FAMILY VISITS

We love when family comes to visit.  We spent this weekend with my parents.  I'm so lucky to have been blessed with great parents, I feel unfortunately I didn't truly comprehend this until I had children of my own.  I LOVE them both so very much. 

          

                           

Well, our weekend was action packed.  Four days makes time a little full, but my parents just loved spending time with the boys.  I have to admit that Aidan has to make a full recovery whenever they leave, he gets TOTALLY spoiled. 

                                                    

Friday was spent shopping.  I think my mom might actually love to shop more than me.  We always have a great time when we go out. 

                      

                                   

My dad and Mike took Aidan to Cabelas.  My dad is an avid outdoors man.  You name it he took his daughters to do it:  camping, fishing, hiking, snowmobiling, 4-wheeling, really everything except hunting - he left that for his only son.  Well, he got Mike started in hunting and it looks as though he's recruiting Aidan.  Yes, they went bear hunting at Cabelas.  Aidan apparently thought it was the greatest.  You put in some tokens, some bears growl at you, and you aim a fake gun at a stuffed bear. 

      

          

Saturday was so great.  We spent the morning at Coeur D'Alene beach.  We spent time in the lake, building sand castles, and feeding sea gulls.  Jack unfortunately wasn't a fan of the water, but enjoyed the sand just the same.  My parents took us to see "Kung Fu Panda" - which was great.  You see, Mike and I are Jack Black fans, and we also heard lots of laughs from Aidan.  

       

                     

Thank you so much for visiting!  We love you and miss you already.  Aidan knows we are going home to visit in February and he asks every day when that month is coming.  Thanks for spoiling us this weekend.  Love you.   

Seinfeld

Tonight Mike and I went to see Jerry Seinfeld with our good friends the Albrechts.  You could even say that Mike and Aric are enough like brothers that they share the same interests.  Tonight, it happened to be with fashion, although they say their dressing like twins was an "accident":)   So I had to take a pic.  And can anyone tell me why two men can't pose "normally" for a picture?    

               

So Mike and I are BIG "Seinfeld" fans, of the TV show that is.  This is our second time seeing Jerry Seinfeld in stand up comedy.  Each time has been great, maybe it's because we relate to him through his TV show, maybe not.  He's a completely funny comedian and we laughed so hard we cried.  It's was nice to enjoy the evening with friends, who also get the inside jokes of "Seinfeld."  

Vancouver, WA

June 19-22th we spent in Vancouver with the kids.  Mike's brother and their family moved out there a couple of months ago.  Mike's parents flew in from Utah so we took the road trip there for the weekend.  It was good to spend time with everyone.  Vancouver was beautiful, and we had great weather (no rain).  I was pleasantly surprised at how well Aidan and Jack slept in the hotel room and the continental breakfast was great... way to go Gary (Mike's Dad) with doing your homework on that one.  

We hiked to the falls (can you tell Aidan had to go to the bathroom in the first pic?)...

spent time on the beach at Vancouver Lake (Jack wasn't a fan of the cold water)... 

                

walked around the Portland Temple (breathtaking)...

swam in the hotel pool...

                

and saw the greatest 450lb 10ft fish at the Fish Hatchery.  I'm not sure who was more excited to visit the Hatchery, Mike who loves to fish or Aidan.  Either way we had a great time.  

The whole weekend was nice.  Thank you Chris and Katy.  

Oh, my favorite pic was taken on the ride home (which also was pleasantly smooth)...

Hayden Lake

For FHE Mike and I took the boys to Hayden Lake to go boating with our friends Bethany and Shaun, and their kids.  Hayden Lake is completely surrounded by green pine trees, it's really beautiful.

Mike has always loved to water ski, but Shaun taught Mike how to surf behind the wake.  It looks pretty amazing, and I have to admit, Mike did really well.  The lake temperature was 65 degrees, so of course Bethany and I passed on getting in the water, even with a dry suit.  Aidan and Emma were having a great time wading in the water from the back of the boat.  I warned Aidan the water was cold, but both he and Emma jumped in with their life jackets.  Jack really had a great time too... until you put the life jacket on him.  He never did get used to wearing it. The evening was nice and relaxing though.  We all had a great time.

 

Preschool Graduation

Preschool Graduation finally comes.  We've been waiting for good weather for nearly 2 weeks now, because of course we wanted it outside where the kids could play.  So four women, from my ward, and I taught each others children in preschool this year.  We had three boys and two girls: Aidan, Nathan, Jackson (who moved to Boise earlier this year so we missed him at graduation), Aubree, and Kennedy.                               

                              

                              

                                 

This year we focused on a different letter of the alphabet as our theme each week.  Since this was their first year in preschool they learned to sit quietly during story time, sing songs, have craft time, snack time (of course), and field trips.  In fact, our preschool picked up the name "Caring Mothers" from one field trip and we've kept it ever since.  The kids really enjoyed playing and growing with each other and I enjoyed watching Aidan grow this year. I know Aidan will look forward to preschool again next year. 

these moments

After Aidan put Jack's hat on backwards: "Look, Mom.  Now he's a dude!" :) Don't you wonder where kids learn stuff?

Yes, Jack has learned to crawl, which is great because he plays with Aidan.  In fact he follows him about everywhere, wanting everything he has.                                           

A: "Mom, he's (Jack) following my directions again!"

TEETH!

So it's been happening for a week now, but I've finally been able to get a picture (I know it's hard to see them)... Jack's getting his first teeth.  Yep, two bottom ones.  Luckily it's been nothing a little ibuprofen and orajel couldn't fix.  And... today he crawled for the first time (on hands and knees that is) at home with Mike! I got to see it up close when I got home from work.  I'm so proud.  love this kid.