Summer Storms

Utah has some great summer storms from rain to lightening and thunder to hail.  When we went to school at the U we had some of the best storms we've ever seen.  This was a hail storm from a few weeks ago that was amazing.  Blake and I were about to go to the store when it started raining and then pouring and then hailing.  We waited it out and loved the scenery.

The streets and roofs were so white it looked like it had snowed! (In JUNE!)

We've had some great lightening storms too that have reminded me of great storms at the cabin (from growing up) where we would count between lightening and thunder to see how far away the lightening is.  So, we too have counted to see how far away it is.  Angel Moroni even got struck by lightening at the new Oquirrh Mountain temple!  We have heard of quite a few lightening strikes.  I guess we won't jump on the trampoline in the lightening storms!

Temple Open House

We went to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple Open House.  What a great experience!  It's amazing being so close to so many temples!  The city of South Jordan is the first city ever having two temples in it!  We can see three temples at one time!  Draper, Jordan River, and Oquirrh Mountain.  We have loved taking our kids to the open houses.  The spirit is so strong in the temple, even though it hasn't been dedicated yet.  The kids said it felt cozy in the temple.  They both really liked the baptismal font and the brightness in the celestial room.  We went a few weeks ago with some of Will's family and my cousin and her family.

We started with a short video.

 

After touring the inside we walked around the temple to take some pictures.  Here is the spot that the Prophet, Pres. Monson will complete when the temple is dedicated.  The kids loved touching the temple walls.  Here is Blake tracing the numbers.

My cute boys

Sharonda's cute kids

This was a 'secret' door that Camden found on the outside...no door knob! 

(I'm sure it's a fire door from inside)

Our Family

The group: Grandpa Larson, Uncle Ryan, Aunt Carrie, Daddy, Mommy, Grandma Larson, Sharonda, Zaron, Jill, Kevin, Dalton, Blake, Camden, Jill, and Megan.

Danica and Carrie came a week later and Blake and I went again with them.  We hope to take the kids a few more times before August when it is dedicated-what a great opportunity.  It is so amazing that temples are just everywhere around here.  We are used to driving 1-1/2 hours to get to the temple. Now there are 3 within 5-15 minutes!!!  4 within 25 minutes!!!  WOW!

Camden's Last Game

Camden was anticipating this game for quite a while. (He was so excited to have family come to see him play.)  Will's family came down for the temple open house and got to see Camden in action!  He was so excited as he was out at second base and saw Dalton walk up.  He waved to him and saw everyone else too.  

Here is Camden up to bat.

Some of the fan club enjoying snacks during the game....Blake and Lilly

Aunt Carrie, Grandma and Grandpa Larson, Aunt Beth, Uncle Jay, Lilly and Daddy...A few more in the fan club.

Uncle Ryan, and Dalton were also in the fan club with Grandpa Larson.

The last cheer......Braves won!! (Camden is #8)

Camden got the game ball!!!!!  He had an awesome game.  He was the last batter up, the score was tied, bases were loaded, it was the bottom of the last inning, and we had 2 outs!  The pressure was on....(For Daddy and the rest of us, we don't think Camden really understood what was going on).  Camden got up to the plate and hit the first ball that came at him.  It went past short stop and he got a base hit, getting the runner home from third....They won the game!!!!  Camden had the game winning hit!  Once he realized it all he was soooooo excited!!  The coach gave him the game ball!  What a cute boy he is!  

Camden loved his batting gloves this year.  The bat hurt his hands after batting so he tried his gloves and it helped so he wore them at every game.  He would put one glove in his back pocket when he was in the infield and kept one on his throwing hand!  Maybe it was his good luck.  I know baseball is full of superstitions like that?!?  He was sure a cute baseball player and had a great season!  He was always yelling and cheering his team on.  He got so excited when there were good plays.  I will always hear the dugout chants...."Lets go Camden, Lets go!!  Lets go Camden, lets go!  They said it for every boy as they were up to bat, and pounded the bats on the cement in the dugout.  What a fun game!!!!

Daddy's Birthday

We had a fun party at home for Daddy's birthday.  We were planning on going hiking to a waterfall somewhere, but I had strep throat which then Blake got too.  So, we stayed home and had a water fight!  We found some cool water balloons that looked like grenades.  The boys loved attacking Dadddy when he got home from work.

Next we had him open presents.  The boys were so excited for him to open what they got him. Camden gave him cycling gloves.  He really had his mind set on getting them for him.  He was excited for Daddy to open them.

Blake gave him a saw with two handles....he knew what he wanted to get him for a long time. He wanted 2 handles on it so he could saw with Daddy!!!!  Notice Blake's excitement for Daddy to open his present!

36 candles are a lot to blow out, so he got a little help!  (3 on one side and 6 on the other!)  This was my first attempt at a carrot cake!

I hope you had a great day Will!  I am so thankful for you!!  I love you so much!!  Happy Birthday!

Blake's Last Game

Here's Blake and Will at his last game.  Will got to be the assistant coach.  What a challenge it was to coach this t-ball team!  There was not very much parental support out there so it was pretty chaotic at times!  (At this age it should really be one on one...they are only 3 years old!) By the end of the season they figured out the best approach was to have all the kids line up where the pitcher would be and each take a turn fielding the ball instead of tackling eachother every time. I got to help out with the helmets in the 'dugout' and a couple of times when Will couldn't make it on time.  I was called 'lady coach' by a couple of the kids.  Funny!

Blake and Daddy....Go Volcanoes!!

Enjoying outfield

Blake had a shirt that was about 3 times too big.  We had to roll the sleeves just right, tuck it in just right, and put a rubber band at the back of his shirt at the neck to tighten it up just right too.  He is definitely my son....every thing has to be just right!  Oh, shoes had to have the laces tucked under just right too!  He was in heaven though.  He really loved playing and loved looking like a baseball player!  I love this happy smile!

He had a pretty straight throw and wanted to hit a home run every time.  He ate dinner the best the night of a game.  He thought it would help him get a home run!

The last cheer - Blake is right in the center of this picture with the sun on his face.

He loved his trophy!  He played around at the park after his party and carried it with him everywhere!  This is Blake with coach Craig.

Memorial Day

We had a great time on Memorial Day.  

We went to my cousin, Sharonda's house and started the day by turning one pot of flowers into about 20 flowers to take to the Provo Cemetery.  Usually we get together in Bakersfield to deliver flowers to all the family member's headstones with family. And usually Aunt Debbie and Grandma take care of all the flowers.  Wow!  What a task!  So we simplified a little and wrapped flowers onto skewers.  They turned out pretty good actually!

Here is Blake, Megan, Holly, Kevin, and Camden making flowers.

The finished project

This is Aunt Mickey's headstone.  It was interesting to see a different cemetery where most of the headstones were up out of the ground, not just flat.

 We carried around the family history book with pictures to show the kids who's graves we were visiting.  It was a great tool to have and it was amazing that we found so many of them!  

Riggs  Headstone

Bullock's

Right across the street from the Riggs and Bullocks Jill found Zaron's great grandparents headstone!  Everyone was so excited to find it!

Some of the Stewarts

Checking out cool headstones

Our family

Just being silly.  This is at Nana and Dandy's headstone (My great grandparents).

After the cemetery we went back to Sharonda's house for the other traditional Memorial Day activities.   My cousin Brent and his family also came.  We never couldn't get ahold of my cousin Ryan - we missed him.  It is always fun to get together with the Nelsons and Hutchinsons! Wish I would have gotten a group picture of all of us.

We had a barbeque, made homemade ice-cream, rootbeer, and my Mom's potato salad!  (My first attempt at the last two items there!!)  We tried our best to do all the traditions from home (except swim of course!).  Will even made grasshoper pie for me because it was my birthday. Thanks Will, it was yummy!!!  Sharonda and Brent both made yummy treats too...we were not lacking in the treat department, that's for sure!  Sharonda had me blow out candles on the brownies even....needless to say, I also had a great birthday on Memorial Day! 

Here is Blake making the rootbeer.

Camden enjoyed Kevin's x-box because they have the same Star Wars game that Caden has-his favorite game!

It was so nice to get together with family here although we really missed family in Bakersfield too.  We love traditions!  Thanks grandma for making us such traditionalists! :0)  Thanks Sharonda for the fun party!!!

Mother's Day and My Birthday

On Mother's Day I awoke to breakfast in bed!  Will and the boys made me my favorite: French Toast!  (I actually ate it at the table.)  Camden made a great card and flower from school.  They gave me some more great cards and a date to the symphony!  These boys really know how to take care of me!  I'm so lucky to be a mother!  Will also put together our swing for our backyard.  We will have a plaque put on it with Jacob's name on it so when we're out in our yard we can think of him too.  I love being a mom!

For my birthday Will and the boys decorated the house, made cupcakes and got me some great presents!  Blake got me a new game:  The Very Hungry Caterpillar  and Camden got me some new soft socks and foot scrub!  They are so thoughtful!  Will gave me a new running watch. Birthdays are always a fun day!  My birthday fell on Memorial Day this year so we also celebrated it during the Memorial Day festivities!   (Pictures to follow)

The Campout

We finally were able to break out the tent trailer and go camping!!!  We went up in the canyon to a place that just opened Memorial Day weekend.  We went Friday night to Saturday.  It is so fun to be able to get to a great campground in 35 minutes!  

S'mores at the campfire

Getting ready to go fishing

On our way

Two little fishermen, no luck with any fish today.

There was a little patch of snow by our campground so Blake got to try out his snowboard!

Camden enjoyed reading in the tent trailer.  His favorite right now are Magic Treehouse books.

We hiked to a water fall where we walked across this bridge.  Here are my cute boys!!!

We are hoping to go on campouts more frequently now that the snow is almost all gone!