May=the abrupt slide into the paradise we call summer

Did I ever tell you about the cross country club we started in our local elementary school?  It's actually the second one I've started, based on one started by an amazing PE teacher in our Michigan elementary school.  (RIP, Dekeon)

Circa 2007, Adia & Sedona with Rick Dekeon

It's really low-key: the kids just run laps after warming up, and then get little plastic tokens for completing a lap card.  At the end of the year, we have a big race and give the kids popsicles.

I didn't expect a huge turnout since it was only our first year starting the club, but would you believe we had 150+ kids?  I can't wait to see how many kids we get next year!

The elementary kids also participated in the Marathon-In-A-Month in May.  They run the last couple miles together as a school.  Sedona kicked butt and was 1st girl, and 3rd overall.  Look past Derek handing me her inhaler and see the grin she's always wearing while she runs...

It was a hot day and the kids appreciated Dade squirting them with the water bottle.  Look at those red cheeks!

Ash mostly ambled along talking with her friends and enjoying the break from classwork.  :)

The end of the school year always means lots of exciting events, including the yearly PTA fundraiser: the Extravaganza.

 I still can't get over how deftly this little 4-year-old can climb a squishy inflatable wall...

The kids also got their faces painted, ate cotton candy, and daringly rode the (1mph) train.  Dade even had his hands in the air...

One of our beloved teachers was moving at the end of the school year, so we made sure to get a photo of him with Brynn.  Sedona had him as a teacher just two years before.

Dade graduated from his first year of preschool!  And I can't get over how cute their little caps were made from a styrofoam bowl and piece of construction paper.  Dade was happy to be sitting between his two best friends from preschool.  One is in kindergarten now, but the other was born just a few days apart from Dade and will start school with him next year.

Dade with his preschool teacher, Miss Julie, and her daughter.  We absolutely adored this cozy preschool--it was such a great introduction to the social and academic setting before starting BYU preschool.

To celebrate the end of the preschool year, they had a fun water party.  Dade cracked me up with his antics on the inflatable water slide.  He's a little crazy...

Sedona also had a graduation: from 6th grade (and elementary school).  She's the tiny, little girl in the back of the other kids.  It wasn't easy getting photos of her!

She won an award for academics: it was richly deserved as she studied hard to get the grades she was awarded.

The obligatory cousin photo: we just love living so close to our family!  These two were sad to leave elementary school, but excited to move up to junior high.

We had the chance to go see a bunch of well-known authors at the local library.  They were touring for the Spirit Animals book series.  The kids were super excited to go AND to stay up late...  :)

Even though it was a juvenile series (that I hadn't read), I was super excited to see the authors: Garth Nix, Brandon Mull, Maggie Stiefvater, and Sean Williams.  Some of my all time fave authors!  Our library must have some connections because they seem to get the big names without fail when they are touring.

May means the beginning of birthday season for us!  Brynn reached the double digits so we had a few small celebrations with family members.  (Big friend party to come the next month.)

We all devoured these yummy cupcakes that came in flavors like orange creme, and raspberry lemonade...

Brynn wanted the Anna & Elsa Polly Pocket (-like) dolls for her birthday.  They were not easy to procure!  I think everyone in the world is obsessed with Frozen.  I know my girls are...

...and they are all so into imaginative play too.  I remember my younger sister and I playing Barbies for hours and hours as kids, so it's no surprise to me that they are so into the Pollys.

Ash finished the art class she had been taking since January.  They had a small exhibition and we were all suitably impressed.

Ash has always had a creative streak, like her sisters, but we never realized just how talented she was until she started taking classes.

Of course, most days that creativity gets used up in Minecraft, but hey, beggars can't be choosers, and I'd rather have my kids playing Minecraft than shoot 'em up games.

These photos make me laugh.  We were trying to make dinner and discuss our plans for the evening and the whole while, these two were just crying and sad over silly things.

Nothing we did helped so I told them I was going to take a  picture of them crying and that made them cry even harder.  I see this as future blackmail when creating a wedding video...

Still have a weird, smelly dog hanging around the house.  He looks like he died when he's sleeping.

He's also still Dade's best bud.  If I could read Sol's mind in this pic, he would be saying, "Save me, please save me!"

Different picture, same caption.  At least Dade is smiling...

That's Dade's doggy stuffed under his harness and hanging on for dear life.  Sort of how Sol is hanging on for dear sanity...

Am I the only one that sees him as a Russian babushka?  Like in Fiddler On the Roof?

The caption on this pic would just be screaming, in dog language.  Please note, Dade took most of these pictures.

And a personal favorite: we take Sol over to visit his sister Zoe at Derek's sister's house, and what do they do but beg at the back door the entire time.  It's really pathetic.  But as soon as we let them in, they wrestle and fight like always.

May in central Utah is generally too cool for swimming, especially in the dry heat.  The kids inevitably play in the water for about 3 minutes and spend the next half hour in the sun trying to stop shivering.  It's rather sad...

Dade must not have gotten the memo that he's already had croup a zillion times this year and we ended up at the ER AGAIN!  He has a collection of hospital bracelets that rival his sisters' costume jewelry.

 At least we got to see gems like this when he was high on the Decadren.  Good stuff, that.

 We got rid of his small bike, tricycle and three-wheeled scooter and pulled out the big guns this spring.  He's cruising around like a maniac, but still in training wheels, so hopefully he won't die anytime soon.

 Nap time for the two sickies.  I love seeing my two guys snuggled up together so cute.

Sedona and some of the neighbor kids worked hard to draw this humongous flower on the driveway.  Took them an hour, give or take.  We'll see how long it lasts with the sprinklers and summer rain showers...

Derek got an early birthday present of a Fitbit.  He's been keeping track of his steps and calories and hoping to lose some weight.  When he sneaks a bit of dessert, I tell him his Fitbit is going to start shocking him like a cattle prod if he's not careful.

Found Adia a new bike.  We've had two stolen out of our garage in the past 3 years now.  It's disheartening that it would happen.  Hopefully we can hold onto this one a little longer.  Doesn't she look cute on a cruiser?

Look how amazing the grass is coming in in the back?  It makes my heart so happy to see the fruits of that hard work.  It also blows my mind how huge our yard is.  Seems bigger every year.  Or at least every week when I have to mow it.

We went to visit the grave sites of our two grandpa's in SLC over Memorial Day.  It was so nice to catch up with my grandma (who we took to the graveyard).  She showed us this amazing quilt that my cousin had made out of my grandpa's old flannel work shirts.

My grandpa had these same shirts year after year, and decade after decade, and they would get nearly threadbare, but he wouldn't let my grandma replace any of them.  Seeing this quilt revived so many memories of my grandpa putting around their house and their vacation trailer.

We also enjoyed seeing my grandpa's stone.  We brought a bunch of roses from my garden to add to the flowers already there.  It had just been put in a few days ago--lucky timing.

It was a hot, sunny day, but we enjoyed the benches scattered around the cemetery and found some shade.

After dropping my grandma off at home, we went to visit the cemetery Derek's grandpa was buried in.  That was special for Derek who hadn't been there since his passing 4 years ago.

We added more flowers to it and to the other family members we found there.  Good thing my grandma suggested we take a bunch of roses from her yard along with all the roses we brought from home.

I love Mother's Day.  I've loved it since Adia was born, and especially since my kids have been old enough to go up and sing with the Primary kids on Sunday.  I think I only stopped crying when they sang about 4 years ago.  Sad I know.  But my kids and family are my focus in life and I love the sweet gifts they come up with each year.

I told Dade that there is a rule that you have to give your mom a kiss on Mother's Day.  He didn't believe me.  I told him that they made me promise to give him lots of kisses before I became a mom or they wouldn't let me be a mom.  Thankfully, he's fallen for it.  So far.

 Ash put me on the cover of People magazine.  Isn't the resemblance between the two of us amazing?

Brynn gave me a plant in a pot she decorated.  I think the plant is already dead.  (I have a black thumb.)  But I bet I can find another victim to put in it...

Adia & Sedona saved up their money and found me this amazing avocado cuber at Williams Sonoma.  It was so thoughtful--Adia knows how much I adore avocados and what a pain they are to cut up.  I have the best kids and I love watching them get older and making good choices.