Sand Hollow

The kids love swimming at Sand Hollow.  This time neither Ella or Kash wore a life jacket, they are swimming like crazy.  It makes me so nervous, especially with Evie around.  You just can't relax when you have 3 of your kids in the pool.  We had Ella's friend Megan with us too, so I was constantly keeping track of 4 heads.  Good thing Matt was there to help. They did great though, they are little fish.  

Here is Gina, coaxing Evie into the pool when we first got there.

Evie, Gina, Emily, Adam

Kash loved jumping over, sitting on, and punching the water that shot straight up.

Evie was nervous to go down the slide at first so Megan took her.

Emily practicing her floating skills.

Ella, Matt, Kash

She started going down by herself on her stomach.  She would laugh when she got to the bottom every time.  How can you not love those legs?

Megan, Ella, and Kash on the lily pads.

Adam, Kash, and Emily

Emily in mid-air, I think she missed the rope!

Every time Evie is about to jump she puts her arms all the way back.

 Matt took Evie down the slide and then threw her to Mike to catch.

 

 Kash went down all by himself.

 

 Laffy Taffy break

 

 For the last 45 minutes we were there I stayed with Evie while she played on the slide.  She was obsessed with it! It was the cutest thing because she was so happy and actually SMILING.  These pictures are priceless for us!

She found a little spot to stop and take a break, and then she was off again.

Ella the inventor

Ella is constantly making different contraptions, tying things together in intricate ways, being creative, and mostly just using her imagination.  This girl definitely has an imagination.  She can play in the backyard by herself perfectly content.  Kash is the opposite of this!  Maybe some of her imagination will rub off on Kash and he can share some of his computer skills with her.  She asked me to come outside and I found her with her latest project.  She made herself a rope swing.  She tied a sprinkler around her stomach and tied the opposite end in the tree.  Then she would jump off of the chair and swing and land on the ground. 

Our two puppies

Ella and Kash are constantly playing "kitties" or "puppies."  I am often told, "My name is not Ella! It's puppy." They crawl around and bark or meow and expect me to know what they want without talking.  One morning they came downstairs as puppies so naturally Matt gave them their cereal on the floor.  Thankfully Evie was still asleep or this would have been a disaster.

Moving on up

This is Kash on his last day of preschool.  He will be going to the 4 year old preschool class next year with his same teacher, Ms. Mickell.  He has done great this year and yes, he is the biggest kid in his class! I think he better get used to that:)

 He was excited to give his teacher her gift.  She has been so great and we are so glad he will have her again next year.

Kindergarten Graduation

Ella has graduated Kindergarten! I really cannot believe that we are going to have a first grader.  Kindergarten really just seems like preschool but first grade they are BIG.  They go to school all day, eat lunch there, they are big kids.  She has done great this year, I'm so glad we went ahead and put her in.  She had such an amazing teacher, she learned a lot, made friends, and really enjoyed it.  I hope that first grade isn't too big of a shock for her.  That is a long day for such a little girl! I'm so grateful that she is our oldest, she is such a great example to her younger siblings.  We love you Ella.

Ella and Megan are the best of friends! They play so well together and are really just the cutest.  We are so glad she lives right around the corner.

Here she is saying her part in the microphone.  "We sat with our friends and giggled and ate.  It was a great time to say the least!"

She sang all of the songs and was very animated.  We had people comment to us later how funny she was.  She went all out in the chicken dance, bobbing her head like crazy!

She loved her graduation picture and held it up every time we took her picture. I had no idea they were taking a picture that day and her hair was in a bun on top of her head with a big crooked bow. 

My sweet girl.

In front of her classroom.

We love Mrs. Sumens! I hope all of my kids will have her.

She got the VIP treatment: a piggy back ride from Dad all the way home.

Mallows

We love roasting marshmallows in our backyard. Ella and Kash are very particular about their marshmallows, they do not want ANY black spots.  I actually think they prefer them right out of the bag but they still like making their smores.  And they always know if they don't want to eat theirs, Mom will.

Lucky

Kash is always so good to play with Evie.  He will lay on the floor and let her attack him.  He puts on a show, making noises, playing dead, etc.  I always tell him to be careful because she is pretty tough! She is so lucky to have such a sweet big brother.

Swingin Fun

We went to Cody's block party where there were a bunch of rides for the kids.  We got there with only a few minutes left so the only pictures I got were of Ella and Kash on the swings.  

They didn't want to look into the sun to take a picture so Ella used her "sunglasses."

They held hands as they went around and around.

Next year we will be on time!

Gunlock

We went out to Gunlock with a bunch of friends to camp.  We didn't stay the night but we made delicious tin foil dinners and yummy smores.  We ate, hung out by the fire, the kids played down at the river and caught frogs, and we went home in time to sleep in our own beds.  My kind of camping:)  The only downfall was as it was getting dark we couldn't find Kash.  Matt somehow thought he heard him crying and went in that direction.  He had gotten lost a ways away and with it getting dark he was absolutely terrified.  I felt so bad for him, he told us how he was screaming for us and we didn't come.  I reminded him that if he is lost he should say a prayer.  He was still upset and exclaimed, "I can't see which way Jesus is pointing!!!"  

Ella is quite the climber and was the first to discover the best rocks to play on.

 Kash hammering in the stake for horseshoes. 

 Evie is obsessed with babies at the moment and spent most of the night smothering baby Ezra. 

 

 Matt was in charge of the fire and cooking the dinners.

Nate and Lola. Nate brought a banana cream pie from Veyo to share that was sooo good.

 This girl was completely covered in dirt.

 

 Maybe one of these weekends we will get brave and actually spend the night.  Maybe.