End of the School year, Menchie's and Park time in Portland

Ty is done with his first stint of Preschool. He L.O.V.E.D it. He ran in everyday with a big smile on his face. We went in to give his teacher, Ms. Ridgeway, a teacher appreciation gift today and he was sad to be done. (We searched high and low for ideas, we got a TON that we'll keep in our back pocket but I ended up just asking Ty what we should get for her and he said a Water Bottle because she didn't have a Thomas Water Bottle like he did. Great idea! So we went and bought her a tumbler with a straw, a gift card to a local smoothie place and made a little flag on the straw that said "Thank you for quenching my thirst for knowledge" she loved it.) But now it's summer and he'll go back the beginning of October for his next 6 week class. 

Here is a sample of just a week or two of what he came home with. So many fun things!

 The other day we went to Menchie's and Emma got her first taste of Frozen Yogurt... oh man when she gets a taste of something she likes she goes crazy, she tenses up and does a low growl kinda thing until every bite is had. I'll get it on video soon. Needles to say she enjoyed every drop. 

 Maylee loves Menchie's too because they have Lactose free options that are SUPER tasty. Dole Whip Pineapple this time- She is always a happy girl when she gets to eats treats! 

 Not sure why Matt was frowning... haha maybe he mixed in the wrong brownie/cookie dough combo...

 We also went to the park with the wonderful Fox's a while back. Savannah chose the park, it was a good one buuuuut also shared with a school so every recess our kids had to move to a different play area as to not be trampled by the older kids. :) It was a good trip though and we had fun. 

 This is the only picture I took of Denali... weird. Usually she loves my camera. I was trying to take a few quick pictures at the beginning and missed her somehow. 

 This was a weird swing, what kid is THAT big that needs to be so tightly enclosed... but the kids loved it. 

 Savannah found out last week she is having a GIRL! We both thought it was, Ty insisted it was a boy. I think that is because he is wishing, hoping and praying that next time I "have a baby in my tummy" it's a baby brother. 

 Cute Carter Boy, ALWAYS has a smile on his face. 

 Hey, there is my cute Ty Boy! 

 Emma bug :) 

We love our monthly visits with the Fox's it is SO SO nice to be with a forever buddy who can talk about ANYTHING since we've known each other so long. Next month it's my turn to choose the place. I'm thinking a splash park-hope the weather is nice.  

Goodbye old friend and our nightly ritual

Right after bath time in the morning, this is what the kids do, bundle up all together on the couch. I remember doing this myself when I was a young'n. 

 Two weeks ago we sold our Chevy Malibu on Craigslist. It was a good car for us but it's time for an upgrade to get and SUV for our family that is ever growing. There she is, not bad for an old beater... 

 Love those gray doors haha. I wont miss them though, that is for sure. 

 Now we are down to one car while we search for the perfect Honda Pilot, that is what we have decided upon. Matt wants Silver and Ty and I want Blue. We'll see what we end up with. Ty is very excited for a new car. He tells me daily that we need to get a blue one. 

Almost every night after the PJ's are on, Dad gets the kids all riled up with a nightly wrestle. Even Emma loves it. 

 I love this one, Emma wants to move and be in the middle of things so badly. She is so close to crawling. I'm sure very soon i'll be posting a video of her cruising around getting into everything. 

Park days!

These are pictures from a few weeks back, yeah i'm behind but i'm getting back on track! 

Matt does Insanity, so does Maylee. She's getting pretty good following along. 

 During my Piano lesson a few weeks ago I told Ty to go upstairs and when I was done I would come read him a book before his nap...

 He didn't make it passed the "go upstairs part"

 The kids did a great job sharing a few weeks back, sharing their colds with their baby sister that is... poor girl could only sleep upright.

 On evening we headed to the rocket ship park (you'll find out why it's called that later) If there aren't a TON of kids Maylee will go exploring.

 Emma and I were chillin' on the blanket.

 There is the Rocket ship... yeah Ty is a big fan.

 Maylee joined in the climbing.

 Theres my smiley girl.

 A selfie.

 Ty likes to play on the big kids part, he can make it all the way around with out touching the ground.

 I shared this on Facebook, but for the blogs sake i'll share it again. I asked Matt to take a picture of Emma and me. After the first two or three I asked him why he hadn't gotten a shot yet. He said they were blurry so I kept trying to give him tips on what he needed to do. He animatedly explained to me how difficult it is to look through a viewfinder while holding the camera up, while using the other hand to keep the other eye shut, WHILE trying to get Emma to smile for him. Turns out Matt wouldn't be a very good photographer. The man can't wink, probably the ONLY thing on the planet he can't do. 

 Once he explained this to me, I laughed so hard.

 Maylee was showing of her big kid skills too.

We've had a lot of good opportunities to go to random parks lately, the kids love it and I love it too. 

Ty says the darndest things

I told Ty before prayer that he needed to pray for Emma because her teeth were cutting through and it was painful for her. I asked him to pray that she has good night sleep and that her teeth wouldn't hurt too bad.
Ty's Prayer:
"Heavenly Father, ank you that Emma's teeth weren't cut off, ank you for my school, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."
Uhhh close enough buddy, I think God got the gist of it.

On Mother's Day when my parents were here, we got Ty dressed for church. He was wearing brown shoes and he wanted to wear black shoes. I told him that his brown shoes matched better. He wasn't buyin' that and continued to whine a little. My Dad swooped in and said "Ty your nice vest is brown, and your shoes match your vest. The brown shoes look nice." With out skipping a beat he turned to me and said "Mom, I need my black vest on so I can wear my black shoes!" Touche little man, Touche.

On the drive down to Medford last weekend he kept saying "This is taking FOR LONG!"

He likes to say, whenever he mistakenly does something, "Oh sorry, that was an axledent"

Lastly, he always says "What the GOSH?"

Love that kid.

I've GOT to say it...

Matt, is HAND DOWN the BEST husband for me on the entire planet. I thought I loved him a ton when we got married. Seems like that love has exploded into SO much more. It's crazy. Yeah, i'm going to brag about the guy since he is so perfect for me.

 I think Matt was about 10 years old in this picture. I believe his Mom was having a rough day so he dressed up all funny like an old beggar woman to make his Mom laugh. Needless to say, he succeeded. oh and I am wondering if  either Nate or Matt are wearing any shorts... that's funny too. 

 Right after LASIK he was hopped up on pain meds and decided he was a super hero. He seriously dressed up like this all on his own and ASKED me to take pictures. 

 Newly weds I think...

 Always trying to make me laugh. Pictured here in Guatemala with Colton, my younger Brother. Believe it or not, I have more than one picture exactly like this in different places years apart. Funny. 

 Matt had to have plastic surgery on his broken nose and I just got my wisdom teeth out. Kristin was so sweet to take care of us both :) 

On the cruise, probably at 2 am... HAHA that guy. 

ON WITH THE STORY...

Matt knew that Sunday was going to be a crazy day for me. He knew that a few things were happening with church that were stressing me out since I was talking to him about it all along the way. So he set out to make it the easiest super stressed day ever.

Started when I woke up - he let me sleep in! He got the kids up and fed them all breakfast and I found him downstairs with the 3 loads of kids clothes that I hadn't had time to fold yet, all folded in piles. I took a shower then came back downstairs to bake the cupcakes I needed for later that evening. He took all the kids upstairs with their newly folded clothes to put away and to bathe them before church. I left for my morning meetings and came home to lovely clean children all perfectly dressed in their church clothes. I started getting everything ready for my Sharing Time Primary Lesson, he took them upstairs. He fed them all snack and put them down for early naps so they might not be SO grumpy at our 1-4 church time. He got ready himself then got everything ready for the kids to go to church. I ran upstairs and got dressed and came downstairs to the car loaded and everything remembered. 

We got through Sacrament Meeting and I took Ty and Maylee with me. I dropped Maylee off at Nursery (which isn't the usual, Matt usually does it but come on I had to do SOMETHING that day!) and took off with Ty. Apparently Maylee didn't like me dropping her off and just cried, so Matt went back and got her. He sat through all of Sunday School with both girls. I taught my lesson to Jr. Primary then went to check on Maylee when I found her with Matt. So I took her with me since he still had Em.

We got home from church and he grabbed everything we needed for a Birthday dinner for our friend Ken. Then I wasn't sure how to assemble some charm bracelets so he swooped in and did those too. We went to the Johnson's house and Krista made the best Burritos ever, which was great because otherwise I don't think we would have gotten any dinner, and I took of for my Recognition Night right afterwards. I was gone for an hour and a half and came home to a perfectly spotless house (we're talking everything EVERYTHING in the house cleaned up, put away, folded, wiped down) I left QUITE a wake of destruction not even having time to clean up after myself. The kids and Matt were all sitting on the upstairs couch, teeth brushed, pajamas on ready for bed with smiles on their faces, while Matt was reading the scriptures to them. 

I helped tuck Ty in then came downstairs sat down (for what seems like the first time that day) and started to cry. (Yeah what HAPPENED to me! I cry ALL.THE.TIME) I was just so happy that after a long stressful busy day of go, go, go, go that Matt had my back every step and made it even better so that when I got home I could just sit. It was amazing and I was so touched that he worked so hard to keep everyone happy when I was blowing a head gasket. Truth is though folks, he does this almost every day, he figures out what will make me the happiest girl ever and does it, with nary a complaint. 

Seriously, I love him, like I said best husband ever. I wouldn't trade him for anything. He's my very best friend and I love him more than words can describe. 

Thank you Matt, you made my day make my everyday, by blinding me with your pure awesomeness. 

Dabney DG and goin' down by the river

Two weekends ago we went down to Troutdale and Matt disc golfed Dabney State Park. Matt didn't play as well as he would have hoped, I think it was a good warm up to the season. He even lost a disc! Booo.

The kids sure had a great time though getting pushed in the stroller and enjoying the perfectly warm weather. 

 Matt even went Hippy style, he was sweating.

 The kids loved playing with all the dirt, rocks, sticks anything and everything.

 After Matt finished disc golfing we ate a picnic lunch that Matt packed for us and we went down by the river. May and Ty LOVE just dipping their toes in the water. Ty would swim if we would let him... but he's not quite big enough to understand river currents yet so we make him stay quite close.

 Matt liked just tossing pebbles and enjoying the weather.

 It was a little windy, but not bad. Maylee kept making her way back for more snacks and food. Girl eats...

 Ty, right where he stayed the whole time... next to the river.

 Matt thought of everything, he even packed the kids' little discovery tent for Em. As you can see, she used it well.

 I sat by the tent most of the time. While I was sitting there Kristin called, someone found Matt's disc and called the number on the back. Matt used to write the Wu's # back in the day. Yippee! Matt was so happy to hear it, he ran all the way back through the course to find the guy and get his disc back.

I got another call from S.I.L. Kyla... she was calling for some other reason but I finally asked her about the settings I was using on her camera, as I suspected, I was doing it wrong! I had my ISO wrong! Ha! So now that THAT is fixed hopefully I keep getting better and better photos. 

Anyway, it was a good day at the river.