2nd Week of June

 Here are some highlights from the 2nd week of June.

Hudson making a fort w/ pillows.

Now that it's Summer time (aka school is out), Nyles and Carter wanted to sleep outside.  The first night they slept on the trampoline, then the next night they slept in the tent.  They said it was a little warmer in the tent. :)

Nyles, Hudson and Carter in the tent ready for bed, though Hudson slept inside.  Hudson spraying the grass w/ the hose.  Then Hudson giving Piper hugs.  He's learning to be "soft" w/ her.

Hudson spraying the grass and me w/ the garden hose.

Steve took the boys to Thanksgiving Point again to see the Dinosaurs.  Dave came w/ Lynsie as well.

Hudson and I checking out the tent, then Nyles, Carter and Piper taking a turn.

On Wednesday, June 8th we celebrated Carter's 6th birthday.  I took the day off so we could spend it together.  Per Carter's request, I made crepes for breakfast.  He then opened up his gifts.  Then the boys had swim lessons.

Carter w/ his cute birthday card from my parents.  

Opening up his gifts: some new clothes and a new Lego set!

That afternoon we played w/ water balloons outside and the hose.  We put water in the toboggans, which Hudson LOVED!  Instant pool!  He thought it was the best! 

That evening we went over to LuDean/Diane's for dinner and cake/ice cream.  Per Carter's request, Steve cooked up some steak.  Diane made her yummy breadsticks to go w/ them.  She also made her yummy Texas sheet cake for dessert.  Plus she found Mickey bars to go w/ them, score!  It brought back good memories from our cruise.  The boys had Mickey bars every night for dessert.  So yummy!  Carter then opened his gifts.  Thanks everyone for all your effort and your thoughtfulness on making his day so special.  We really appreciate you and all you do!

Diane also had a fun game for us all to play, including putting together a dinosaur puzzle.  Carter loves both dinosaurs and puzzles; it was perfect!  

Lynsie was w/ Dave and Joann so she came over as well.  She put one together as well.  

Later Carter doing a puzzle on the Ipad w/ Hudson watching.

Happy Birthday to Carter.

Beautiful flowers in bloom around the yard.

Our Honey Locust trees we planted are also growing well, all 5 of them, and the Dianthus up front.

Nyles and Carter finished their first round of swimming lessons this year (a 2 week course).  It was Carter's 1st official swim lessons since things were closed down due to Covid the last 2 years.  Steve taught him a little bit before we left on our cruise in April, which has definitely helped.  He does everything great, but still needs to keep working on being comfortable swimming on his back.  He's getting there.

The last day of swim lessons they let them jump off the diving board and go down the slides, which they think is really fun!

Friday after I got off work, we drove up to the cabin.  Carter really wanted to go up for his birthday, so we went.  Dave, Joann and Diane were able to come up w/ us as well, which was awesome!

Hudson eating some whip cream while sitting w/ Grandma Joann.  Hudson tickling Grandpa Dave while he replaces a part in the sink.  Carter put together Mr. Potato Head.  Looking out from the deck.

Saturday morning, Dave, Diane, Steve and Nyles went out fishing.  

They caught several Rainbow Trout.

Snowing at the cabin from the Cottonwood trees.

Diane brought a huge bucket to fill w/ water so the boys could play in it.  She also had fun water guns for them to play with, which they loved.  Carter also put together a huge dinosaur puzzle.

Hudson trying to play a game w/ Dave and Diane.  Then playing w/ the water guns w/ Aunt Diane.

We took the boat out after lunch.  Nyles and Carter wanted to try tubing.  Hudson helped drive the boat.

Nyles and Carter tubing.

The boys talked me into trying it as well.  I got in and held Hudson for a little while too. 

Having fun!

Hudson kept wanting to stand up and go to the front of the tube, which I didn't like, so we put him back in the boat after a little bit.  I then went a few more times w/ the boys.  We got going pretty fast (in my opinion) and they got us going outside of the waves and we hit plenty of bumps.  It was actually really fun, though I screamed a lot!. Next time we'll have to bring our swimsuits haha :)

Dave taking us for a ride w/ Hudson standing on my legs.  Piper watching us from the boat.  The water pooled around our butts, so our backsides got wet.  All done bringing the boat back in.

Hudson helping drive the boat some more.  Then he got really tired and snuggled w/ Steve.  

Later back in Dave's truck, he found one of Dave's hat and put it on.  Silly kid.

Dave's truck w/ his boat.  Beautiful view the next morning.  Piper keeping an eye on us while tubing.

Diane made spaghetti w/ her yummy breadsticks for dinner.  Then we sang Happy Birthday to Carter again.  He loves it!

Singing Happy Birthday to Carter at the cabin.

The boys wanted to shoot the bebe guns as well.

Sunday morning there were 4 Sand Hill Cranes out the front of the cabin.  They were really making a lot of noise.  Pretty cool to see though.

Sand Hill Cranes.

Dave, Joann and Diane headed out after breakfast.  We decided to watch church over Zoom that morning and took it easy.  It was a beautiful morning.  The boys played a few more times w/ the water guns, then we packed up to come home.

Hudson spinning Nyles on the chair as we watch church on Zoom.

It was really hot when we got back down to the valley, 96 degrees.  So after unloading, we decided to drive up Little Cottonwood Canyon to cool off.  We went on the Observation Trail up there.  Not too surprising, there was still a good amount of snow up there.

Beautiful views!  It was great to have cooler temperatures and to enjoy nature.  

Hardly anyone was up there as well so it was quiet and peaceful.

Great quotes.

1st Week of June

We are officially into June.  Here are some highlights:

Another beautiful Iris in bloom.  Hudson and Carter playing on the kayak while we cleaned out the shed.  We actually bought another smaller shed from Costco and assembled it.  We them moved all of the stuff we don't use as much into it, in order to have more room in the bigger shed.  It worked out great!  Our pear tree is packed w/ pears coming on!

Nyles and Carter at swim lessons.  After 2 years not doing them due to Covid, we are finally back!  This was actually Carter's first time taking swim lessons.  Before we left on our cruise back in April though, Steve took Nyles and Carter to the pool and gave Carter some swim lessons.  Carter did really great!

Steve also took Carter and Nyles to get their Covid booster shots.  After getting their shots, they got donuts to celebrate.  Hudson enjoyed one too! :)

On Wednesday, Steve, Nyles, Dave and Rob went fishing for White Bass.  They caught a lot of fish!

Cute Hudson eating a snack while waiting for his brothers in swim lessons.

On Friday, June 3rd, we went down to Lehi for an Upstart Graduation for Carter.  He has worked really hard the whole school year.  In addition to his every day preschool (2.5 hours), he came home and did 15 minutes or more a day on the computer.  He's learning a lot and is ready for Kindergarten!  Dave and Joann came down as well, which we appreciate.

Hudson clapping during the program. 

Carter w/ his certificate and then w/ Grandpa Dave and Grandma Joann afterwards.

After the graduation we went over to Cafe Rio for dinner.  Dave and Joann had to head home after dinner, but we went over to Thanksgiving Point to their Ashton Gardens since we were right there in Lehi.  They had their Dinosaur Island on display (through August), so we wanted to go see it.  They have life size dinosaurs you can get close up to, in addition to the beautiful garden to walk through.  

More dinosaurs.  Hudson kept saying "rrrahh" as we got close to another dinosaur.

The big brachiosaurus.  So cool!  And a volcano, Triceratops and more!

Gotta love the T-Rex!  Cute flower and more dinosaurs!

So fun.  We even saw a deer across the way by the golf course.  

Nyles being a monkey and Hudson enjoying his ride seeing all the dinosaurs.

We made it through seeing all 26 dinosaurs.  So awesome!

On Sunday we had our family dinner at our house.  Since we didn't get together in May for Cinco de Mayo (we were just getting back from our cruise), we decided to do it in June!  Diane let us borrow her fun decorations to add to the fun; thanks!  We had dinner in our backyard, then sang Happy Birthday.  Since it's Carter's birthday in June, he wanted to do a dinosaur cake w/ "lava" coming out.

The "lava" dinosaur cake.  Nyles and Lynsie eating their tacos.  LuDean and Diane wearing festive hats.  The elders from our ward also came over and had dinner w/ us, then left.

Party time!

Getting ready to sing Happy Birthday, then playing in the yard.  

Cute Carter by the "pin the tail on the donkey" game.

Singing Happy Birthday to Phill (May birthday) and Jeff and Carter (June birthdays).

We added dry ice to make it look like "lava" was exploding from the cake/volcano.

Nyles blowing out the dry ice.

Carter giving it a try.

On Saturday, I helped w/ a baptism for a boy in our ward.  We all went over as a family to support them.  Afterwards, one of the bishopric members came over to our home and spoke to me.  He let me know that I was going to be released on Sunday.  So Sunday, our whole Primary Presidency was released.  We served in the presidency since March 2018 (so 4 years and 3 months).  Our secretary was released a few months ago, so the new secretary was moved in as the new 2nd counselor.  

It's been an amazing experience and I'm so thankful to have served w/ the children.  They definitely have the Light of Christ w/ them and you can feel it in their countenance, when they speak, and when they sing.  The Lord has prepared them, and they are meant to be here in these last days.

Our Primary Presidency: Lori Barton (2nd counselor), Kyle Moreton (President), Helen Anderson (Secretary) and me (1st counselor).

Great quotes.

Memorial Day Weekend

Friday we headed up to my parents in Idaho to visit them over Memorial Day weekend.  I took the day off work, and the boys of course were all done w/ school.  We headed out in the morning and made a few stops along the way.

We stopped by the lookout in Twin Falls to see the Snake River and also filled up w/ gas.  We've driven by and never technically stopped, so we figured "why not?"

We then decided to stop at the Bruneau Sand Dunes.  Again, we've never stopped and climbed up the dunes.  Since the boys are a little bigger now, we figured they should be able to do it now. 

Steve stayed at the bottom w/ Hudson, while Carter, Nyles and I continued on.  It was a HOT day but we finally made it.  I kept encouraging them to keep going and remind them the view from the top is worth the hike.  I also let them know that it's SOOO fun going down.  When we got there, they both agreed it was worth it.  Nyles especially needed encouraging, but he did it!!!  We think he gets heat exhaustion like Steve does, and doesn't do too well w/ the heat.  We'll have to watch it for sure.

We made it to the top!  Based on their website, "Bruneau Dunes park boasts the tallest single-structured sand dune in North America with a peak rising 470 feet above the surrounding desert floor."

We made it to the top!

Having fun jumping down the dunes.

Getting a picture next to the Bruneau Sand Dunes sign.  Back when Steve and I were dating we went to the Sand Dunes and took a picture on the back side of the Idaho sign.  So we wanted to take another one just for fun.  There were also pretty flowers around at the base of the dunes.

We got to my parent's house later that afternoon.  Hudson wanted to say hi to the kitty.  He loves to play w/ the broom and dustpan also.  Then trying the swing out.  Then finally to bed :)

Hudson catching a ride w/ Grandma on her wheelchair.  The beautiful farm.  Pretty Iris.

Steve, Nyles and my dad went out fishing Saturday morning and afternoon.  

They caught a few fish and saw a double rainbow on their way back.

That afternoon they went fishing again off the dock.

Since we didn't make it up for Easter (the week before our cruise), we did our Easter sack hunt then.  My dad hid the bags, then we all went and found them.  My dad only had to give us a few hints. :)

Yeah we all found one!  Later doing a puzzle w/ Grandma.  It was raining on Memorial Day, so we just stayed in the car to see my Grandpa Hegerhorst's grave on our way home. 

On Sunday, we went up to Boise and attended church w/ Barbara.  Her son Ryan graduated high school on Friday, so after church we got together and had lunch to celebrate.  Daron, Kristi, Wade and Riley came over as well.  It was great seeing everyone and visiting for a little bit.  We went back to my parent's place that night, then went back home the next morning.  Thanks for the fun everyone!

We made good time getting home.  Hudson fell asleep shortly after we got on the freeway and slept for several hours thankfully.  Nyles took a nap as well.  We only stopped once for a bathroom break.  When we got home we unpacked, and also put away all their school stuff.  

Later at home, Hudson laid down on the floor; I guess he was ready for bed.  A pretty wild flower came up.  Carter and Nyles with their school art work from the year.  We put it up in the garage so we can see it all year long, then take it down once school is over.  They can then decide to keep a few of them in their "school box."  It's crazy to think another school year has come to an end.

Great quotes.