May Catch Up

It was no surprise that May was a whirlwind!  

- Andrew earned a much-anticipated date with dad after filling up his jar by doing his reading and sleeping in his own bed the whole night.  They went to Menchies for ice cream and picked out clothes - his most favorite thing ever! 

- The kids are earning a little allowance and we keep a family bank.  Recently, Andrew spent his money on pajamas, because that is how much he loves and wants pajamas and Rachel spent every penny on a ninjago dragon set.

- We went to Liesl Shurtliff's book tour event in Salt Lake City.  She is a best-selling author, and we knew her when we lived in Chicago.  Rachel is a big fan of her books, and was very excited to get her autograph.  

- We wrapped up the Orem soccer season for Andrew and Rachel.  They had a great year and made lots of improvements, and we are very proud of them for trying so hard.  Andrew's team was the Green Hunters, and Rachel's was the Pink-pony-dragons, but it also changed weekly, so I'm not sure what it was at the end.  

- Happy Mother's Day to me!  I apparently went from the best mom to the worst mom in 24 hours.  I had all my sweet notes on the fridge and in a fit of rage, Rachel pulled them all down and ripped them and put them all in the trash.  Then she got to tape them all back together and now they are hung back up to remind me about what it means to be a mother.  :)

- We celebrated Ellie's birthday at the cemetery with the Hale's.  The kids still talk about her often - pretty much daily.  She taught us so much even though she was only here on earth for 15 months.  

- Kendall got to FaceTime with Brooklyn in Arizona, which is always such a special treat!

- Andrew graduated from Miss Shannon's Imagination Station Preschool.  He was so brave going to a new preschool without knowing anyone, but he did so great and made some new friends.  Now Andrew is ready for Kindergarten!

- Rachel wrapped up the end of year filled with field day, dance festival (which I couldn't attend because of some bad behavior by her that morning, but Nancy went and delivered the message for me, and the consequence worked out well), class projects, and saying goodbye to all the friends and teachers she met and loved at Sego Lily Elementary!  Rachel will be attending Barratt Elementary next year, which is walking distance from our house. 

- On the last day of school, Nana met Rachel at school and took all the grandkids out for ice cream to Cold Stone to celebrate!

- Then we kicked off summer by going camping in Spanish Fork with the Hale Family to celebrate Cannon's birthday!  Once we finally found the campsite, we had a great time playing with cousins and getting dirty.  I don't know how many more years, Cannon will actually want to hang out with us for his birthday, but for now, we will take it!  

(top right pic of Andrew - his reaction to hearing that they get a coupon for a free ice cream cone!)

(See above for the explanation of my ripped up Mother's Day cards)

Last day of school picture

Rachel's 8 year old trip

Written by Rachel

My mom and I got to go to California for my 8 year old trip in May and I got to miss two days of school!  p.s.  Allie and Leslie got to come too!

The airplane ride was fun.  We played on my leap pad, we did crossword puzzles, we at the snacks there, we read and we landed.  We didn't like the rental car very much.  It was so small!  Our hotel room was so fun!  Mom and I slept on the same bed.  We watched Zootopia one night.  We swam in the hotel pool and hot tub.  We played a lot.

Disneyland/California Adventure was awesome!  We went really fast on the teacups.  We went on Goofy's Sky school at least 6 times!  I was scared of some of the rides - like Indiana Jones, the Haunted Mansion and the Ferris Wheel.  We went on this Carsland ride where things would pop out at you.  We got to pick out stuffed animals.  I got baby Stitch and Allie got a little leopard.  My favorite rides were Goofy's Sky School, Soarin', the Star Wars rides, Carsland rides, and Splash Mountain.  It was so funny when mom and Leslie were screaming on Splash Mountain and Allie and I were like, "this is awesome!"

One morning, I got a little cold and woke up with a croupy cough.  Mom went and got some medicine for me.  My favorite food was sliders, churros, cheesecake, ice cream, and the drinks on the airplane.  We went to the beach and there were little, red crayfish everywhere.  Allie and I played in the waves and dodged the little, red crayfish.  My mom had to clear a path for us to get to the water.  On the last day in California, we got our ears pierced and I was sad and happy at the same time!  It hurt for a few minutes, but they gave me a bear to squeeze.  Now I am glad that my ears are pierced!  We also celebrated Allie's actual 8th birthday on Saturday!

Mom's Additions

- Allie & Rachel taking a selfie on Rachel's leap pad on the plane
- On Allie's birthday, I told the Southwest flight attendant that it was Allie's 8 year old birthday and she made an announcement for everyone to turn on their call lights while she dimmed the lights.  She had the whole airplane sing happy birthday to her and then she blew out the lights/candles.  It was so adorable.
- I brought dramamine, but thankfully didn't even need it - guess I am not so old after all!
- So glad that the croup scare didn't hold us down - she didn't end up needing the meds I got her because it was only a brief croupy cough in the morning.  She is finally growing out of her dang small airways!
- Quote:  Leslie said, "Why, Rachel, aren't you just he little peacemaker?"  Rachel responded, "No, I'm not, and I don't even really try to be."  Little stinker!
- Rachel was really into the details this trip - she was asking me about the rental car and how we would get places, and wanted to be involved in the tiny logistics of the trip.