Last May M graduated from his second year of preschool. He had the same teacher, Miss Becky, both years. She was a wonderful teacher. She was so kind and loving with her students, and did a great job at getting them ready to start kindergarten.

For the graduation, the kids sang songs they had learned throughout the year. Then they received their diplomas, and the kids who were graduating and moving on to kindergarten got to wear a blue cap and gown. Cutest cap and gowns EVER.

Here is M singing along to some of the songs. He is wearing the light yellow shirt with the navy blue sports coat and khaki pants. He LOVES to sing. Let's just say he made sure his voice was heard in the program...! Jake and I were sitting in the front row, and a couple of times we had to motion for him to tone it down. We thought maybe the other parents would like to hear their kids sing too! :)

"Two more monkeys, jumping on the bed..."

We were happy dad could make it to the graduation this year! Last year he had to miss it.

Here is M receiving his diploma packet.

Eating treats with friends after the graduation program.

We are so thankful for this sweet lady and all she has done to help M learn and grow. We love you, Miss Becky!

the birthday girl and mother's day

In May, Miss J turned 2 years old. We are so happy she is a part of our family. She has so much personality and spunk!

I started getting really sentimental on the day before her birthday, just realizing that it would be the last day she was 1. This is a picture of her and I before I put her down for a nap.

Here she is sleeping during the nap. Love these moments.

This is her birthday breakfast! We had French toast with buttermilk syrup, fresh fruit, and orange juice. (The flowers and vase are from M. He made them at preschool and gave them to me for Mother's Day.)

Her smile just melts my heart. She is so sweet and happy.

M bought these dress-up shoes for J with his own money. She really loved them!

Ha, don't mind her pajamas. We are really classy at our house!

Her she is with her new strider bike she got for her birthday. M was really quick to jump in and show her how it's done.

It was a really rainy day, but we it stopped raining for a bit, so we headed over to the high school track to test out the new bike. As soon as we pulled up, it started raining! We had brought a picnic, so we just went under the bleachers and had our picnic, rode the bike, and hung out.

 Literally, M "hung" out ^^^

Enjoying the picnic.

We just kept things low-key and enjoyed spending the day together as a family.

The Sunday after it was Mother's Day, so we made some cake and took it to my grandparents to share while we visited them for Mother's Day.

I am so thankful for my sweet baby girl. I love her so much. I'm also thankful for all of the mothers, grandmothers, aunts, sisters, and nieces I have been blessed with in my life. Love them.

spring 2016

I thought I better document what we did in spring/beginning of summer of 2016 before spring of 2017 gets here! So here it is.

Miss J got a strider bike. She quickly fell in love with it and has gotten pretty darn good at riding it! Here are the kids one day when we went to walk/ride bikes around the high school track.

Playing the fish game.

One of my last activities with the young women in our old ward. I MISS these girls! It was a beautiful night for water volleyball. The girl in the left hand corner, Jessica, was one of our main babysitters in our old neighborhood. We LOVED having her as our babysitter. She was great with the kids.

Whitney and Clara...I miss them too!

Sis. Evans...one of the most fun people to work in young women with! And super creative...

We went on some local hikes towards the end of spring/beginning of summer. Here are Jake and the kids.

Miss J's face says it all, she LOVES hiking! LOVE her!

 We were at nana's one day when Grandpa Pete stopped by. M, J, and K were pretty excited to see him.

Mesmerized by Grandpa's flip phone!

Playing at the cousin's house!

Went to see Uncle Eric's grave and drop off a tractor.

This is another local hike we went on. The trail ended up being really steep, and it was really hot that day. So it turned into a mini hike, but it was still fun!

Mr. M in his element. He is quite the little hiker I tell you. He can keep up, rather lead the pack, most hikes. He is a natural!

There were so many different colors of flowers along the trail that we figured we better make a bouqet.

Dipping our feet in the ice cold water. It felt really good after the hot hike.

This girl moved in next door to our family when she was, maybe, 4 years old. Anyways, she got married, which is so hard to believe. Not because she's so cute and great, but because I feel like she should still be 13! Here are my sisters and I with her at her wedding reception. We love you!

This was after a rain storm in our old apartment. This was the view out of our front door. Everything just looked so crisp and bright. The picture doesn't do it justice, but still, it looked beautiful outside.

We celebrated this guy for Father's Day. We made homemade rumbi rice bowls. SO GOOD!!! So thankful for the great father he is for our family.

Jake and M taking a quick stroll on the motorcycle. This bike belonged to Eric, Jake's brother. It is super old, and super run down, but it still runs! The sentimental value is there, and it just seemed wrong to get rid of it. Thankfully our awesome landlords let us store it behind a shed in the yard.

Mr. M working on his toilet cleaning skills. Love this boy!

This book is a favorite of his. It is about two boys, that are cousins, who dig a hole to find treasure. They take animal crackers and chocolate milk as a snack. Cute book, it reminds me of M and his cousin K-man.