Good grief, those blue eyes

My goal in life is to raise nerds

And I'm seriously not kidding.
It appears to be going swimmingly. 

I caught this darling boy enthralled with the National Spelling Bee. Awesome I say.

And I'll add that within 10 minutes, every one of us was watching with him. And sat 

through the bitter end. Or in this case, the awesome end. Seriously, this stuff is riveting.

And there is zero sarcasm there. For real. I love watching kids do hard/amazing things.

Outdoor fun

On Saturday night we hosted a Sunday School party for our cute class of 13-year old kids. We had
pizza and treats and played outdoor games. These are good kids and it was fun to be with them.

The other couple that team teaches with us just got a new puppy.

And brought him along for the fun. I think Nate is smitten.

May phone pics

At the beginning of the month, we headed to my sister's house to roast

hot dogs and s'mores. We had such a fun time! And her sweet kids are so

 kind to our kids. Darling Lucy loves Grace. And the feeling is mutual.

They have the cutest goats ever. Seriously. Nate was a bit obsessed.

Matt's soccer team meeting after his last spring season game. About 42 seconds

after this photo was taken, a water fight erupted (see that white cooler on the right?).

Matt has amazing coaches and great teammates. All of our boys do. We are so grateful.

Annie girl washing down her horse after her lesson. This girl loves horses 

like crazy. I don't blame her. I've always been obsessed with them. 

Add our sweet Annie riding one and I can't stand how much I love it.

My May sky picture. Beautiful yes?

I took Ben out to breakfast after his end-of-year Kindergarten program.

It was so fun just the two of us. This boy truly melts my heart.

Club soccer tryouts. We have three kids playing competition soccer this year. Yikes!

Summer has officially begun!

 The first day of school.

 

The last day of school.

 Do you think they have changed? I do. In looks and brilliance and goodness and

what they are capable of handling. I love these kids so much I can hardly stand it.

Bring on the summer!

Unexpected, but definitely deserved, awards

Yesterday afternoon, Annie brought home a note from school. It said that there would be an awards ceremony the following day (the last day of school) and that Annie would be receiving something. I asked Annie what was going on and she had no idea. Okay then. So the next morning, we headed to the school to sit in the auditorium and find out.

We sat watching while many, many awards were given out. Awards for not missing a day of school (um yeah, my kids will likely never be receiving that award), awards for never being late (we could probably swing that one if we tried harder those couple of days a year we are late) and many other fun awards for students from each of the grades.

And then, right at the end of the assembly, the principal announced just three more awards would be given. And Annie received two of those last awards--the President's Gold Award for Outstanding Academic Excellence and the Citizenship Award. She was one of about 25 kids who received the President's Gold Award and one out of eight or so kids who received the Citizenship Award (for being an outstanding student, friend and person). To say we were proud of her would be a huge understatement. The look of surprise on her face made me a little teary. That girl is good to the core and works hard. What a wonderful mom moment it was to see her recognized for that.

All of the 6th grade right after the younger kids had gone back to their classes.

I spy Annie Allen. Anyone else see her? Hint: just look for a whole lot of cuteness.

 

And an up close shot of Annie and her certificates. We are so pleased

with this darling girl of ours. She is incredible. In every way.

Kindergarten graduate

Oh this boy. 

We love him so much. And truly cannot believe he will be finished with

Kindergarten in a couple of days. He loved his teacher, loved his friends,
absolutely loved school and succeeded beyond what we could ever have imagined.

Way to go Benjamin boy! We love you like crazy.

Sweet baby girl

District Math and Science Olympiad

Yesterday, our awesome Matt participated in the district math and science Olympiad. It was at a
local high school and there were hundreds of kids there from many different schools. It was a
big deal for him to be there, as his elementary school currently has more than 1000 students,
so being a part of it was pretty awesome. He participated in two events: Krypto and KenKen.

I honestly know nothing about either of these games until Matt started practicing to compete in the
school competition to determine if he would be chosen to go to district. They are pretty cool though
and I love how much Matt not only loves math, but how brilliant his mind is when it comes to it.

Competing in Krypto.

And flying through his KenKen puzzles.

That afternoon, there was an awards ceremony at the school for those receiving 

special awards and our Matt received his for participating in the Olympiad. 

(He loves attention a lot, especially from the whole school, as you can see above.)

We sure love this boy and are so thankful for his amazing mind and his incredible heart!

A little too small for the job

But not in his mind. And when you think about it, that really is all that matters.

Cam spring soccer

Matt spring soccer

Ben spring soccer

 

And Ben's coach, this handsome man.

 

Jacob and one of his best friends since childhood. They were both coaching
their boys' teams and happened to be playing each other this particular day.
(The first photo above is of Ben and Gabe's Chase going for the ball. So fun.)

Hero worship

 I walked outside to this sight this afternoon. And almost died from the cuteness.

 That little boy on your left would do whatever it took to stay exactly in line with his dad.

 Sneaking a peak to make sure they are identical.

Give me a call if your sidewalk needs some pretend mowing. But don't say I didn't warn you.

Don't come crying to me if you die from not being able to stand the adorableness.

The moon tonight

Utah mountains

Love her so much