memorial day and Josie's 8th Birthday!

 Last weekend for memorial day we went up to Lake Roosevelt. The weather has been summer like and the lake is low so the beaches were great.

 Landon found some cool rocks...

 Josie and Landon went fishing with my parents and caught two fish.

 One night there was a huge lightening and thunder storm. I tried to get a picture with my phone but it just turned half the picture bright.

  Landon loves my parents dog shelby.

Josie's actual birthday was last wednesday, the 27th. Grandpa Tom and Grandma Carol as well as Uncle Bob and Aunt Kathy sent josie gifts so she had fun opening them. Her gift from us was having her ears pierced. So I didn't have anything to give her on her actual b day.

She loved her new outfits from grandpa tom and grandma carol and wore one of them and her 'birthday girl' pin to school.

A sidenote...I was making a protein shake at work and I went to shake it and the lid was not on all the way! It went flying all over the kitchen at work and made a huge mess!!

 last week Josie had an all day field trip to Turnbull. It is a wildlife refuge in Cheney. Luke took the day off of work and him and Landon went along. Landon was so excited to be in 'school' Luke said he sat up front during the teaching portion and kept raising his hand to ask questions.

 That hand in the front is landon:)

And...someone took this picture of josie on the schoolbus on the way to the field trip...Yes, that is my crazy kid in the middle!

Wednesday Josie came home from school with 2 fertilized chicken eggs from her friend. When she realized that we didn't have an incubator and didn't have anything to do with them she got upset and said 'all my best friends have chickens'. She threw the eggs away and was in a terrible mood for the rest of the night. We were singing happy b day to her and she refused to smile.....until the end and I think she forced it.

Thursday we received a letter from Josie's school that said josie had won the award for Courage! Every month it is something different, like kindness, helpfulness and so on. It is a character award and once a month the teachers and staff nominate a student to receive the award. We are so proud of her. This Friday she gets her award at an all school assembly!

Friday I brought treats to Josie's classroom for a late b day celebration...The kids all sang to josie and then they got to eat treats. Landon came too....He loves hanging out with all of josie's friends.

 Landon and Isabel

 Brooke, Lexi, landon, josie and isabel.

 Friday afternoon my parents came to visit for the weekend and to celebrate Josie's birthday. We took them out to the barn to see Lady. Lady is now Josie's horse that she can ride and take care of. We are just 'leasing' her so to speak, so we don't own her, but Josie is saving her allowance money to help pay for her every month. We met a nice 14 year old girl at the barn who needs to train someone on horseback for her certification for pony club. She asked josie if she wanted to take lessons from her. Josie Jumped at the chance. So this summer Josie will be taking Lessons from Lexi:) Here is Josie on Lady. Her bridle was missing, so she just rode her with a halter. But josie and Lady did great.

 Random photo of Landon...Just peeing at the lake:)

Last monday I took Landon on a hike by my work. I didn't realize how steep the trails were because I had never done the hike. I mapped it on my phone and it was almost 2 miles...We hiked all the way to the bottom and then landon said 'can you carry me?' I made him hike most of the way back up but I did carry him a bit...It was a long 2 miles!

 Landon is at the age where he asks a lot of questions and rarely stops talking...I loved our conversations that we had while hiking...

 These are a little random....but luke gets photo credit for these two...Landon and Luke were flying a kite in the back yard a little while ago...Landon loves wearing his snow boots still.

 Saturday morning we celebrated Josie's 8th birthday with a real birthday party. It was at Polka Dot Pottery. The kids all painted a picture that Josie had selected. We could only invite so many kids, so it was hard not to be able to invite everyone she wanted to, but there were 13 kids in all and it turned out to be really fun. It was quiet and calm and not as stressful as doing it at a jump in bounce like we did last year! Josie picked to paint the owl.

 Landon did better than expected. He was very good at listening to the instructions from the 'teacher' and took it very seriously.

Luke had my camera for a little while and took some pics of her opening her presents.

 Brooke saw that josie got a stuffed horse and said 'can you get me one of those for my birthday?' ha ha....This is a look of envy:)

 Josie M...tearing into some wrapping paper:)

Landon got tired:)

Emma got josie Best Friends bracelets. So Josie wears one and then Emma wears the other:)

The birthday girl gets a customized birthday plate.

All the kids were great listeners and painters...Here are the final products.

After the party we went to lunch and my parents took Josie to Build a Bear at the mall. That is what she wanted for her birthday from them. She had never been there, so she was very excited. Josie chose a dog. After it is stuffed you get to wash it, give it clothes and name it. she named it Muffin.

Today I made my mom go to my barre class this morning. Then we came home and went for a hike. The kids have really been into hiking lately, so we thought we would share our new hiking place with them. It was pretty hot, but we hiked about 2.5 miles and had a great time.

 Landon wanted his picture taken on the rock...but didn't want luke in it:)

We had a great weekend with my parents and celebrating Josie's Birthday. I can't believe we have an 8 year old! Her friend from the barn had invited us to her dance performance this afternoon. It was Cinderella. Josie really enjoyed it and even saw one of her classmates from school that was in the dance too. Here is Josie and Lexi.

Of course Josie had to bring Muffin with her to the show:)..