School happenings

The end of the school year is in full swing and I'm only slightly going crazy. 
Tucker's class just had their "Rise & Shine" assembly and Tucker  and his class worked so hard. 
It was a really hard time for our school since our principal passed away the previous week. 
Tucker's class dedicated their performance to her and they did so great. 
They sang "We're all in this together" and many of the teachers and staff were crying.

They really did an amazing job. I'm proud of Tucker for being brave and doing so well on his speaking part and singing.  

The next week I got to have lunch with Benson and Tucker. 
Sometimes I'm at the school doing stuff for PTO and I just stick around for lunch times. 
Benson has the first lunch hour of the day and Tuck has the last so I work on PTO stuff in between. 
It's always fun to have lunch with the kids, even if I don't bring them any food, they are just happy to see me.

Last week I also got to go with Tucker on his last field trip. 

We went to the "Spanish Treasure Caves" and Tucker loved it. 

It was a pretty fun field trip and I really just enjoyed watching him in his element. 

The first activity was gem panning. Tucker loved it. 

Each kid got a bag of dirt and rocks and they got to rinse them in the little "stream" in the pans and keep all the gems and rocks they found. 

 

 

I love this picture of Tucker. 
The Spanish Treasure caves are called such because supposedly the Spanish were caught in a snowstorm was making their way through the area. They were carrying a large stash of treasure and they buried it here before being attacked and killed by the native people all those years ago. 

Tucker's favorite part was definitely the cave tour.

I was so glad I got to go with him. It was lots of fun and very educational. 

Each year the owners of the cave try to excavate more of the caves in hopes of finding the treasure. 

Tucker and Ivy are the cutest friends. 

Benson's class also had their Rise and Shine today. 
They are such a cute group of kindergartners and it was pretty cute to watch. 

Each of the kids had a speaking part and Benson performed his perfectly. I was so proud of him because he was very nervous about it. 

Tucker was also very proud of his little brother!

This boy is a kinder rockstar and I was so glad to get to be there to see his performance. 

Benson and his best friend, Wesley, are the cutest and they both did so good. 

Benson was also announced as student of the week again, so I went back to have lunch with him again. 

Lastly, we just attended band concerts for both Bailey and Tanner. 
Tanner's concert was first and it was so fun. Tanner got to play the trombone for part of it and it was so cute. He's just stated playing it and he loves it. He enjoyed playing for us. 

Then we had Bailey's concert. She plays clarinet and this was her first year in band. 
It's amazing how far they come in just one year. Bailey really has gotten so good on her clarinet. 
She loves band and she enjoyed her first concert. 

It looks like I'll have two kids in band next year, since both kids love it so much. 

That's it for now. Life is still crazy because it's May and that's how May is. But we are surviving and there is lots more fun ahead. 

Here's too the last few weeks of school! We are almost there!

Camping at Terra Rose

We just got home from a short camping trip to Terra Rose. This is our favorite place to camp and we had a great time. Even though we did get rained on, we still had fun. 

We spent quite a while on Friday night trying to get a fire started. It hadn't rained on Friday, but it seemed like everything was just humid. We had even brought dry wood from our house and we still couldn't get a fire lit. 
The kids were totally fine with cooking their hotdogs over the little camp stove. Chris and I, however, were sad to not get our delicious cast iron skillet dinner. We had to settle for hot dogs too. 

 

We had no problem setting up our tent and stuff and even though we stayed up late playing and talking, the kids were not tired. 
After getting ready for bed, we decided to go stargazing. This will be one of those core memories I remember forever. We spent a bit of time teaching the kids about the different constellations and they loved it. The sky was clear and the stars were bright. It was so fun. 
While this picture is a bit crazy with my shirtless boys and their tired eyes, I just love it. 

That night a huge thunderstorm rolled through and woke us up. We were up a lot during the night and the storm felt like it was right on top of us. The kids were ready to break out of the tent when the rain finally stopped and the sun came out. 
Chris and I stayed in our bed for a while trying to rest. but the kids were up and exploring bright and early. 

The kids wanted hot dogs for breakfast again and since we still couldn't get a fire going, we obliged. 

The kids thought having hot dogs for breakfast was the best thing ever. 

We also made hot cocoa and that helped to warm us up. It wasn't super chilly, but things were wet so we were a little cold. 

Then Dad drove us down to the pond in the back of the truck, since it was so muddy and wet. 
We wanted to go fishing and so we all hopped in. 

I just love this guy. 

We didn't catch anything but the boys had fun fishing anyways. 

 

 

The little boys wanted to go for a hike so I took them to hike around a little. 

 

After our fishing adventure that yielded no fish and our hike, we headed back to camp.

We played for a little while and then packed up our campsite to head home. 

It's always fun to go camping. I always kind of dread it beforehand, but once we get there we always have the best time. I'm grateful for a husband who pushes me to do things outside my comfort zone. 

Here's to another great camping trip and some great quality time with my sweet family. 

My Mother's Day

 This year for Mother's day, I decided to take matters into my own hands. 

Sometimes Mother's day is hard. I often set unrealistic expectations for the day and then I'm disappointed and frustrated. Well I decided this year I wasn't going to let that happen. 

I decided that I was going to make a concerted effort to spend one-on-one time each of the kids that made me a mom.  I felt like by making the decision to spend time with each of them, I wouldn't be frustrated when I didn't have any time to myself- which is what happens a lot. 

But I also just wanted to appreciate my little people and this turned out to be awesome and I think it will be a mother's day tradition from now on. 

I spent 30 minutes with each kid and it was so nice. 

Bailey wanted to spend her time with me on a walk with Clementine. So we took the dog for a walk and talked together. 

Tanner wanted to watch one episode of a show together, just him and I- so we did that. 

Tucker also wanted to watch a show together, but in my room and on my bed. (He loves my bed)

Benson decided he wanted to snuggle for his quality time with me. He's my little snuggle buddy and it was so cute. 

I had a wonderful Mother's day. Chris and the kids spoiled me, but I really enjoyed spending time with each of them. 

Happy Mother's day to all my favorite moms out there!

Chris' 44th Birthday!

 Happy birthday to our favorite guy ever!

We got to celebrate Dad today and the kids and I loved it. 

We had a delicious steak dinner and then we had cake. 

Then the kids brought out Dad's presents out so he could open them. 

It's not often we get to spoil Dad so this day is always especially fun. 

Chris is always working hard for us. He helps out a ton at home and then is very involved at church since he's in the bishopric. He's so busy and yet he always makes time to help others or serve in some way. He's the best and we all love him so much!

We are so glad he entered the world 44 years ago!