A Whole School Year: Part 3

Living the Life

A schmorgasbord of events in no particular order

 

When you've got everyone together, it's time for a family picture.

Best cousins!

After taking school pictures, it's time to go to the park.

Wait, let's take a few more!

We already did this.

I can't remember how, but someone got him to smile.

Craig ran the Cedar City Half with a good buddy.

Bedtime fort.
The next day we addressed some safety concerns.

Yummy peaches from our tree.

Goodbye peach tree.
It fought hard for the last few years, but it's time to let it go.

Don't know what he's doing here.
Crazy boy.

Yummy!

Every time we passed this sign we would say in a dark voice, "Crow for murder."
Not sure exactly why, but there's no going back.

It's always good to get a chance to visit old friends.

A youth project cleaning up the roadside in Colorado City
in preparation for the new chapel dedication.

That's a cheesy grilled cheese.

Love this picture.

These kiddos love their Dad.

Finally time to finish the fireplace by putting up the mantel.

Goodbye other tree.
We keep losing trees.
The tree guy says they are just aging out.

Caleb, at seven years old, finally is on a printed photo in our house.
Good job us!

Jayden makes a good pillow.

Doing some tractor work at the field.

Can't you go faster Dad?

Teaching Carter how to drive.

Nice and easy.
Good job!

Jayden's turn.

Carter caught a lizard.
Jayden is unsure about it.

Should I touch it?
It looks pokey.

Grape eating is more fun together.

Caleb is finally old enough to get to jump off the balcony.
Carter is talking him through it.

Here I go!

Wow!  That was awesome!

Jayden playing some ukulele in the late afternoon sun.
Caleb laying calmly, enjoying it.

Craig called and asked if he should pick up some dinner on the way home from work.
Too late, I'm already awesome!

Love to see these kids all play together.

Sometimes you need a break from school and you ride to the park with your friends.

Superheroes.

Our Lantana was blooming beautifully in the fall.  
The butterflies loved it.
Then it died.  We'll have to try again.

Jayden babysitting a neighbors baby.

Watch out!  Dragon!

Caleb wanted a picture of this butterfly he found.
(Just a decorative butterfly)

For Dia de Los Muertos we got Mexican food.
Yum!

Just some sidewalk math.

This kid comes out wearing some interesting getups.

Sometimes it's nice to pretend the power is out,

Then we can tell scary stories!

I think this picture might have been because he switched over to his booster seat.
Not sure though.

Jayden, just mowing the lawn in her high-heeled boots.

JJ still loves collecting roses for the neighbors.

We got to see the aurora borealis this year.

This teddy bear makes a very good sleep mask.

Carter still with all his stuffies.

Swimming with some old friends.

It's nice when friends travel through on their way to California for a vacation.

Silly faces.

More silly faces.

Playing tag one evening.
Caleb won.

Time to wrestle Daddy.

What a cool kid.

Just some brothers hanging out.

Doing the family puzzle.

It has turned from a simple picture of an old house
to complete and utter chaos.

We got a tiny asparagus growing in the middle of winter.
You're supposed to be sleeping!

Not sure what they are all looking at.
But it's pretty exciting.

Always building stuff.

Just trying to get a picture at a friend's wedding.

Come on Caleb.
Peek out a little more.

Ok, now you give me this?

Mornings with Dad are the best!

Instead of bringing the chairs back into the kitchen,
they improvised.

When the big kids wanted to watch Stranger Things,
Caleb didn't want to be all by himself.
So he set up the ipad and headphones so he could be with us without having to watch the scary show.

Carter trying to play Phasmophobia on his VR.
His hands were stuck up in the air and he couldn't move from that spot.
His guy looked like a ballerina.
We did not catch any ghosts.

But he might have evidence of a ghost appearance in his room!

He wrote up a whole report and everything.

Driving in traffic is no fun.

And behind door number 1....

The deck of the Titanic!

Mom and Dad got to visit a Titanic Exhibit.
It was a really fun date!

Brr.  Icebergs are cold.

More building things.

Found Jayden sleeping one night like this.
She had her nightlight remote in her hand.
Too cute to not snag a picture.

Caleb loves playing video games with Mom.

It's Sn.....

It's Sno.....

It's Snowing!!!!

Look at my snowflake!

Matching boys.

Carter killed an entire village of people.
He is still distraught.

Jayden was asked to think about some solutions for how to get her emotions under control.
Here are her three solutions.

Grammy came to help us finish this 2,000 piece puzzle.

We found a perfect day for kite flying with a homemade kite.

It's going so high!

Craig built a carport cover for the field.

With some clever ingenuity, he got it up by himself.
(Paige was there, but mostly as the designated 911 caller) 

Carter tried on one of Grandpa's suits from when he was on his mission.
Craig wore it all through his teen years, so he thought Carter must be close to fitting it.
Nope.

Doing a dance in his dino jammies.

While trying to put Caleb to bed he asked if he could lay on the porch and look at the stars.
"Just for a little while."
It seemed like a cute idea so we said yes.

It was hard to get a good picture of them because they
kept pointing at things and their arms would get in the way.

Finally got a good one.

Celene made a face while she was talking and it looked just like this guy!

We helped Grammy rearrange furniture.
Now time to watch a movie.

Jayden wanted to try cutting hair and
Caleb was brave enough to be her guinea pig.

A giant grape!

These girls like going to SNAP with Grammy.
Today was a magic show!

Hey mister, I found your bunny and your bird.

Yeah we're cool.

Caught these boys cuddling outside.

Cute!

Just a boy, a walkie-talkie and some flowers.

For Mother's and Daughter's we made cinnamon rolls.
Jayden decided to supplement hers with some candy.

Dad's favorite.

Sick again.

Solving all the puzzles at once.

Hey!

Another fort.  He's been sleeping with this one up for a few weeks now.

Caleb's getting a little braver in the water.
Look at him float!

These kids spend a lot of time on the trampoline.

Hey batter batter, swing!

Caleb taught Mom how to make these cool rainbows.

Jayden finished up activity days this year.

This activity was a fashion show combined with the young women.

This fashionable girl is ready for young women's!

With Jayden moving out of activity days, Caleb got to start!

Do you like activity days, buddy?
"Oh yeah, totally."

These boys do a lot of hiking.

And a lot of outdoor games.
This one is a swedish game called Kubb.

Taking Grandpa's truck out for a last drive.

Goodbye old truck.
Craig had a hard time letting it go,
but he's glad it went to a home where it will be fixed up and taken care of.

Carter trying out Dad's truck.

Easy peasy.
Not long until he'll be actually able to drive it somewhere besides the driveway.

Taking a picture with our Kia just in case we decided to
trade it in when we bought our new car.

Realizing we don't actually have a picture of our new car yet.
But we do have this one of the kids playing with the sunroof.
Cool!

Grammy took us to Classic for some fun.

Apparently when you are here, tidying and organizing is fun.
Maybe we need to move their bedrooms here.

They liked this simulator ride.

Need to recharge all that spent energy with pizza at Sam's Club.

Our friends came in town for our annual Vacation Races get together.

Posing in front of this gnarly tree.

Looking noble.
Or maybe ponderous?  Confused?

Cute boy.

Caleb was glad to have a friend his age join us on our hike.

Some of us stopped the hike here.
A few brave souls hiked a little further before heading back.
Pretty cool area though.

These guys kept us all safe on our hike.
A superhero and a wizard.

It's the morning of the race.
18 miles this time.

Lining up to start.
See you on the other side pal!

Craig did it!
He did so well, although his feet and legs would disagree.

Chatting helps the recovery process.

Another race down.
Where to go next?

Carter is the best at sending people off.

Grammy times mean a lot of fun.
And now that cousins live nearby, it means extra fun with cousins.

We keep racing but we tie every time!

This boy still loves cars.

Water is always a blast.

This year we got to say goodbye to Grams.
We will miss visiting her, but we
are glad she gets to be with Grandpa Jack again.

Helping Grams fill up her jellybean machine one last time.

The coolest kids table.

Craig walked right out of the soles of his shoes.
Again.

Mom has enjoyed going to the temple with the young women this year.

And also going with some good friends.

While Caleb was at Grammy time,
we got to take Jayden to the temple to do baptisms for the first time.

We are so proud of these kiddos.

Time for the Rush.
Go carts!

I'm coming for you!

Grumpy brushing up on his pool skills.

Craig showing off a little :)

You can do it!  Just a little bit further!

Lost a tooth!

And another!

After 3 months, mom really wanted to see both front teeth out before the first permanent one grew in.  So she convinced Caleb to start wiggling his other one.
It finally came out!

Life is good when you get to see these guys grow and change and become.
It's a wild ride, and it'll be over too soon, but we are happy to be on it.