June

This bundle of crazy turned 7 in June!!  7 seems to be the evil age when it really hits me how fast time is going, and how little time I have left with my babies.  

She got a kayak, a book, and a new life jacket for her birthday, and all the kids (Adam's YM have had their fun with it too) seem to love the kayak.

 

Ava's favorite was the book.  She loves to look at books, but she hates to read. :)  She could spend hours just looking at books.

Her breakfast request.

Sister Fisher, the sweetest lady in our ward, always brings Ava a little present because they are birthday twins.  She brought her a flower and doll magnets.

We had baseball games all morning for the boys and Adam was at the cabin working, so Ava sort of got shafted on her birthday.  She's pretty chill about that kind of stuff, so she didn't seem to mind.  Another couple in our ward who are like our family here invited us over for a BBQ and swimming.  She made a super yummy birthday cake for Ava.  

Went to Grant's baseballs party for her birthday. :)

Grant had a great year and is quite a good little ball player. 

We had a cake for her on Sunday when dad was home.  She wanted a rainbow cake, so I did the best I could with the supplies I had at home.  It was Sunday, so I was very limited on colors. :)

I did a Boston Cream Pie cake, minus the chocolate outside (although the white outside is white chocolate).

Last day of school.  Ava's teacher Mrs. Lewis. Such an awesome teacher.  Really hope Grant gets her next year.

 

Noah's teacher - Miss Chaboya.  She was great too.  She called Noah, Noah-bear all year because he's so big, sweet and quiet.  Ha.  She should see him at home.  All his classmates refer to him as Noah-bear now. 

School finally got out on June 9th!!!  Seriously, why do we go to school into June?  We are doing our summer schedule of park day, adventure day, free day, hike day and craft day.  One of our adventures - catching 'fish' (they're those super tiny mosquito fish) at the creek.

Noah was determined to bring some fish home.  I told him I wasn't going to pack it for him.  We've killed more of those tiny fish than I care to admit.  I try to tell the kids they don't like stagnant water that gets really hot. :)

SOME of the remnants from Noah's desk.  Seriously, his desk wouldn't even close it was so full of crap!

Artichoke flowers in the front yard.  Aren't they the coolest looking flowers?!

I flew to Arizona to help Eli and Erin move into their new house.  I LOVE my sister-in-laws (and brother-in-laws :) ), so it was so fun to spend a weekend with them.  I still can't believe how much we got accomplished in such a short amount of time.

Eli and Erin's new home.

So grateful Joe came too.  He was a huge help.  It was fun to be just an aunt for a couple days as well.

I wouldn't call Arizona pretty by any stretch of the imagination (sorry Arizonians, it's not pretty), but they do have some pretty cool plants.

At the new house, finding whatever seating arrangements we could. :)

Who else comes out of a water slide like this - only Beth. :)

Eli lives in a cool little town where there are lots of community pools and parks.  One has lots of fun slides and big pools.  We had fun with my water camera.

For you Marv, because you look way better than Beth in this picture. Ha!

 

Also, so fun to see Eli as a dad.  He's stepped into the role impeccably.  

 While I was in Arizone, Noah played his last baseball game.  They made it to the championship game and won!!  They only lost 1 game the whole season. 

 With his best friend, Evan (and Evan's brother, Blake).  Noah improved so much during the season. He became a pretty consistent hitter and loved playing. 

 One of our art days - painting their ceramic creations.  Noah's (top left) was a volcano and an army house. Ava's (top right) was a birds nest and me. Grant's are the 2 bowls in front. He's much more detail oriented if you can't tell.

 Most of my left-over bowls end up outside with creatures in them.

I turned another year older and it was sort of just like a regular day, which I'm totally fine with.  Adam had YM's and then we went to RC Willey and bought a mattress for the cabin and then ate at a super yummy Turkish restaurant.  Noah claimed it was the best food he's ever eaten, but then again, how can you go wrong with Baklava for dessert?! 

Another adventure day.  Playing in the rapids at the American river.

The water is much higher this year, so the current was a lot stronger.  The kids love this place.  I scare them with horror stories about getting swept away forever, so they stay close by.  There's a place further down where is calms way down and they can get to the side.

Another adventure day and hike day - Folsom lake.

Noah and all his treasures.  He could barely walk with all his crap treasures, but he got them to the car.

Noah and I had scout camp in June.  We lucked out and had amazing weather the whole week.  Seriously, 60's and 70's in June!!  Noah loves scout camp.  They had this reptile guy come one night and he was amazing.  He passed around snakes and frogs and salamanders.  The adults thought he was joking when he said he was going to let the boys pass them around, but sure enough, he let them hold the animals.  We learned that we have Northern Pacific rattlesnakes here.  No Diamondback rattlesnakes live here at all.  He showed us the difference between them.  He never holds a snake by its head, but just used this stick.  A couple times the snakes got on the ground and he just picked them up by the tail.  He was crazy, but nothing happened, so I guess it was all good.

He had a giant python that he wrapped around the flag pole for the kids to play with.

Bottle rockets if one of the favorite stations along with archery and BB's.

Flag retirement ceremony.  The boys seem to love camp, but man, it's a TON of work for me (I'm the committee chair for 2 wards).  I'm always glad when it's over.

We spend A LOT!!!!! of time working on the cabin this summer.  Pretty much every weekend we are up there working from sun up to sun down trying to get it done.  The kids are troopers and entertain themselves all weekend while Adam and I work.  We decided to head to Dunsmuir and try this hamburger place that was supposedly rated top 100 restaurants in America.  It lived up to it's name.  It was amazing!  Everything down to the ketchup is homemade.  Super yummy and it sits at the base of Mount Shasta, so the views are pretty spectacular on the way there. 

Granty lost his other front tooth.  Now he has that adorable toothless grin.

We had our official visitors to the cabin, grandma Connie and grandpa Rob.  We were able to get a flushing toilet the day they got there, so we were living large.  A flushing toilet and a fridge, luxuries we hadn't had up there in a long time.

Thanks grandma and grandpa for coming.  We loved having you for a few days!!

Another adventure day - Outdoor world and then Folsom lake.

I love this picture.  Grant talking to Noah while he's trying to catch a fish (with Ava's pink fishing pole).

 

For Rachelle, because my kids always make this pose and then say, "take a picture like this for Rachelle", and this is where we spent the majority of June - dirty and working at the cabin. :)  Namaste