May

Some pictures from home...the kids lovin' on Panther in the morning.

 

Stockton's homemade hat.

 

Stockton's superheroes.

 

Stockton and Brynn loved taking a few walks in this stroller that they discovered tucked away in the corner of the garage.

 

Since January, Molly's school has been working on running a full marathon.  They'd run a couple miles each week and then they had the chance to finish the last mile at the Provo 1/2 marathon. 

Molly was excited to sign-up and get a free T-shirt.

She was also excited that she got to run with her friends.

Molly, Jade and Bailey Boynton

 

It was such a fun atmosphere and a medal at the end made it even better!

I ran alongside Molly while the rest of the family cheered them on near the finish line.  These have to be two of the cutest cheerleaders around!

Stockton's training wheels got broken one afternoon.  We thought we'd have to go out and buy some more, but Stockton just hopped on and with very little help, was cruising away without the training wheels.  We were all surprised and excited for him!

He loves riding his bike all over.  I haven't always been a stickler on him wearing a helmet, but that rule has changed.  He is so crazy and fast that a helmet is now mandatory if he wants to ride his bike.

Brynn also loves bike rides.  Last summer I inherited my parent's old bike seat that can attach to my bike and it is one of Brynn's favorite things to do.  I can always use it as a distraction for her.

This is just a random picture of breakfast time.  I think it's funny because all the kids are unintentionally making dorky faces.

Molly's second friend to move was Rebecca.  We sure love Rebecca and were sad to see her go but they have become fun pen-pals now.  I loved pen-pals growing up and so it's almost as exciting to me when a letter arrives in the mail as it is to Molly.

Rebecca Greer and Molly

Molly and I hiked the Y with my super good friend (and visiting teachee), Staci, and her son, Easton.  It was a great Saturday for a hike, just really beautiful weather.  The hike is a little steep at times (at least for me, I'm out of shape!) but you can't beat those views!

Easton Lee and Molly

 

I love Stocky in his white shirt.  He likes looking like Daddy.  Here he is getting his tie tied.  Justin can't tie it when he's looking straight at it, it has to be from the same angle that he ties his own ties every day.  But I don't know how to tie one at all, so it's a good thing he's around. :)

Stockton had a mohawk for about 2 minutes.  Justin says next time he's going to leave the mohawk.

One day I caught Brynn lying on the couch with a hymn book (upside down) singing Frozen songs.  It was cute.

She gets a little silly here.

Our Primary had a Mother/Son Superhero party.  Stockton went as Captain America and had a great time running around the gym with his little superhero buddies.

Since Stockton has a summer birthday, he got to celebrate it a little early at school.  I took in cupcakes (wish I could have made my own, rather than buy them at the store) and his whole class enjoyed them, even Brynn.  If she wasn't so tiny, you would have thought she was part of the class...she lined up with them, sat on the rug, sang the songs, and even found a little friend at recess.

Can't believe that Stockton will enter Kindergarten soon!  I am so not ready for that!!

Justin had the activity one night for FHE and he chose a family soccer game.  It was girls vs. boys and I can't seem to remember who won.  But I do remember having a ton of fun and laughing hysterically when Brynn tripped over her own feet and landed not-too-gracefully on her behind!

Stockton's last day of school was a field trip to the Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point.  Thanks to an awesome friend who watched Brynn, I was even able to go.  I think Stockton was maybe most excited to ride the bus...equipped with car seats even!  

Stockton and Makaibree Tripp

We had a fun time seeing all the dinosaurs and everything else the museum has for kids.

He was accidentally placed in the wrong age group and by the time his teacher noticed it was way too late in the year to switch him.  I wasn't concerned, he was ahead of all the other kids (they were all younger), and right on track for Kindergarten, and he had already made friends in the class.  The only downside was that he didn't get to be in any cute graduation program.  Oh well.  Here he is with his teacher, Miss Dixie.

I had a piano recital.  These kids are great and I really love teaching them!

Lizzie Peacock, Saedree Riley, Anni Riley, Kaylen Burton, Olivia Huff, me, Olivia Fordham, Jade Boynton, Bryson Riley, Jaron Burton, Molly Goodrich, Dallin Burton, Ashlin Burton

My numbers are growing...two years ago I had only 3 students at my recital, and this year I had 12!  I even had one that wasn't comfortable performing so she opted out.  We had to change the location to the Primary room because we couldn't fit in my house anymore.

Here are Molly's two songs.

Stockton's sport of choice is baseball.  Sometimes Justin will go out and play catch with the kids or pitch to them.  He can't wait until they're a little more grown-up so they can just go outside and play catch (and have them actually catch the ball and throw it back).  Molly is getting pretty good at it, but she is Ms. Coordinated so it's not too surprising.  Stockton's excited to sign up for T-ball next spring.

We had Brett and Missy stay with us for a weekend and the kids were super excited about that.  They loved taking Missy for walks.

We let Brett have Molly's bed, complete with pink sheets, and Molly got to sleep with Stocky and Brynn, on an old army cot that Justin found when he was cleaning out a scout closet at the church.  We planted flowers, ordered take-out, put Brett to work helping Justin in the garage, went to church, and barbecued on Sunday.  It was a fun weekend! 

We celebrated Brett's birthday with a barbecue in Sandy.  Grandma and Grandpa got a new hammock and that was the fun thing for all the kids.

Molly's last day of school couldn't come soon enough!  I was ready for a break!  Here is her first day again, last August:

And here is the last day of school, May 30, 2014:

A little taller, growing her bangs out, another tooth gone, and much, much wiser I'm sure!

I was excited to be done with school but Molly was actually pretty sad about it.  Mostly because of this lady right here:

Ms. Stanton was incredible.  It was her first year and she truly went above and beyond and put so much work into her classroom and students.  She really cared about each kid...I really can't say enough good about her and about the positive experience Molly had being in her class.  So glad we lucked out and got her!  Molly actually cried a couple times that last day because she was going to miss her teacher so much.

That last day was only a half day so to celebrate school being out and summer beginning, I took the kids on a short hike in Payson Canyon.  The Grotto is one of my favorite hikes, just because it is so kid-friendly.  Brynn can do the whole thing by herself.  They love walking across the big logs that are cut in half and the waterfall at the end is fun to play around in as well.

 

On our way home, we drove by the Payson Temple just to see the progress being made.  I'm still in awe at how grand and beautiful it is and can't wait to see the inside when it's finished sometime next year!