Kindergarten Graduation

Adam made it through Kindergarten. He did with flying colors and no one thought he wouldn't. Okay I think Kindergarten graduation is cute and adorable but some people might make it a little more than that and I think that is funny. Adam's biggest accomplishment was that he memorized 3 poems for the ceremony and did an awesome job reciting them. He was so cute. He got to tell what he wanted to do when he grows up...
"I want to be a construction worker
Making buildings tall
Someday I may even
Build a great big mall!"
That is one of his little poems he recited all by himself with a microphone! I got to use the mic too in order to read this letter. Sorry for any misspellings this was just for my eyes then I thought I would add it in for the memories.

Adam worked hard on his "All About Me Poster"

Here is a cute pic of Adam and Cheri one of the awesome teachers at CHEP!

Here he is getting his certificate of graduation!

We were so excited that Mima came with us to see Adam on his big day. Sadly I didn't get a pic of Adam and Mima. I really should be better at this stuff. The ceremony was really cute and Adam was very excited and felt very special.


Congrats to our little man!

Owen's first haircut

Owen got his first haircut! It was so cute and he did a pretty good job of letting Mima work her magic.





Look how cute it turned out. I always think they look so much older when they get their first little cut.


Sadly it did not last long, like his oldest brother, Owen started pulling his hair out and gave himself a solid bald spot right on top. We decided it was in his best interest to get rid of his hair for a while until he could break that little habit. So now he is sporting this haircut.



Funny thing about this is that we had to do it to Kevin too and I actually buzzed his head at our good friends the Thompson's home out by their pool. This time the buzzing took place at our friends the McCoys in their backyard. Hopefully I will not have to buzz anymore of my boys' hair since it is not a hairstyle I personally like for my boys. Plus which friends would get the honor of keeping their hair next time. :)

Hiking at Top of the World

These boys love hiking and I love getting their energy out so one morning last week I took them hiking. Too bad it is usually always more tiring for mom than for them. But this was a super fun outing we will be doing it again!

This and That

Sometimes there is just a lot going on and I am super excited when I look back through my pics and find little captured moments.




We went to the Sealing of little Marin Cooke to her family! It was like a reunion of sorts at the Temple (those are my favorite reunions) and we got to see lots of friends that we just don't get to see much anymore. Afterwards we snuck in dinner with the McCoys. We have known the McCoys since before we were married if you can imagine. They were newlyweds and we were within a couple months of being so too. We had no kids and were just two VERY young couples! That was 12 years ago. Now we have NINE kids between our two families and it is like we live next door even though we see each other maybe, if we are lucky, once a year. We just love them.


Feeding the missionaries is one our families favorite things to do!


Kevin is now too big for the IKEA play area. This is sad but he took it like a pro and walked Ikea with Owen and I!


I rollerbladed with the boys! They were shocked I could do that!


Kevin bought pajamas with his own money. Of all the things target had to offer that is what he wanted!


Kevin can walk Owen, I LOVE it!

Gearing up for Summer

This Summer I am not pregnant nor do I have a newborn so I am at 100%. This means we are not watching TV all day all summer long. I came up with a plan using a few different ideas I had seen here and there and combining them to make something that would work for our family. First I cut out colored paper and stenciled the letters M T on to each piece then laminated them. These our Media Tickets. They can be used to buy time on anything that uses a screen. Each kid got 5 of them and they are each worth 30 minutes. They can use them when they like (although mom and dad can say no) they each get a half hour a day Monday - Friday if they use them evenly. Of course, they can play or watch on their brothers tickets so they could average out an hour and half each day. (Although they may be watching wonder pets with the three year old)


They can lose media tickets for bad behavior but they can also earn bonus time for outstanding behavior. Bonus time gives them 10 minutes for each one earned.


Their tickets go in their bucket and when they want to use them they just transfer to Mom and Dad's bucket.


When the tickets run out or you need to conserve tickets you will need to find something else to do. If you can't think of anything we have a plan for that. We sat down with the boys and came up with almost 60 ideas of things they can do on their own at our house. So when they are struck with the "B" word, they draw three activities from the play jar and choose to do one. If they don't like those ideas we have a back up plan!





Yay!! If you really really can't find something to do you get to draw from the chore bucket. I have found that after a chore one usually gets distracted or quickly finds something else to do lest he gets another chore.


We came up with 20 chores that all take less than 5 minutes and generally could be done everyday or several times a day at our home.


We are into day 4 of this and it has been awesome! Of course, the boys used all their media tickets by the end of day 2 but I assume they will be more careful with their tickets next week. They have found lots if other things to do and everyone seems happier too.

Family Portraits

We are so blessed to have super talented friends! Joel Cooke took some amazing pics of our family and his wife Shel, I believe, did the editing! They turned out beautiful!






This was Owens one year Pic!














I love both of these (above and below) but the one below is the one that made it on the living room wall!

Our baby is One!

We recently celebrated Owen's 1st Birthday

It was so much fun planning his little party.  We chose a to do a monster theme!  Did I mention this was so much fun!

 

In preparation for the party we made monsters!  The boys helped me design their shapes.  Then my super awesome friend Hillary helped me hand sew on all these cute faces.  We made 14 of them!

 

 Then I made a pendant banner.  I love how it turned out!

The boys went to work on decorating the beverage cups with googly eyes!!

 

Then it was party Day!

I cut the watermelon and made him a monster.  He was gobbling up all the fruit!

 

Marshmallows on a stick, special request from the big boys!  Plus they are super cute!
For the cupcake stand I wrapped a couple of boxes with wrapping paper and stacked them.

Treats for the little monsters!

and drinks!

 Big people treats!

These gorgeous cupcakes were made by Nana!  They were so yummy too.  She made carrot cake and lemon cupcakes.  YUM!

 

 

 

Each kiddo got to take home a monster and an adoption certificate!  Here is our super cute Neighbor Ahmed!!

 

 

Here is Owen's little friend Inara and her cute Mama!

 

 

 The birthday boy!! He is so stinking cute!

playing with his friends, Maryn and Alice!

Owen giving some love to Mima and Papa!

Waiting for Cake!

 

 He went straight for the frosting!
Check out this great picture of some of the big boys!  This is for future blackmail :D

Awe Best buddies...the Cookes and Lows!

 

The cake aftermath!

Owen's friend Alice and her Mama!!

All the babies...Owen has a lot of girl friends!  Left to Right:  Inara, Hadley, Owen, Maryn, and Alice!  They are such a cute bunch!

 

 Owen was more interested in the balloon though, than his girlfriends! 

The boys overhelped with unwrapping the presents!

It was a super fun day.  I loved it!  Owen is such a cutie and I think he had fun too.  He didn't cry during the birthday song and usually my boys do!  Parties for my boys are too much fun for me!  I love planning them and spending time making stuff to make it really fun!