Jaxon Starts Kindergarten

I was more excited than sad when Jaxon started kindergarten, but that doesn't mean my voice didn't crack a little when I hugged him goodbye in the school yard. I'm still human. But I know that kindergarten will be great for Jaxon. He just loves school.

He's already made friends (some of whom he speaks in Spanish) and loves his teacher. This going to school everyday is kind of a new experience for us, so we'll have to see how this year turns out!

Jaxon Turns Six

Jaxon is now six years old! I can't believe how fast this kid is growing. Some things about Jaxon at this age: He still loves all things mechanical and electrical. He absolutely needs to know how things work or it drives him up the wall. He's a wonderful big brother, I love watching him interact with Violet and even Ginger. He loves to play outside and explore, and he loves playing with other kids.

We celebrated by having his very first friend birthday party. He chose to have it at Lowes Xtreme Air Sports, which is basically a big place full of trampolines, foam pits and obstacle courses. He went there for another friend's birthday party back in January and loved it so much he wanted to have his own birthday party there.

Everyone had a blast, especially Jaxon. Feliz Cumpleanos Jaxon!

The Second Half of an AMAZING Summer

It's sad to think the end of summer is just about here. Jaxon starts kindergarten tomorrow (*sniff *sniff)! But I'm so happy to say we had an amazing, well spent, memory making summer (making up for last summer when I was pregnant and didn't want to do anything fun). So in addition to camping, and a mission homecoming, here's how we spent the second half of our amazing summer:

Travis organized our stake's Pioneer Day breakfast. This year they even had pioneer games set up all around the field. It was a blast, everyone had so much fun.

That evening we went to Mamie's and Papa's for smores and fireworks with cousins.

 What a bunch of cuties.

 

Lunch up the canyon with more cousins. So excited that Brady and JaNae and their kids have moved back to Utah!

We worked on our summer goals.

Pen control- I was impressed!

 Summer naps.

Free lunch for kids at the elementary...

Riding bikes

Guess they weren't ready to wake up after all?

Gotta love the skin tone differences

This summer Travis was called as Stake Executive Secretary. We will miss him! ;)

I usually do Violet's hair in front of Mormon Tabernacle Choir on Sundays. This particular day Jaxon insisted I do the same to him. :)

Violet was kind of attacked by some wasps near some sunflowers we had planted in our garden box. Two stings in the arm, one on the cheek and one on the nose. She got lots of cuddles that day! Mama bear went and tore out every single one of those no-good flowers...

More time at the builders exhibit at the library (BIG hit of the summer).

We had our annual raspberry picking (they had strawberries this year, too!), this time we went with JaNae and her kids.

Went to play some arcade games at Provo Beach Resort with friends, followed by splash pad and ice cream cones (this was one of the final days of summer, so we kind of splurged).

And today, our last day of summer vacation, we stayed home, relaxed, and had another fine summer picnic (we've had many this summer).

Jaxon insisted it was his turn behind the camera

What can I say, it was a fantastic summer. I'm a little sad to see Jaxon go off to school, but I'm excited to see how kindergarten goes and we look forward to the fall adventures we'll soon have. :)

Welcome Home Elder Talbot!

My little brother got back from his mission a couple weeks ago and we went to the airport to welcome him back. We were so excited to see him! We had all these fun signs and everything.

But my favorite sign was "Wait till you see what we did to your room!" (it's now the grandkids' play room!)

There were some tears shed when we finally saw him coming down those escalators and running to hug my mom (my brothers are definitely mama boys ;)).

Jaxon tries to "cheer up" Mamie

 

It was such a fun, thrilling, spiritual experience for us. It was so fun to all be together again. :) We love you Brigham, welcome home!

Panguitch Lake

My family decided (somewhat spontaneously) to have a mini-reunion down in Panguitch this weekend. We were only able to stay for an overnighter because Travis was in charge of a stake activity Saturday morning, but we're so glad that we went for what we did. We decided to make it a quick camping trip. The weather was cool and there were so many trees to give us plenty of shade.

Travis's hammock was a big hit with the kids.

Even the littlest of us had so much fun! (This baby camping chair has been a great investment, we've already used it several times this summer.)

It started to rain after dinner so we quickly covered up everything and headed into our tent for a good game of uno. We're so glad Jasmine and Nate joined us for a couple hours that evening, the kids love playing with them. Once the rain stopped we cooked smores and Jasmine and Nate took the kids exploring around the area.

The next morning we made cinnamon rolls on a stick for breakfast. It started out a little shaky, but Travis really got the hang of it after a couple of my failed attempts. They were actually very delicious. I will leave it to him from now on. :)

After breakfast we packed up and went down to the lake to go kayaking. Although I visited Panguitch very frequently as a kid (there will always be a special place in my heart for Panguitch), I've never actually been to the lake! We had a great time. The water was cold, so not ideal for swimming, but luckily the temperature doesn't matter much when you have kayaks! ;) I unfortunately didn't get any pictures of us at the lake, but we had a great time (even though Jaxon lost a sandal somewhere in the lake bottom). We'll have to come back soon!

First Half of an AMAZING Summer

I can't believe the summer is more than half-way over! We've been trying to soak it up. I could make a bunch of smaller posts from this, but this is just how I'd like to remember everything from this summer (aside from what's already been posted). Here are some things we've been doing:

Jaxon loves going to his Lego Club at the library. Yes, those are all doors and windows. Very abstract! ;)

Matching summer "nighties".

Jaxon's taking swimming lessons again this summer and has made such great progress. We love his teacher.

Free slurpees at 7-11. Practically the only time we ever get slurpees. They were ecstatic.

The library has a special "construction" exhibit going on this summer. The kids love it, even Ginger. We've gone a few times.

Walking the mall with cousins. Happened to stop by the Disney store and Violet and Laykin got very distracted with the princess dresses.

We love the splash pad and Provo Farmer's Market.

Jaxon has gotten REALLY into the hymns this summer. He'd always want to listen to them on my phone, so I finally recorded them onto blank cassettes with Travis' old tape recorder. Jaxon already loved the tape recorder, so hymns on it was just a double treat. At the Fourth of July barbecue, my sister suddenly announced to everyone, "Hey, did anybody else notice Jaxon is singing 'Israel Israel God is Calling'?" What a funny kid.

Not an uncommon sight in our house.

Bowling at BYU with Mamie and cousins.

We said goodbye to Yuridia at her mission farewell. She was our favorite sitter (and my former YW and primary pianist! I'm back to using my phone. :(  ). The kids adored her. We'll really miss her.

Violet has taken an interest in the violin. It's weird, I think I've only explained it once to her a while ago and now she keeps mimicking it with everything from sticks to Cheetos (now THAT was hilarious). We'll see if she's still interested in a couple years.

And Ginger's just as cute as ever.

 

Here's to the second half of summer!