July = Fun with Hunsaker Cousins

We loved playing with cousins from the Hunsaker side during the month of July. Cousin Max was in town from Texas; Brynn, Heidi, and Paul were in town from Kansas. And Brooke's kids live in Alpine.

We all celebrated the Fourth of July together.

We met up with Max and Heather in Vernal to stay with the McClellans. It was our first time visiting Vernal, and we enjoyed seeing where Uncle Mitch grew up and getting to know Gary and Linda. The boys loved playing with Max and new toys. We also enjoyed visiting Dinosaur National Monument and hiking to local petroglyphs. What Kyle and I didn't enjoy was having Levi sleep horribly at night. Jason and Noah keep asking when we can go back on that "exact same vacation."

Jason, Noah and Max enjoyed having Grandpa Jesse do real eye exams with them. Aunt Karren was the technician helping Grandpa. After the eye exams, we all went to lunch at JCW's, and the three boys enjoyed wearing the new sun glasses they received at Grandpa's office.

We even got to have sleep-overs! Max and Heather slept at our house one night. Natalie and her kids slept at our house two nights.

Levi 15 Months

At 15 Months Old
Weight: 23 lbs (27th percentile)
Height: 29.82 in (14th percentile)

Levi is my CLIMBER. He is determined to get up onto things. He doesn't give up as easily as his older brothers did. He also is more interested in the toilet than the others were. He requires a lot of attention, and he loves to have a buddy to play with. I am grateful for nice weather because I can let him crawl around in our back yard and in the sand box.

He is not officially walking yet, but he is taking steps. He laughs and laughs when he practices walking. It is so dang cute.

Jason Turns 7

Jason and Austin at Jason's party

Jason is officially 7 years old, although I've been telling people he's seven for a while now. He just seems so grown up to me. For his birthday party, we did yet another Angry Bird themed party. If you've lost count, that makes this the third Angry Bird birthday party we've done with Jason. Kyle made these really cute Red and King Pig cupcakes. We had the kids meet at our house first for cupcakes and presents, then we drove them to the movie theater to watch The Angry Bird Movie. After the movie we dropped the kids off at their houses and handed them a party bag. We were very grateful to Grandma Linda for babysitting Levi for us, and to Grandma Diane for helping drive kids.

We held the party two days before Jason's actual birthday. On Jason's actual birthday, I wanted to still do something special, so I let him choose the activity. He chose to do a Lemonade stand since I had been refusing to do one with him. I did give in and let him do the Lemonade stand on his birthday. It was predictably hot, business was slow, and the kids went inside before an hour was up. But Jason was happy. For dinner he requested I make "noodles."

Dear Jason,

I love having you as my oldest child. You have such a great smile, and you are great at picking up your toys. You help us remember to do our family traditions, such as Family Home Evening and Telling of Days. You love to give hugs to Levi. Mostly you help me by playing with Noah. Noah adores you and wants to play with you all the time. You two play together all day long, but sometimes you tell me you need 30 minutes of playing alone time.

First grade is finished, and I am impressed with how good your math and reading skills have become. This is your first summer being able to read regular chapter books to yourself, and so I have checked out several books from the library for you to read. Additionally, you and I created a "Moms and Kids Summer Book Club" to help us get lots of reading in this summer. Your favorite book series is The Magic Tree House. We've listened to lots of those books in the car, and you like to read them at home too.

You love to spend your outdoor time playing with friends, swimming, riding bikes, and swinging. You love to spend your indoor time doing magic tricks, playing Angry birds, playing Pokemon, and playing games on the Kindle.

You hope to do more camping with dad. He took you camping in May at the Father's and Sons campout, and you loved it. You also want to do more swimming, more water balloon fights, and more trips to Disneyland.

Happy 7th Birthday!

love,

mom

Snapshots from June 2016

We love going to the Huntsman free day at This is the Place Heritage Park. The boys' favorite parts were riding trains and panning for gold. You really can spend all day there, but Levi and I were done after 3 hours.

My dad turned 65! I am so lucky to have such a wonderful dad. I bought him this apron as a funny gift.

Noah earned snow cones by practicing holding a pencil correctly. We'll be practicing that a lot more this summer. Noah asked me, "When I'm done doing charts this summer, can I go back to holding the pencil the wrong way?"

This tire swing used to hang at my Grandma Karren's house. Now it hangs at my mom's house.

Boating with Grandpa Jesse at Deer Creak.

Chicken Noodle Soup

Jason made up a joke that really made me laugh. He was eating a bowl of chicken noodle soup and said, "Why is it called 'Chicken Noodle Soup'?" Answer: "Because I only eat the chicken and the noodles!" That is so true for him! I cracked up over it. Now he likes to make up jokes after his initial success. But the other jokes need some work...

5/18/16

Jason told me this was the "best day ever."

We got McDonald's happy meals and ate them at the park before his baseball game. The happy meals came with Angry Bird toys. This was also his final baseball game of the season, so he got his trophy for participating. Grandma Linda came to watch the game and gave the boys an Angry Bird soap dispenser to put in their bathroom. I also let the boys play on the playground after the game was over. Best. Day. Ever.

Mother's Day 2016

Kyle always does a great job on Mother's Day. He lets me get out of the house to do some shopping without kids, and he takes care of food and dishes. But this year Jason also tried hard to make sure Mother's Day was special for me, so it was that much more awesome.

The celebrations actually began on Saturday. All I wanted was to go shopping for new clothes. Karren and my mom met up with me at the outlets, and we had a lot of fun together. Kyle was awesome and let me be gone as along as I wanted. While I was away, the boys did some Mother's Day shopping of their own. When I returned home around dinner time, Jason kept saying, "If you're excited for tomorrow, raise your hand." Everyone raised their hands.

Jason announced Saturday night that he needed to wake up before me to finish up some things, so could I sleep in? Yes sir! Poor Kyle got to get up with them at 6:30am. When I rolled out of bed at 8:00, I got clearance to come down the stairs and found these two Angry Birds waiting to great me. This was the early morning project Jason had wanted to finish:

Next, Jason told me that I had to earn my cards and presents by playing games. Jason, Noah, and I played games like "Go Fish," "Uno," and "duck, duck, goose." After I played one game, I got to select one item to open. Meanwhile, Kyle was in the kitchen preparing a delicious breakfast and keeping Levi entertained. I couldn't have planned a better start to Mother's Day: all play and no work.

Other notable happenings that day include talking with Blair (on his mission in Bolivia), and eating dinner at my parents' house. I definitely felt loved. And I love my boys back! So glad to be a mom.