Baptisms!

I didn't want to forget the best part of the summer so far: Little Man's baptism!

It was a busy day because his cousin Brooklyn got baptised in the morning. Then we had a combined family luncheon to celebrate, then Little Man's baptism.

Here he is, all ready and waiting on the rest of us lazy bums!

Their big day!  (They didn't really grasp what I was trying to do here. silly kids!)

Little Man & Dad. Both so handsome in White!

Grandma Dial gave him a new set of scriptures & Grandma Mortensen gave him his Scout uniform

Brooklyn & Little Man with their Grandma Great. This lady is 89 years old and still kickin' butt & takin' names!

The family. Don't we all look happy or exhausted??  Do you like my firm grip on Squirts shoulder? It says "Don't you dare move!"  This was taken at the end of the day. We are all a little unkempt, Ladybug is in her 2nd dress of the day thanks to the chocolate frosted donut Uncle Michael gave her. Squirt is all untucked and covered in Dorito cheese. Little Man was in his 2nd white shirt of the day for the same reason. Good times, people... Good times.  

I'm so proud of the decision Little Man made to be baptised. It was a beautiful day surrounded by family and friends. It was also the hottest day of the year. I think it topped out at 118 degrees!

The tooth fairy has been spotted...

A few days ago Squirt was eating an apple and out popped his very first tooth- we couldn't find it, but finally did- in the apple. After finally finding it, he put it on the counter next to the sink and then bumped it- down the drain. He was panicking that the Tooth Fairy wouldn't come so Daddy helped him write a note.

She did take the note instead! Horray. Squirt kept saying: "This is the very best day ever!"

A few days later, we were chowing down at Olive Garden and out popped the second one. We kept it this time, but he was very worried because we were sleeping at our cabin and he wasn't sure the tooth fairy would find him. She did though. He's already plotting how to get another loose tooth to make more money!

Cub Scouts!

Holy Hannah, This kid couldn't be more excited.

He started cub scouts this week and he's already only 1 step away from his Bobcat badge.

I on the other hand am reciting that dang promise in my sleep. I promise, to do my best, to do my duty...... AHHHHH, make it stop:) You know what though, really I do love his enthusiasm. He wants to do everything and do it now!

Basketball

This was our first year of basketball & we had so much fun! It made the first half of summer fly by as well! We had somewhere to be every Tuesday (2 places actually), Wednesday & Thursday. Little Man loved every minute of it. His team was really good too. His coach taught them organized plays and when they played together they were awesome. Unfortunately, there were some games where a certain 3 players never passed the ball, and Little Man never even got to touch it. Those games were particularly hard on Mom & Dad! He did score in a couple of different games though. He was so pumped!!

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Squirts games were just too stinkin' funny! Watching 10 5-6 year olds trying to play bball just brightened your soul! They would just run down the quart holding the ball, or shoot on the wrong net. The first game that Squirt scored he turned and gave me 2 thumbs up, with the biggest smile on his face. He was on cloud nine. It was even better the last game when he got his very own trophy. He got it cause "He was the best player" His quote, not the coaches. His coach was so good and patient with the kids. The very first practice, when he asked the kids to do jumping jacks made me laugh out loud. Nobody knew what he was talking about!! The coach was probably at least 6'5". Squirt went upto his hip bone!

My little ladybug

Oh this girl keeps us on our toes.

The other day I found her chit-chatting on the phone:

Making "snow-angels" on the table:

And her newest obsession:

Going potty.

She's probably way to young to get it, (although she did goes ONCE!) but she loves to sit there. When she's done, she gets down, takes the potty seat off, and closes the lid. She's already way ahead of her brothers! We've started doing sign language for "potty" and she just started doing it, although only to copy me. I figure it can't hurt to encourage her:)

8 is Great!

Little Man turned 8 a couple of weeks ago. We decided to party at Chuck E. Cheese with the cousins! As our current obsession is Harry Potter we decided to throw in a little bit of a Harry Potter too! It was alot of fun. His presents continued the theme! He got the Lego Harry Potter: Quiditch match, Hagrid's hut, freeing dobby, and the forbidden forrest. Now he's got his sites set on Hogwarts Castle (which is a pretty $129) it'll be a while!

Lots going on...

So much has happened in the last month is has been crazy. I'll try and catch you up on all the great details over the next week!

About a month ago, my dear friend and co-worker Kami decided that she couldn't stand Arizona's heat another day (can't blame her really!) and moved back to Oregon. I was thrown head first into working full time doing EVERYTHING that we did between the 2 of us. Now, a month later, I feel like I've finally adjusted. It's really turned into a blessing, I actually go into the office less, but get paid more (always a bonus!) and I've set things up so I can do most things from home. The down side is that I have a bluetooth in my ear about 40 hours a week, but we're all getting used to that too. For the first 2 weeks, the boys were constantly saying "Are you talking to me?" Because I would just start randomly talking!

Also about a month ago, one of Hubbie's co-workers was applying for a job promotion at work. It seems strange to pray that someone else will get a promotion, but if she did, Hubbie could transfer to the Glendale office (he's currently at the Mesa office, about an hour away on a good traffic day). He got the call about 2 weeks ago that she got the job, and so he got her desk. He started this week and it's been fabulous! He wanders in the door about 5:15pm rather than the typical 7pm. Also he said he hasn't filled his gas tank in a week, which is EVEN BETTER!

The craziest conversation yet...

While driving in the car yesterday we had this conversation:

Little Man: "Mom, Dad says were going to get an SUV, what kind are we going to get?"
Me: "We are a long ways off from getting an SUV, so I have no idea what kind"
LM: "Well Dad wants an Escape or an Expedition, can those pull things?"
Me: "Probably"
LM: "Good cause dad says we're also going to get a trailer"
Me: "Like I said we are a long ways off from that"
LM: "I know, will the trailer be a pop up or a regular trailer?"
Me: "Probably a pop up"
LM: "Oh good, will it have 3 beds or 4?"
Me (getting just a touch annoyed): "I have no idea, I'll worry about that when the time comes"
Squirt then pipes up: "NO, I WANT A BABY!"
Me: "Squirt, we're talking about trailers, not babies"
Squirt: "I know, but I want a baby"
Me: "What do you want another baby for?"
Squirt: "Cause I love babies, we need 2 babies, I'll play with Ladybug..."
LM: "Oh, yeah! And I'll play with Molly"
Me: "Who the heck is Molly?"
LM: "Thats just the name I made up, but you could name her what ever you want, you know what would be awesome mom? if you went to the doctor and nobody else went with you, not even me, or squirt or ladybug or daddy, and then you came home and you ran in the door and you yelled "I'M GONNA HAVE A BABY! (said with dramatic wide arms) That would be seriously awesome"

Fortunately, we had just arrived at our destination and they got distracted. These two sure can day dream!

Ode to Black River.

I've posted several times about our trips to the Black River, in the White Mountain's of Arizona. (HERE and HERE)Hubbie has been going here since he was 2. And Hubbie's father has been going here since he was 2. And my babies have been going since they were literally weeks old.
And now: it's a smoldering wasteland. We are sad. Actually sad doesn't describe the mood around here. We are devastated. This forest will not ever be the same in our lifetimes, probably even the kids lifetimes.
We had plans to spend 7 whole days here, with cousins involved this year. And now what do we do? I even suggested Disneyland again, and it didn't even brighten the mood around here.

They all have fly fishing in their blood. And desperately need to get it out of their systems.

Anybody have any suggestions?

Summer

Well, it's officially summer. We now have a 3rd grader and a Kindergartner in the house!

Soccer came and went.

Little Man's team was the "White-Outs." They won 4 of 8 games.

Little Man didn't ever get a chance to score, but he still had a blast.

We had some minor issues this year with the coach getting suspended for telling off all the mom's and the ref's and the picture crew at one of the games. So we had to have a parent step up and take over. We never really bonded as a team, and didn't even have a party at the end of the season. I think we were all just ready to have it over.

(The label on his trophy is crooked and driving my OCD mind crazy! breathe... breathe... it doesn't matter...)

We got one week off and then we started Basketball. I figured, 'oh, it's summer, we don't have anything going on so we can put both boys in.' now my calendar looks like this:

looks like I have 3 days in the month of June that I don't have something written down, but they are Sunday's and I don't really pencil in church, so we have a busy couple of months ahead of us!

This has been the most amazing month of May, weather wise. It's been 70-80's most days. A few days have gotten into the 90's. We've spent so much time outside we are all already good and tan! We got a garden going and thanks to the weather everything has gotten good and tall and strong before the real heat of summer sets in. MAYBE I'll actually get to preserve something this year! Yay!!