Every night, we check on the kids before bed. I swear my heart stands still for a few moments as I gaze at my sweet baby. He is such a love.
Birthday lunch for Becca and she needed some Tanner snuggles. Who doesn't?
With the Mesa temple closing for two years on May 19, I wanted to get our family down there one last time. Word is, the visitor center will be torn down and moved across the street. It was SO hard to find a time to get us all there and we only had about an hour, but it was such a good experience! There is so much to do in the visitor center. The kids did a scavenger hunt, there are endless "I am a Mormon" videos to watch, interactive temple games on computer screens and best of all... the God's Plan for His Family exhibit. You walk through a hallway, viewing different video clips of this family and events in their lives, back dropped by physical display cases. By the end, both Travis and I were in tears. It wasn't just pulling on heart strings, the Spirit was tangible. Unmistakable. It filled the room and surrounded our little family like a cocoon of warmth and sacredness. What a precious reminder of why we are here and how important families are. I wish people everywhere, of any religion could experience this exhibit.
We stayed as long as Tanner would let us, then Travis took the kids across the street to DQ for a cone, while I hurried Tanner to home to his bed. (We had met in separate cars after Trav was done with work.) If I had know that DQ was closing forever that weekend I would have made Tanner tough it out!!! Sadness!!! That place is ICONIC. How could they tear it down?! Shame on the church! Well, assuming the church is tearing it down.... I'm just guessing they are using that space for the new visitor center. Boo. Ice cream trumps the visitor center. I have memories of riding bikes to that DQ as a kid, with my dad. We stopped there to get treats after Merry Miss activities. It always provided sweet relief while waiting for the Easter Pageant. I'm feeling a little betrayed. Mesa is changing too much.
My little messy eater, enjoying big people food! This square of the kitchen floor is always the messiest!
My mom bought tickets to a Cinderella ballet at the Chandler Center for the Arts and invited us girls and Grandma Ann. We got Firebird Grill for dinner beforehand. Yummy lobster queso and fancy schmancy deviled egg appetizers! Shelley and I got diabetes from our fresh, strawberry lemonades!
Some girls from my parent's ward were starring in the ballet. It really was beautiful. And kind of funny thanks to the ugly step sisters. I think Olive would have loved it if it were a smidge shorter. Maybe next year! We finished the night at Creamistry. I'm OBSESSED with that place!!
Father's and Sons outing was a success!
Olive and I shared a Costa Vida salad that night after I put Tanner down to bed, and we ate on the couch while watching TV. I was SO happy. My sisters were Marco Poloing (video chatting) each other, so I taped Olive and I together and explained what we were doing and how much fun it was to be hanging out with my own, little girlfriend! After I said that, Olive jumped in, saying in a sassy, smug, sing song voice, "Girrrls night!", while sashaying her shoulders a bit. I DIED. It was soooo funny. I don't even know where she heard the term "girls night", but to hear her apply it appropriately and spontaneously, threw me into a fit of giggles. Oh, how I love that girl!
My dryer has been NOT DRYING for a loooong time. It's just gradually gotten worse and worse. It always takes two cycles to dry medium to large loads and three to dry towels. And yes, I clean the lint trap. Finally, one Sunday night, I was done. I looked up YouTube videos on how to fix dryers and went to work. I unscrewed a dozen screws and yanked off parts, vacuuming and cleaning the dust as I went. It took forever. I was covered in grime. And not sure if I would be able to put it back together. But guess what?!! I DID IT!! Boom. I was so proud of myself. And it worked! I didn't have to call a repair man, I didn't have to buy a new dryer. I didn't even have to ask Travis for help! A couple of hours and a lot of lint and dust and I fixed my dryer! It works like a charm now. I didn't even realize dryers could work so good. So basically, I'm awesome. ;)
Seeing these kids play together outside makes me so happy.
Don't worry, Collin is always complaining that Weston won't ever play with him. And Weston is crying that Collin is bullying him into playing something he doesn't want to. Or crying that he got hurt playing. Collin always wants to play baseball or kickball and Weston wants to dig in the sandbox or jump on the tramp. So Collin is always negotiating with him that he'll play in the sandbox for a while if he'll play baseball. Then Weston will only play baseball for two minutes and quit and Collin comes barging in, mad that Weston won't hold up his end of the bargain. There is SO much fighting. So yeah, when they actually play and have fun together, it's a welcome sight. And this spring there was LOTS of baseball going on in the backyard!
The gopher teeth are coming in! His left one came first, with the right one not far behind. All of our kids have had these super far apart front teeth. Luckily, as the rest come in, they move together normally.
Someone gave us this contraption which was pretty handy at baseball games.
There was a teacher strike the beginning of May that lasted almost two weeks. So one day we went to USA gym for a couple of hours. Tanner had a ball. He even fell into the foam pit. This kid is a dream. So happy all the time.
There are 7 little girls all Olive's age in our ward. Most of them live on the same street. We love having playdates with them!
Tanner's first, legit haircut! Sniff, sniff. This boy's luscious, brown locks are to be envied. I love doing his side part. He looks so handsome!
Daddy had a birthday, shout hooray! 35 years and handsome as ever. Instead of a physical gift, I surprised him with a weekend away. Well, one night in Scottsdale. It took a ridiculous amount of work to organize though. It almost didn't seem worth it. Our kids have wayyy too much going on. Aubrey came over to spend the night, but on Saturday Weston had an early morning baseball game, then Let's Play Music recital practice. Collin also had a baseball game and someone had a birthday party.. I forget who. Tanner still takes 2 naps, so I had to ask Paula and Marcus for help with getting the kids where they needed to be.
And then, there was a viewing that night that I felt like we needed to attend. Josie's uncle passed away that week and it was truly a miracle that she was able to come down. Judy Cotter had flown up to Utah to bathe her and get her packed so Brighton and her could come. Since this is mostly a private blog, I think it's OK to say that poor Josie looked.... well awful. She can't walk, she shakes, has trouble speaking and her skin was just not the right color. My heart broke, seeing her. But it was still SO good to see her and rejoice in the fact that she was THERE. Most people will never understand what that meant for her to be there.
Also, Josie's cousin, Spring, is in our ward, so I had been trying to help her all week and wanted to be there for her. Travis is, as ALWAYS, a wonderful human being and completely fine to be at a viewing on his birthday.
From there, we went to Rehab Burger Therapy for dinner, then on to our hotel. I had found a good deal for a room at the Omni in Scottsdale. $100 for the night and it was a sweet room! I wish we could have stayed more than one night. It felt so weird to turn on the TV and watch Jimmy Fallon at 11pm together on a Friday night, in bed. Someday I'm going to have a TV in our room. I know they say you shouldn't. But it still sounds appealing.
The next morning, we drove to a bakery nearby that makes cronuts. I've been craving one since Nashville! They totally didn't live up. Thumbs down. But the owner was there and he's this really old guy from Switzerland who was fun to talk to.
Relaxing by the pool. I really, really love this guy. I love spending time with him. I love talking to him. I feel like we're almost identical in how we think, perceive things, what we enjoy, how we want to raise our kids, etc.
He is a catch. Easy going. Consistently, constantly happy. He loves our family so much and would do anything for us. He's low maintenance, grateful, respectful and soooo unselfish. He really has no bad qualities. He is my BIGGEST and BEST blessing. If only all wives had such devoted, incredible husbands. This world would turn right around.
We needed to take a feet picture in front of the pool, you know. We tried to make it as beautiful as possible. ;)
We ordered nachos for lunch and then left around 3pm to make it to a movie. We saw the new Avengers movie. I normally would have no interest in something like that, but I wanted to see something I knew Travis would want to see. And you know what, it was pretty good! It was LONG. But I didn't get sleepy and with just a little help from Trav, I was able to follow along. What I didn't expect, was for it to be a cliffhanger! I guess there will be a part 2. So it ended with the bad guy winning. Stupid.
We had a little time to spare between the resort and the movie, so we stopped at TJMaxx and look what I found?! Lobster wrapping paper. So appropriate. :)
We ended the weekend with dinner at Sushi Brokers in downtown Gilbert. Yummm.
It was so cute to see the kids attack Travis when we got home. Collin had made a BIG banner saying "happy birthday" with a letter on each sheet of paper, taped to the top of the wall for us to see when we walked in.
And then I had to laugh the next morning when I tried to drive my car. Aubrey had the seat scooted as far forward and up as it could go. I literally couldn't even squeeze into it that way and had to move it back before I could get in.
Collin's card had us laughing. Travis always has them picking weeds on Saturdays so Collin found the bright side to having us gone.
It's so fun being in Primary with my kids! I get to hear them practice things like the Mother's Day song beforehand.
A round of applause for Dads!
I loved seeing this in the hallway one Sunday. This is our first child who has been in Dad's care during 2nd and 3rd hour while I do my calling. Of all our kids, Tanner is easily the most chill, so I'm glad Travis isn't dealing with a stinker, but it's still been a nice break for me. The six months before they go to nursery is always the hardest. Tanner makes it look easy.
I didn't pay for baseball pictures. The day they were taking them was crazy busy and I didn't have it in me. Plus, I'm tired of paying for all the bazillions of pictures of sports these kids are in. So, I decided I'd take my own. But then, I never got to taking Collin's. Oops. Mom fail.
Ooohhh it's HOT. Hotty hot hot. The last month of ball games (I swear this season was extra long. Or maybe it was just driving two boys to separate practices and games all year) was a sweaty one. Tanner was a trooper! The spray bottle helped.
I did get a few pictures of Collin pitching though! Oy, I hated it when he pitched! I care too much what other people think. I need to stop that. But it's awful to have so much riding on YOUR child! And he wasn't very good. I mean, he's learning! But it was still painful when he had walked 6 kids in a row. I had to leave and walk around. I'm proud of him for trying something new, though!
We love our playdates with Lindi! They always ask for a "picnic" for lunch and love to eat it outside.
Weston had his Let's Play Music recital. It was at ALA and his teacher combined with another teacher, making it a long and boring recital. We only got to see him play one, short song. Oh well. We made it through year two!
Olive FINALLY graduated from Porpoises! I almost didn't think it was going to happen. She got to ring the bell and earn her chocolate chip cookie. She has been going to swim lessons once a week for a year. I'm done. She can swim across the pool and be safe in the water. That's all I need to know.
His favorite toy right now is this shopping cart! He pushes it around the house, getting stuck somewhere and crying until I move it so he can continue walking. It's so cute to watch.
Awwww, more sleeping pictures. Those cheeks!
Using a spray bottle and rag to "clean". Because the walls outside definitely need it.
Little dare devil! It's not enough to ride on it, he has to stand on it and rock! He lights up and laughs like he's the trickiest little thing on the planet!
Preschool graduation! We will miss Mrs. Leavitt! She's the sweetest lady.
Posey and Olive spent two years in preschool together! I'm so sad they won't be going to the same school for Kindergarten. :(
I signed the boys up for dive team and it strangely started two weeks before school got out. Weston got first place at the first meet. He was shocked. I think we all were, haha. Such a cute kid!
For the past three years, we have met Karen and Olivia at Gold Medal for open gym on Fridays. Well, not every Friday, of course, but many of them! Often, we'd go to Chick-fil-a afterward for lunch. We loved this time with them. This was their LAST one. Cue another sniff, sniff.
Her friend from dance class, Logan, happened to be there that day! Her dad is actually Kayda's coach!
Ahhhh, Mother's Day. To be honest, I don't remember much about it. I got to sleep in though and that is always a welcome gift. I love the cards.
Travis printed these for the kids to fill out and we got a good laugh at Weston and Olive's response to "I love you more than ____". They put "dad". Lol. They didn't have any shame in doing so, either.
Marcie and I went to the 5:30am session with Dad on the last day it was open. I thought it would be madness, and it WAS crowded, but not insane. I heard a worker in the dressing room comment on the crowd saying, "this is what it always USED to be like on a Saturday!" It made me kind of sad to think that this temple used to be so busy, but isn't anymore. I guess that doesn't necessarily mean that people aren't going to the temple as much as they used to. Maybe it just shows how much the other temples are being used now. Or illustrates how Mesa has sort of emptied of big families in the exodus to Gilbert. At any rate, it was a nice morning together, followed by Bosa donuts. :)
The 3rd grade had a musical performance the last week of school. It was supposed to be several weeks ago, but was delayed due to the teacher strike. The theme was something to do with music around the world. I thought it was really well done! They had a large variety of songs, some with other languages; most kids got a chance to say a special part in the microphone, and they got to showcase their recorders too! My parents came to see him, which was really nice. Collin is such a puzzle. He is Mr. Show-off/ Performer until he's on a stage. Then he goes stone faced, bored and paralyzed. I kept giving him "looks" during the numbers when all the kids were doing hand actions and he wasn't, but he didn't notice. I asked him why he wasn't doing the motions later, and he claimed it was too crowded and he didn't have room. *eye roll* It's like he only wants to perform if it's on HIS terms or something. Whatever. It was still fun to watch him. We went to the new ice cream place, Handels, afterward.
I have so many pictures of Tanner doing this! My brother, Christopher, used to do this as a baby too. Double arm punch with fists. He reaches while he does it, straining until his face turns red, but always with a smile! Funny boy!
LaSt DaY oF ScHooL!
My mom came over so I could go help in Weston's class on the last day. I felt so guilty for not helping in their classes all year. I was in charge of the ice cream craft. How do teachers do it? (And that's coming from a teacher, haha!) I was exhausted afterward! Those kids! Some were fine, but some were cray cray.
I went to Collin's classroom afterward, but they didn't really need help by then. It was fun to watch the activities and hear his teacher tell the class how wonderful they were and how much they impressed her by looking after each other and being kind. She got all choked up and the kids just swarmed her, hugging her in a big, group pile-up. Made me get tears in my eyes! Collin absolutely LOVED Mrs. Hill. She has been his favorite teacher to date. She "got" him. Joked with him. And valued him. I'm so grateful for dedicated, loving teachers!
What did I say about my class clown.
Gonna make it rain with his class bucks.
I had the idea to attack the kids getting off the bus on the last day with water balloons. One mom from Weston's class heard me during the party and came with balloons to supplement with! We also brought water bottles to squirt at them. My mom was there and video taped and helped with Tanner during our water war. It was so fun! I think a new tradition was born! 
End of the year treat at Bahama Bucks! Posey came too!
Hooray for no more homework, crazy schedules and back packs constantly littering the entryway.
Buckle up for a perpetually dirty house, "hungry" and bored kids, wet swimsuits everywhere and no mommy alone time. That last one is a stinger.
After a Saturday of chores, we wanted to do something fun as a family. I thought we could use our POGO passes for bowling at Fat Cats, but they don't accept them on Saturdays. How convenient.
So we tried another place on Warner and Gilbert. It wasn't busy which was nice, but I balked at the end cost. $57! I think my eyes bugged out a bit. That was for ONE game. It took us about an hour to play. Sixty bucks for our family to play a game of bowling. That is ridiculous. And here I thought diapers were expensive.
Tanner was a happy helper, patting the ball and getting all the attention from other bowlers. 
Matchy matchy, in their red, white and blue Sunday attire!
When you're the youngest....
I was driving one day and happened to glance back to see Olive doing this with her arms... slightly swaying them back and forth. She was quite serious, looking down into her arms, her lips silently moving. I wasn't sure what she was doing, but I didn't want to break the reverie, so once we got home I asked her. Well, she was rocking her baby, of course! My heart. What a sweet, little mommy. It's the only thing she does with her friends too. They are always playing house, taking turns being the baby or the mommy. They take their "jobs" so seriously!
I thrive on structure, so summers are hard for me. Much to my children's dismay, I enforce a "Summer Rules Checklist". They have 20 min. of alone time, 10 min. of piano practice, 20 min. of reading, 2 chores, etc, etc. It should only take about 1 1/2hrs. to do, but they dilly dally and it usually takes twice that. When it's done, they can watch TV. And as added incentive, I told them they could earn points by doing their lists and when they got to 200 points (I estimated it would take them about a month) they could earn their first every Nintendo. (This was a big concession from me, because I never wanted a gaming system. I have a HUGE fear of my boys becoming "gamers". I sort of... ok, REALLY, despise this enormous waste of time.
ANYWAY, all of that to describe this scene here...
I walked in to find almost all of my kids quietly engrossed in a book! Angels started singing!! Yes, I realize it's because I force them to read, but it still made me want to leap for joy!
It needs to be mentioned that since April, we have been looking for houses. We officially got approved for a loan, found a realtor and have been seriously trying to find a house. And it's been stressful for me. I don't know if we should move closer to the practice in Mesa or stay in Gilbert. We would love a basement. We would love a pool. I do NOT want a second story. Been there, done that and I hate them. I have so much I could say, but the reason I brought it up is THIS particular day (see below picture) I had a breakdown of sorts. It was an awful day. I have spent a crazy amount of time on Zillow. I have gone through every scenerio in my mind. I want to be where God wants us to be, but WHERE DOES HE WANT US TO BE?!! And if He tells me, are my emotions going to get in the way? I didn't want to go to Gallup. (Understatement of the year.) And yet THAT was a good experience. So it makes me think that I can't trust my own intuition. And I feel like all the balls are in my court because Travis isn't very opinionated. The responsibility is heavy. I DON'T want to move again. I want this to be our "forever" house. So we have to take EVERYTHING into consideration. Plus, the pressure is on from our ward. They've been asking what our plans are since we moved in, and now that we are truly looking, we get questions constantly. One friend started crying after I told her about a house we had seen in Mesa that looked really promising. Ugh!! It's nice to be loved, but I hate disappointing people. That sounds so self-righteous, but you know what I mean. We have been looking all over Mesa and Gilbert, but it would be convenient to stay in this ward. It's just sort of become a pet peeve of mine when people get super clingy to their wards and refuse to move out of them. There are good wards everywhere. People just hate change and the unknown.
I'm getting off topic! Anyway, it had a been a crash and burn day and I was supposed to meet my siblings at RA for a "going-away/birthday" dinner for Jefferson. I didn't want to go. AT ALL. I was trying to think of a way to get out of it. I just wanted to mope in bed and feel sorry for myself. And that's not like me... I usually jump at the chance to see my family. But I felt too guilty bailing, so I scraped myself off the floor and drove down, trying to will myself to fake being happy. Marcie was there first and we started chatting. Being with Marcie is always a quick, pick-me-up. We sat down and slowly the rest of the gang joined in. We squeezed around a tiny table so we could hear each other and ordered enough sushi to feed Japan. Jefferson told us what he knew about this job in Alaska, I talked a little about the house frustrations, and everyone else chimed in with funny stories or the usual life drama. We squeezed into my mom's old suburban that Jefferson was borrowing and went across the parking lot to get ice cream and Creme de Chocolat. YUM. That dark chocolate sea salt. We talked some more outside, until our grown-up lives demanded we head home for bed. We wouldn't see Jefferson again until September, so we hugged it out and bade farewell. I drove home 100 degrees lighter. Sooo much weight lifted off me. I dare say I was even in a good mood. Completely worth it. I love my siblings something fierce. I know I'm not the coolest sister, but they keep me around and I'm so grateful we can all count on each other. Thanks, Mom and Dad for having a ginormous family. Wink wink.
Memorial Day!
We cleaned the house all morning then met my family at the Mesa Cemetery around 11:30am, starting with Grandpa's grave.
It was a hot one!
It's been almost a year since Tanner was born and Grandpa passed away. They missed each other by two days.
From there, we visited Grandmother's grave and her parent's graves. Then we went Austin's brother's grave and Abbey's mom's grave. Finally, we ended at Joshua's grave.
Then we headed to Matta's for lunch and ended the day with swimmingggg!!
Someone didn't appreciate falling in!
I looove these videos of my happy guy! His cheesy smile is my favorite thing in the history of EVERRR!!
We had a rough couple of months of bath time. Well, drying off after bath time. He would NOT lay still!! It was like WWF trying to pin him down and get a diaper on. He would screetch like a limb was coming off and we were both dripping sweat when the endeavor was over. Thank goodness he's over that!
His little noises and the way he plays in the tub is so fun to watch.
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