Four is fabulous!

Zachary turned four the first part of July! We had a fun birthday party with most of our family (sadly, Ryan's mom & dad missed the first birthday party ever - they moved to Washington just a few days before). Here are some fun pics of our little guy.

He received lots of fun gifts. Transformers, superheros, books and clothes. Thanks everyone!

I think he is starting to lose patience with the lady behind the camera. He looks kind of put out here. I kept asking him to hold up each gift so I could take a picture. Sorry Zach!

He specifically requested chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting. He must get that from me.

Make a wish Zach!

This must have been after the cake and ice cream. He has a kind of sugar induced crazy look about him. We love this kid. He brings so much happiness into our home. He has an amazing sense of humor and finds joy in everything. We love you Zach! Happy Birthday!

And then there were two...

Today was Rece's first day of school. Summer went by way too fast and now I have a second grader. Crazy! The house is a lot quieter, which may explain why I am able to already post this (instead of months later). Zach was pretty sad that he couldn't go too, so we had to have yet another talk about how he gets to start next week. Seems like such a long way away for him, but not for me. I'm going to be so sad to have him gone too! Here are a few pics from this morning.

This is right after I woke him up with my wonderful rendition of the "good morning" song, sung as only I can do it. I'm not sure if he is trying to smile or still scowling at me.

This is before we left. Yes, I walked with him. Yes, I am having a hard time letting go.

We had to get a picture of the new backpack. He insisted on picking it out this year. I'm not a big fan of character items, so apparently my choice last year wasn't his idea of fun.

He went with Bakagun (not sure of the spelling?), he is pretty proud of it.

My friend Jamie came over and we walked over together joined by my neighbor, Sue.

Rece stopped long enough to pose for one more picture. Then he said goodbye and turned and walked into school with his friends. I didn't even get a hug this year. They really do grow up fast.

Where are the bears?

In July we went with my family to Yellowstone. We hadn't been there since Rece was Megyn's age and we went with Ryan's family. We saw a few animals: bison, elk, a fox, and an eagle. No bears. That was kind of a disappointment. I don't think I have ever seen a bear in all the times I have been there. We had told the boys that we might get to see one, so they were constantly on the look out.

I can't remember what this area was called. I want to say "paint pots". I'm not sure if that is right, but it seems like we always stops here. The kids liked walking around on the boardwalk.

My guys.

This was after we had been there awhile. We had walked, walked, and walked. I think this picture says a thousand words. It makes me laugh. I love summer, and the fun little quick getaways.

Lil' Phillies

Just another one of my "catch-up" posts. Rece played his third year of t-ball and loved (almost) every minute of it . It seemed like the season went by really fast this year. It's so much fun to see how their skills progress year to year.

Just happy to be here!

Nice action shot.

Team picture.

I can't believe next year I will have two playing. Zach is so excited that he gets to start playing sports next year. Rece has played t-ball, soccer, and basketball but has had no desire for football. Zach, on the other hand wants to do it all. He even told us he wants to play golf, which made Ryan really happy.

7 Years Old!

At the end of May, we celebrated Rece's 7th birthday! Happy Birthday Rece! We had a family party first. Everyone really spoiled him. Thanks to everyone who was able to come!

The cake picture wasn't the best. Just for the record, Rece isn't picking his nose. He didn't want me to post this picture, but I promised I would make it a point to clarify this. It was a really cute ice cream Spiderman cake. It was so windy outside, that Ryan had to light the candles inside and we sang to him really fast before the candles blew out. I hope he got a wish in there somewhere! Rece is a fantastic kid with amazing qualities and we are so blessed that he is a part of our family!

This is from the friend party. I had planned it as an outdoor party, but I'm sure everyone remembers June. It rained. And rained. So I hosted it indoors. Ryan says next year we are going to take them all to the movies. Yes, things got a little wild. I thought for sure I would have a little boy shaped hole in one of my walls. What is it with boys and wrestling?

This cake I made. Rece always requests chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. At least he got to blow out these candles without any help from the Idaho wind.

We love you Rece!

First

This is the first in my series of catch up posts. I feel like this happened ages ago, but here are pics from the last few days of first grade for Rece.

The other pictures I took were just not good enough. You couldn't even see his face, so this is after the performance. The first graders sang the alphabet backwards, did the numbers rap BABY!, sang a song about America and my personal favorite...recited Sick by Shel Silverstein. They did awesome.

As we were leaving I just couldn't resist snapping this picture. Even from behind they are so cute!

We also went to the school carnival. I didn't get any pictures while we were there because I was busy helping out at one of the jump houses, but I think Ryan and the kids had a great time. As you can see Rece had his face painted. Just darlin'. First grade was a great experience for Rece. He had an outstanding teacher that he really liked, he made lots of friends, learned to read very well, and had fun mentoring in the autism class. As for me, I really enjoyed going to his class each week to read with the kids. I wasn't able to help out in his kindergarten class, and it was so great to get to know each of the kids in his class. I can't believe this guy is going to be a second grader!

Lessons learned and time on my hands

Our plans this weekend were to go on the ward campout. But I came along and messed everything up. I had been having some pain in my hip for quite some time, and at first I blamed the mattress I've been sleeping on. But as time went by it didn't go away as I expected it would.
I don't like going to the doctor so I have been putting it off and putting it off, but Thursday morning my body said "NO MORE!!!!". I woke up in agony. I could barely walk and the slightest movements brought tears to my eyes. So I went to the doctor. Diagnosis: Tendonitis.
He gave me a prescription and told me I needed to "rest". If it doesn't get better I will have to have physical therapy because I let it go for so long. So I am trying to be good, which isn't that hard since I am still in a considerable amount of pain. Moral of the story: Go to the doctor BEFORE things get really bad. I guess some things have to be learned the hard way.

In an effort to make things up to our boys, who were really looking forward to the campout, we let them sleep out on the tramp last night. They were super excited! Ryan slept out there with them too, and they all made it through the night (I was a little worried about Ryan). Good job guys!

Happy Campers!

Can you see how excited Rece is! This smile scares me a little. I think Zach is already asleep here.

" Just take the picture already Mom!"

There is that scary smile again. Still so cute. Good night guys! Don't let the bed bugs bite! I mean that literally.

Okay, so since I do have some time on my hands I will be posting some "catch up" events since school ended in May. Yes, I am embarrassed to say it has been that long. So to those of you (Jill!) who have complained that they are "bored" when they pull up my blog because I haven't posted anything for so long...stay tuned.