First Day of Swim Lessons

Every summer I keep meaning to sign the boys up for swimming lessons. Well, finally, I did! They were thrilled! Joe and I really want them to have a little more swimming experience.

 Listening attentively. (side note: the teacher asked Ben and Kade if they were twins. We've gotten this question since Kade could walk. They look alike -duh, they're brothers, and even though there's a two year difference the height difference just isn't enough.) :) Cute boys.

 Carter sitting and watching.....yes, he was bored. My plan was to leave, but I waited since it was the first day.

 I love that the class has only six kids. They already did a few things they've never done in a pool before, so I think by the end of class, they will have learned a lot.

 Poor Carter. The class is only 40 mins, so next class I'll bring a game to play.

 He inched closer to the class.....

 Kade on the paddle board. The camera froze up when I tried to get Ben doing things.

 Carter entertaining himself with the pool rings (they had already used them, so it was okay.)

 Two happy smiling boys at the end of class! Day one and they can't wait to go back tomorrow!

Comfy!

Kade set Carter up in this comfy situation. Too cute. He is living the life! Love my boys!

Quite a Week.

Tuesday, grandma took Ben and Kade up north to visit great-grandma Hafen (my grandma). They always love going on trips with grandma, and were excited for whatever she had planned. They spent Tuesday and Saturday driving, so they were only there for three full days. They had a blast! (to say the least) They went to Bear Lake, which was both of their favorite parts. And, they got real cowboy boots! Great-grandma had the idea to buy the boys boots, and they were excited she wanted to.

Mom relayed the story to me, but as to not forget it, I'll write it down.
They all walked into the cowboy shop that great-grandma had been shopping in forever. She turned to the boys and said, "We came here to buy you boys cowboy boots!"
Kade's face lit up, his eyes widened, and his mouth opened and gasped with excitement (this boy loves any and all boots)
Great-grandma laughed, and said, "I've been paid a million dollars with that expression." She was more than happy to know how much the boys really wanted and would enjoy the boots she had wanted to get them.

The boys went to see Ephraim's Rescue, a movie just released that highlights the service of Ephraim K. Hanks our ancestor (my Great great great grandpa). They really liked the show. They ate at great places, they got a couple video games, and were all around happy boys. I'm glad they had a great time, and that they got to do so many fun things. The only bad thing was no pictures. Mom forgot her camera.

Joe and I had just Carter for two days. It was crazy to just have one kid around. We went out to eat, and went to the store. I don't know about Joe, but I felt like a young married couple. :)
On Thursday, Joe left for Youth Conference. He's a leader for the teachers. They went to Las Vegas and visited Nellis Airforce Base, the Hoover Dam, rode the big roller coaster at the NYNY.

Carter and I were home alone during the day, all week, and home alone for the night while Joe was gone. I loved being able to talk to him and have long conversations. He is just the funniest little guy. He's really thoughtful in his humor too. Since the bigger boys were undoubtedly being spoiled by grandma, I spoiled Carter with popsicles along with a lot of attention. :)

Joe came home from Youth Conference, went right to work to do homework, and didn't get home till midnight, all with the plan to wake up and go up to SLC to attend cousin Cooper's temple endowment session. Because the session was early, I opted out, knowing it's be a loooooong day. Then we later found out the session wasn't so early, which meant we could have slept longer, and I could have gone, darn it. But, I was glad to be home when the boys came home. I had missed them.

It was a full week for everyone -although Carter and I had it easy- all in all it was full of things to do, and memories made. :)

Best Lunch Date with Three Cute Boys

 These two are just awesome, not to mention silly. All three of the boys are close and great friends.

 He's ready to eat!

Carter brought Mario, his recent buddy borrowed from Ben. I didn't mind the extra company. ;)

 

Today the boys and I had to get a set of tires on the van. Boring, right? The tire place was right next door to a Red Robin restaurant, so I figured I'd take my boys on a lunch date, instead of sitting in the tire shop for an hour. It was perfect, because we were all hungry too. We split two entrees, and the waitress (who I think thought the boys were just too cute) brought us a free awesome lemonade and side of fries while we waited for our food.
I can't remember ever taking the three boys, by myself, to a sit down restaurant before. But, there was no doubt they'd be great, and they were. I love my boys. They are just good kids. They will sit and talk with me; they'll eat; they'll be polite; they be happy. I love it! The hour we spent there was an all around special memory for me.  There was no stress, no getting on them to do what they should, so we all enjoyed ourselves.
I have the deep desire to make good memories with my boys this summer, and to do things together that will be fun, stress free and sometimes new. This wasn't a big adventure, but it was still something out of the ordinary for our routine.
 We laughed and enjoyed our time together, so, mission accomplished today on filling this summer with great memories. :) On to the next one!

Starting Off the Summer Right!

One of our favorite families in the world is the Petty family! They are awesome and ALWAYS great and fun to be around. Cami and I are ideal "travel buddies". We are always on the same page, easy going, and enjoy taking our boys out for little adventures. The boys all get along SO well! Our families are a match made in heaven! Cami and I were both feeling the need to "go and do", so I suggested a hike to Pine Valley! Beautiful! It's about 30 mins outside of St.G. The boys were in paradise being outside with friends, sticks, being able to throw rocks in the river, jumping from rocks and lifting heavy things. They are amazing boys! We have more outings planned for summer, and I hope we'll get to do it all. At least we've started the summer off right!

 

Gorgeous

 Throwing rocks in the river. Just might be the best thing ever

Kade's awesome feat of strength!  The boys pick up big "logs" and impressed each other and their mamas.

We love Cami!

Carter and his BIG JUMP! Every big rock he can climb, he'll jump off. Big kid!

 A great picnic for hungry hikers! We found an empty camp ground to use its table. Perfect.

 A quick tour of a historic church, which the boys enjoyed quite a bit. They were very well behaved. Great kids! Great day, and we'll be hiking here again over the summer -no doubt about it!

On Memorial Day, we headed to the Petty's for a BBQ and some water fun. It was a great day with great food, great fun and great conversation.

 This is Carter's pout. We said "No" to something. :) It usually doesn't last long since we find it humorous, which isn't the reaction he hopes to get from his parents. He was back in the water within a minute. :)

 Our Red Cliffs hike and picnic day! Because we all enjoyed the Pine Valley hike day so much, we decided we should do more days like it. The boys were thrilled to be together again and out hiking which they love. I had never hiked this area of Red Cliffs before but Cami had, and the thought of a waterfall and pool at the end of it was exciting.

 It looks hot, but it was actually a beautiful day. Plus we started early to beat the mid day heat.

Carter climbed any big rock he could. He could climb and jump all day.

 The pool at the end was fun, but the waterfall was dried up. Already too hot. The boys probably spent a half hour throwing rocks in it, and moving the big rocks around.

 Our mountain goat children. These guys get along so well and really enjoy each other.

"Mom, we found a creature in here!" Haha After another great picnic, the boys played in the stream filled with crawdads. It was cool how many little "creatures" there were for the boys to "oh and aw" over. Perfect ending to the day. We had also seen lizards and beautiful birds and snakes during the hike. Great day, and so far fantastic summer! I love my boys! I love our friends! We are blessed!

The Iron Kids Race

When we get the chance, we love to sign the boys up for races. This was their third race. The Iron Kids race. The boys enjoy the exercise, the excitement of the crowd, getting a number pinned on them and receiving a medal (and sometimes a shirt) when they finish. It's fun for Joe and I to watch them grow. I'm hoping that this can be a regular thing throughout their lives.

 
 
 

Kade was our first finisher! He did great! This is just after getting through the finish line! You're awesome Kade!

 Ben just after the finish line. Joe stuck with him and finished too. haha

I don't know why the pictures are a little weird, but here are the boys showing of their medals. Carter came along too, of course, he hung out with me and cheered on the boys. It was a great evening out as a family.

What's Your Vote?

The boys all cast their votes on what they want baby Harris #4 to be!

Kade wants a little girl SO badly; I think Joe and I would both like a girl. Carter says "No." to either question, "Do you want a brother/sister?". And, Ben wants a boy, because "Kid girls are bossy." Haha. We'll see what awaits! But, I know no matter what, we'll all be excited.

Mini Golfing!

A friend of mine volunteers at a non-profit place that held a fundraiser at Fiesta Fun Center. Families could come, donate and play a round of golf. It was a great way to spend a Saturday morning, so I'm glad we took advantage of the fun and the opportunity to help the community. Grandma was in town to join the fun.

 

We played a few arcade games after golfing, and our names were all entered into drawings for prizes. And, the boys and grandma all won something! Ben won a remote control race car thing, Kade won twice! He got a huge thing full of foam things that you can bend and shape and build into things, and a tub of soccer men (kind of like little army men), and Carter won a little puzzle, perfect. Grandma came away with dinner for two at a steakhouse, AND a one night stay at a local hotel. Perfect! We all had a great time and met up with Joe (he spent the morning moving families in and out of the ward) for lunch. Great Saturday!

Another Great Ben-ism and Kade-ism

Ben, "I love life. I've been at this for seven years."
I need to be more like this.


Kade: "Carter's face looks like all our faces: you(dad), mom, Ben and me. And he's just too cute! He gets his cuteness from *my* face."
I love a confident kid.