First Day of School

To say that I was nervous about Luke starting Kindergarten is an understatement. When he started preschool I was a little nervous but the thought of sending him on a bus and to a school with 600 kids who were all bigger than him scared me to death! Luckily with Kindergarten you get to ease into. He went the first day but I drove him and we only stayed for a short meeting and then went home. That entire week was testing so I got to keep him home with me for a few extra days.

The next Monday when it was time for the bus we were both a little nervous. Luke had a million questions that we went over numerous times. For some reason Luke is having a lot of anxiety about being left places and the whole bus thing doesn't help. He was very nervous but it was also so cute to see him get in line and talk to all of his friends and their older cool brothers. I of course dropped him off at the bus stop, waited for him to get on and then followed the bus to school and waited to help him get off. 

I continued to do this for the first few days until one day Luke told me he could do it by himself...my heart sank! The thought of him not needing me made me want to cry! I wasn't ready to fully let him go!!! As a teacher I got very bugged by those overprotective parents that wouldn't let their child go on the first day of school and I realized that I was one of them. Luke was doing great and I was the nervous one. I just love this kid so much and I want him to have great experiences in life. Luke is an amazing kid with a great personality so I know he'll do amazing.

It wasn't long before Luke had made friends with all the cool boys on the bus. His new buddies were twice his age and thought he was pretty cool. One day I was volunteering at the school during lunch and I was amazed how many of the fifth and sixth grade boys knew Luke and gave him high fives. I of course burst every time I saw Luke blush and knew he was cool! I know he'll have a great year and make lots of new friends. I am so proud of my Lukers but I just wish I could freeze time...dang you time!!!

Pioneer Day

I think July is quite possibly one of my most favorite months in Utah! I love that you get to celebrate the 4th of July and then Pioneer Day. It's definitely an added bonus that it's also my anniversary and birthday! Basically we party all month long!!!

I know I have said this before but I absolutely love the 24th of July parade. It was one of my most favorite memories growing up. I always hope that the boys love it and create fun memories each year.

Everyone in my family came to the parade this year...truthfully I think Mitch only showed because Eileen was bringing grinders from Nielsen's Frozen Custard. It wasn't too hot this year which really helped since I was pregnant and still nauseous. Luke loved being up front watching and waving to everyone that passed by. Brody was content just to play on the sidewalk with Liam.

You better believe that we hit up the carnival after the parade. I swear our money disappears so fast each year but the boys love it. The fishing pond prizes drastically improved this year and the boys probably spent half of their tickets there. You would have thought that Luke caught $100 when he saw the can of silly string on his fishing pole! You can only imagine how much fun he had with that!

Being so sick and pregnant wasn't in much of a party mood but it was still a perfect Bountiful Pioneer Day! 

4th of July

This year we were finally in our new house for the 4th of July which worked out great for the Eaglewood fireworks! We had my family over for a barbecue before the fireworks. Sadly, it was a rainy night so we spent most of the night inside. 

When it came time for the fireworks the boys got their glow on! The boys and I loaded up on glow sticks, bracelets, necklaces and wands a few days before and they could hardly wait to bust them open. It took FOREVER for the fireworks to start this year but luckily Luke entertained us with his dance moves. Once the fireworks started they were worth it. It was a fun night and luckily the weather got better as the night when on!

Luke had fun watching the fireworks but he desperately wanted to light his own fireworks. They make Mark pretty nervous but he reluctantly agreed. By the end of the night I realized we probably should have listened to Mark. 

The boys had so much fun starting out with sparklers and roman candles. We decided to go to a park in Bountiful because fireworks are not allowed above Davis Boulevard. There's a house across the street and the homeowners were on their porch enjoying our display. However, as our firework show went on the homeowner started to get pretty grumpy and told us we needed to leave. Mark nicely told him that this is public property and we were okay to be there. He started to use profanity and yelling at us to leave so we decided to just gather up and move down a bit so we weren't right across from his house. Luckily, a cop had been sitting there the entire time watching. As we started to clean up our old fireworks the homeowner came out and started pushing Phil and Mark and yelling at them to leave. My dad grabbed the cop and asked him to come help us out. The cop said he had been watching and assured us that we were not in the wrong. As the cop walked over the guy yelled at us and said, "Finally, the cops are here. I called them." Very ironic because the cop went and forced him to go inside his home. So basically the guy called the cops on himself!

The night was definitely eventful but sadly it scared Luke and he was worried for weeks that the "mean firework guy" was going to find our house and come get us. I think it's safe to say that this will be our last 4th of July lighting our own fireworks.  

Swim Kids Tri

Last year Luke had so much fun at the Swim Kids Triathlon so he was beyond pumped for this year's tri. He asked me on a regular basis when it was and what he needed to do to practice. Luke was sure he would be the winner this year! Uncle Pat and Aunt Becca came out to cheer them on and the boys thought this was pretty special.

Brody was basically in shock the entire time and couldn't figure out what was going on! He did the bike portion on his wiggle car but Mark did most of the work pushing him around the entire bike course. When it came time for the run and slip n slide Luke of course did triple the amount of laps he was supposed to. He was a good brother though and dragged Brody around with him because Brods was pretty much done by this point. 

This year they had a special surprise for the kids at the end. The fire department brought their truck to hose the kids off. Brody thought he wanted to participate until the water was turned on. His dad came to the rescue though. He insisted on sitting as far away as possible and watching Luke get soaked. Luke was of course one of the last kids out there and we had to drag him off the field!

I am so glad that they had fun! I hope they always love being active and sports! Loves these two little athletes!

Spring Soccer

Luke was so excited for soccer to start because he found out Mark would be his coach! Last year Luke dominated in soccer but this year was a bit of a struggle for him. He still played amazing but he wasn't the only kid on the team scoring goals. This year it was a five and six year old team and Luke was one of the youngest. I didn't think this would even be a problem but I soon realized that one year can make a huge difference.

Last year we had to talk to Luke a lot about being too aggressive on the field. There were a few games last year that we could tell Luke was more concerned about "taking players out" than scoring goals. This year he focused more on playing and his soccer skills and he improved a lot!

They won almost all of their games and played great as a team! This team got so excited about playing and they all wanted to win. Mark had a lot of fun coaching them this spring. Brody couldn't understand why he wasn't out on the field playing. Every game he would bring his green soccer ball and try to head out and play. Brody would get so excited when he could go on the field and kick the ball around with the big kids! Can't wait for the fall season to start!

Disneyland

If there is one thing Mark hates in life it's Disneyland! However, he knew he had to put a smile on his face and take his boys to Disneyland! It's definitely not cheap and very exhausting to spend a day at Disneyland but seeing the joy and Luke and Brody's faces was beyond worth it all! 

Growing up and going to Disneyland with Eileen was not a relaxing experience. The second those doors open you hit the ground running and don't stop until the doors close. Mark's family didn't quite have the same idea as me. They just take things slower than me and weren't too worried about seeing everything but it was still fun to be together.

We hadn't ever been to the new Cars Land and didn't disappoint! The boys faces when they got to meet McQueen was priceless. We couldn't even get Brody to take his eyes off him for a picture. 

I think Luke's favorite ride was the Toy Story ride. He couldn't understand why we couldn't just keep going around and around. Brody had fun on all of them but he had a blast in Bugs Land. Just Brody and I went there while Mark and Luke went on some bigger rides. At the end of the night I took Luke on my favorite ride, Hollywood Tower of Terror. I think it definitely scared him but he had a blast at the same time. It was so funny to see his mixed reaction!

I think I almost get as excited about the food as I do about the rides. One of my favs is definitely the turkey leg. Lukers kept stealing mine and Mark's and chowing down! The thing was as big as his head. At the end of the night I grabbed a Dole Whip and downed it and started looking for a churro. Mark was a scrouge and stopped me...he said that was a little excessive. Pretty rude!

All day long the boys wanted to hit the gift shops but we held them off until the night. When they finally got to go in and pick out one thing they were in heaven. Their picks weren't my first choices but oh well. Brody chose a pack of six Mickey Mouse head lollipops and Luke chose a pack of dinosaurs...not very Disney but he was happy!

If it was up to me we would have gone two or three days. However, Mark likes to just hit hard for one day. I think we definitely wore the boys out. Towards the end of the night Brods just laid down on the ground and refused to walk. Around midnight we were in line for Pirates of the Caribbean and Luke couldn't keep his eyes open. Mark kept trying to wake him up but he was already gone and our Disneyland experience was over.