Flowers & Windmills

Each year for Memorial Day we go to the Redwood Cemetery to visit the graves of some of Josh's relatives. The girls look forward to visiting with family and going out to lunch afterward. The flowers and windmills were quite exciting too. Ashlyn wandered off on her own to explore them all and it took us a minute to find her because she blended in so well. Sadie was more than content sitting with Aunt Kellie while spinning the windmill. And Kali was happy when she finally found a loose flower to put in her hair.

The day was cold but gorgeous. I spent some time thinking of Grandma and Grandpa Bohman and the fond memories I have of them. They had such a huge influence on me growing up and were the best grandparents a child could ask for. It's just unfortunate that they're buried so far away or else we would be visiting their grave sites each year too.

Roasting Marshmallows

Despite all the rain we've been having, we were able to make the most of it and have a fun evening tonight. Brady had the brilliant idea of roasting marshmallows over the fire on the deck. It seriously felt like camping but was much less smelly and much more comfortable. Ashlyn was in heaven. I think she ate like ten of those gigantic marshmallows.

It was raining, but the awning was protecting us. And the girls and Jordan got nice and cozy in their blankets.

Visiting with Korin

Aunt Korin was in town for a visit and we had a chance to spend some time with her. We got to have a picnic and play at the park with her for a couple of hours and the girls had so much fun. Kali couldn't stop talking about how it had been the best day ever. Then at dinner that evening, both girls said that their favorite part of the day was spending time with Korin. It's great having those aunts that you just love to be around and do fun things with!

Preschool Graduation

Although she still has another year of preschool ahead of her, Sadie did graduate from this year of preschool. In this picture the kids are singing "You're a Grand Old Flag".

Then she got to participate in a few plays. She got to be Little Red Riding Hood.

And the cow in The Little Red Hen.

She has really come a long way since the beginning of the year. She does such an excellent job at recognizing letters and loves to tell me what they are on signs and papers. And her ability to count is incredible.

Stake Float

Our stake is going to have a float in the Days Of '47 Parade this year. The float has an animal / Mormon Tabernacle Choir theme to it (it sounds a little weird but it's going to be awesome) and decided to let every person in the stake come and decorate a glitter bug to go on the float. The girls could hardly wait. It was quick, easy and fun. And since it's not something that comes around very often, it'll be cool for them to see the finished product on TV and be able to say that they had a little part in it.

Goal!!!

Kali has had a bit of a dry spell with scoring goals this season because she's decided that she likes to defend her goal more than get up in front and score. That's completely fine with me because she's out there hustling and seems to really enjoy playing the game. But today Brady came to watch and gave her a pep talk about scoring a goal for him. Well it worked. She was giving it everything she had and this picture is right after she scored the goal. She turned to look at us and you can tell how proud she is. Way to go Kali!!!

St. George

Our annual trip to St. George was a blast as usual. As a matter of fact, I think it was my favorite family vacation ever. Everything just turned out perfect. I didn't seem to be as stressed or ornery as I usually am on these trips. It probably helps that I'm not pregnant, nursing or potty training a child. We surprised the girls with the trip the morning of. They were pretty excited. Here are just a few of the fun things we did.

We got a delicious free Dominoes pizza (thanks to the Dixie Direct card) and had a picnic at a park. This was Ashlyn's first experience with a Capri Sun and she loves them.

We played on the inflatable slides at Jumpin' Jacks, which is a great workout if you haven't ever tried it. I was amazed at how much Sadie liked it since she always seems to be the one to saunter around rather then do something that takes a lot of energy. But she just kept plugging away at the obstacle courses and climbing those steps to get to the tops of the slides.

Ashlyn was scared to death of the inflatables, but was as happy as could be if she were allowed to walk around on the ground and climb the seats to the car video games. 

We swam at the Condo's indoor pool because it was in the 60's for the first two days.

Then we went on a hike which was probably our favorite part of the whole trip. We picked the best day because it was overcast most of the time and in the 70's. The hike was easy for the girls and the red rock with the green trees and shrubs and the blue sky and white clouds was breathtaking. 

It was only about 20 minutes from our Condo so we packed a lunch and spent a couple of hours enjoying the hike at a kids pace while looking for lizards and pointing out all the pretty flowers we could see.

There was a small waterfall.

And we even got to cross the stream at one point. (Thanks Jen for the suggestion to go to Leeds.)

We got to do bumper boats at Fiesta Fun.

Then we visited Brigham Young's winter home. The girls did such a good job listening during the tour and really seemed to like it. They learned where St. George got it's name from which was a question they had asked us on the way down that I didn't know the answer to. Sadie's favorite part was that the tour guide gave them some almonds from the almond tree on the property. Ashlyn struggled, but it was worth the visit. It's fun to see the girls showing some interest in this kind of thing.

We did more swimming. This time in the outdoor pool. Kali is still just as much of a fish as she always has been. She does, unfortunately, drink a lot of water and ends up with a tummy ache afterward.

Sadie played with her "keyboard" much of the time, which is made from the tiling on the side of the pool, or she pretended to be a dolphin and had me throw her a toy while she fetched it and brought it back.

Thankfully swim time was usually during Ashlyn's nap time because she didn't care much for the water. I could get her to stop from crying for a little bit if I would toss her duck and take her with me to go get it. But she still didn't really like the water.

Then came bowling. The girls are hilarious to watch.

Not too happy with her bowl right here, but for the most part, she was jumping up and down and having a blast.

Kali got a few pointers from Dad, which seemed to improve her bowling technique a little. Thankfully, because I was a little nervous when she'd practically throw the ball down the lane.

She would have won me by a landslide had I not bowled a spare and a strike on my last turn.

A few other fun things that we enjoyed while on our trip and didn't get pictures of were: early morning jogging, a beautiful double rainbow, movies, wii games, eating at our favorite restaurants, and outlet shopping. Such a wonderful vacation!!!

The Bean Museum

Visiting this place is becoming quite a tradition for us, three times in the last year. Each time they seem to add a little something more and I can't wait for the new exhibit that they're working on. It looks like it's going to be pretty cool. Although you can't tell from this picture, Ashlyn loved the museum to death. She couldn't get enough of all the animals. She just walked around and pointed at everything saying "uh" or growling (because that's what sound every animal makes including rabbits).

Unsung Heroes

Two of the most amazing people I have ever known in my life are my mom and my mother-in-law. So many of the things they do seem to be overlooked or expected, but I appreciate them none-the-less and want to recognize them for it.

Not only have I been blessed to have a mother in my life, I have had an amazing one at that. She never ceases to amaze me with her capability to love and care for others. I don't know any other woman personally that could have had ten kids in sixteen years and not gone mad. We're not the easiest bunch of personalities and temperaments but somehow she has loved, cared for, listened to, and taught us in a way that has made us all better people. Thanks Mom!!!

And who couldn't ask for a better mother-in-law. For many people, the mother-in-law is the hardest part about getting married. For me it was the exact opposite. I enjoy spending time with her and learning from her. She is so patient and always happy. It's no wonder that Josh is such an amazing person. His mom has taught him well and I couldn't be more grateful.

MBA Graduate

Okay he's technically not a graduate for another 10 weeks. The U only holds graduation in the Spring and since Josh finishes his classes in the middle of the Summer, his only choice was to walk in May. Kind of lame, I know. But I'm proud of him and it's fun to celebrate. He even managed to keep a 3.8 GPA. Wow!!! I don't know how he does it all. The girls and I are looking forward to being able to see him around a little more, that is until they rope him into one of those heavy church callings. I think our ward is just as excited to have him be done with school as we are. But he did mention that a doctorate isn't out of the question for the future. We just have some student loans to pay off first.

Wheeler Farm

Sadie has been asking to go to the Zoo for quite some time now. It's never on my calendar or in my budget, so I recently reminded her that she would be going to Wheeler Farm for a preschool field trip soon. That seemed to be more than acceptable to her. She began counting down the days and could hardly even wait the twenty minute drive on the day of. She seemed to enjoy our visit, but the best part is always feeding the geese. I think it's hilarious that the kids enjoy that part so much because the geese are so over fed that they don't even care that you're dumping gobs of seed in front of them. I really enjoyed this time because we got to see some newborn animals, a goat was licking Kali's hand, the turkies were gobbling like crazy and we got to see a blacksmith at work. What fun.

Two Front Teeth

In a matter of a few days, Kali lost three teeth, two of which were her two front teeth. She definitely talks differently now, but she couldn't be more excited. She was pretty proud that she pulled the last one out herself. The other two were bugging her badly enough that she asked for Josh and I to pull them out. After she lost her last tooth, she had it in her tooth necklace and was playing outside when the necklace somehow opened up and the tooth fell into our huge pile of rocks on the side of the house. She was unable to find it so we told her to draw the Tooth Fairy a picture and write her a note. She really liked that idea and said that she would like the Tooth Fairy to write her a note in return rather than get money. So the wonderful little Tooth Fairy wrote her a note and left her a nickel. That morning she was all smiles and told everyone about the note. I think it's still hanging somewhere in her room.