emmy said...

"I can't believe we have a pet and a baby!"

(Emmy showing off her new caterpillar, shocked that Steve let her keep him since the general rule is no pets--not even caterpillars--and especially not when we have a baby).

"This is a lot of hard work, but I wouldn't want to let them down."

After a little while...
"I can't take any more bit of the dogs!"

After putting together 72 hour kits for FHE,

"Oh I hope we have an emergency!"

2 different places

Our family was in 2 different places for Memorial Day weekend.  

Jake and Steve went to a BYU father/son sports camp.

 

The rest of us went to Grandma and Grandpa's.

 

We kept each other in the loop texting pictures back and forth:

 Jake got some court time at the Marriott Center and met Nate Austin (BYU bball).

 

 Drew and the girls spent time on some sweet sets of wheels.

 Jake with Ty Detmer's Heisman, with Bronson Kafusi, and Taysom Hill (BYU football).

 Drew had fun tasting all of the different rocks.

Steve and Jake got to go to the Spoken Word at the Conference Center, and then hear from President Eyring, his son Matt, and Coach Rose at a Sacrament meeting!

We went on a lovely walk to the neighbor's.

Here's Jake with a couple friends from Camp: Tyler Haws and Coach Rose.

 The girls talked with the animals.

 Jake refined his rim-hanging skills.

 We rode on Grandpa's new train.

So who had more fun?

It's hard to say.

All want to go back!

broken doors

Recently, this sweet, adorable angel had a busy weekend...

breaking doors.

For this door she had a little apprentice.

But she did this one all on her own.

It's okay, Ali.  Who needs doors anyway?

backyard baseball

Playing America's game

 in the backyard

 

in the rain...

 

Swing, batter batter batter!

mothers

“You have nothing in this world more precious than your children.  

When you grow old, when your hair turns white and your body grows weary, when you are prone to sit in a rocker and meditate on the things of your life, 

 

nothing will be so important as the question of how your children 
have turned out… 

 

Do not trade your birthright as a mother for some bauble of passing value…  The baby you hold in your arms will grow quickly as the sunrise and the sunset of the rushing days.” 

~President Gordon B. Hinckley

little guy big court

the littlest hoopes

sun-day

We had Sunday dinner on the beach at Discovery Park.  

Look at that view!  Mt. Rainier is pretty amazing.

 It was such a gorgeous day!! 

 The lighthouse, the tide pools, the rocks...

the water, the sunset, the family...all of it was fun!

12 years apart, part 2

These boys are both trying to master new languages. 

Drew's is your basic English.  

 Jake's is a little foreign to us.  We're not sure quite what to call it, but he seems to be speaking it  pretty fluently.

12 years apart, part 1

Drew loves playing with the pots and pans.  Actually, it's more than that--it's part of his routine.  The first thing he does each morning is go to the pots and pans cupboard door, opens it, and says "uh oh" or "uh uh uh" until someone gets all of the pots and pans down on the floor for him.  And he's not satisfied until every last one (including lids) is on the ground. Then he sits and plays and plays and plays...switching the lids around, seeing which pots fit into which pans, dropping toys in, tasting the handles, and adding in cookies sheets, bowls, and other goodies from the other drawers and cupboards.

There's really no use putting them away until he goes to bed, and even then sometimes I just leave them out.  The mom of 12 years ago might've gone crazy with pots and pans (etc.) all over the floor all day long, but not this mom.  This mom doesn't care so much.  Maybe she's just plain lazier.  Or maybe she's decided she likes hurdling over pots and pans all day to burn those extra few calories.  Or maybe it's because she realizes that the day will come (too fast) when the kitchen and house stay clean and orderly because Drew (and the others) are too old for piles of playthings. 

Maybe because this mom realizes that instead of pots and pans and Legos left on the floor, someday Drew's piles will be different--piles that mean he's growing up.  Piles that remind her there's lots of people that want to hang out with this cool kid, too.  Piles that mean he's out doing stuff instead of hanging out at home.

Piles like Jake's.