Last Week of School

The last couple weeks of school were filled with fun activities.  The kids did great in the dance festival and enjoyed dancing with friends and audience members afterward.  They also loved the fire truck coming to the school and spraying everyone down.  The kids all loved their teachers this year and learned a lot from them!  

RACHEL (Ms. Garbe)

- Favorite food:  super cheesy mac & cheese

- What do you want to be when you grow up?  vet or baby doctor & mom

- Best part of 3rd Grade:  Recess and crafts

- Best friends:  Olivia

- Favorite book:  Goose Girl or Out of My Mind

- Favorite color:  Teal

ANDREW (Mrs. Elisaia)

- Favorite food:  pizza and spaghetti & meatballs

- What do you want to be when you grow up?  ninja

- Best part of Kindergarten:  being with all my friends

- Best friends:  Logan, Gavin, Boston

- Favorite book (series):  Ninjago

- Favorite color(s): gold, silver, blue, green

KENDALL (Miss Jill)

- Favorite food: chocolate milk and cheetos

- What do you want to be when you grow up?  artist

- Best part of Preschool:  eating snacks and playing

- Best friends:  Cole, Avery, Miss Jill

- Favorite book (series):  Barbie books

- Favorite color:  pink

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Springtime - April & May

Funny Moments:

- We saw a lady in Costco carrying a giant lizard like a baby on her shoulder.  I was hoping the kids wouldn't see her, but they did, so of course they went over to check it out.  The lady was so nice and even let them hold it.

- Rachel and Andrew wore matching BYU shirts to school one day.  Here's what the behind the scenes looked like:  Rachel came up with her BYU shirt on, and I ask her if she happens to also have Andrew's in her room because he had told me that his was lost.  Sure enough, she went and found it.  Andrew was ecstatic and immediately went to change, which made Rachel cry because she didn't want to match with her little brother at school (how embarrassing!), which then made him cry because he desperately wanted to wear the shirt.  She finally came around and agreed to "let" him wear it.

- Andrew (6.5) is catching up to Rachel (almost 9) in height, and they pretty much weigh the same.

- Kendall's favorite restaurant is Pizza Pie Cafe - she ate so much the last time that we were there, that she insisted that she needed to lay down on the bench to let her stomach stretch out.

- My brother, Chad, graduated from UVU with his Bachelor's (this was 12 years in the making!).  He has always worked full-time since he got married, and so school was on-again-off-again / part-time in the evenings.  Plus, they have four kids now!  School has never been his favorite, but he finally did it!  Go Chad!  I got a babysitter, and got to hang out with Brandon at the graduation, so we counted that as our date night.  :)

- Kendall often tells me that she doesn't want to be a mom (she thinks it looks too hard), so I just remind her that she will be the one that gets to choose.  Andrew is still on the fence about if he'll get married - he's not a big fan of kissing and asks if he will have to kiss his wife.  If he doesn't get married, he says that he will just keep living with us.  :)

- Andrew will miss Mrs. Elisaia and Kindergarten! And I will miss seeing him jump out of the car and literally run to the line.  He hates to be late, and prefers to be early to get a good spot in line. Like father, like son.  Mrs. Elisaia told me a cute story about Andrew - one day, she was feeling particularly frazzled and just not having a good day.  Andrew must have caught on, because he went back to her and told her that she was beautiful.  It made her day!  Another funny thing about Andrew is that he gets anxious when I say we are running low on gas in the car.  And even one more - when it's cold outside, Andrew still insists on wearing shorts, but he pulls out his soccer socks and wears them up to his thighs. "See mom, I am practically wearing pants!"

- The fidget spinner craze made it to our house - a little closer to the trend starting than I'd like.  Andrew had a dentist appointment and he hates the dentist, so I bribed him with $2 and a promise to take him to spend some of his money at the store.  He bought a fidget spinner for $7, and was absolutely thrilled.  Rachel desperately wants one but she is trying to save up her money and not be such a spender.  I got her one to earn from her piano practice tickets, but she is still a week away from having enough tickets to buy it (although she is handling the situation pretty good considering).  Anyway, later in the afternoon, Andrew came up to me and asked if he could spend $7 more of his money so that he could buy Rachel's fidget spinner for her!  What a sweet boy - it melted my mommy heart!  We didn't let Andrew buy one for her - we're going to make her wait and earn it, but when Rachel found out what he wanted to do, she gave him more hugs/love than she's given him in a year.

Matching with mom & dad!  Dream come true for Andrew!

Woke up to this cute face one morning!

Had Sunday dinner at the All-Inclusive Park in Orem to celebrate Ellie's birthday

Kendall at Pizza Pie Cafe & Kendall at Thanksgiving Point with Grandma Nancy

Zac playing with the kids before his family moves to California (Shalauna & Jason)

Field Trip with Rachel to the Curiosity Museum (Gavin, Juniper, Rachel) 

Chad graduated with his Bachelor's from UVU!  

 Happy Mother's Day!  I asked for a new tree (the one we are next to) and the kids couldn't figure out why that was the gift I chose.  

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Spring Soccer

Rachel and Andrew both had a spring soccer season and did really well.  They both made some improvements since the fall and had minimal complaints about going.  Andrew is working on not falling (on purpose) so much and anticipating where the ball is going to go.  Andrew was on a team with his buddies from the ward, and Adam's dad, Don, was his coach.  Rachel's coach wasn't our favorite and some of the girls weren't the nicest to her, but we were proud of her for finishing the season and trying her best.  She's a fast runner, and learned more about the positions on the field this year.  Unfortunately, I think it put a bad enough taste in her mouth that I don't think she'll continue with soccer.  

Landscaping the Backyard

When we bought this house in American Fork, we knew that the yard needed some work.  I don't think we anticipated how much work (hard to tell when you buy a house in November)!!  The grass was so bumpy, uneven and full of nasty weeds and gravel.  The sprinklers were a disaster - I think Brandon has replaced every single sprinkler head in the yard.  The fence was barely holding on.  The one large tree in the backyard had been cut in half was diseased and dying, so we had to take it down.  :(  The concrete was cracked and uneven.  We really haven't spent much time there because the backyard wasn't a nice place to be.  We've been really focused on the backyard, and we ("we" meaning Brandon) ended up taking it down to dirt and it is basically all brand new!  Brandon has been working tirelessly and has done most of the prep work (taking down the tree, taking down the old fence, removing the sod, hauling out the sod and wood, leveling all the dirt, fixing and moving all the sprinklers, laying the sod, etc.).  He has been a MACHINE and has met all the deadlines we set on ourselves!  I have been contributing where possible (due to our pregnancy) and have been worn out.  We are so relieved to have done all the things we wanted to do this spring to be able to enjoy it.  The final touch was to set up a brand new trampoline and playset.  The kids have loved the backyard and now spend many hours outside!  Brandon still wants to build a pergola and shed, so I am sure there will be more updates.  I am proud of our hard work and the progress we've made.  Especially since after landscaping our entire yard in Arizona, I said on multiple occasions that I really hoped our marriage would never have to landscape another yard.  And here we are - we learned some things and did it again pretty successfully I'd say (but we still don't love yard work).  

ORIGINAL BACKYARD

PHASE 1 - CONCRETE (SPRING 2016)

PHASE 2 - RETAINING WALL & BACK FENCE  (FALL 2016)

PHASE 3 - LEVELING, FENCE, CURBING (FRONT & BACK), TREES, NEW SOD 

(SPRING 2017)

Brandon & Kyle head to Chicago

The first weekend in May, Brandon and Kyle went to Chicago to go to a couple Cubs vs. Yankees games.  They got tickets in the general admission bleachers and Kyle even caught a Yankees home run ball!!  He got to throw it back on the field (Wrigley Field tradition for home runs by the opposing team), except that he switched out the balls and threw back one he got during pre-game.  This is literally Brandon's dream - he was so close, but also so happy for Kyle!  The kids and I got to see them both on TV for a split second, so that was exciting!