First Hike of 2021-Bell Canyon

Last Saturday, Rob had a hike planned with his Young Men's group.  He couldn't find another adult leader to go with him so I came with all the kids.  Then as we were supposed to be leaving, he got a call from a guy in the neighborhood saying he could come with.  By that point we were already all ready and the kids were excited about hiking so we ended up going with them.   It's a good thing the other guy was there because he went ahead with the boys and Rob, and I stayed back with the girls.  Finley wanted to stop at every pebble and flower and the other girls enjoyed finding and pointing out lots of nature.  So it was good that the Young Men didn't have to lag behind with us.  We ended up making it to the waterfall, staying for a bit and then heading back down.  The boys all stayed and shot wrist rockets and then headed back. We only beat them to the car by about 5 minutes, so it worked out perfectly.  

I had to document Riley's hiking outfit.  Note the long socks over her jeans.  :)

Before we started the hike.  Finley wore that backpack for about 10 minutes and then Riley had to carry it the rest of the way.

At the lake. 

One of the things the girls stopped me to look at.  Then they wanted a picture. The rock was so big!

Beautiful.

Us girls on the trail back.  Finley took a little spill but she recovered alright after I had the brilliant idea to start calling her "Romeo" from her favorite show PJ Masks.  Then she pretended to be him the rest of the way down.  I was lots of different characters.  Anything to help her keep walking!  :)

Hopefully we will be able to go on lots more hikes this summer!

 

All Riley wants for Christmas is her 2 front teeth.

Riley lost 2 teeth. this last week.  One of them came out and the other was being stubborn.  

She got the first one half way out and then ran to the mirror to look at it.  She was so excited.  Then she came back to the living room and pulled it out.  

Cute smile.

Then about 4 days later Riley got brave and let Rob really yank on her tooth.  He got it partially out and then she did the rest.  

Her grown up tooth was partially grown in behind the baby tooth.  She is so happy she got both of those teeth out.  

 

Zac is 11

Zac had a birthday!  He turned 11 on April 26th and we had a little birthday party where he invited some friends over and they watched a fun movie and ran around outside until it got dark!  They were literally running around the front and back of the house for a long time.  It was so fun to watch.  I love seeing my kids with their friends.  I realized as I was watching Zac interact with his buddies that he is turning into a really great human being.  Not that he wasn't already...I just realized he is learning and growing and it made me really happy seeing him make sure all of his friends were included and feeling welcome.  It's one of those proud parent moments.  

Bright and early surrounded by his presents and sisters. 

Cake and ice cream.  He is pretty much always the one who lights the candles...even on his own cake!

Isn't he handsome?

Happy birthday!

He got a couple nerf guns and some sprite and a basketball.

It was also National Pretzel day on his birthday.  So I made these peperoni and parmesan cheese pretzels.  They were yummy.  We had them with his birthday dinner.  He chose Ramen.  ha ha.

He was so excited for a whole 2 liters of sprite for himself!

Here are all the boys he invited over (minus one who came late)  Like I said, It was so fun to see him with his buddies...and to realize how good of a kid he is.  

We love Zac!!

 

2021 Piano recital for my granparents.

 We were able to get up and visit my grandparents after about a year of not seeing them!  We came and visited them and the kids brought their instruments and put on a recital for them.  It was really good to be with them again.  They always have fun things to say and the kids like to get attention from family other than us.  

The kids all got a song ready and performed it for them.  They did a great job.  I'll post a video of each of the kids performing their piece.  

My grandparents always come out and stand on the porch when we leave.  We all wave goodbye and blow them kisses.  We love them!