Saturday May 31

We had so much fun this morning when Katie, Elsie's PT brought her boys over so I could take pictures of the twins.

I took pictures of Harrison when he was 6 months old, and she wants to have ones to match to hang in a frame all together.

But she had to wait a few more months before these little boys could sit on their own.

They are 9 months old now and doing so good.

Such cute boys with such darling personalities :)

And so very different from each other!!!

Harrison had so much fun playing with Porter.

Cassi was on baby duty when we did individual shots.

Elsie had fun watching Katie make funny faces for the boys....she even did quite a bit of jumping around.

They had just woken up from their nap in he car ride to our house....and they kept looking around like "Where in the heck am I???"

But we got some cute smiles anyway.

It was a fun time.....

They are nicknamed Little Ben and Big Nate.

Nate's got about 3 lbs on his brother :)

But Ben started out smaller to begin with cause he had his cord pinched and wasn't getting as much nutrition as he should have....

Anyway....so our morning was filled with these boys.

Then we did a bunch of yard work.

Picked Madi up from Pre-camp about noon.

And at 2:00 she went and babysat for a few hours during Graduation time.

Elsie and I got dressed up to go to the stake baptisms.

It is fun that she gets to see so many of her friends being baptized :)

She is still so very excited for her own baptism....only a couple months away now.

*****

When I got home, Dad took me out for a date night dinner and shopping at Lowe's and Hobby Lobby :)

We are excited to have a little get-away next week with the Matthews family reunion at the cabins in Wyoming.

I wish it was longer, but we will take what we can get.

 

Friday May 30

It was Family picnic day today for Elsie's class.

All the first grader did camp-learn-a-lot this week.

They split into different groups and the three 1st grade teachers were the leaders and their classrooms were the 'cabins'.

They did a bunch of fun stuff.

They tie-dyed shirts, made flubber (gak), mae necklaces, made frames for their camp team picture.

They were the Red Robins, YAY (instead of YUM)  :)

Lots of fun stuff!

So today was the end celebration to this fun camp week.

It was fun.

I love all the little first grader.

I love the kids she gets to grow up with.

They are so sweet and kind...and so loving to my Elsie Bug.

We are lucky to raise our kids here.

*****

Dad sent me an awesome photo of him one the river today making a zip line thing.

But I can't get it off my phone!!!!!

I will have to try later.

But pretty cool that he gets to do that stuff at work, huh :)

 

Thursday May 29

Elsie came home today with a brand new rubber jump rope from her PT at school.

She isn't quite to the jumping yet.....

But she is excited about throwing it over her head and stepping over it.

I have an awesome video....but I can't get it posted.

Seriously technology is not my friend.

Oh well.

But look at her rocking it!

She had the cutest little giggle.

Makes me happy when she works so hard.

This kid is pretty great!

It won't be too long until she is jumping all over the place :)

 

Wednesday May 28

No post yesterday.

Not even an attempt to post.

Originally I was going to do it earlier because I knew it would be a crazy evening....but it didn't happen.

Brent got called in for an overtime shift.

Port and I just got some house work done.

After school Joanne came over for speech and then when she left I made dinner, then ran and got home in time to get the little kiddos in bed so I could go to a primary meeting at 8:00.

I thought it would be a while before I got home....but I didn't think it would be 10:30 before I got home!!!!!

Anyway....so that was the day.

Today was a good day.

Just irrigation and Port playing with Cannon.

This evening, the mower that we have been waiting for for over a week and a half, arrived!

Everyone was so excited.

And we all had to give it a try.

This is going to make our lives so much easier when it is lawn mowing time!!!!!

 

 



Monday May 26

The morning started out early when I went for a run when I woke up.

Madi had a friend coming at 10:00 do finish up a project for school....

And I told her I would take her to get a swim suit before that, cause we were invited to a swim part for the evening, and she didn't have one to fit.

Anyway....we got going after I ran and showered.

I got a call from Dad about 20 minutes after being gone.

We were getting our windshield fixed this morning, the kind where they come out to fix it.

Well, I TOOK THE WRONG CAR!!!!!

I was supposed to take the little car and leave the Tahoe to get fixed!

I can't believe I did that!

So I rushed home, after the purchase of Madi's swimsuit, luckily she found it super fast and we just had to purchase it.

Well, when Madi's friend came, and the windshield guy left...Brent and I headed out with the two little kids to get a new fridge.

It has been out for several days now, and we have been pretty much living out of the fridge in the garage.....

We wanted to wait for Memorial Day sales :)

We ended up getting a great deal.

We went to RC Willy first, and saw one we liked, but rent was pretty sure he saw the same one in the Home Depot ad for a couple hundred cheaper.

But we forgot the ad!!!!!

So we went to Home depot but they didn't have many fridges out.....and no Ad.

So we got Madi to text us the picture of the ad, and also the part that said 10% off with purchase on Home Depot card.

Then we went back to RC Willy where they matched the price and gave us the 10% off.

Pretty cool :)

We got home, and Brent loaded the fridge on the tractor and got it up on the deck to take it into the kitchen.

Worked pretty great!

I had about 35 minutes to run to the store to get the food to take to the party....that I was supposed to pick up when I took Madi to get a swim suit and took the wrong car :)

Got home, got everyone in swimsuits, and headed to the Morgan's for their Memorial Day party.

We swam and then had dinner, then swam again.

Then dessert.

Paul brought out a video that he made when he got back from Iraq a few years ago.

He was there for7 months.

Worked in the ER where he would put the people under anesthesia before their operations.

He had some pretty great pictures and footage.

I think it was great for all the kids to watch it.

So thankful to all those who have served and are still serving in the US armed forces.

And Thankful for a day to celebrate it.

Happy Memorial Day

 

Sunday May 25

Madi has been putting a lot of time and effort into her Personal progress.

She has a couple more things to pass off that are 2 weeks things.....

But then after that, she is done!

Super awesome if you ask me :)

Proud of that girl.

Yesterday she made herself a skirt for an Integrity goal.

It was super cute on her, and she earned a few new things :)

Like you need to have the stretchy part of the fabric stretch with you when you move......

This one doesn't.

So she has to kind of a penguin walk....but she just lifts the skirt a little bit when she walks, and it works fine.

She looked super cute in it and it was comfy enough for her to wear all day long.

It is a really pretty eggplant color too.

Looks great on her.

I took her picture and she had a really cheesy smile...so I told her to loosen up, and I got this gem :)

Girl cracks me up...

After that I got a cute laughy smile, which is what I was going for :)

 

Saturday May 24

It was a good morning.

Well, actually the kids (Madi and Cassi) were fighting so I told them I was going to go running and they better be nice when I get back.

Well, I got back and they were all cleaning up nicely.

Cassi spent about 4 hours on her room.....but it needed it!

Madi did pretty much everything else.

When I got home I finished up dishes, did some laundry and Port and I cleaned the playroom.

Later on Cassi had Carly over to play and Porter had Cannon.

Then we went to see Dad around 4:00.

Madi had her 'Stuffed Hugs' to deliver to the fire station.

She did a great job.

She was actually able to make her 200 goal today :)

Good job Bell!

So we went to see Dad.

It is always fun to play around at all the fun stuff dad has at his station.

And I enjoyed myself watching dad in his turnout pants :)

Makes me smile.

I kinda have a big crush on that guy!

And I think he likes me too :)

Well, when we were getting ready to go, dad got a call.

Elsie was a little spooked, I think she was just worried about all the noise....

But it was fun to watch him do what he does.

I told him I like to watch him go on calls....but I don't like the hurried 'goodbyes' we have to have.

We will be happy to have him back home tomorrow :)

I like him around.

 

Friday May 23

Madi had her last pick-up from the school for her 'give a stuffed hug' project.

She did awesome!

We counted about 187 stuffed animals.

Not bad.

Her goal was 200, but I still call 187 a success!

*****

Elsie got her new glasses today!

I had a picture of her on the phone with it, but my phone isn't sharing pictures right now :(

But she does look super cute!

*****

Stacia invited Port and me to swim today with a few other friends.

I didn't swim, because I ran to Elsie's school for her 'summer birthday celebration'.

Her class writes a page about the birthday person, and then they put it together in a book.

Mrs. Peterson commented that some of the kids wrote 4-5 pages, both sides, for Elsie bug :)

They all kinda like her!

It was really sweet.

Cassi went to her friends house after school.

She had a real fun time too, and seems to be really exhausted now.

Hopefully that means a good nights sleep......

Porter had a birthday party tonight from 6-9.

I brought Cannon home from the party afterwards, cause his parents were at a clogging competition...

And he just left!

Those are some super tired boys!

I am tired too.

While it was just Elsie, Madi and I, we watched 'Brave' and I actually fell asleep on the couch.

So I must be zonked!

 

Thursday May 22

It was Porter's Preschool Graduation Luau today.

He has been so excited for this thing!

As soon as he found out it was a Hawaii party, he had to get Hawaii clothes!

I took him to 'kids again', and luckily they had the perfect Luau stuff :)

He picked his shirt and shorts all for under $3 :)

Not bad!

He has had it laid out and ready to go for a week now.

He even dressed his panda bear in it so he could keep all the stuff together.

Smart boy.

The MINUTE he woke up this morning, it was on him.

Hat, lay, flip flops and all.

For the whole day!

He started off the morning by making me a cereal box scare crow to put by the front door.

Pretty great, right :)

We got the girls off to school and my VT were over for a little bit, then we went and helped Dad with more irrigation stuff.

I need to take pictures of what Dad has done out there, cause it is working out great for our irrigation system!

Then after lunch we headed to the Luau!

His teacher grew up in Hawaii, and worked at the Polynesian cultural center in collage.

She taught the kids how to get the water out of the coconut and how to break it open.

Pretty fun stuff :)

The kids performed a few songs for us, which was adorable!

A little girl in his class take Tahitian dancing lessons, and she was so cute to do a little performance.

It was a fun time.

And Porter is so shy!!!!!!

I guess I didn't really realize how he was in the classroom.

But he is quiet and polite (only one looking at the teacher most of the time)....and super cute, of course!

And dad got to come with us.....so that was cool too.

His teacher had the kids say what they wanted to be when they grew up....

Port said he wanted to be a Firefighter, like his daddy :)

Melt my heart..... <3 p="">

*****

Then it was back home and back to yard work until we left to go get Elsie for PT.

Today was the day she was going to do the zip-line, because Daddy was gonna come :)

We left Port with Madi, and Cassi rode the bus home.

Elsie was a rock star at Katie's!!!!

I didn't realize she would already have PT at school today.

So she started out tired!

But she rocked it for daddy!

She worked so hard!!!!!

She got dad to do things too....like the rock wall :)

She told him where he had to go, and he did.

Elsie was the first kid to ever transverse the whole wall (with help of course), and then Dad did it after her!

Fun stuff!

And then at the end of the PT, it was time to try it out....

And she did it!

YAY!!!!

It was so fun watching her!

She ended up doing it 4 times!

The video I have is of her on her 4th time, holding on all on her own, without help!

Like I said, ROCK STAR!!!!

I love that girl.

She is gonna be so sore tomorrow, I know that for sure.....

She just worked and worked and worked!

Then we got some dinner on the way home.

The rest of the kids had been playing out in the water, so they had fun.

We are all going to bed worn out tonight!!!