Max's Fieldtrip to the Natural History Museum

At the end of May I went on a fieldtrip with Max and his class to the Natural History Museum in Salt Lake City. Max had a great time with all of his buddies running around that place. They looked at rocks and crystals, dinosaur fossils, saw animals that are prominent in Utah, and a few other bugs and animals. There was a scorpion that the boys really got a kick out of. Especially Max, he wanted me to take a picture of it he liked it so much. The museum also had a special exhibit about frogs. This was my favorite part because they had all of these plaques around the room that said, "Did you know" on it. I would go around asking Max in an exaggerated way, "DID YOU KNOW" and he would give me that cute little smile that he does with his head tilted to the side with a look on his face that says, moooom! I love it! I still do it to him even after the fieldtrip and I always get the same response. He gives me the look, but does it while trying not to smile. Such a cutie!

Max and one of his best friends, Ryan Giles. The other is Summit Schmerse.

Max just saw the scorpion!





Edgar, Javier, Matthew & Max

Eliza's Preschool Graduation

On May 21st Eliza had her preschool graduation ceremony. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to be there because I was on a trip to NYC with my two best friends Heather and Tiffany. We had scheduled the trip back in February and at the time I didn't know when the graduation was. I was so devastated to find out that it was during my trip that I even called her teachers to find out if they could change the date (no I don't think the world revolves around me, but I would try anything not to miss my sweet girl's graduation!) but it wasn't a possibility. The library where they were holding it was completely booked the following week. I told Eliza the bad news and she didn't seem to mind to much as long as her daddy was going to be there. I left the camera with Blake, rather than taking it on my trip, so that he could take plenty of pictures for me. He probably didn't take as many as I would have, but he did a pretty darn good job. I must say that he did good job of getting her ready too. I left for NYC the night before the graduation so before I left we got out the dress that Eliza wanted to wear (her Easter dress of course! She wears it all the time because she feels fancy in it.), picked out a bow for her hair, some jewelry, and painted her nails. I was at least thankful that I got to be a part of her getting ready, it was fun mommy daughter time. Eliza looked very cute and happy in the pictures. When I got home she was very excited to show me her certificate and her cap that she wore during the graduation ceremony. I hope that I never have to miss another big event like that again!!







When I got home they had this sweet Welcome Home sign that they had made for me hanging up. So cute of my sweet family!

Max is getting baptized June 6, 2009

Max and I took these pics for his baptism invitations. He looked so handsome in his suit and was more than willing to put it on and take some pictures. Two things that Max likes are getting his picture taken and getting dressed up and looking nice. He has always liked wearing ties and also what he calls "dad shirts", short sleeved, button up shirts with a collar. Here are the pics from our photo shoot.
I love this expression of his. This picture totally captures Max. We see this expression all the time when he is happy, laughing, or smiling, which is a lot.

This is the one I chose for the invitations.

These last three are Max acting silly.

Max's First Day of Scouts

Today Max had his very first day of Cub Scouts and boy was he excited!! He couldn't wait, he kept asking, "how many more days till scouts?" and he just couldn't pass off enough things in his scout book, it was always, "what else can I pass off mom?". I am so glad to see him so excited about something and to know what it is like to have goals. It was his goal to make sure he got his Bobcat award by the next awards ceremony and he will definitely make it, we passed off all of the requirements in one night. Here he is acting so serious in his uniform.
Here he is with his sweet boy smile that I know and love!
Here he is heading into the Den Leader's house. Her name is Jenny Weston.

Max's 8th Birthday!!

For Max's 8th Birthday he just wanted to stay home and have a swim party so that's exactly what we did. He invited several boys over and they swam, had a squirt gun and water balloon fight, and then threw a ball around. Luckily, we got our sod laid just a couple of weeks before the party so they were able to run around on grass instead of dirt! We also had pizza and ice cream and opened gifts, but no pinata this year. Max informed me that he is getting a little old for that. What?! I thought boys loved swinging a bat at something any chance they get. Oh no, my sweet boy is growing up WAY too fast! Anyway, it turned out great and Max had a really fun time. Happy Birthday Max, we love and adore you!!! Hugs and kisses.

This was his favorite present and it wasn't even something that he asked for, but I knew he would LOVE it and luckily, I was right. It's a nintendo DSi. Gage was quite jealous because it is the newest version of the nintendo DS. Secretly, I was glad because I don't want Max to ever feel like he gets Gage's hand-me-downs being the little brother and I don't want him to ever feel like the lost in the crowd middle child. Max was definitely feeling good that he finally got something that Gage didn't already have.


Here is Max with all of his friends. There's Ryan, Austin, Carston, Spencer, Max, Traeden, Brant, Summit, Jackson, and Gage.
The cake is pretty simple, but all he wanted this year was an Oreo ice cream cake. Max doesn't really like cake.

Here is our little sleeping beauty with sweet Max after a hard day of dirt biking. The boys LOVE when Eliza falls asleep on their shoulder. You can tell in this picture how Max is trying not to move and doing his best to keep her from falling over or getting uncomfortable. I love how much they adore her and look after her. They are both very sweet brothers. She doesn't always appreciate how sweet they are to her now, but someday she definitely will.

Supercross

April 25th, the Bartons came down and spent the weekend with us again so that we could all go to the Supercross. The boys were die hards and went first thing in the morning, but it was a pretty drizzly day so us girl's opted to go shopping in the morning and catch up with them later in the afternoon. When we had caught up with them they had had a pretty good day with a few exceptions. First, Gage was upset because he did not get any autographs from the riders. For some reason, Gage is sooo star struck. He loves the idea of famous people and getting their autographs. That was a huge let down for him. Then the freestyle event was cancelled due to the rain. We always enjoy that part of the supercross so that was a bummer. It all got better though once the races actually started. We were all cheering and yelling for our favorite riders, especially Gage and Blake. It is fun to see them so excited. The two leaders of the races for the past few years have been Chad Reed and Bubba Smith. Our family was a little split on who we like. Gage likes Bubba and the rest of us like Chad Reed. Gage didn't mind being the only one rooting for Bubba. He actually felt quite victorious about it because Bubba took the race and Gage definitely rubbed it in our faces.

Blake and Gage cheering.

Smoke rings we thought were cool from all of the pyrotechnics.

Bubba Smith....



Sleeping Beauty....

What a stinker!!! This is the only picture he would let me take of him.

Gage and Nathan Barton.
Gage with Blake's brothers Mike and Dave, and his dad Keith.