end of July

Alden has been trying to enjoy his last few days before school starts. He has been trying to do a little bit of everything. Above was our soccer game in the muddy backyard!

This is us feeding the ducks. We used to feed the ducks at least once a week when we lived in Mississippi but here this was the first time. (Took us a while to find a place with ducks.) Anyways Calvin was scared of the ducks and didn't know what to do. When I finally got him to throw some bread he started jumping up and down as soon as the duck at it.

Benson loved watching from his car seat.

Above is pioneer day.  We celebrated by making the covered wagon in the background.

Benson loves peaches! He will start shaking with excitement when he sees them.

South Padre Island

Well after waiting most of the day Monday we headed to the airport..they told us how Dallas was having weather issues and that we might get delayed.  They asked us if we would prefer to just fly out the next day..but after looking at flights she said we would get into South Padre at least a full day later.  So we decided to try. We almost made it. Our flight landed in Dallas just as our flight to leave took off. The picture above shows the boys sleeping in the airport.  We spent the night in the airport and then got a flight to Corpus Cristi in the morning.  Michael's mom was nice enough to drive the extra distance to pick us up.

The reunion was great! It was so nice to see, visit and be with all of our wonderful family.  The boys loved being able to play with their cousins and enjoyed all of the fun activities.  Alden especially loved the beach..Calvin liked the beach but wasn't as into the waves as Alden was.  Benson did not like the beach.  The sand and the salt water were hard on his eczema skin.  Benson enjoyed lots of snuggle time instead.

Pie eating contest...I think most of us agreed that maybe a different contest would be best for next time.  If your going to eat a pie you might as well get to enjoy it..right?  Calvin was not pressured by the peer pressure and only ate one bite then watched everyone else trying to figure out what was going on.

One afternoon we went to this turtle rescue.  I learned a lot about sea turtles and it was fun to see all of the different ones up so close.  I didn't know how big they can be!

Calvin loved watching this one turtle, he sat watching it for quite some time and every time it swam by you could hear him say, "Wow".  Calvin will often remind me to enjoy the simple things in life.  He can sit and watch things for long periods of time, he loves to take very slow walks looking at everything around him, and often if he is eating something he really likes then you can hear him quietly saying, "Mmmm" with every bite!

 This is everyone at the reunion above and our family down below.

This is us the day we left.  Our flight didn't leave until the afternoon.  Michael's parents took us around to a couple of places that afternoon and then took us to the airport.  Our flights home worked out great! No sleeping over this time thankfully.

Alden the last night after I had explained that it was our last night there told me how he didn't want the next night to come. I asked, "why" he then said, "because I don't want to sleep in the airport again."

Waiting for our big Texas trip

Sunday morning with these two little cuties! It is always fun seeing them all dressed up for church.

We left for South Padre Island on Monday afternoon.  So we had all morning around the house.  One thing we did was practice our violins for the family talent show.  Michael and I have been working on a song for a while...granted we pull it out about once a year for a few minutes..one day we will be able to play it well.  It is fun though because we mimic each other, mostly it is just fun to play with such a handsome guy by my side.

The boys also went for a bike ride. Finally around 1pm we left for our trip..which I will tell about in my next post! :)

Summer fun

This is all of us with one of the sister missionaries in our area.  They recently put sisters in our area.  It has been great because it is so much easier for me to have them in our home, since Michael works most nights.  We have had them over usually at least once a week for a lesson in our home.  We have loved it! This sister was at Springville Jr. High when I was teaching..but I never had her she was older then my students.  Still it is crazy to think that the students I taught are now leaving on missions!

Summer reading program. We always love the shows and activities that the library does during the summer.  This was a juggling show we went to. He put on quite the show!

Alden still loves to build and make things. (For example today he is in the living room with a huge track he has cars, buses, trains,..etc. ) I keep asking him if he would like to go swimming, to the library, go feed the ducks, but no he is quite content playing in the living room. He says he has to get lots of playing in before school starts next week!

Cow appreciation day at Chick-fil-a.  This is the first year we have done this.  It was a lot of fun and the boys loved getting all of the yummy food they gave us and then playing on the playground!

the Grand Canyon

The Grand Canyon! Michael had two days off in a row because of the 4th of July, so we decided to make a trip out of it.  We woke up early on the 3rd drove the five plus hours to the canyon.  Spent the afternoon hiking and viewing the canyon and setting up our tent.  We had planned to spend the rest of the evening by the campfire cooking our dinners and having smores..but it was too dry to have fires.
We were disappointed at first but then it worked out because we went back out and got to see some more sights that we hadn't planned on seeing.  All of which told a lot of the history of the Grand Canyon.

Our boys love trains this was one of the stops on the little tour we did the evening of the 3rd.

Riding the buses was something both boys loved! They loved looking for the right sign for the right bus to get on.

Calvin at our camp sight. These are all the pictures I have from my phone but be prepared because we got tons of pictures on the camera ...I'll post those ones later though.

toilet paper dresses

 For a young woman activity each class made a toilet paper dress. For being out of toilet paper they weren't too bad!

box

 The other day at the pool we met a lady who said she is to keep her son in a box. She said he loved playing in the box she'd even take the box to church so he could play quietly in there during church.
Today I found a box just Benson's size and sure enough he loved it!

Benson

 Benson gets into a very playful mood at night when the other boys are in bed. So fun to see him roll around, laugh and make bubbles.

Summer Reading program has started and the boys are loving all the fun activities!!