4th of July

This is us in our van watching the fireworks.  We drive just a little down the road where we have a great view but are also really close to home so we can get to bed quick! We had a great 4th.  We went to a ward breakfast in the morning, Daddy made chili and corn bread in the afternoon, went to the park where there were jump houses and crafts, and then watched fireworks at night.  It was a great day! We are so blessed to have this great nation to live in and to have so many freedoms.

Benson in his new swim shirt! Benson is always excited to have something new to wear, this is him with some goggles on as well.
Also over the 4th of July weekend we got a piano. I have wanted a piano for a long time but Michael and I had decided that moving one around would be difficult so we would wait to get one until we were settled.  We aren't exactly settled but I decided it was time anyways and found a cheap one off of craigslist. Our home feels so much more complete with a piano!
 I love having music going often around the house. Someone is always jumping on the piano to play a song or write a song.  Alden and Calvin are big into writing songs lately and are often playing us there new songs they have written. It feels nice to be playing on a real piano again!

3 months old and first swim!

We have been to the swimming pool a number of times but I haven't put Evan in because the water has been cold and I worried about the huge temperature change from the heat to the cold pool.  But the other day he went in for his first swim and seemed to be quite content with the whole thing.

Evan is our super smiley boy.  He has some of the best and biggest grins.  He makes me smile and laugh often, so grateful for this sweet little boy. He is now 3 months and growing well.  He is tall like Calvin was.  As far as I can remember I would say that Evan is our biggest talker, he loves to sit and talk to us and will respond any time I ask him something. He is also very observant. In this way he is like Alden was as a baby, he notices if I change my hair or if I put on a hat, or anything like that.  You will see him stare at whatever has changed and will even smile if he thinks it is funny at least so it seems.  My sunglasses are one that he will often smile at and seems to say, "Mommy those are silly why do you have those on." The one way in which he is like Benson is that he is a good little snuggler. We sure love this sweet little boy! What a blessing he has been in our home.

End of Utah trip

 Dinner with both sets of grandparents, doesn't get much better than that! It sure was fun to sit and visit with our parents on my side and on Michael's side.

 We had a couple of rainy days while we were there. The boys loved being able to play in the rain and loved the puddles that the rain left for even longer play!

 Sunday after church we took a couple pictures to send Daddy of all of the boys dressed up so nice.

Fun to get one with my Dad. I'm so grateful for him in many ways. Although my Dad hates traveling and has a great fear of flying he took off work to drive home with me and then flew straight back home once we made it to Arizona so he could get back to work. I loved being able to sit and talk to him, hear stories from him growing up and to delve into his wealth of knowledge. I feel so blessed to have him my Dad.

 Sunday boys

This is Benson in nursery.  He was the only nursery child so he got all of the toys to himself and got to have his Mom as his teacher! :)  We stayed and played the first hour but during the second hour we decided to go join the other boys in primary. (I had tried to do music time with Benson but he wasn't a fan of doing music time one on one with his mom.) It worked out perfect because we got there just in time to join junior primary music time and then did the lesson with them that was very interactive and perfect for even little Benson. I was impressed at all the time and effort that had gone into sharing time for such a small group.  By three boys made up about half of the primary.

On the way home we stopped by our St. George cousins.  It was fun to spend some time with them and let the boys play for a while.  And of course we had to get another picture of these two cute babies!

Thanksgiving point!

Our museum pass got was great for Thanksgiving point, it got us into all 4 museums/ gardens for free! Normally each one has it's own rate.  We weren't up to seeing everything in one day but got to the dinosaur museum and the farm country next time we will try to see the gardens and the creativity museum.
The boys loved digging in the dirt at the dinosaur museum!

I think after going to this is the place state park and watching all of the boys ride the horses, Benson was convinced that it was safe to ride them.  He was a little scared but he did great! He talked about this to anyone that would talk to him for weeks after saying how he rode a horse.  It has now been close to a month and sometimes when he talks to Daddy on the phone he will still mention how he rode a horse! I was glad to have my Dad with us for this trip.  He took care of Evan while I helped Benson on the horse, he also made sure the boys got some fun snacks during our big museum day!