Last Half of May

Richie's friend is putting on open-mic nights in Bluffdale, so Richie had gone and played the last few times. The last time, I got to go watch him, which was super fun. I married such a talented guy. :)


When one of your Grandpa's is a rocket scientist, they can't pass up buying a giant water pressure rocket at Costco, and setting it off on Sunday after dinner. :) Lucky grandkids!


Another Spring night, another kickball culdesac party :)


When we moved into the house, the backyard grass was quite lacking, due to the enormous amount of shade provided by the 6 huge trees out back. Over the years, 4 of the trees have died and every time we got a windstorm, we were terrified they'd fall on our house or the neighbor's. And after so many years of free-ranging the rabbits back there, the backyard was looking quite shabby. But it's crazy expensive to have trees chopped down, did you know that? We would have done it ourselves, but the trees are so close to homes, we were nervous our inexperience would cause a major accident. So this year, we finally got 4 huge trees chopped down, and we re-sodded the back yard. It is looking so great out there! We were so thankful to our family for helping us out with this huge project.


Grandma and Grandpa Crosby pop in for a quick visit while they were up here for a Hinckley siblings meeting! We'll take any chance we have to see them, so my Mom can snuggle Davy and my Dad can play the "drop the dollar" game with the kids. Always a highlight!



This kid...He gives me a run for my money every day. If my memory serves me correctly, he's my most challenging kid at this stage. It feels like it's been that way for a while now. :) He's plenty adorable..but I can't trust him alone for very long, unless I want a giant mess to clean up later.


Some yummy garden produce! The radishes have been amazing this year, and we have had so many greens growing that I had plenty of spinach to make lots and lots of pesto with! YUM!


Miles has been invited to a lot of birthday parties etc lately, much to his delight and the frustration of his little sisters. I'm so glad Miles has good friends in his life!



Lindy snapped this photo of me. I wasn't aware she was taking pictures and was surprised to find it on my phone later, along with about a billion other kid selfies and videos. I almost deleted it, but I'm glad I didn't. It's an accurate representation of me right now, imperfections and all. I'm tired, but I'm trying.


We finished our school year!!! We all breathed a sigh of relief when we finished all of our required math and language arts! Whew!


I turned 33! For one reason or another I was moody all morning. Even with so many kind friends and family reaching out to tell me Happy Birthday or bring a little treat! I'm so blessed with good people in my life! I was working on changing my attitude, when I went to pick up a rain water barrel we had ordered in SLC, and a lady there asked me if I was pregnant. Ugh. That will never get easier to take. Luckily, Grandma and Grandpa Garner offered to babysit that night so that Richie and I could go to the temple! It saved the day! When we came out there was a beautiful rainbow outside! I took a picture of it, and then Richie reluctantly said, "Ok, let's get this over with. I know you want to." And he agreed to take a selfie with me. :) haha!!



We got to have Paris here for the weekend before we dropped him off at EFY. My kids were in heaven!!! And he was such a good sport. We took advantage of a break in the raining to check out the fairies at Gardner Village. :) Always a hit.



Memorial Day! We always love going to the Bluffdale Cemetery and visiting Mathhew and Karl and Helen, and participating in their ceremony there.


To end our history study this year, Makenna and I decided to take the kids to the State Capitol building. They have a Vietnam memorial there we thought would be fitting to see. Too bad it was under construction! But we did happen upon an exhibit about the transcontinental railroad, which fit right in with what we studied this year. I don't think the kids made that connection though. The coolest part to them was riding the elevators with glass doors so you could see the floors as you went up or down! My favorite part, by far, was the fact that there were tons of Chinese tourists there. One lady mimed to me, asking to take a picture of us. I said yes, and pretty soon about 15 other Chinese people were swarming our kids and taking their pictures! We stood there for a solid 15 minutes while they held up Lindy's blonde braids, and picked Brendan up. It. was. hilarious. I was crying from laughter!



Just some random, fun kid moments; plus a poem Gwen wrote at activity days about spring. :)

First Half of May

Benson broke his toe. He is proving to be our most accident prone child. This one happened because the kids wandered into the garage during quiet time (which they know is a 'no-no') and a large, antique, solid metal wheat grinder fell on his big toe. I wish I would have been more understanding, but mostly I was just ticked off. The next day I had to take him and (and the other 4 children) to the Dr.'s office to get it checked out. For a number of reasons, we were there for 2 WHOLE HOURS. Not even in the outside waiting room where they have a TV and toys. In the tiny Dr. office, where you can't touch anything...It was a nightmare. It ended with them not having a boot to fit him, so they tried to put the "ortho-glass" on his foot, which from experience I knew would be a complete bust. Within an hour, that thing was off and it wasn't going back on. He ripped off any buddy-taping we did, refused to wear shoes to support it... So yeah, it's been a couple of weeks now and the nail is still all black, but his toe doesn't seem to bother him at all. Here's to hoping nothing's permanently damaged. Fingers crossed.


Tulip Festival again! This time with considerably nicer weather. It really was ideal weather. We had such a nice time as a family. We even got stroopwafels at the end! ahhh, perfect ending to a fantastic outing.



I love reconnecting with old friends!! I've been able to get together with Shae, Ashley and Sierra a couple of times in the past few months. This time it was with all of our families together at Shae's house. Our kids all played so well together and we had such a nice potluck outside! Loved it. Get togethers like this make me automatically less controlling as a Mother about the kids food choices, so they inevitably end up eating 2 bites of actual dinner, and then like, 3 desserts.


Davy and Grandma Garner!



This was one of those outings where I probably should have just stayed home, but I felt obligated to go. The kids were so looking forward to the Canyon Grove Carnival and patriotic singalong. I knew it would be a hectic night, but figured Richie and I could pull it off. Imagine the adrenaline rush I had when I randomly decided to check my email around 3, and realized the singalong starts at 315, not at 6 like I thought, in Pleasant Grove. Ahh! I managed to herd all 5 kids into the van in about 5 minutes and then stressed the entire way there, especially knowing that now Richie wouldn't be able to come and it would just be me and the 5 kids at a carnival. I could write all the gory details, but suffice it to say that the kids missed their Patriotic singalong, the weather turned awfully cold and rainy, and it hit all the checkmarks for being an incredibly stressful event. Including nursing Davy in a teacher's lounge while I prayed the other kids would be safe at the small carnival. Expensive prices, low quality, super stressful...Ugh. The kids seemed to enjoy most of it though.


This girl's selfie game is way better than mine has ever been. Where does she learn this stuff?


2 brothers, matching, loving on each other. :)



Pretty front "flower bed"


Best Davy pics from first half of may


Kid's helping re-paint Grandma Garner's garden gnomes for Mother's Day. :)



Another trip to Thanksgiving Point to enjoy the tulip festival! This was a last minute outing, and I was stressed and ornery. But after about 10 minutes of walking around, my mood was fine. But then Miles was down. We switched moods! He had such a great time while we were there, but when he realized we didn't see a friend he was hoping to see, nothing could cheer him up. Drama!


Lindy learns to ride her bike! On a whim, I bought her a "new" bike at Kid2Kid one day because I knew her little one was getting old and too small for her. This one was bigger and had training wheels already on. When Richie got home, she was showing him her bike. I was inside folding clothes, and after about 30 minutes Richie came in with pictures and videos to prove that she just learned to ride her bike without training wheels! I was baffled! I still am! She just hopped on and never looked back. She was pro after about 5 minutes. She crashed the next day, but it never deterred her. She just hopped right back on and kept riding. I have been so impressed by her resilience and skill! I think it has something to do with not wanting to be left behind by her 2 older siblings. She's gotta keep up! Now she can go on long bikes rides with Miles and Gwen and Dad. She absolutely loves it.