Any time the presents come out, Ike thinks that they are for him. On his birthday he gets a dog cookie in the bag so he thinks that he will find a cookie in the gift bags every time we get them out. After the presents are opened we have to put one of his treats in the bag so he can open it. It is the funniest thing. Love this picture as he gazes longingly at the presents.
Happy Birthday Graby! I seriously cannot believe that he is 14! Where has the time gone? This year is a family birthday so I felt bad that it was kind of a boring day. Once Joey got home from work we went to Chom for dinner- Gray's choice. We came home and let Gray open his presents. He was so excited to see that he got an Occulus 3. He could not believe it. We finished the night with some caramel brownies and icecream. Hope that Gray felt loved today. We are so grateful to have him in our family. He is always looking out for his siblings and is just a blessing to all of us.
Gabriel's family is so kind to always invite Nash to tag along. This trip, they are going to Bryce Canyon to camp for the week. We got Nash packed with the necessary gear and snacks. Hope he has the best time!
It did not take long for Tag to see the beauty in the ease of having a buzz for the summer. Minus a little strip where Har forgot to put on the guard, it turned out perfectly. He is so excited to not have to worry about doing his hair all summer. We cannot wait to see how fast it will grow back.
We got up a little early today and decided to go to Top Golf. We got there a little after 10am and we were immediately given a bay to start the fun. This Top Golf went pretty close to the normal Childs games. Joey and Nash were the leaders and I was the worst player. It is so fun though to go and enjoy some family time. And we of course got some donuts to add to the fun. After working up an appetite, we went to Goodwood for lunch. It was so good. I would say that Goodwood is one of our family favorites. I love when Joey and I have a day off and we can enjoy some time together as a family. Such a fun day.
The only thing that could make this Memorial Day better was being able to hear from our missionary. He had another great week. It is such a blessing to know that he is happy and that he is really enjoying his mission. He did not get transferred and will be staying in Elizabeth for this one. He loves the area so he is happy about that. He had a great week of missionary work. Everything got worked out for Jodenski's baptism so Luke was relieved. He is spending his PDay with Elder Christopherson's district and he is looking forward to hanging out with one of his buddies. Hope that Elder C enjoys his next week!
Nash decided that he wanted to buzz his head for the summer and thankfully Har was more than willing to help him. So within a few minutes all of his hair was gone. He looks so old! Here is to a maintenance free summer!
Today I had the opportunity, after nine years, to speak in sacrament meeting. I felt that in order to get me through the stress of speaking, I could look forward to dinner at the pie. So after church, we changed our clothes and went to the pie for dinner. It was seriously so good. After dinner we decided to go on a hike. We were going to do Cascade Springs but it was still closed after the winter, so we drove to Silver Lake and hiked around it. Minus a fall into the water by Tag, poor guy, we had a great time. We came home to enjoy some cake and berries. Pretty much the perfect day. I love spending time as a family. We missed Luke for sure. Joey and I certainly have been blessed with the most amazing kids. They for sure make us better for getting to learn from all of them.
When Joey went to Poland and Har and I modified our room, we decided that we would slowly update the furniture in there. We have gotten a new dresser and a new sofa table, but we could not find any nightstands that we liked. The nightstands that we have are from a parade of homes and are great quality. After searching for a bit, Joey decided to redo ours. He stained them black and put on new knobs. They look amazing! I am so glad that he thought to do that and I love them. They are perfect in our room.
Life has been so busy and the weather has been very unstable, but today we finally got to get our garden in. This should be the year that we finally get raspberries which will be so exciting after 3 years! We also planted strawberries again, tomatoes (roma, cherokee purple, and yellow cherry tomatoes), jalepenos, cilantro, and bell pepper. So excited to be able to grow most of the needed items to make salsa. Hopefully we will have a great garden year.
Today was Tag's last day of school. It was the last day for the other kiddos too but they have not gone all week. We greeted the kids on the corner with the annual popsicle party. Can't believe this is the last time I will do this. Life really does go by too fast. Congratulations Tig! Tag opted out of the drive thru graduation so this is the only picture that I have. Such a cute boy!
After a lot of years, today was the final dance festival for the Childs family. Tag and the rest of the 6th grade performed the dance with the long sticks. Tag was so nervous about this one and almost backed out at the end. BUT he was so brave and he really did an amazing job. Tag forgot to tell me that he needed to wear a white shirt for the performance. Thankfully I saw a bunch of sixth graders walking to school in their white shirts and it reminded me. I was prompted to run to Smiths Marketplace and they actually have a whole Carhartt section. It was perfect. He was super excited when I showed up at school with the shirt for him. So grateful for little reminders when I am a little overwhelmed! May definitely falls in that catagory.
After the groomer ghosting us for a bit, she finally got Ike on the scheduled. He was pretty gross. She could not salvage any of his beard. She also had to clean out his ears which he was not happy about it at all. She actually had to muzzle him to avoid him biting her! I love this picture of Ike because you can tell he is a bit upset with me for putting him through all that. But boy does he look clean!
Harlee has decided that she will not be doing dance next year. So tonight we got to watch her last dance recital. She performed in the opening number which had a 80's theme. She looked very decade appropriate in her leotard and headband. The next dance she did was her jazz to Love Story by Taylor Swift. This is my favorite one this year. Har has worked so hard and I just love seeing her perform. Her next number was Uncharted Waters, her lyrical jazz. This is such a pretty dance. She ended the recital by having a special duet part in the finale with Miah. It has been such a great place for Har to learn and love dance and to learn how to Smarkle!
Since Nash will soon be heading to high school, he joined all of the 9th graders for Lagoon Day. They had to meet at the front runner by 7:15am and they took the train to Lagoon. Nash and his friends headed to Cannible first and did not have to wait too long. The lines lengthened after and they only got 6 more rides. He still managed to have a great time with his friends. Can't believe he is moving onto high school. Where did the time go?
Tag has always been a great artist. Tomorrow is nerd day at school and Tag decided that he did not want to dress up. But his contribution to the day was his artwork. I love it! Such a cute and talented kid. Happy Nerd Day!
Due to Don's wedding we scheduled our Mother's Day celebration for the following weekend. We started the celebration with breakfast at Village Baker. It was fun to sit and visit. We then walked over to FIKA. It was my mom's first time and she loved it. It was so relaxing that I swear I fell asleep for a bit. I really needed that. I think that we found a new tradition. What a great day!
Har was a little late to history class the day that they were choosing their final project topics. It was slim pickings when it was Har's turn so she chose the Zimmerman Telegram. She decided that for extra credit, she would make a cake with part of the telegram written on the cake. It was a big undertaking but it turned out great. She ended up getting 185/200 points. Great job Har!
Jeremy flew in on Saturday a couple of hours before the wedding and stayed with me until Monday afternoon. It was so fun to have him around. Jeremy is just one of my best friends. We Marco Polo almost daily and I love hearing about how his days are going. He is so fun to be around and he brings the fun. He also has the strongest testimony and is such a great example to me. I am so grateful to have the relationship that we do. I truly look up to him. I hope it is not too long until he comes to visit again.
Nash has been thinking about getting his patriarchal blessing for a little while now. Harlee told him of how they did a devotional at HXP b...
