Saturday, August 26, 2017

The rest of Utah

We usually go to Utah to ski, so it was fun to take advantage of all the things there are to do when the weather is good. 
Like play football at every. single. gas station.



At least 99% of the time we wore seatbelts. But sometimes, we wrestled.

We brought a hiking back pack for Benny to ride in. He politely declined the offer.


We took the kids for a tour of BYU and showed them where it all began.


After a week of Packers, we met up with the Secors for the second week. 

Blastertag was a crowd favorite.
Ever need a great quad workout? Try blastertag. Run. Squat. Repeat. For an hour.









After 3 days of soreness following the Blastertag incident, I was feeling pretty old.
So, naturally, I decided to launch my body down a slippery slide.
But you know what?
I still got it.



Benny LOVES his Uncle Vrine.


We took a tour of the conference center. After years of watching conference on TV, I had visions of the kids oohing and ahhing through the whole thing. 
At one point, the tour guide mentioned that the center was very large, and Drew responded, "I KNOW!"
Okay, so they didn't love it. 
But we took a picture with smiling faces so that when they look back on it, they'll be sure that they thought it was amazing.
They did love the visitor's center.


Carlsbad Caverns and Mesa Verde were fun stops on the way home. They provided us with at least an hour of naps, each. 




This is what Benny looked like the whole time we were in the car.
Nope.

Thursday, August 17, 2017

Benny at 22 months

Is this real life? Benny is 22 months? I don't know how it happened, but I swear, I will never blink again. 
He is KILLING it in the cuteness department these days. Every night, I push back bedtime just a few minutes longer, because I don't want to the day to be over with him. 
I don't know that I've ever enjoyed this phase with any of my kids this much, but maybe I thought the same thing when they were this age. I really don't remember. 
Anyway, I've been the worst mom ever when it comes to documenting his little life, so here's a snapshot of what life is like with this little dreamboat these days.

1. His voice is the CUTEST. It's almost like a croak. And when he makes a mistake, he says, "dawnit."
2. He's my toughest kid to date. When he falls, he cries about 1% of the time. The other 99%, he says, "I okay." It's almost instinct. 
3. He says hi and bye, and good night, to things like it's his job. He's still saying bye to Greg from when he left this morning.
4. He learned "no" a long time ago (sometimes, it's "nope"), but I couldn't get him to say yes. He would just grin and start laughing. Finally, he figured out "sess!" It's always accompanied by clapping and jumping.
5. How did I get to #5 without mentioning his jumping? It's his life. He spends a good portion of his waking hours on the "pampine." He jumps on the couches, on the ground, into the pool. Life is meant to be jumped.
6. He rides his "scoot coot" pretty well, if I do say so myself.
7. He sings "twinkle twinkle," on the "rocky" while getting ready for bed.
8. He tells me when he burps, toots, and goes potty. All while laughing.
9. If you happen to be sitting in a seat that he'd like to sit in... let's just say, you won't be sitting there for long.
10. For as long as anyone can remember, our family has had a word. I don't know where it came from, but whenever we're really excited about something, we shout, "minjee!" He's learned the ways.
11. School buses are his jam.
12. So is Alexa and her ways of playing music for him to dance to. I love him dearly, but I don't see a future in dancing for this guy.
13. He's super interested in things hot or cold, dark or light.
14. My absolute BEST nursery-goer. Walks in like he owns the joint, saying, "bye mom."
15. Pretty great eater, but his two loves in life would have to be yogurt, and applesauce (apple-hoss).
16. My BEST sleeper. 3 hour naps, 12 hours at night. And he legitimately gets excited to go to bed. The second I say it's time for bed, he starts saying good night to all his siblings, and toys. He's my favorite.
17. He loves his siblings so much. And they love him so much. It's the sweetest love affair I've ever seen. When they go back to school, he may need counseling. 
18. His skin is almost... translucent. When he gets warm, the whole world knows it. Thankfully, he doesn't burn easily (or I'm AMAZING at sunscreening him).
19. He's rarely sad. But if he is, a ride in the golf cart will fix it. 
20. You have eyes? He'll poke them.
21. I can't quite catch in on camera, but he has this face that he does when he gets what he wants. It's almost like he knows he has to do it. He does it especially when I ask Alexa to play some music for us and she does. 
22. He calls himself "Bemmy." 

Saturday, August 12, 2017

Aspen Grove





Once upon a time, all the stars aligned (we're talking, every. single. one), and we had the most magical week. It wall all of Greg's family, in close quarters, in the most beautiful setting, glorious weather, good food, camp leaders, family time, and creamery chocolate milk.



End of the year Hoopla

 Mother's Day


We also made our annual pilgrimage to South Padre Island, but Texas Humidity brought its A-game that weekend and my camera fogged up and I couldn't get any pics. So, here we are. Hello, wind.


Drew was the ultimate kindergartener. His teacher, Mrs. Rust, was amazing and saw the awesomeness that is Drew. 
He also made some great friends, which made me so happy. 




 Kate volleyballed and danced her way through third grade. 




And that's a wrap on 2016-17 school year