Family Night With the Caldwells

This evening with the Caldwell's is one of those examples of when keeping it simple, makes it more fun. We had to cancel the lake because of the obnoxious wind storm that suddenly formed at 4pm, but we still had a picnic dinner in their backyard. After dinner, Carrie gave a short but great family night lesson--the kids listened and participated. Then they played more in the yard. We left while everyone was still having fun--not waiting for the melt-down of moods. Here are some fun photos:

Mallory and Kylie

Kylie has been our neighbor for about a year, but it wasn't until softball when they got to know eachother. They played all summer without any fighting--they have a lot in common. They both like sports and playing outside, but like to do girl stuff too. These photos were taken right after the new camera, so I was experimenting. I was trying different settings with the flash and getting frustrated! But, some cute photos:

Father's Day

For Father's Day, we took the opportunity to visit my dad in Provo. We were already there for Michael's nephew, Brandon Peterson's, Farewell, so it worked out perfectly. I wanted Father's Day to be special for both Michael and my dad! We gave my dad a cool Nike Dri-Fit polo shirt, which he loved, or at least pretended to love, and Michael got a long wanted spotting scope. Since I had just received a new camera for my birthday a few days before, I took advantage of the beautiful June afternoon--the light was perfect for great photos, so I took a lot. So, here they are:

Michael and my dad, checking out the new scope, my beautiful mother (can you believe she is almost 68?), my 93 year old great grandma "Tutu" with the kids, Mallory with her daddy, the beautiful view of Timp from their yard (I took this photo also because this was the view from my bedroom growing up), Nick, Mallory, Carter, & all three kids, pretending to like eachother. Yes they were bribed to smile.

My 36th Birthday

The night before my birthday, when I got into bed, there was the blue bunny that Carter had given me for Mother's Day. It was holding a note with 2$ in it. He snuck in there pretty late, but wanted me to have it so I could wake up to it on my birthday.

I woke up to more of Carter's sweet notes. This time, Mallory joined in and they decorated the wall with notes in the shape of an "M". I never found out if that meant Mom or Megen:

If my birthday ended there, it would have been just great, but the family had more surprises. Of course the new camera was not a surprise, but Michael would not let me open it until after dinner. I played around with it a little. The kids joined in together to get the memory card for the camera and each picked out what they thought were my favorite candy bars (Toblerone, Milk Duds, and a Symphony Bar, and Stride Gum.) How cute! Michael also got a cookies and cream ice cream cake. It was awesome! Thanks guys.

Also, which made the day so fun, was that Jen Rouska and Liz Timothy took me to lunch at La Cabana, my favorite. Then Jen took me for a pedicure because she knows bending over to do it myself kinda sucks for me right now. We laughed so hard during the pedicures because the guy doing them is Vietnameze, so right there everything is going to be funny anyway, but add in that he is going crazy on my feet with the file. It tickled so bad and we were laughing so hard that I almost wet my pants. Ok I did, but just a little. . . Then we got drinks and ice cream from Mavrick. FUN BIRTHDAY!

Mother's Day

Mother's Day was nice--the kids put up the cutest notes on the wall of the hallway for me:


Michael made breakfast and dinner (with the kids help).

Also, for the two weeks before, they had been working hard in the yard planting flowers and trees. My present (even though we hadn't bought them yet because we had to get them in Orem the following week) was two iron planters to hang on the entry brick, plus the plants that would cascade through the summer. They turned out beautiful--Michael worked hard to drill the brick just right--it did take a few trips to the hardware store but it was worth it.




At the end of the day, Carter snuck down into my room with a blue stuffed bunny so I could sleep with it on Mother's Day. (The bunny returns for my birthday coming up in June--I got a photo that time)