May 2015

 

      From day 1, May was already turning out to be a winner month! While mommy was getting ready to get her first ultrasound of the new baby, Maddy decided to get herself ready too! In mommy's drawer was a very interesting new hair contraption, a hair roller. Mommy showed her how to put them in her hair. She thought it was great fun and wanted mommy to roll her entire head.

What a cutie!

    The baby's first ultrasound was pretty fun. We decided not to find out the sex of the child, but we still had the technician take a picture and hide it in an envelope that we sent down to Grandma Elkins for safe keeping. The baby was a mover and a groover, the baby also was a ham in front of the ultrasound tech...oh boy, we knew right away that this baby was going to fit into the rest of the family. Just to give us a little scare too, we found out that the baby had a cyst on it's kidney. We were pretty nervous, but the doctor told us that it might not be anything and that they would have a follow up ultrasound in a couple months to determine that. So we decided to have a family fast. I felt assured that whatever would happen that it would all turn out ok, but it was really hard to wait. After our little scare with the baby we decided that we wanted to find out the sex of the baby after all. So we had Grandma open the envelope with us on the telephone and she revealed that we were having a....BOY! We couldn't wait for the little guy to join the family!!!!

BOY!

      This month I decided that we needed to do more regimented at home preschool. I made a daily picture schedule chart that we could arrange every night before bed to plan out our day. Today, we decided to make cookies together.  The kids love to bake with me! We talk about measurements and count the number of each cups of flour we put in. Emmett loves to stir and Maddy loves to each chocolate chips. It's a win-win. At the end I let each of my kids lick a beater.

Let's get ready to bake!

So excited!

Maddy is investigating her beater.

Emmett loves to eat cookie dough off the beater!

"What is this yummy goodness I am eating off this contraption?"

      Every four years our church does a pioneer reenactment of the trek west to Utah. Each stake gathers the youth 14-18 year olds and goes on a three day hike wearing pioneer clothing and eating pioneer foods. We learn about the history behind the Mormon pioneers and the handcarts that they used to move themselves across the plains. Recently we were called to be Pioneer Trek parents for our church's youth Pioneer Trek. We were really excited about it, but we had a lot of training to do. Aside from walking 5 times a week, we decided to build up our stamina of hikes. The first hike that we did was a 4 mile hike to and from long lake. We chose this hike, because it was labeled easy and we wanted to take the kids. Emmett had such a good time climbing on rocks. Once we reached the lake Emmett and Madison decided to splash a little in the water. It was great fun. Along the way back, Emmett started collecting rocks to hand to mommy to hold. It was funny because he expected me to hold onto the rocks, luckily he didn't notice when I would put them back. Emmett was a pretty good hiker until he reached mile 3 and decided he no longer wanted to walk. To tell us that he began to walk very slowly, then he got on all fours and started to crawl, which ended with him laying face down on the path. Daddy saved the day though, when he put Emmett on his shoulders and hiked back to the car. We had a great time and got to see some really pretty stuff. I can't wait to go back.

Playing in the streams along the trail.

Mommy hiking with Maddy.

      Madison has the wildest hair of us all, on top of that, it doesn't grow much. So most days it just looks like a curly poof on the top of her head, sort of like Richard Simmons. One Sunday, I was sort of sick of it looking like a mess, so I took some hair ties and put pig tails in her hair. She looked so cute for about 3 seconds, until she pulled them out. Oh well, I'm the mom with the messy haired girl in church, can't say I didn't try. Haha.

 

Maddy with cute piggies!

The one and only time she will wear her hair like this.

      On top of poofy hair, she also has pizzazz! She is a spunky little firecracker. The only way to describe Maddy, is well a Maddy.

 

     After finding out that we probably didn't hike a full 4 miles at Long Lake, we decided to take a trip up to North Lake and explore a hiking trail that we found. It was pretty cold, because it had recently rained in the basin, which meant that it snowed on the mountain. Since it was pretty sunny that day, there were quite a few puddles for Emmett to jump in. Madison decided that she wanted to get down to hike too. With her hiking, we didn't go very fast. For some reason the trail that we wanted to go on didn't hook up to the trail that we thought it would hook up to, so we had to make our own path up the mountain a bit. It was sort of slippery because of the snow, but we felt very outdoorsy. As we hiked along the trail we caught some beautiful scenery of North Lake and the mountainside. Once we came to a couple clearings we let the kids run around and play in the snow. They had so much fun. Once we were done, Taylor thought he found another trail, so we decided to head up the mountain a different direction, unfortunately it was a pseudo-trail and it lead us to nowhere. So we decided to cut across the mountain again to where we thought the path was. We soon discovered that we must have missed our original trail and we were lost. It took us a couple minutes to find our bearings to know which way we should head in order to reach the right trail to take us back, but for a second there I thought we would be the Donner Party 2.0. I'm so glad I have an Eagle Scout husband, he certainly saved the day.

Emmett leading the way!

Maddy is less than thrilled to be carried in the backpack.

Playing in the snow.

 

Handsomest boys in the world!

Beautiful North Lake.

      Emmett decided that Maddy was getting too much attention with her cute pig tails and sassy sunglass poses, so he decided it was his turn...

Look at that studly guy!

 One particular day I was thinking that guacamole sounded good. Store bought guacamole can taste a little weird. I knew that Brian Millward had a recipe, so I had called him for it. It turned out fantastic! it was so good my kids, who usually don't eat anything, ate it like candy. They even started to make a game out of it by feeding each other. Emmett would try to get Maddy's attention, by saying "ah" with his mouth wide open. Then she would open up and he would shove a glob of guacamole in. It was hilarious. They both had so much guacamole on their faces, you would have thought they were using it as face cream!



Eating the best guacamole ever!

Emmett laughing after he just fed Maddy a chip filled with guacamole.
What a goober!

My guacamole buddy!

 This month we picked dinosaurs as our preschool theme. We crafted dinosaurs, we read about dinosaurs, we made dinosaur tracks in play doh, we even sung about dinosaurs! We had so much fun! The kids especially loved making dinosaur tracks in the play doh. We learned about fossils and how the dirt will preserve fossils under the right conditions.

Maddy painting a dinosaur.

She's so proud!

Emmett making dinosaur tracks!

"Here he comes, from afar, here comes daddy dinosaur, ROAR"!

      At the end of this month we took a trip down south for Grandma Bev's 80th birthday! It was so much fun. We arrived just a bit early to hang out with Uncle Joseph before everyone else came. When we got down, Grandpa Elkins told us that he started to incubate peacocks again and that he had a whole bunch of hatchlings. They were so cute. One peacock was pretty friendly, so Grandpa carried it in his pocket and pulled it out inside the house to show the kids. They loved to touch the little bird. Emmett tried to love the poor bird a little too much and had to be reminded that we need to be gentle with things smaller than us.

 

Emmett loving the peacock!

 Maddy was so excited to be at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Every morning we woke up at the crack of dawn, when Grandpa tries to sneak out of his bedroom to do the backyard chores, to hang out and do backyard chores with Grandpa. We played in the garden, looked at the peacocks, and of course, had to visit what Maddy calls the "babies" in the hatchery. We even got to see a couple ducks and geese hatch! It was really neat.

Maddy loves her Grandpa!

      Emmett and Maddy especially love it when the strawberries come on. Fresh strawberries are the best, and perhaps the only strawberries I can entice my children to eat. I love it when we visit during strawberry season, because then I know my kids will eat a bunch of fruit.


Emmett eating yummy
homegrown strawberries.

 The first of the family to arrive was Kevin, Kimber and Seth. Seth is such a cute and happy goofball. He also liked to get up and hang out with Grandpa in the morning. One morning, after being outside, he got a hold of my phone, and I think with a little help, took a whole roll of selfies! He is so cute!

 

Emmett thinks Uncle Joseph is the best. But Uncle Joseph doesn't have the energy to keep up with Emmett. So in order to relax and still play with Emmett, Uncle Joseph developed a contraption to swing Emmett and still sit down and relax and enjoy everyone else's company. Emmett thought it was great fun, because Uncle Joseph can seriously do no wrong.

Being pulled by the rope in the swing!
Uncle Joseph is so clever!

      There is so much to do at Grandma and Grandpa's house!

Visiting the geese in the morning.

Uncle Joseph taking Emmett and Seth for a spin in the golf cart!

Emmett loves the seesaw!



Mom playing on the seesaw with Emmett

 

Maddy playing on the horse!

Maddy playing with the tetherball.

 

 

More seesaw fun!

Playing in the playhouse is so much fun!

 

Peek-a-boo!

 Once the Berg boys arrive, the fun jumps to a whole new level. It's mostly, lets see how we can smother you with fun!

Uncle Joseph on the seesaw with the kids!

Uncle Joseph taking the kids for a ride in the golf cart!

      The day of Grandma Bev's birthday, the weather was beautiful! It had been sprinkling and cloudy earlier that week so it was so nice for it to be warm that day! Grandpa took the kids and a few of the adults in the back to the berry patch to pick berries. Over the course of the week Maddy and Great-grandma Bev developed a special bond. So naturally, when Maddy wanted to pick berries, she had to take her best friend with her...

 

Maddy picking berries with Great-grandma Bev!

BFFL

And now we have to talk about the berries.

     Of course, how could you have a fun party without one of Grandpa's famous golf cart rides.

Love how the kids like to pile in the trailer!

 

 

     After everyone got to the party, we ate a delicious BBQ chicken meal from Grandpa's home raise Cornish cross hens. It was the best BBQ chicken ever! Then it was time for the cake. Taylor and Grandpa thought it would be fun to surprise Grandma Bev with a birthday cake, with 80, yes you heard me, 80 candles! Happy birthday to Grandma! There were also so many goodies. My kids were very fond of the cupcake cones that Brianna had made. Since everyone likes to spoil the kids, I'm pretty sure Maddy and Emmett got away with eating 4 cupcakes that day!

Maddy absconded with another cupcake.

 

     Maddy loves animals, as soon as she spotted Boaz in the chair, she felt like this was the perfect opportunity to come in and love him.

One last golf cart ride! Daddy went too!

     The party was a lot of fun, but everyone had to get home to work the next day. Including Daddy. I wasn't quite ready to go home yet, so the kids and I stayed for a couple extra days down south to hang out with friends, shop and spend more time with Grandma and Grandpa.

 

    While I was down there, my good friend Andrea was down with her kids too! So we decided to do a mommy trip to the beach! It was so much fun! We got to hang out in the sand and build sand castles. We played in the water. Emmett really liked the beach and thought running into and away from the waves was so fun! Maddy, on the other hand, did not. She thought the water was too cold. Each time her feet touched the water she would start screaming. It was so funny. (I know I'm a terrible mom for thinking that was funny) She much preferred collecting rocks and seashells and building sand sculptures.

Andrea and I on our way to the beach!

Maddy playing in the sand.

Emmett loved the sand.

 

Brody likes playing in the sand too!

Unsure of what is going down at the water.

Brody loving getting his feet wet in the waves.

Maddy thinks this is a bad idea.

Emmett playing with the water.

Maddy knows this is a bad idea now.

Where Maddy was anytime we
were near the water: my hip.

Future best friends.

We love the Millwards!

Emmett loves beach days!

And so do the parents! (Beaches make everyone sleepy)

What fun is a beach day without a bonfire? That night we had a bratwurst cookout. It was so tasty and the perfect ending to a perfect day and trip.

Bonfires are hot.

Maddy getting some Grandma Bev snuggles.

     The prize for staying a little longer? Jam! I love homemade jam, and since we had completely run out of strawberry jam, it was time to make more! Jamming with Grandma Pam is one of my favorite things to do. It is our bonding time, and it gives us that euphoria of feeling like productive homemakers.

Look at all the lovely jam!

It was another great trip, but we missed daddy, and daddy missed us. So we made our way back to Bishop with a bag full of jam and lots more wonderful memories!

 

 

When we got back home I knew I needed to start working on Trek preparations again. I was worried that I was going to quickly run out of time to make the pioneer outfits. So nervous as I was, I dove in and started to make patterns, cut fabric and sew. Surprisingly, what turned out wasn't half bad!

Lauren's self-made pioneer bonnet

Trek, here comes Ma Elkins!