But we had to get the little ones home. Bodie was only 1 week from his tonsil surgery, we brought medicine but he wanted to leave. Bodie saw the Jazz Bear and asked why "Chewy" was there?  ha ha. 

Wish the pics weren't so blurry.

Loving the warm spring weather and all the blossoms. Not loving all the cold spring and rain. We turned our water on so the boys were out one evening trying out the new hose hand sprinkler thing. I loved the sunset, my Holland Tulips, the blossoms on the apple tree, and the lilacs. And oh the smell in our yard that week. Very strong and nice.

The boys had their dance performances. Jax and then Bodie were the same day and same time, which was convenient. Creed was able to pop in to see Jax's class and then Jax stayed with some friends and was able to even dance in Bodie's performance with Rafe too. Greg was working from home that day and he came as well. 

Then the last 2 pics is our Saturday night dinner one evening. Assorted cereal and nacho's. We didn't want to cook or go out. We call it a "whatever night" - the boys actually love picking whatever they want to eat every-so-often. And Greg is traveling again (India) and I went up to my mom's in Bountiful to have lunch on Sunday with her for her B-day. The boys were running around as we were leaving and got "hot" so if one removes their shirt, they all remove their shirts! Boys!

Rafe was already buckled when they got in the car shirtless, by the time I was to the freeway his shirt had come off, so I snapped a picture. And Jax saw the camera and quickly covered up. Wuss. :)