Mr. Graduate

It's official.  Mason is a preschool graduate.  As we watched his preschool graduation program I had so many memories from the last two years running through my mind.  It is fun to see how far he has come.  As Mrs. Young hands out the diplomas, she shares what each child wants to be when they grow up.  This year Mason said he wants to be an Ocean Explorer, which is definitely true.  The thought of Mason not returning to Mrs. Young's classroom next year is sad to me, but he is ready and excited for kindergarten. Way to go Mr. Graduate. We are so proud of you, Mason.

 Saying thank you feels so inadequate for the amount of gratitude I have for Mrs. Young.  I don't know how I would have said goodbye to her if I didn't know Brynn would be taking Mason's place and joing Mrs. Young's class this fall.

Mason and his preschool buddies Cy Berge and Sam Adams. Unfortunately we weren't able to get Brandon Johnson in the picture.  These boys have all been great friends for Mason. He always looked forward to going to preschool and playing with his friends. 

                                                                                                    The Fam

Watch out preschool.  Here she comes!!

Sneak Swim

My bestie, Stacie, is one of those amazing friends who always seems to show up exactly when you need them the most.  With that being said, her invitation to sneak into Scera Pool (with permission, of course) a couple days before it was open to the public couldn't have come at a better time for me.  I despirately needed some quality time surrounded by my kiddos and friends and that is just what I got.  Taking three kids to the pool was a breeze when there were only 11 of us there. Miles enjoyed splashing in the water with Josie briefly, but then zonked out for his nap in the shade while the rest of us enjoyed going down the slide. Brynn was fearless and was the first down the slide on her own.  Mason couldn't let  his little sis show him up so he gathered up all his courage and went down on his own, too.  It was all too perfect. Just thinking about it puts a smile on my face.

                                 Brynn, Sunnie, Stacie, Josie, Rachel, Miles, and Mason.  Oh how I wish we could live
                                                 closer to these guys.  Brynn and Sunnie would be besties for sure!

            Rachel, Sarah, and Stacie with the babes Miles, Blake, and Josie (Thanks for cropping out the legs Lissy:)

This was all thanks to our awesome friend Lissy, who thought she was being sneaky playing photographer for us so she wouldn't be in any of the pictures, but I got her.  Thanks everyone.

P.S. Stacie, does the title ring a bell?   Sneak Sleep?  Ahhh the memories.

Summer Errands

When the weather is beautiful the last thing I want to do is get in the car and run errands. I prefer to use alternative transportation and turn it into a fun outing.  We used to just throw the kids in the bike trailer to go anywhere within a couple miles, but with three kiddos that doesn't work anymore.  So today when we needed to run to the bank we had to get a little more creative.  Now that Miles can sit on his own we were able to put him in the wagon for the first time.  Mason wanted to ride his bike and Scott opted to ride a razor so he could keep up with him.  It worked out perfectly.

 All the excitement proved to be too much for Miles and Brynn.  I laughed harder than a mom probably should as I watched them both fight a losing battle to stay awake on our way home.

   I wish summer would just last forever.

Mason and Scott went on their first Father and Sons campout last weekend.  Mason was so excited for his first real camping trip in the mountains and it seems to have lived up to his expectations. Like any five year old boy he loved throwing rocks in the river, roasting marshmallows on the fire, burning sticks in the fire, and running around with his latern. But all of that was topped when the owners of the campground came around and informed everyone that a bear had come down through the campground the past few nights.  Mason listened to everything "the two hikers" (the campground owners) said about the 6 bears that live up that Canyon. They said a black bear had been coming down to some bee hives that were kept a little further south on the property.  From that point on Mason talked about nothing other than the bear, and from what Scott tells me he had a lot to ask and say about it. As a sidenote, Scott's biggest...and I mean biggest phobia is Bears. He probably should have thought twice about going to a place called Bear Canyon.  Being the amazing dad he is, he fought his inner desire to pack up and leave, or at least sleep in the car, and spent the night in the tent with Mason. Mason couldn't sleep because he was so excited about the bear and Scott couldn't sleep because he was running through scenarios of being attacked in his head.  They made it through the night without any bear encounters. The next morning they were told the bear had come down, but stayed about 100 yards south of the campground. Mason has since been enthralled with American Black Bears (he informs me that is the kind of bear it was).  Unfortunately the camera was left home and no pictures were taken, but I know Mason's memories of this great adventure will last a long time. 

April Happenings

I'm sitting here looking at my May calendar wondering where the month of April went, not to mention March.  The days are flying by way too fast! April was a fun filled month for our family and I don't want to forget any of it.  So brace yourself for a ridulously overpacked post of our April happenings.

Amazing Spring Weather 

We have had beautiful Utah spring weather dreams are made of.  I am happy to say we haven't been wasting a single ray of that sunshine, and have been spending every moment we can outside.

I will never grow tired of watching these two best friends.

Such a happy boy

These two imaginative kids turned this cooler into their own GUP faster than I could walk to the fridge and back.

Our neighbor found a black widow in his backyard and caught it for Mason. YAY (said in Rachel's most sarcastic voice)

Love Love Loving our Playset

Scott's weapon of choice against the wasps this year is a fly swatter... hum, I'm not so sure about this.

Christopher Jeffrey Spaulding

we had another darling nephew born April 3 at 12:14pm

8 lbs 1 oz and 20 inches long

It looks like Mason might finally have another dark haired cousin on the Murray side.

Congrats Becky and Jeff...but why did you have to move so far away?

Easter

We had a really low key Easter, trying to keep our focus on the Savior.  But we did enjoy coloring some Easter Eggs.

These are Mason and Brynn's respective concentration faces.

Pooky and Papa's 80th Birthdays Celebration

My Grandma and Grandpa Allred both turned 80 this year.  We had a HUGE birthday/Easter party with all of our Allred family.  Leave it to my mom and her sisters to create our own private Chuck E Cheese with games, tickets, and awesome prizes. It was such a fun way to celebrate my amazing grandparents.

We can never pass up an opportunity to get a current family picture for my parent's wall. 

The Zoo

We had a great Hale Cousin outing to the zoo.  I was in the midst of a week long bout of Laringitis that left me with no audible voice for 4 whole days.  I don't recommend taking your children to a place like the zoo with no voice unless you have a mom and 2 SILs to be your voice in herding the kids. Thanks Mom, Kacie, and Whit.

Mason was super excited they had posion dart frog for him to ride on.

No surprise that the crocs were his favorite animal.

Brynn insisted on wearing her puppy backpack leash all day after my SIL returned it to us. What a funny girl she is.

She reports that her favorite animal was the peacock her and Grandma saw without the rest of us.  I think that her favorite part really was running around with her cute cousins.

Miles was happy as can be for the 15 minutes he was awake and then slept in his stroller like a dream child the rest of the time.

Trip to Zion

We were able to escape down to Zions for some fun with the Murrays. The weather was a little unpredictable switching from warm and sunny to snow overnight, but we were still able to get in everything we wanted to.  We did the riverwalk hike in Zions, Scott got in two rounds of golf and a morning of mountain biking with Steve, I got a week off of work and precious time with my kiddos, Mason and Brynn got lots of cousin time (p.s. we just call all Scott's younger adopted brothers and sisters cousins to simplify), and we finally got to meet little Miss Isla in person.  We got caught in a blizard on our way home and miraculously didn't get in an accident as Semis jack-knifed in front of us and cars piled up all around us. I honestly thought we were going to die.

Steve, Jenna, and Baby Isla hidden away in the baby carrier.

Isla and Miles spent lots of time bonding over tummy time and watching the Phillies and Jazz with their Daddies.

It's never too cold for a quick dip in the hot tub.



We celebrated Lyndee's 6th birthday with an awesome Troll birthday party.



Grandpa Mike and Grandma Linda's New House



Scott's parents moved to Woodland Hills and our kids absolutely love their new "house on the mountain".  We have spent some really fun nights visiting them.

Brynn loves running around with Karissa and Keyana. For some reason she has a hard time remembering their names so she always refers to them as "my friends".  I love that she doesn't even go up to their shoulders. Please ignore Brynn's outfit she insisted on wearing.

Mason thinks the video game room is the coolest.  The big kids are so kind and patient with Mason as he learns how to play their games.  His favorite is Mario on Nintendo 64.

S

TayLynn is always happy to take care of Miles for us.

Sunday Afternoons at Grandma Nancy's

These are just the things we had pictures of, but as you can see it was a wonderful month!!