Starting To See a Pattern...

that Gavin is going to keep us on our toes.... medically speaking.

He was the first in our family to ride in an ambulance.

He has had several febrile seizures.

He has already had one surgery.

He has had road rash and raspberries too numerous to count.

And now he is the first child in our family to break a bone.

And on top of that...require surgery to fix it.

All within just 3 years of what is promising to be a very exciting life!

Yesterday he broke his nose. Today we went to the ENT and was told that he'll be having surgery next Thursday to fix it.

So while the rest of my family will be having the time of their lives at Grandma's house, I'll be kickin' it with Gavin waiting for him to go under the knife yet again.

Bright side in all this...he will not be going through life with a crooked nose. AND, I will avoid the 42 hours of driving and still make it to Lake Tahoe!

12 Years

On June 17 we celebrated our 12 year wedding anniversary.

It seems like those 12 years have gone by so fast but at the same time I can't remember what life was like without him.

Our anniversary happened to fall on our ward temple weekend trip. On our way to the temple we stopped and had a nice romantic dinner at one of our favorite places with 5 kids because we had a friend's little boy with us. That night we were able to go do some sealings together while our kids were on a hike with the Bishopric. It was perfect and my favorite way to spend our anniversary.

I'm still the luckiest girl I know.

I love the way Bret makes me laugh.

How he still inspires me to be and do better every day.

The way he knows just what I need.

I love the way he knows what I'm thinking.

I love how he looks for ways to serve and help me.

How he makes me happy.

I love how very much he loves me.

And how very much I love him.

In Full Swing

Summer is in full swing around here.

It's been wonderful and so much fun. But man alive, has it been busy. I love having my children around, even if it means I'm cleaning the kitchen 5 or 6 times a day. Here's what we've had going on the past week and a half.

• Swim team practice every day from 8-9 and again 9-10.
• Two 7-hour swim meats (which are very fun to entertain a three year old at who is not allowed in the pools.)
• Our 12 year anniversary.---love ya babe!
• Ward weekend temple trip.
• 3 hour primary Olympic games activity during ward temple trip to plan, organize and execute.
• 2 extra girls for 3 days while their parents were at treck.
• Father's Day...my kids sure have a wonderful father. I was raised by an amazing father and my father-in-law is incredible also. How did we ever get so lucky to be surrounded by men such as these?!!
• 2 day, all day, basketball camp for Abby and McKenna.
• A sick dog who had three days of diarrhea and vomiting...not so fun to clean up.

This doesn't really seam like that much as I'm writing it all done. But for some reason I have been barely keeping my head above water. Most of the time I'm sinking. In fact, I had a little melt down yesterday about how I feel so overwhelmed.

So today is officially "Take Back Control of My Life and House Day."

We took a day off from swim team.

Sense three people in my family were out of clean underwear, I decided it must be time to do laundry...10 loads later I'm done.

Abby helped me clean out my fridge and it was nice to be reminded what the back of the shelves look like.

I cleaned up the dreaded "drop zone" in our kitchen and that alone has made me feel so much better.

Zachary and I made peach pie. yummy.

And I'm even taking a moment for myself to record all this, hoping it's therapeutic.

Last Day

Finally, it's the last day of school!!!! I couldn't be more excited. In fact, I'm a little giddy. I woke up at 5:20 this morning just because I was so excited for summer. I know, weird!

This morning I took the kids to school, delivered our teacher gifts, and took the last day of school picture with their teachers. I have a love/hate relationship with these first day of school/last day of school picture comparisons. I love seeing the change in my kids, but I hate how they grow up so fast. And nothing accentuates that more than side by side comparisons over a 9 month period.

Abby's first day of school...

Last day of school...

Yah, she grew like a weed this year!!!!

McKenna's first day of school...

Last day of school...

She grew a ton too, just harder to see because her teacher is hunching down. The biggest thing to me is how much more mature her face looks.

Zachary's first day...

Last day...

Our teacher gifts for the end of the year...

The note said,

Thank you for "rising" to the challenge; big or small,

for being there when you were "kneaded,"

for helping to "heel" with TLC,

for never "loafing" on the job.

No matter how you "slice" it,

You're the Best!

(Thanks Julie for the fabulous idea!)

And now in two short hours they will step off that bus, (a few will be in tears) and they will be all mine!!! Summer will officially begin and we'll have a pizza and pool party with their friends to celebrate!

Zachary's Play

Last week the Kindergartners had their performance at school. Zachary and his class were pterodactyl cats from Hemingway's house. The songs and story were very cute and he was so excited. He even wanted to lay down after school to rest up before the night performance.

He had three different speaking parts, one with another boy and then two by himself.

Zachary had been singing the songs to Gavin for several months, so when they started singing he turned to me and said loudly, "Mom, I remember this song!"

Way to go Zachary...you were the cutest little cat on the stage!

Brothers

Man I love these boys. I love the way Gavin looks up to Zachary and tries to model everything he does. I love how kind and patient Zachary is and how they genuinely love being with each other. (And no...that is not a dirty face on Gavin...just really bad road rash from a fall.)

Memorial Day Hike Up Sugar Hollow

After getting breakfast Monday morning we headed up to Sugar Hollow for a fun hike involving lots of water! Which was perfect because it was HOT that day...I think it reached 95 degrees.

This was the first stream crossing of the hike...they would not want to stay dry for long.

And minutes later they all looked like this...

The girls gearing up the nerve to go all the way under

We saw tons of wild life on the hike...hundreds of butterflies, frogs, a crawdad, a caterpillar train, and about 6 snakes that were all in the pool of water when we got to the waterfall.

I love pictures of people from behind

Grandma and Grandpa with the kids at the falls.

On the way back down we stopped at the main swimming hole to play around and jump off the rock.

Cannon ball!!!

Even Gavin wanted to do it. The first time Abby was below to catch him.

He came out so happy and wanted to do it again and again.

Pauline and I decided we didn't want to miss all the fun. We got up on the rock and thought we would jump in holding hands, but the rock was so slippery we decided that wasn't the best idea.

Yes...I am plugging my nose to jump in to about 5 feet of water. I don't know what I was thinking!

There she goes...she was so excited to go back and tell her students all about her high adventure of "cliff jumping!"

I think this picture of Bret and Gavin was my favorite of the whole day...

After the hike we came back to the house for a little bit before we headed out to grab some pizza for dinner. Grandpa jumped on the tramp with the kids while Pauline and I made some yummy wheat bread.

Thanks for the visit Dave and Pauline. It was wonderful to be able to spend some time with you. We appreciate you coming to the opposite side of the country to see us.

Memorial Day Weekend

Bret's parents came to visit us Memorial Day weekend. It was great to see them and the kids had a wonderful time with Grandma and Grandpa.

Sunday Zachary and McKenna read to Grandpa while Abby, Pauline and I made dinner...or rather Grandpa had a little cat-nap while they both read.

After dinner we went to one of our favorite near by spots...Mint Springs, and had a nice walk.

The kids rolled down the hill

And then Gavin, McKenna and Bret ran full force down the hill. Gavin's face cracks me up.

McKenna was able to convince Grandpa to race her down the hill

We came home, played some games, set up the tent, played in the back yard and had a little fire and s'mores.

That night we broke in our new tent as a family. It was a lot of fun. I made it till 5:00 a.m. when I got tired of sleeping on a deflated air mattress. Bret came in the house shortly thereafter because the birds were too loud. But the kids LOVED it and claimed to have gotten the best nights rest ever.

Sadie was the one who loved the tent the most. She didn't want to get out and then would claw at it to get back in. I think she just loved us all sleeping together and she could curl up to whoever she wanted to during the night.