Summertime

This is what we've been up to lately:

Not so lazy days...

Summer has been great for us...different, but good. For the past few years we have spent most of our time in Utah full of lessons and camps and family, but this year with the job and the move we decided to try and plant some roots and vacation later. The boys have been great at keeping up and accomplishing a lot. They've been awesome at chores, workbooks, extra math, reading, learning the states and helping with Pierce. I'm constantly amazed as I watch these boys grow! After chores and schoolwork, we pretty much swim everyday. Thank goodness for fun public pools!

Jace and Parker have been obsessed with the Harry Potter books...Jace on 4 and Parker on 3. They take them everywhere and take every chance to read! Of course, being a reader, I LOVE this!

Blueberry Picking...
There is an awesome blueberry farm close by that was overflowing with plump, juicy berries to pick. We love doing this as a family and collected 11 pounds of berries! Is this the coolest thing? Total honor system for paying for the berries. Love living in a town like this.

All 4 boys ready to fill their buckets.

This kid was CRAZY about the blueberries. When I was holding him, he would grab the branches and pick his own. He's such a cutie. He's eaten WAY too many berries.

All the bushes were so full. It made the picking especially fun. 

We did our fair share of taste testing! 

With one bag we made yummy jam and we plan on eating the rest or freezing them. We're thinking of going back and getting some more!

 Painting and Decorating
Even though we are renting, we really wanted everything to feel like home, so we decided to paint the whole house. It turned out great and we (okay, I) love the color (Mike doesn't consider light grey a color)! We've been trying to decorate on a budget too and it's been fun but stressful and taking up lots of our time. Here is a sneak peek of a little bit that is going on (like the tags still on things?). It's coming along. I'm certainly not someone who wants to decorate forever. Can't wait to be finished!

 Firepit
We've been spending lots of time outside and the boys decided a firepit was a must and you didn't need to ask Mike twice. We'll get lots of use out of this new toy.

 Making Friends
It's been so great to make new friends! We've been having families over to our home and spending time at others' houses and we love our new neighborhood and ward. We feel so lucky.

Frog Catching
My boys are living their dream with a creek in our backyard full of frogs and other animals, plus deer, squirrels, rabbits, etc. scampering around our yard! They were especially proud of this yellow belly toad they grabbed. They come to the house caked with mud and lots of smiles...except when James came back with a leech sucking blood out of his foot; that was gross and less than fun, but he was super brave and pulled it off his foot himself with no tears.

Garden Spoils and Yardwork
We planted a garden and it's been giving us lots of vegetables, such a fun first attempt! We love walking outside each morning to see what is new. We can't wait to keep harvesting. We love having space for a garden and a yard to enjoy. It's been awhile since we've had a significant amount of yardwork, but we sure do now! It takes lots of time on Saturday but it's good for all of us.

 Bouncing Party
To get to know the kids their ages, we invited all the kids from each of the boys' primary classes plus their siblings to a fun bouncing and pizza party at a local bounce spot. There were over 40 kids and their moms who came to play with us. It was a great way to break the ice and get to know everyone and lots of fun. If we ever move again, we'll do this again too.

Life has been busy, relaxed and great all in one. We are so grateful to have found a lovely house in an awesome ward and neighborhood. We really felt like we were led here and this is the place our family is supposed to be. So far, we love it and are enjoying getting settled in our new town!

A Fiery Fourth

This year the 4th in Michigan was HOT, so we were so excited to go boating with our fun friends the Tolberts and a few other families from our new ward. The boys LOVED being out on the tubes and the moms and dads even battled it out behind the boat. It was a great day full of friends and fun.

Before the good times started, there was some work to accomplish...have I mentioned that moving is a never ending "to do" list? In fact around noon Jace said, "I can't believe we have to do so much work on the 4th of July! This is not a fun holiday."

Boating was positively the highlight. We had a great time and were shocked to have the lake almost completely to ourselves. I guess Michiganders can't take the heat :)

The big boys heading out for their ride.

Jace and Darity were pretty tough.

Parker and Sydney kept it a little calmer

At the end of the day, they found a tree swing. Shouldn't every little boy have a tree swing into a lake in their life? I think so.

We capped the night off with a dessert bar and backyard fireworks. Bedtime was VERY late. What a day! We had such a blast and are so grateful for fun, generous new friends. Lucky us!

The Little Moments

 I promised myself to capture the little moments as well as the big ones, so here are a few:

Father's Day!
This was a big moment, but with the move it was a bit rushed and crazy. That being said, we still think he is the GREATEST dad around. Thank you for taking care of all of us. You are the best...we love you more than you guess.

 Nighttime Snuggles
Every night these boys ask us if they can sleep together and every night we say no and every night we move one of them back to their own bed. In fact, the first night at our new house Parker exclaimed, "But I'm so far away from them now!"  Keep in mind they only sleep about 3 feet away from each other. When I asked all the boys when they thought they might want their own room, all 3 stated emphatically, "Never!" It's really sweet. Most nights Parker will read a story or two to James. Lately he's been reading him snippets of Geronimo Stilton and Harry Potter. I love coming in and seeing this.

 Naked Bathing Baby
Yes, still the cutest and most loved baby around. At 9 months he's a crazy mover...crawling everywhere, waving, clapping, pulling up on everything, squatting and trying to stand on his own. It's obvious he doesn't want to be left behind. We love all his new and happy sounds and are all positive he's saying many intelligent things. He's still happy and smiley and such a light to our family. Each day I'm so grateful that my last is this great. At his 9 month appointment he was only in the 18th percentile for weight and 10th percentile for height...he must have hollow bones because these serious rolls say differently.

Baseball Wrap Up

We had a great baseball season. The team came together and it was great fun watching Jace and Parker play on the same team this season.  The league we play in is one of the oldest Little Leagues in the country and was the first to allow girls to play in Little League...they went to court for Carolyn King and changed Little League forever. When they were giving the speech at the picnic, I got a little teary and I'm not nursing or pregnant! I just love hearing about people doing the right thing.

We ended up 3rd in the tournament, but should have been 2nd and been able to play for the championship. Oh well. The closing ceremonies were really fantastic. A small town, getting together for a picnic with lots of good potluck picnic food, fun friends, and lots of baseball boys and trophies. I love the feeling of baseball out here. We were sad to see the season end.

I loved watching both boys play and practice

We were so proud of Parker for working so hard. He was so small and young and held his own!

Jace was an awesome hitter this year. He ended the season with a batting average in the mid 700s. Awesome!

Coach Mike and Coach Jason. Love any man who is willing to commit to coaching. It takes so much time and effort and we are so grateful!

The boys getting their trophies

the dugout