Jackson is 5!

For Mother's Day all I wanted to do was go on a family hike so we went and hiked to the Grotto in Payson.

I'm so glad Brandon was with us and I didn't try to do this on my own with the kids because the river was quite full and we totally had to walk through it to get there. The path was much harder than in the past.

It was a fun experience though and I'm glad we did it!

We had a dinner with the Salmon's and then after that just our little family headed to Nelson's Grove Park. The pond was empty which was super disappointing but we had a great time playing catch and hanging out.

Two days after Mother's Day, Jackson had his birthday and turned 5!!! He got a J pancake and the number 5.

Got a new backpack for school, which he didn't end up liking ha ha, so we took it and switched it out for a Minecraft one. He will go to all day Kindergarten this fall and I can hardly wait! I'm so excited to see him learn and grow.

He wanted this sniper nerf gun sooooo bad that we saw at Ross one day. So I sneakily bought it for him without him knowing.

Went to the park.

He requested Del Taco for dinner, mostly for the playground ha ha.

Brownies are his favorite! So that's what he had for dessert.

That evening we were able to go out to the golf course and put around. Such a perfect spring day.

And then he requested a movie in Mom and Dad's room. 

Hanging out with Caleb and Luke the next day for play group. 

Loving his new sniper gun. Of course he only used it for about a week and now we never see him using it. Oh well. Such is life.

Mckinley has become a big reader. Oh, I just love her so much. It's so weird that we only have 4 years left with her till she is all grown up!

Ava's MRI was a huge deal and oh I'm so glad it's over. And so glad to know she doesn't have Perthes.

She had to be put to sleep for it. She was sick with a cough and started choking when she was under. It was pretty scary. They had to suction out her mouth.

But we made it through!

And then she totally went and played in her last soccer game that evening.

Her soccer coach was intense this year, which gave us a lot of good laughs. It was such a fun season though.

Here's a picture of Tyler with his team. He sat on the bench for the last game. Not the best ending to the season but we're still grateful we got away from Patrick and saw so much development with Tyler.

A few days after his birthday, Jackson got to have a party with all of his play group friends.

They had a great time! The bubble blaster he got from Liam Hack was the big hit.

 

Mckinley's 14th birthday, Hope of America

Tyler got to hike to Battlecreek Falls with the Deacons for mutual one night. He always loves when Nixon comes to activities. They are great friends. At least back in May they were. He hasn't played with him much this summer.

Jackson and Luke are still best of friends.

Brandon wanted to drive up by the Provo Temple to check out the demolition and I'm so glad we did. It was so cool to see! We went back 2 weeks later and it was all rubble.

Ava's leg x-ray at the specialist. This helped us rule out Osgood - Schlatter Disease. Where the growth plate just under your knee can cause pain. Her pain isn't from that.

Mckinley turned 14! She is so grown up and just so wonderful. She was hoping to have her bottom braces off before her birthday but it didn't happen. She got all her braces off back in September or something but she had to get the lowers put back on because her teeth moved. 

She got a bunch of clothes for her birthday as always, ha ha.

She requested that we go to Texas Roadhouse for dinner.

Mckinley asked me one day if she could make some stir fry ramen that she made in her cooking class at school. It was so fun watching her cook all on her own. She is growing up so much!

Random cute picture of Jackson.

Tyler and Kallie performed in the Hope of America program. They weren't looking forward to it all that much but ended up having an amazing time!! Merrick, Tyler, Blake.

Weslie, Kallie, Maddie, Sienna. Kallie has the cutest group of friends!

I love this program so much!

Ava had a soccer game right before it so Brandon and Ava met us there.

Kallie and her friends got some good time on the big screen!

So so fun! Tyler, Nixon, Merrick.

Sienna, Kallie, Maddie, Weslie, Addie.

My parents went, mostly to watch Kristen and her kids who performed in it with home school, and we just happened to walk right by them outside as we were leaving.

Brandon does not share my enthusiasm for the Hope of America but I couldn't love it more! I can't wait till it's Ava's turn!

A few days after Mckinley's birthday she got to go to Labyrnth with all these friends! They had a blast!!

We got her a Costco cake and it was delicious!

Love love watching Tyler play soccer but he had a pretty discouraging season, mostly sitting the bench on Steve's team. He wants to quit soccer now but we are making him give it one more year.

Kallie got to go have a fun hang out at Sienna's cousins house while they were out of town.