The Unofficial Start of Summer

We kicked off the summer with a fun Memorial Day!  First, we hiked to Stewart Falls, above Sundance Ski Resort, in the morning with Nana, Poppy, Dan, Kristin, and Landon...

This is always a fun hike!  It's about 2 1/2 to 3 miles round trip, but it isn't that hard of a hike.  By the time you get to the waterfall though, it feels so good to feel the mist in the air and cool down a little bit.  Here's some pictures from near the falls...

Cohen somehow managed to use his ninja skills to make it to this rock in the middle of the stream without getting wet...

Cousin hugs when we got back to the parking lot.  Vivvie and Landon used to be pretty close to the same height, even though they are over two years apart.  But, thanks to Vivvie's growth hormone shots, she's outgrowing him...for now.  We'll see how long that lasts...

That evening, we had a barbecue at our house.  Here are the cute girls eating on the grass...

The whole gang...

I made this really fancy, but very easy, watermelon feta side dish.  You just cut chunks of watermelon, and then hollow out a little semi-circle in the top.  You fill that hole with feta cheese, then drizzle with olive oil, and finish off with salt and pepper.  It was heavenly...

We also made an outdoor twister board on the grass.  The kids had fun playing that after dinner...

We finished the night off with s'mores around the fire pit.  It was a perfect start to a very fun summer!!  Lots of great posts to come showing all the fun we had.  --Lindsay

Last Day of School

And, just like that, another school year has gone by!  I was really sad to see this school end this year, mainly because my BABY graduated from preschool!  How did that happen already?!?  I've had a child at Learning Dynamics nine of the past 10 years, so this really is the end of an era.  Here's Vivvie with her sweet teacher, Mrs. Covington...

I took that picture on the second to last day of school because the last day of school is always Circus Day, and the teachers dress up like clowns.  So, I got the above picture of Mrs. Covington looking normal, and then I got this one where she's dressed up like the cutest clown ever, on the last day of school...

One of the main reasons I was so sad to see this time in my life come to an end is that I really love the sweet ladies that work at our Learning Dynamics campus.  My kids have gone to this campus since we moved here six years ago (the first three years, the kids were at the Saratoga Springs campus), so I've really become friends with the teachers, director, and assistant director over the years.  Here I am with Leslie, the director, and Mindy, her assistant...

They were always so sweet to Vivvie!  They would give her little treats, and were always telling her how much she'd grown.  Luckily, my nephew Landon will be going to preschool there, so maybe I'll still get to see them from time-to-time if I ever pick him up for Kristin...

And, here's the obligatory picture of Viv in front of the tree mural on the wall.  I don't know why, but I think I've taken a picture of each of my kids in front of this tree at the beginning and end of each year.  Haha...

Aiden, Cohen, and Connor had their last day of school a week after Vivvie.  Here's Aiden with his teacher, Mrs. Young.  She is the second teacher he's had with the name Mrs. Young.  She was a great teacher, and Aiden really enjoyed her...

Here's Cohen with his teacher Mrs. McAllister.  This woman is seriously one of the cutest teachers ever!  She has such a darling personality, and is so sweet with the kids.  You can tell she really loves them.  Cohen had a great year, and enjoyed being in her class...

Unfortunately, there is no last day of school picture for Connor.  In fact, he didn't even go to school on the last day.  He told me no one was going (which actually ended up being true), and even if he had gone, I don't think moms take pictures of their kids with their Jr. High teachers, do they?  Haha!

We did our annual neighborhood Popsicle party as the kids were walking home from school.  This is such a fun tradition that our neighborhood does, and the kids really look forward to it...

I guess we can call this picture Connor's last day of school picture, even though he's dabbing...

Aiden, Cohen, and some of the neighborhood kids sitting on the entrance sign of our 'hood while eating their Popsicles...

So, that was the last day of school for the 2015-2016 school year!  Although I was sad to see my time as a preschool mom come to an end, I was also really happy to get summer--my favorite time of the year--started!  I've got lots of fun posts about all our summertime adventures coming soon!!  --Lindsay

A Sprinkling of Springtime Fun

Here's a look at some of the random things we did this past spring that didn't make the cut for getting their own blog post...

As I was spring cleaning my filing system, I found this.  It's a printout of the 2News website when I first started working there in 2004.  My mom printed it off, and gave it to me way back then, and I threw it in a filing cabinet.  It was fun to find it and remember what our weather team looked like when I first started.  From left to right, there's Sterling Poulson, Kevin Eubank, John Goulet, and me.  Sterling and I are the only ones still at KUTV.  Kevin is at KSL, and John is no longer doing weather on TV.  It was a fun trip down memory lane.  We all look like babies...

At a very chilly Real game with Mike and my parents...

Aiden got to go to the special VIP dinner with Poppy before one of the Real games...

Vivvie at a checkup with her Pediatric Endocrinologist.  At this appointment, she measured in at 39" tall.  That's 5 1/4" taller than where she was when she started growth hormone injections just 14 months earlier...

Hanging out (literally) at the Museum of Natural Curiosity with Aiden...

Ice cream afterwards...

Viv told me that she wanted a bow hairstyle one morning, so I got creative and came up with this.  Not too bad, eh?  But, it didn't last for long.  When I picked her up from school a few hours later, it didn't resemble anything remotely close to a bow.  Oh well...

Viv at the Museum of Natural Curiosity...

And, ice cream afterwards.  Most dates end with ice cream in this family...

Amy and I accidentally wearing pink on the same day...

I organized my kitchen cabinets as part of my spring cleaning.  I was pretty proud of how my "catch all drawer" looked afterwards.  This drawer has always been such a disaster, and it was impossible to find anything.  That has now changed...

Fries and shakes at JCW's with Connor...

Filling in on the morning show...

I mentioned in my last post about how crazy our schedule was in the spring with all four kids playing soccer and Cohen playing baseball.  Here's what my calendar looked like at the end of April.  There were a couple nights where we had SEVEN different commitments all in the same night.  It got pretty hairy at times.  Mike and I would just split the kids up, and conquer as best we could...

Who needs toys when you have a big box you can play in for hours?

Viv proudly modeling all the clothes and shoes I bought for her while on my girls' trip to St. George...

Connor asked me if he could have a little ice cream.  Apparently, "a little ice cream" means half the carton.  That kid has a hollow leg...

Aiden did pretty well at his final Pinewood Derby.  He came in 2nd place in all the preliminary heats...

He then got to move on to the Winner's Circle.  He came in 4th in that heat, so he ended up getting 4th place overall...

He was a little disappointed because he had done so much better in the earlier heats, but he ended up being pretty happy with his 4th place ribbon...

McDonalds with Cohen...

Drinking hot chocolate at work.  It's seriously so yummy, and they keep the station so cold, so I drink this stuff year round...

Hanging out with Dan Rascon and Chef Bryan Woolley one weekend morning...

Our Weeping Redbud tree looked beautiful this spring...

Trying to stay warm at a very chilly soccer game by cuddling with my Vivvie girl...

Mike left a surprise for me in my purse one weekend...

Remember how we made that tourism video about Beaver County for Aiden's 4th Grade County Project?  Well, it eventually made its way to the mayor of Beaver when it went viral, and he contacted me to say that he wanted to send Aiden a package from the people of Beaver to thank him for doing such a good job highlighting their community.  It arrived in the mail a few weeks later...

He got a Beaver shirt and hat, a commemorative coin, and gift certificates to the cheese factory and a golf course.  Holy cow...

I watched my final Mother's Day Program at Learning Dynamics.  This program is short, but oh so sweet.  I will miss seeing it each year...

Vivvie with her cute teacher, Mrs. Covington...

As part of the program, each mom is given a sheet that the teacher has helped each of the kids fill out about their mom.  It's so cute, and pretty accurate...especially the part about me being 15-years-old...

Some cool lightning shots sent to me by my friend, Serene Bean...

Connor and Cohen being silly at one of Aiden's soccer games...

Viv wanted her picture taken too when she saw me taking a picture of the boys...

This is the sight I found on my kitchen table as I was leaving for work on Mother's Day morning.  Mike is always so sweet to do stuff like this for me, since he can't make me breakfast in bed...

After I got home from work and church, I was able to open each of the kids' presents they had made for me.  They were all so cute and sweet...

Aiden presenting his Beaver County project, and wearing the Beaver shirt that the mayor sent to him...

Landon and Vivvie walking through the mall, hand-in-hand...

Vivvie and her friends, Charlotte and Hazel, playing dress up...

Little diva...

Cohen and Landon at our family photo shoot up Hobble Creek Canyon...

At a movie with Aiden...

The elementary school 5K.  Here are the 4th Graders starting their race...

And the 1st Graders starting a few minutes later.  Mike actually ran the 5K with Cohen, so he's in there somewhere too...

Aiden finishing the race. He ran it in 36 minutes and 48 seconds...

Cohen and Mike finishing the race.  They ran it in 33 minutes and 51 seconds...

Way to go, fellas!  I could never do that...

I love this picture!  Viv and Cohen dog piling on Aiden who wasn't sharing the blanket with them at one of Connor's chilly soccer games...

My mom and Ashlee tried to turn me into a domestic goddess by teaching me how to make freezer jam...

Date night at the Draper Temple with Mikey...

And then to IHOP afterwards...

I love when La Bonne Vie from Grand America comes on my show.  All sorts of yummy goodness...

Viv decided to use one of my necklaces as her new tiara.  She was some sort of superhero princess here.  The ball she's holding had magic powers.  At least that's what she told me...

Aiden's grade performing in the annual Dance Festival...

Cohen's grade...

All the grades doing a freestyle dance for the grand finale...

Working the 7:00 show with Cristina Flores...

Out for ice cream with our newly-called Relief Society Presidency (I'm the secretary) after a temple trip...

Aiden informed Mike and I that all the good parents bring their kids McDonald's for school lunch at least once during the school year, and that we had been failing miserably.  We made up for it by taking them McDonald's on the last full day of school...

There's a little taste of some of our crazy adventures throughout the spring.  It was a wild and very busy season!  I was glad to see it end, and have the lazy days of summer begin!  --Lindsay