June

Since we have a few longer breaks throughout the year, we don't get out of school until the second week of June.  Most of the other school were out a week or two before us, so the kids were anxious to get going on summer (as was I!). 

The last weeks of school kept us plenty busy.  Weston's birthday was a full day.  They had to go to school, but Scott made it fun by dropping off a donut for him at lunch time.  Then we ran home after school just to quickly get ready and head to dinner at Goodwood.  Grandma and Grandpa met us there, as well as Grandma Nancy, and fortunately, Omi and Opa made it too!  We followed that by his choir concert and culmination activity.  His choir director is amazing and they do such a great job!  The kids were great!  It didn't last too long (fortunately) and we headed to the house for presents and cake--which was actually homemade fried ice cream (YUM!!!!).  He got a lot of fun presents--hdyration pack and camping gear, books, soccer ball, clothes, Captain America poster, and a pellet gun target.  It is harder to get presents for older kids!!  But, he had a great time.  He had a fun party with some friends watching a movie and hanging out.  It is crazy to think that in one year he will be 12!  I feel like this is my last year with him as a child!

Aidan has his culmination activity as well--it is what they called the big "show what you know".  They shared things that they learned over the year and he was darling.  Omi and Opa were able to be here and enjoy the shows.  Then Opa picked up their friend from China and we were able to have him here for a bit.

Brennan "graduated" from Kindergarten and it was a fun little ceremony.  What a doll!  One of the things that has been weird about his class is that if they ever have a party, no one plans it.  It is kind of a free for all thing.  We were asked to bring some things (ice cream and pizza etc), but no one brought an ice cream scoop, so I sat there dishing ice cream with plastic spoons.  It was rather strange, but hopefully things will be better next year with "parties"... 

Aidan had his friend birthday party with water as the theme.  They had a huge water fight, slide down the slip and slide, played with water balloons, and had ice cream sundaes.  On his birthday, we went out to a pizza place and opened presents with the grandparents (Omi and Opa were able to be there again!).  For his "cake", I made cookies, but in muffin tins.  They sunk in the middle and made a perfect little cup for ice cream to sit!  They were fun to have (and different, right?).  He got some really fun gifts--a microscope (that takes digital photos), books, legos, and a water gun that attaches to a bike.  He is growing up so much.  He had such a great birthday, and he recorded everything in his journal (cutie pie). 

Our first week out of school we just played around, spent time together and with friends.  We have a lot of activities planned for the summer, and we did go to the Hutchings Museum, which was a fun little museum for the kids.  Aidan had gone before on a field trip and learned about Atl Atls.  This time they actually threw one for us.  Pretty cool.

Now that Weston is 11, he has joined the boy scouts!  Scott is the 11 year old leader, and so they went on their first camp out!  They had a great time, and good practice for the next camping trip when all the boys went on the Father's and Son's campout.  That is probably the most anticipated and exciting event of the whole year.  They have so much fun!  It was right before Father's day, so it was a great weekend for Scott.  He was able to do so many fun father things.  We made him a nice dinner, though it was steak, so he actually cooked up the steak...  He got a new lawn mower (he is sooooo happy) and some other little presents. 

So many birthdays in June!  My birthday was the best--my kids and husband really went out of their way to make it fun and relaxing for me.  It was especially nice that it was on a Sunday and I got to spend the whole day with my husband and kids.  They let me sleep in, made breakfast for me, and made tiki masala for dinner (YUMMMMMMM!).  I got an awesome bike and a new crock pot, as well as little gifts from the kids.  I absolutely LOVED my birthday.

The next morning, we packed up and left for Jackson.  It was an enjoyable ride because we listened to books on tape and the kids sat mesmerized.  We arrived in time to do some walking around the central square and of course find a candy shop and a rock shop.  The guy at the rock shop was so helpful and he brought a piece of wulfenite from his personal collection for Aidan to buy.  Then we went over to the Bar J.  The rest of the family caught up with us there and we had a lovely time watching those fun entertainers and eatin' good food!  A big thanks to Ali and Scott for providing the funnest cabin to stay in.  It was so strange, yet totally cool.  The kids loved it (especially the ping pong table)!  The next morning we decided to go back to Jackson and others met us there.  We really figured out the best way to do it--one person stayed at the kids museum with the children and the rest walked around.  The kids didn't want to walk around, and we needed a rest from walking, so it was perfect.  And thanks to Opa who took the older kids to Ripley's Believe it or Not.  They were happy to be there and not with the littles or the adults!  We had pizza for dinner and a fun evening hanging out.  The next day we went west.  I am sure Ali will tell the story of what happened to her car, but I also have a car story...  We drove all the way to Spencer, Idaho, which is in the middle of ... nothing...  We got out and went in, but Weston wanted to get something from the car, so he grabbed the keys from me and then somehow locked them in the car.  The guy, Kirk, who worked there happened to be a mechanic, so he took a look and tried to get it open but he was afraid he would damage the car too much.  The closest locksmith was probably an hour away, so he called the .... local... sheriff.  They sent a deputy out, which took an hour or so, but that is ok, we weren't going anywhere.  They were so kind to do that for us--everyone there was just great!

The kids loved looking for opals and just playing around together.  Weston and Aidan really got some good rocks.  It is fun to go to rock shows, but there is something cool about getting them ourselves.  Once we figured out our car situation and had a good lunch (which had been packed in the car) we headed back to Rexburg to go to Bear World.  Since we had already been there once, we didn't want to pay to go through, but they let us do 1/2 off and go to the kiddie play area and petting zoo.  That was way fun and everyone was having such a great time.  The baby deer was probably the highlight.  It was great weather as well--not too hot.  And not like last year when it poured down rain.  We went to Applebees for dinner and then back to Driggs.  We got up in the morning, cleaned the cabin and went back to Utah.

It was just in time to do loads of laundry and tried to do some cleaning up of the house.  We had a ward breakfast/party on Saturday and Stake Conference that night and the next day.  I packed everything back up for the kids and dropped Aidan and Weston off at cousins and Elise and Brennan at Norma and Elaine's.  Then I went to Girls Camp.  It was actually a lot of fun and the girls had a great time (which is what matters, right)?  The stake chose the theme GNOMES (God Needs Obedient Missionaries, Especially Sisters) and I was in charge of doing some type of prank, so I made up Gned the Traveling Gnome.  It turned out really cute and everyone loved it.  It works similar to being Booed at Halloween, but Gned was moved around from ward to ward. 

I will fill you all in on the rest of our travels, activities, etc next time, as now we have spilled over into July.  Love to you all!

Cuz Chron June

Brennan for Cuz Chron:
I learned a lot at Kindergarten.  I learned 5 things.  I learned cursive and math and reading. 


Weston for Cuz Chron:

At our Daw family reunion my cousins and I were whittling.  I made a sword and two knives.  The two knives are my favorite because they were really hard and they look really nice.  They both have lines that are deeply cut for the handles.  My cousin Collin made a really cool knife, too.  It was really fun whittling.

Aidan for Cuz Chron:

We went to the Opal mines in Spencer, Idaho. There was a big pile of rocks and dirt from the mine that we could look through for opals.  The opal has rainbows in them.  I got a blue opal with stripes in it.  I really liked it.