We experienced some usually HOT temperatures the beginning of May and the kids were desperate to be outside with the water. Sadly our really awesome blowup side passed away with a giant rip in its side and so the kids have started a "pool fund" for a new one. So this has left us with the trusty mud pit.

 And water table, which is Edyn's favorite.

 And a bunch of ag bag that has turned into the most ghetto slip in slide ever. But its also by far the most functional and HUGE slip in slide I've ever seen. The kids used the slide off the trampoline and would slide down onto the plastic. It was pretty cool.

Preschool Graduation

 Lucy had bike day at preschool the last day and was very excited to bring her scooter and decorate it with
streamers and a license plate. She managed not to crash into anyone which was also a plus. Her preschool graduation was also this week and she was pretty excited to go see her friends

She really enjoyed preschool this past year and keeps asking to go back to school and see her teacher.  She definitely has grown a lot and learned a ton. I can't believe she just has one more year before kindergarten.  By far Lucy's favorite part of preschool has been making new friends and seeing them every week. She really is just excited about everything so going and doing art, circle time, projects and fun snacks was right up her alley.

 And we only caught her eating foliage twice at the park which is an improvement!

Princess Night

 The girls in our ward had a "princess party" for all the primary aged girls for a mutual activity last Wednesday. They had stations set up for hair, nails, crown making, and sugar cookie decorating. Lucy was so incredibly excited she could hardly see straight.

 She actually let one of the girls curl her hair, something I've hardly gotten her to let me do, and then got her nails painted and made a crown. She also insisted on dancing with me for a while and after I got pretty dizzy from spinning circles with her she danced with her little friend Ashlynn for a while.

At the end of the night they had a slide show of pictures they had taken. Lucy kept telling me it was the "best movie ever!" and she loved seeing pictures of herself blown up a on a wall. She loved the whole night and is truly a princess if I ever saw one. It was fun getting to go on a date with just her, she is one fun, crazy little girl!

Tball

 Isak started Tball last week and so far likes it okay. He did it last year and since he is a May birthday and the cut off is April 30th, he got to be on the peewee team again.  It will be good for him to have another year to get the basics down though and he likes being one of the older kids on the team.

 His first game was on Saturday and he did a great job of hitting the ball and running.

 He also had his opening day parade last week where all the baseball teams walk down main street holding their signs and throw candy.  Lucy loved this as well and got quite the stash that she kept shoving in Kevin's grandma's pockets. Sadly this was the best picture I got of the parade but it was pretty cute. Kind of love this little town and their traditions sometimes, our parades are pretty awesome!

More of April

My brother Aaron came into town for a few days to visit my parents and my kids were very excited to see him. He is definitely one of their favorite uncles. Him and Isak built this stick cage around Edyn. I have fond memories of building similar cages around my little brother growing up and then letting him break out of it.

Which Edyn was able to break out of quite well. Lucy scored herself a new swimsuit that she was very excited to model for me.

 While Aaron was visiting we celebrated his birthday and Isak got the job of placing all the candles in the cake.

 Aaron is incredibly talented at making costumes. Not just regular, sewn together costumes. But very elaborate stuff...This is one of the masks he made, the jaw moves when you talk. It still needs the eyes sewn on. He even hand makes the eyes an sculpts it all into the shape he wants. Lucy kept saying, "Little pig, Little pig let me in!" over and over. I'll have to post a full costume sometime that he has made, they are very elaborate.

A couple Mondays ago we needed to run to Tri-Cities to get Lucy's glasses and we decided to go to the temple for FHE and let the kids run around.  They thought it was great even though the grounds were closed and we tried to show them the Angel Moroni and explain a few things. Hopefully it will stick. And they had dipped ice cones for the first time ever which they absolutely loved.

April

Shortly after my birthday, my family and I had some very sad events happen. My brother and his sweet wife had their baby boy Ivan about 4 months early. It happened very quickly and was of course incredible unexpected. He passed away a few days later. It has been a difficult time for our family and most of all my brother and his wife. Most of the feelings and experiences I've had I feel are too personal to share on this blog but I did find a lot of comfort in this talk by Joseph B. Withlin.

http://youtu.be/tVNYhcYEwIE. Its titled "Come What May and Love it".  I am so incredibly grateful for the knowledge that our families are eternal, that we are definitely not alone in our grief, and that someday I will get to introduce that sweet baby to all of his crazy cousins.