FisHiN' FuN

On Memorial Day we were all about water fun. It was a hot day so we met up at the pool. Then the kids decided that they wanted to fish in the pond so Bret got out his fishing gear and was willing to please.

Dax-the mighty fisherman!! I think he stood there long enough to get a picture and then was off. He must get his fishing patience from his dad!!


I think was really going to have a shot at catching a fish in this stocked pond. Dax has already made it to to the rocks to play.

Well, now we know that there are really fish in there. Great catch Bret! What a lunker!

Brian is still standing there.....Trace and Cole will be his sidekicks for a while. Still no fish.

Wow! Cambri caught one too!! Great job! Well these were the only catches today so Brian's streak lives on! We still love ya!

Swimmin' with the kids is better anyway!! What a super day! We love it when dad has a day off of work!

tHiS BiTeS!!!!

So this is the morning after!!!! WOW - THAT BITES!!! I had the thought before we all slept out on the tramp that we should spray with bug spray but I think I have seen 1 mosquito since we moved here, so I decided not to go and find the OFF. Well the poor faces of the children!!! They woke up with smiles and the.....chicken pox? No, they were almost eaten alive by the bugs! I was absolutely sick. I only have a picture of poor Trace but don't worry Avery's face looked the same. Dax didn't have so many on his face but had one on his ear that made him look like Dumbo. They all looked terrible!!!! Brian & I that slept right next to them did not even have one bite on us!?! I guess the silver lining of this is that before we fell asleep the kids wanted to sleep on the tramp with us every night all summer and now not so much.

OuR BaCkYaRd CaMpOuT!

Over the weekend Brian decided that we were going to have a backyard camp out, so he made the fire and I found the blankets! The kids were so excited that even mom and dad were in it for an all nighter! We all were going to sleep under the stars on the trampoline!

This is our wimpy little fire. We only had two logs left from our last fire and we didn't want to go buy 2 more gold plated logs at the store! What a rip off it is to buy some firewood here!!
I think that Trace is a little concerned about the fire!
Here are the troops all nestled in their beds! We had almost every blanket we own on the tramp, which if you know me...that's alot of blankets!!!
I was telling the kids to pretend that they were asleep so I didn't have to stay awake to get a picture of everyone sleeping...Trace just couldn't do it. The pressure of a straight face!
There we go he had to turn over if he was going to play the part! So we all slept outside and Brian and I decided that it was much more comfortable out there when you are little. I am also very sad to say that B and I got a little chilly in the night and the next morning we found out that the low for the night was 70 degrees. Oh my, that is sad!!! I am sure that kids had all of the blankets!

a HaRd DaY's WoRk!

Another hard day at the pool with our cousins Gabbi & Cambri! We are going to have a great summer!
We are pooped and we need to work on our tans!!!

iT's oVeR!!!

Yea!! Dax made it thru the first year of school! I can not believe how far you have come this year. When school started and you came home and let me know that you said "I told that lady flatout I can't read!" Wow - did he really say that? Yes, he did!! Now we are at the end of the year and you are reading, again I say WOW!!!! When I read on your report card that you didn't tell your teacher what the four coins were and what they were worth and your answer to me was, "I figured she knew, she asked all of the other kids - how many times does she need to be told!" All I can say is WOW! I just love your honesty and can't wait to hear what you will come up with next! I have loved taking you to school and picking you up at the end of the day and hearing EVERYDAY that school was good! That's all everyday....."How was your day? Good. What did you do today? Good. Did you learn anything new? Good!" That was the answer every single day of Kindergarten. I have loved watching you learn and grow and make new friends. You are such a good boy and a joy to our family. We love you!!! Dax and Mrs. Richards on the last day of school.



All the kids were able to go around and sign each others yearbook and signing shirt. Dax came up to me and said "I am so glad that my name is DAX I can sign way faster than Caroline." I am so glad that I was able to do something right for him!!! What a stinker!

His class playing Musical Chairs! Holy Moly this game takes a long time with 28 kids in the class!!

My friend Dylan M. At least he doesn't have to be Dax R for the rest of his school career!!

Dax and the girls! I think that Dax was a favorite of all of the girls in his class!

Dax and his buddy Maxwell (I found out thru Maxwell's mom, because my answer was - good) were teased by Jackson because they mostly wore collared shirts and dressed to nice. I think that they look great and if that is all Jackson can up with to tease them about I think they are A OK. I think they look handsome!! WE LOVE YOU BUDDY!!!

ThE SeASoN eNdER!

So it is the last game of the T-ball season and I actually think that Dax had a great time. I would say that he is not the most aggressive player by far, but all in all not to bad. I did after the first game have to bribe him a little because if the ball did not come right to him he would not go for it all. He told me that the coach told them to stay in their positions. I completely agree with that theory but of course if you do not actively move toward the ball in T-ball you will never touch it. So after the first game I told him that I would give him a dollar for every ball that he got and threw to 1st base. When Brian heard me tell this to Dax he thought that maybe I was feeling generous and a little rich. ( He missed the first game, he was out of town.) I assured him that he had nothing to worry about. The next game he made $4.00. Much better!!! So I thick we both won in the deal....he made a little money and I could stand to watch the game!!

Dax's swinging for the skies!!
I love a happy face! WATCH THE GAME- SO YOU KNOW WHEN TO RUN!!!
Dax with his medal! Always a favorite part of the year!!
This is the Red Cardinal team!
Dax's fan club! What a cute fans!!!

FriEnDs!

Trace and Avery right now are the best of friends or are beating on each other!! Dax had a birthday party at the pool and a parent was asked to come since there was no lifeguard. I thought a lot of help I am going to be since I would then be taking these two. But to my surprise they did really good! They just played and giggled in the baby pool for 4 hours! I love these days! I don't have a picture of Dax at the pool because I wonder if that boy ever comes up for air! What a fish!
This is just another day at our house. I think we get all of the costumes out at least once a week! I really don't mind that they like to play in them since I always think that they are overpriced. This is Avery's 18 month old costume and Dax's 4 year old costume! So with a little squeezing and some rolling it is practically the same picture that was taken 2.5 years ago!

This is when they are showing their muscles right before they attack each other! Avery will not like this game for to much longer - Trace can just about take her down every time now!!

WaTeRsKiINg!

Last weekend we were able to go water skiing with some of our friends. This is some of the troops ready to jump in! Avery, Kaila, Dax & Jayden. They had these smiles on the entire time. We had a great time and were so excited to go. We were stuck in construction for 2 hours on the way up to the lake and I was sure glad that Brian wasn't driving because I can not imagine the road rage! But we made it to the lake and the weather was great, the kids were great and it was a great day!!
This is Dax with what I think is the only sign that he knows! FASTER!!!

Avery and Kaila at their top speed!! Kaila was saying slower but I am afraid that we would have past them in reverse if we were to go any slower!! They were perfect tubing partners. We tried to have Dax and Kaila ride together but she didn't like his boating signals!

Trace parked himself right here in the back of the boat. I think he was wondering if the girls wanted to kick it up a notch? What a cutie!

Dax water skiing!! I love smile on his face when he is behind the boat! They had some fancy kid skis that in theory are a great idea but I wonder if they ever actually had kids try them before they mass produced them? The rope pulls from the front of the skis and there is no pull in the arms. So what happens is the skis get pulled out from underneath the poor sap and they can't ever stand up! The great thing about Dax is that he doesn't really mind crashing or being drug behind the boat! We are so luck to have him! I have a feeling that Avery may not have this same attitude! Thanks Knorr Family for inviting us to the lake!!

bAnDoN DuNeS!!

Brian made a trip up to the renowned Bandon Dunes last week with his good friend Brandon. Brandon's wife gave the trip to him for his birthday and asked if Brian would like to go with him. Brian never passes a chance for 3 days straight of 36 holes of golf!?!? I think he is crazy! I also wondered why when you live in AZ and people come down here to golf in April he went to the warm and sunny place of North Bend Oregon!!! So we pulled out all of his warm clothes and off he went. All of that aside he had a great time! It only rained on them for the first 18 holes on the second day.....which I hear is a record from what the group said that has been going for many year. So lucky them!? On the course there are no carts allowed and they are not very easy courses to walk so I was proud that Brian actually rented a pull cart which was much appreciated on the 15th hole of the first day!!! "Charlie" really got him there!! We are glad that you had a great time but we are really glad that you are home!! We Love you!
Brian and Brandon on the course!
This is one group that they played with. The guy in charge had an entire schedule worked out like they were playing their own little Ryder Cup. You can definitely tell who lives in Utah and who in AZ. Shorts.....it was not that warm! I think the warmest it ever got was in the upper fifties. So every one that lives, say in Park City, thought it was nice and warm, while Brian hasn't seen those temps in quite some time!
"How many times have I hit the ball already? I keep losing track with the sound of the ocean right there!!"

T-baLL!!

Dax is playing T-Ball this year and is very excited about it! At first I was a little worried that he would get my ball playing abilites but from the looks of the first practice he is already better then me. I have some scarred memories from the year that I had to play ball with Hailey and she had to take French lessons with me. I HATED T-ball!!! We were the only girls on the team and Hailey was actually good which only made me look worse. I think that I struck out all year (how do you strike out??) until the last game. I finally made a hit and started running.....what I and everyone else didn't know was that the helmet was way to big for my head. I ran to first and the other team overthrew the ball, so they had me run to 2nd, where the ball was overthrow again. So on to 3rd I went, as I am running, the helmet had rotated and I was now looking out of the ear hole!! To my surprise and probably on purpose, 3rd base missed the ball again and I was headed home! The first hit that I ever made and it was a home run!!!! The crowd was cheering and my mom was crying in the stands!! Her little girl finally made a hit and ran all the bases looking out of the ear hole! Just makes a mother proud! I also never paid attention to the game itself while I was out in the field, it was always dancing and picking flowers for me. I did catch a ball out there one but only because the ball fell into my mitt that was laying on the ground. I was also the kid that would throw that ball and still be the closest one to it, so I would have to run to it and throw it again, and again and again! So I started just running the ball in every time. I am sure that the other kids on the team just hated it when a ball came to me. Well I hope that Dax has other experiences that make me proud! So far so good!!
He was playing 3rd base this time. I love T-Ball because it really doen't matter where the ball is hit the entire team goes for it. GOOD LUCK DAX ON A GREAT SEASON!!! I will be proud no what the outcome!!