Dallin advances to Boy Scouts

Dallin earned his Webelos rank and achieved his Arrow of Light in April. He was very excited to be finished with Cub Scouts and move on to Boy Scouts. 

 Getting ready to cross over from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts

 Dallin is pinning me with the parent pin. He and I had a nice time working on his Cub Scout rankings.

 We are very pleased with his efforts and look forward to helping him work towards his goal to become an Eagle Scout.

Surprise Friday #2

So, I was lame, and forgot the camera for our second Surprise Friday of the summer!!! Ryan and I took the boys to see Cars 2 on opening day!!! It was so good and we even were able to get a free Cars puzzle with each ticket stub!!!



We all really enjoyed the movie and Hudson did just fine! Carson and Dallin both thought it was AWESOME!!!

Surprise Friday #1

For our first Surprise Friday, I surprised the boys with a trip to a local "kid's" art studio called Art Beast. It is geared towards kids from 0-7 years of age (Dallin still had a good time) and has lots of fun, hands-on things the boys could do and make! 

 There was even a replica space shuttle (drats, I didn't get pictures of the outside of the shuttle)

 Another use for #10 cans!!!

The canvas' that the boys painted were Father's Day gifts for Ryan (will post that soon)!

Almost Beethoven

Well, maybe not yet, but these boys sure are playing well! They started piano lessons in April and had their first Piano recital on June 12th! I know they were both nervous about getting up in front of everyone to play, but they did great!!!

 Carson played "Old MacDonald" 

Dallin played "I Hope They Call Me On A Mission" 

 It was nice to have Gramps, Grandma Robin, and Uncle Loren there to support the boys! 

 They survived!

 The boys with their piano teacher, Sister Heather Clark

Dallin is now a 4th Grader

Dallin had an amazing 3rd grade year and it is due in large part to the influence of an amazing teacher! She new just how to encourage and motivate Dallin to do his best! We have seen him become a confident reader, leader in the class, a whiz at multiplication and division, enjoyed art and music classes, and who could forget his love for P.E. Congrats Dallin on such a remarkable year!!!

Yippee!!! 

 Dallin and Ms. Jewell

The boys counting down the last minute of 3rd Grade!

Congrats Dallin, we are so proud of your accomplishments this year!

Mary Poppins

This past Thursday evening (June 2), I surprised the boys with a date night to see the Broadway musical, Mary Poppins that is currently playing at the Sacramento Community Theater. Even though I had to pull some serious teeth with the oldest to get him to dress up (he thought we were going to another play at the local high school and couldn't understand why I asked him to dress in something more than shorts and  t-shirt), the night ended with smiles all around!

I seriously LOVE this musical! Ryan and I saw it on Broadway in New York a few years back and when I saw it was coming to town I knew I wanted to take the boys to it! They enjoyed the songs and even asked if they could buy Mary Poppin's umbrella so that they could fly! Funny boys!!! They have also been singing many of the songs! I love it!!!

Happy Date Night to you,

Halloween Fun

Halloween Fun…

We had a fun Halloween celebration! The boys enjoyed parties at their school. As if they didn't have enough treats - we continued the festivities the next evening at our stake center where we enjoyed the annual Trunk or Treat bash!

We were rock stars this year and I will be the first to admit, I just didn’t have it in me to come up with some clever costumes. We do have fun dressing up as a family and this year was no exception (even if the costumes were not so original). 

The boys felt like rock stars so that is all that matters!!! 

Peanut #3's shirt says "Cry Loud, Rock Hard"

The older boys thought Hud-Nut looked funny in the mullet wig. 

Since Halloween fell on a Sunday this year, we didn't go Trick or Treating but we had a great time with a few other families and really enjoyed our Spooky Feast!!! Thanks for the invite (you know who you are ;-)

We filled up on a snake calazone, bloody rats (meatloaf), a puken' pumpkin, newt eyes (deviled eggs), witches fingers, bleeding hearts (red jello cut out in heart shapes - not pictured) and some yummy spider web seven layer dip. We also had delicious desserts (I was too busy eating them to get a picture of them). 

After dinner and some time to visit we had fun watching the kiddos have race of eating donuts off a string.

 There was no cheating going on here - wink, wink!

The older kids did a good job!!! Big D did win - although he may have used his arm for assistance a time or two.

Each couple raced too (except for my hubby and me - I was seriously gagging watching the others do it, dang gag reflex). 

And so that my hubby wouldn't feel left out the men raced him too.

We had a blast and are already looking forward to next year's festivities. But for now we will prepare ourselves for Thanksgiving and Christmas!  

Happy Fun Making to you,