Oh Dallin.

I asked Dallin to clean his room and this is how he handled it. :) Threw it all in Ashlyn's bed.

Good morning Birthday Boy! Dallin turned 4 today.
We did a birthday breakfast with cinnamon rolls while Nate was home. He was working during the movie and kiddie party in the afternoon.

 He quickly woke up when he was handed some gifts. Turns out Dallin is a hoarder. At his party he would hyperventilate if anyone touched one of his presents. He put them all in a bag and carried them around. I didn't get my camera out too much. Oh well, Dallin was a pretty unpleasant birthday boy anyway. That song "It's My Party and I'll Cry if I Want to" was made for Dallin.

Hiking

We went hiking on some Jacksonville trails with my brother's family this past weekend.

Perfect day for a hike.

Some how Drew misplaced his diaper. We thought he had one on until he got thrown up on Paul's shoulders and we see some butt cleavage. Paul's pants wouldn't stay up either, so Paula helped him out ever few minutes since his arms were busy holding drew up.

We saw lots of cool bugs.

The kids got tired, as you can see.

Enjoying the view at the top of the hill.

Ashlyn got to sit in the stroller the whole time. This picture on the left is her shy face. If she is uncomfortable when someone looks at her or talks to her, she will pretend to sleep. She will peak, and if she is still being looked at she will close her eyes again. It is a cute little game she plays with her aunt Paula.

Here is Ashlyn peaking to see if Paula is still looking at her. She does this adorable thing with her mouth. It is her trying not to smile.

Dallin was obsessed with the maps. Stopped at all of them and pointed at where he thought we were.

Chawna's family pictures

Here are a couple of pictures of Chawna and her kids. There were lots, so you can see more here.

It is June!

I love June! Maybe because it is a big birthday month for my family. And it feels like summer.

My cousin Michelle is in town visiting from Illinois, and I got to take her and her kids' pictures. They are so cute! I took Chawna's and her kids' pictures too, but I am still editing those. So here are Michelle's.

Jase (I don't know how to spell their names)

 Maile

 Maysa

 Michelle. Look at these eyes! Gorgeous.

 

Unfortunately, Michelle's husband couldn't make it this trip.

Girls have more fun!

Bravery

Don't these glasses suit Dallin? Actually, maybe not, aren't they cop-like glasses? Dallin is much to sweet to be a cop.

 Dallin has always loved swings. Usually spends most of his playground time on a swing.

 This is a cool merry-go-round type structure. "Look Mom! No hands!" 

Dallin tries so hard to be brave. He had a non brave moment when he climbed up a climbing wall and didn't know how to get down. He was crying til I discovered him. (Probably less than a minute).  He felt betrayed because I walked off for a minute and he got stuck. Broke my heart. He said "Mom, I wasn't brave on that wall. That was scary." He took off his sun glasses and wipes away his tears and says, "Can you help me on that thing [monkey bars] after I wipe the water from my eyes from when I cried because you didn't come and I was scared?"

 Tanner stayed on the merry-go-round the whole time. I thought for sure he would throw up. We had just been at a birthday party with all the junky food: chips, hot dogs, soda, cake. He was surprisingly ok.

I can't wait [actually I can] to see how my boys look as grown up men. I just think they are such handsome little guys right now.

Showing off

Tanner is working on spinning a basket ball on his finger. Knowing him, he will keep practicing til he's mastered it.

 Dallin wanted to be Superman even though the costume is way too small. This one below is when he fit it when he was like 18 months. :)  He couldn't let go of the Woody costume either. This was a couple years ago. Silly kid.

Tanner showing Dallin how to look like Superman. And Ashlyn just being cute.

 My new favorite picture of Dallin. It is hard to capture his true smile, but I got it. I love it! He is such a sweety.

Summer days

Feels like summer anyway. We are loving the nice warm weather.

If you are wondering what is on Dallin's face, they are scabs. He fell out of the car and onto his face while trying to get out.

 Drew & Joel

 School will be out in a month. Wonder what we will do this summer.

In other news. We made an offer on a house this weekend. We should hear soon if they accept. It is a beautiful new house and we really hope we get it.

Something else that has been consuming my time, or at least my thoughts, is my grandpa. Well, all my grandparents really. I'm not sure this is the place to write my thoughts about it, but I'll be brief. My grandpa Marshall had surgery a couple weeks ago to remove cancer on his thyroid. It was pretty major surgery; they ended up breaking open his sternum to remove it. He was in the hospital for weeks in recovery. Turns out the cancer is pretty aggressive and had spread and continues to. The doctors give him about three months to live. I have all four of my grandparents still living. I haven't lost someone this close before. And even though I know God's plan, it is still hard. Hard to see him in pain and confined to a chair. I remember him walking for exercise, faithfully. And writing novels. And working with wood. He even lost his thumb from sawing a piece of wood. That is how I remember him. That is how I left him when I went away to college. It is hard to come back over 10 years later to see him this way. We visited him yesterday and he couldn't get up and give the boys a ride like he usually does, so he had me do it so he could see their faces. We sure love him.

This is the boys about this time last year with grandpa.

Whistling, and singing

Check out Dallin's whistle.

 

And Ashlyn learning "Popcorn Popping".

Graduation!

I have been looking forward to this post for years! Nate graduated this past weekend with his Doctorate of Physical Therapy. He already passed his license exam, so he is officially a physical therapist. And, yes, he has a job. He will start work as soon as his transcript makes it to the licensure board and they make it all legal. To say we are excited is an understatement.

 We made it back to Idaho for the graduation with the help of many family members and friends. Matt and Mickie took the boys for the weekend. Paula hooked us up with discount plane tickets. Sharla and Jeremie let us stay with them in Idaho and watched Ashlyn for us. Steve and Melissa helped us get a discounted rental car. We really appreciate it! Really, really.

He was hooded twice for some reason. Once at a dinner we went to the night before, and then again at the ceremony. 

It was a wonderful and exhausting weekend.

Family picture

My sister Tracie took some more pictures of our family this weekend. We are a tough crowd. Ashlyn wouldn't smile. Stinker!

 The wild flowers are coming out at my parents' house. Tanner managed to pick one of the few that were planted intentionally. Sorry grandma. Last year they picked her irises.

Ashlyn is getting so big and naughty. She has learned the word "mine". I was telling Nate I don't think Tanner learned it until he was 3 just because he didn't have older siblings saying it. I've had to put all our writing utensils up high because she colors on everything.

She has gone to nursery a couple times and doesn't love it. She will though. I actually miss having her with me in class. She is a fun distraction sometime. People actually have introduced themselves to me a second time because they don't recognize me without her on my lap. I mean multiple people. So weird.

Oh yeah, my older brother Kevin got married this weekend. He and Kassie got married in Vegas, sort of a planned elopement. :) My parents went and my brother's family, as well as some of Kassie's family. They actually had the wedding Skyped so we could watch it. We went up to my parents house and my sister Tracie make a mini wedding cake for all of us who didn't go to the wedding. I am so happy to have another sister-in-law. She is really sweet

Feeding the deer

There is a friendly deer out at my parents' house. It lets you pet it and feed it. Pretty weird.
The kids thought it was cool. Don't worry, we sanitized very well after this.

Kids & Me

My sister Tracie did me a huge favor and came and took pictures of me and the kids.
It was quite the task trying to get them all to cooperate. These were the couple of the probably 75 she took that worked out. Tracie is such a good sport.