Red Butte Gardens

The Red Butte Gardens are by the University of Utah. We went as a whole family on May 25- first time for everyone (my second time). The day was sunny but windy so we were a bit cold. We brought a picnic lunch and bread to feed the ducks. We stayed 2 hours-ish. The gardens were gorgeous. I think my mom needs to retire there.

Favorite parts include: up-close with a monarch butterfly, smelling all the plants in the herb garden, Bryan laying out by duck pond, the kid garden with water-spitting snakes and running through a snake maze, up close with lots of goldfish, and all the pretty flowers.

Homeschool Art

I am not a natural artist. I used to think I was terrible at it. I have taken some art classes and realize I am pretty decent if I have someone teach me. Usually for me art is messy (Em with paints), tedious (coloring with Ash), and/or frustrating [I'm doing something fun and have to stop because A) kids need something or B) kids tell me I am doing it wrong]. I do have occasion to draw during church to keep kids quiet and it's good. But because art is messy I tend to steer clear of it. As a homeschool teacher, I never really went back after spring break. I'm still on it. Thus pushing me towards creative homeschooling. Tuesday May 24th it's time- art morning with kidlets in the kitchen.

Part one was painting- girls had tempra paints and boy had very watery watercolors. They first painted egg shells (scrambled eggs for breakfast and then rinsed the shells). Then we moved onto egg cartons. Ash painted hers purple, Ems multi-colored. Then we mixed paint into sand to change the color. That proved the trickiest task. Emily made a dark, dark green and Ash had 3 colors- orange, yellow and purple.

Part two we made egg cartons into monsters. We glued on pipe cleaners and poms-poms.

The egg shells we were going to use to crush and then glue on paper as texture. Instead they sat around until Aaron destroyed them. We thought about putting them as fertilizer for flowers. I was unsure if the paint would be a bad idea for the plants, so opted not to.

The sand we let dry and then poured glue on paper and sprinkled the sand on. When we tipped the paper to get the excess sand off, the glue shapes changed but they turned out cute.

It's too bad I threw all the finished projects away before I took pictures. When I'm ready to throw their projects away, it's because I am really ready to my counter space back.

Dressing Up

If I don't have a future diva, I will be very surprised.

Here she has on the lovely purple cowgirl hat purchased while shopping with Aunt Amy, a new blue shirt with her pink shirt underneath, white swimmy jacket on the top, gold beads, white sunglasses that belonged to Carlie, khaki pants, with her new pink ruffly skirt from her birthday and a pink polka dot skirt on the top of that.

Finishing her outfit later was a light blue dog cape, and a green flower purse.

Preschool Graduation

Ashley finished her last day of preschool on Friday May 13th. Her teacher was Beth Peterson, who lives across the street from us. Beth taught the preschool class in a back room at the Buddy Bin daycare. Two neighbor kids, Brooke Lee and David Zobell also attended the same class and it was a carpool dream come true.

Preschool went for 3 days a week and there were 11-12 kids in the class. Each week they they learned about a new letter of the alphabet. They would practice writing it, learn the sign for it, have a show-and-tell object, and also color on a large cut-out letter and glue something on it (B- buttons, K-keys, Q- q-tips, W-wheat, etc) which we have all hung up in the homeschool room. Beth's main focus was to love kids and laugh with the 'wonderment' of learning. Ashley would come home come excited to share what she did. Beth is a great lady and a fun teacher and we were glad we got to have this preschool experience for Ashley.

For graduation the kids sang several fun songs and then put on a play of the 3 big, bad wolves and the 8 little pigs. Bryan, Aaron and I got to come watch her perform. Aaron really wanted to sit in the chairs and be a big boy too.

Cali trip in May

California trip commenced as we left our house Tuesday afternoon May 3rd; car packed and kids' loaded. First stop was a nice campground 20 miles west of Zions National Park in southern Utah. We had a good first day of driving (=no rain, minimal crying) and made it to the campground early enough to set up, check out the local caterpillar scene (it was intense), make a fire and cook smores. For the first time in his life Aaron slept well while camping. I am giving all thanks to Bryan's good ideas to get a noise maker and use his propane heater. I was skeptical of both but it worked out good. Wed morning we hiked for a couple hours in Zions, came back for swimming in the campground pool and were on the road again at 3pm headed to Grandma Judy's house in Los Angeles area.

Thursday was our beach day. We had a chill morning hanging out with Grandma and got to Sunset Beach around 12ish. We stayed a couple hours and had a great time. The wind was a little chilly but the sun was warm. Family activities included: lots of sunscreen, Aaron throwing sand all over the blanket, Ash crying because sand got on her legs mixed with sunscreen, Emily and Bry heading to the ocean to try it out for a while, Ashley crying from a lady bug on her shoulder, Aaron trying the water and deciding it was a little too cold, surfer watching, Ash and Em sea shell collecting, Bry and Em building a huge sand castle, me passing out snacks and hunting for shells with girls, Aaron deciding he loved the 4 ladybugs we found so he and I let them crawl around our arms, burying Bryan in the sand, and Aaron laying out full body on the sand for warmth.

Friday the 6th we said hello to lots of family and people arriving for the wedding weekend fun. Bryan and I enjoyed a run on flat roads and balmy weather. My mom drove in.

Saturday my uncles Bill and Jason and Bryan took a long intense bike ride. Some injuries sustained. 2:30 p.m. was my cousin Aaron Cassaro's wedding to Kelly. The couple and ceremony were both lovely. The reception dinner and party afterwards was a fun night with Bry and my fam. The kids enjoyed playing with their second cousins the Muldunes.

Sunday was church and Mother's Day. I got to sleep in, Bry bought me beautiful roses and made a yummy breakfast, picture frames and cards from my girls, and I got chocolate. Dinner that night was 30+ family members from my mom's side eating a really nice BBQ dinner together. Fun to see everyone and get to chat.

Monday was Disneyland with us, my mom, and Amy, Bill, Tiffany and Hannah Foster.

We started off the day with Emily tap dancing with Alice in Wonderland and the Mad Hatter. Followed by a chat with Mary Poppins and Bert. Ash wasn't so sure.

Where all your dreams come true. Notice Emily's big smile in all the pics. The weather was kind of chilly in the morning and evening, but warmed up nicely during the day.

All of us cuties. We spent most of the day all together.

Hannah, Tiffany, Ashley and Emily all got their faces painted and were very lovely.

Aaron and Holly spent a lot of time together so the rest of the gang could do some bigger rides. The little rascal with tons of energy and fun followed by his adoring Grammy. Thanks mom!

We had a great Disney day. We didn't lose anyone- hooray! Pouting was done by Emily after Space Mountain b/c it was too scary and by Ashley who didn't know she was too short for Indiana Jones until she got to the front of the line. Some favorite rides were: Small World, Buzz Light Year, Space Mountain (which was Ashley's first big roller coaster ever and she did great), Tikki Room, Dumbo Elephants, Winnie the Pooh and Indiana Jones Adventure. We all finished the night by grabbing some pizza.

We left California on Tuesday afternoon and stayed in Las Vegas. We went swimming that night and all had fun going between the hot tub and warmish pool. I tripped on the escalators and hurt my ankle. Wednesday morning Bry, Aaron and Ems took another turn in the pool while Ash cartooned and I packed. We got home safely Wednesday night around 8 p.m.

Driving Home

Yesterday on our way home from our trip to Cali Aaron was hungry. I took a few bites of a pear and then handed it to him. It kept him happy and busy for a while (also very messy). I later hear "eyeballs." He had eaten down to the seeds in the middle and had found the pears' eyeballs. Made me smile.

Ashley is 5

My baby girl turned 5 on Wednesday, March 30th. The day started off with breakfast in bed of waffles with regular syrup and pink milk.

After that it was off to preschool where she got to bring marshmallow treats and wear a purple crown.

For lunch I made her Dora chicken noodle soup. And then she got changed into her blue sparkly dress for her party. We got ready for the party by setting the table with her princess tablecloth, plates, cups and napkins. Her purple cupcakes were store-bought with Tangled princess ring for a top.

I went to volunteer at Emily's school while she watched a movie. The friend birthday party was to start at 4:30 when Emily got home from piano lessons.

For her party we played a hide-and-seek game called Sardines. Emily is showing Aaron her hurt knee from Sardines.

Then we played Duck, Duck Goose. Aaron decided he really liked touching heads and saying 'duck' so the game was mostly laughing at Aaron.

From left to right: Emily, Sarah, Ashley, Maddie, Jeni, Aaron, Cami, and Brookie. Five friends since she was five. Then we did the limbo, opened presents, and ate cupcakes and ice cream cones. Then the kids got to work coloring on our cardboard house; which they loved.

The party was a success- kids went home happy and we'd only had outbursts of tears by Emily and Cami. Ashley felt celebrated and yet it wasn't too much in one day.

The birthday fun continued by going to the swimming pool later that week, packages, phone calls, and a whole other party with the Fosters.