Where's Dad?

Matt's schedule is a little crazy these days with Bishopric meetings and his new job/commute. The other day he ran upstairs to get his phone and Winston asked me "where's dad?" I didn't know if he had gone outside or upstairs so I said I didn't know. Winston said "oh, I think he went upstairs to get ready for a meeting at the church." Ahhhh, from the mouths of babes. Poor Matt looks so tired in this picture. I don't know where he finds the energy to get everything done and still find time to hang out with us. He's a good man.

If Matt leaves without giving Winston a "love" I have to deal with crying for the next half hour. Luckily, Matt is very good about giving everyone in the family (including me!) hugs and kisses before he goes anywhere. We're lucky to have him.

CLASSIC!

I was trying to get some weeding done and the kids were driving me crazy fighting and crying. Winston was playing with the hose and kept spraying Charlie. Hence the screaming and crying. I was looking around trying to think of something to keep them occupied for a little longer so I could finish when I glanced at the trampoline. How could I have let my kids go this long without putting the sprinkler under the trampoline? That's borderline abuse! (j/k) We did it and the kids (and Mom) were happy for the remainder of my weeding. This will definitely be a regular activity this summer!

Nickelcade Night

Caitlyn and Mark racing Winston and Matt.

Not sure who is having more fun, the Dads or the kids.

Brinn and Charlie on the Merry-Go-Round

Caitlyn and Winston on the Rocket Ride

C spent most of his time getting on and off the moving Merry-Go-Round. He fell off and got hurt a couple times but that doesn't stop our Charlie. (Lucky us!)

Family Night Fun and Learning

Matt and I have been wanting to find ways to improve our scripture study. So, a couple weeks ago, Matt asked our friends, the Woodwards, if they could give us a lesson for FHE on this topic. Scott Woodward is a Seminary Teacher, the YM President and a scriptorian to boot so we thought he would be well qualified to teach about this topic. Last week we had them and one other couple, the Vincents, over for Aebleskivers, Rice Krispie Treats and the lesson. It all went very well. As usual, the Aebleskivers were a big hit. After treats, we put on Junior's Giants for the kids inside and the adults went out on the patio for the lesson. The Woodwards did a great job taking a lot of their lesson from Elder Bednar's talk "A Reservoir of Living Water." If you are interested in learning some more effective ways to study the scriptures, check it out here. It was a fun night.

This week, for FHE, we decided to do something fun with the kids. We went with our friends, the Mays, to Nickelcade and then to Wendy's for Frostys. Yummy. The best thing about having kids is that you get to act like a kid again and do things like going to Nickelcade and getting excited about winning tickets for the chintzy prizes. I think the kids had a great time and the evening was a success when we had enough tickets to get the them suckers and a noisy whistle in the shape of lips. Good times were had by all.

A "FUN" day at the...

A friend in my ward has a daycare and invited me to bring my kids on their little field trip to the fire station. Winston had a pretty good time until the fireman turned on the siren for couple seconds and it scared the living daylights out of him. He wouldn't smile for the picture after that but, deep down, I think he really enjoyed himself.

Our Garden

We decided to try our hand at gardening this year. Our strawberries have already died but we are starting to see a lot of the other things sprout. We don't know if anything will survive but Winston has had a good time helping his Dad and it is good practice for next year. For now, we are just going over to our elderly neighbor's house and helping them eat all the good stuff out of their superb garden. They have been giving us some good gardening tips, so we'll see what happens.

We ran out of space in our garden so we planted our pumpkins along the back fence. Our back neighbors haven't put in their yard yet so we told them we will sneak one of the pumpkin blooms under the fence and they will have a pumpkin growing in their yard. Maybe it will make it less depressing until they get their grass in?? :)

Charlie's favorite place in the back yard is the swing set. He would stay in the swing all day long if we let him. Especially if we keep the Otter Pops coming. It comes in very handy when we are trying to get stuff done without him tearing it to pieces two seconds later. C can be a little (okay, a lot) naughty sometimes.

Later that night, we had some families over to roast

marshmallows for SMORES. Yummy.

Matt showing Winston the boy scout method to start the fire. :)

Matt and Nicole doing some roasting.

Me!

Winston's little pal Jordan had a good time eating the marshmallows.

The First Swim of Summer

Our friends, the Mays, invited us to go swimming in

Sandy at their family's pool. It was so nice to relax and let the kids

run around and play. The view was beautiful and the

weather was perfect. It was a great afternoon.

Matt and Mark had a good time taking turns throwing a small "Dora" swim tube while the other one tried to dive into it from the side of the pool or diving board.

It was entertaining for the rest of us to watch.

We met our friends, the Yardleys, at the Bean Museum for Family Night

They did a snake show and the girl let the kids pet one of the big snakes.

Winston and Gavin had a great time hanging

out and looking at all the animals
ROAR!!!

Our First Flowers!

Winston standing by the tulips we grew in front of our

house this Spring. They didn't last very long but

they were sure pretty.