one crazy summer!

ok, so first off a warning.  I am cramming all our summer activities into this post. I promise it will be mostly pictures though :)



 I don't think I posted these pictures yet....we took one last trip to the zoo while grandma was staying with us in Texas. i'm so bummed we don't have a zoo only 30 minutes away anymore but we enjoyed it while we could. on this last trip we tried to use as many remaining coupons that came with our season pass as possible which included feeding the giraffes, feeding the birds, riding the train and riding the carousel.

 

next is the thing that always kick off the start of summer....the last day of school! I cant believe this kid is done with kindergarten and about to head into 1st grade.

 

 

mason's kindergarten graduation was the morning of the last day of school (well, technically we had to make up a snow day the next day but that doesn't count because we were somewhere on the road at that point). they did a cute program in the lunchroom where they were escorted in by their 5th grade "buddies" while accompanied by the song "don't you ever grow up" by taylor swift (which I love). it was just about enough to make a mama tear up. they all walked across the stage and received "diplomas", sang a couple of songs, then we separated into their classrooms where they received awards and had refreshments.  

mason is to the left of girl in the red on the front row 

all 4 kindergarten classes

this is ziyah. she was all mason ever talked about. they loved to play together at recess. 

mason and his teacher mrs. abadie. I loved his teacher! she was amazing and she worked really hard at keeping mason going at his level since he was pretty far ahead of the rest of the class. 

 

immediately following his graduation, we headed home to pack and finish up the last of the cleaning. the moving crew had already taken most of our stuff a few days prior and we had already cleaned the majority of the house but needed to do some touching up.  we bought a van back in December (a 2014 sienna that I freaking love!) and it turned out to be a huge lifesaver at this point. we stayed in texas a few days after the moving crew took our stuff so mason could attend graduation which meant we were already packed pretty tight with suitcases, a few toys, blankets and pillows, some food and a box of things that the moving crew was not allowed to pack (cleaners and such). on a final walk through of the house we found 2, (yes 2!) boxes in the coat closet that the movers forgot to load. holy cow I was not happy.  luckily one just had a few random holiday things in it so we just took it to the curb but the other had all of my wreaths which I was not going to get rid of (those things are expensive! and I have quite a few). so with some rearranging we got it all to fit which never would have happened in our crossover. and just like that we said goodbye to the first home Curtis and I ever owned. it was a bittersweet moment. since chobani was paying for our move and there was no way that my mother in law and I could drive all night like Curtis, we spread the drive into 3 days and got hotels for 2 nights, one in Amarillo, Texas and one in Flagstaff, Arizona. it actually went a lot better than I expected which was good because I was already stressed to the max. we had only a few screaming fits from b and the other 2 did awesome too. we dropped my mother in law off in st. George and met Curtis in cedar city at my parents house. he stayed for the weekend then headed back to Idaho for work and to open the rental house for the moving crew later that week . my mom joined the kids and I for our last leg of the journey and after 6 long weeks without Curtis we were together in Idaho.

 

 

 for the 4th of july we headed back down to southern Utah for a week with our families. we spent the 4th in cedar city, went to the parade and park festivities and then lit and watched fireworks later that night.

 

 once the weekend was over we went to st. George to spend time with curtis' whole family who was all out for the week. we did LOTS of swimming, went to the lake, a few museums and lots of other fun activities. I love that my kids pick up right where they left off with their cousins. they had a blast and we enjoyed the time we got to spend together.

 

 

 

the weekend after we got back from Utah, we got a visit from our good friends the dannenbergs! we were so happy to see them!  they moved to reno from Waxahachie about 9 months ago and my kids still call these guys their best friends :) we went to a nearby swimming area, the falls and a park during their stay and had a great time.

 

 in july my youngest sibling got his mission call to the Philippines! we were so excited and he only had a month until he had to report to the MTC. we decided we needed one last get together and we chose lagoon. the day we picked to go just happened to be the SUU alumni day (my entire family has/is going to SUU) so we all got discounted tickets and free drinks and ice cream in the afternoon.  score! the kids had a blast!! I was worried they wouldn't make it long without meltdowns (especially with b not getting a nap) but we made it until about 6 pm when we decided the time had come. sophie has always been daring. she went on so many rides that mason wouldn't and loved it. mason usually chose the safer rides :)

 

this is my sister, sister in law , mason and sophie on the ferris wheel. my kids adore their aunts and uncles.

 

 lastly, mason took swimming lessons for a few weeks. this is the only picture I got...I took mostly videos. sophie didn't get the chance this year because the lady that teaches didn't have anymore 4 year old classes open for the summer. i'm so glad we found out about her lessons and next year I will be signing both kids up as soon as possible! by his last lesson mason was swimming the entire length of the pool by himself along with treading, treading to swimming, swim and roll and they were just adding arms to the back when his lessons came to an end.

 

and last but not least here is the update on our house! its coming along quite nicely :) it turns out that the majority of our ward lives in our subdivision which is awesome!! we just met the people who live across the street from us at church yesterday...turns out the guy works with Curtis at chobani and we had no idea they lived there. we also met the people who live right next to us and are also members with a 6 year old and 4 year old boys. when we went by on saturday (I didnt get a picture) they had finished framing the main floor and had the roof pieces on the lot next to us ready to put up. we are so excited to move in!

 

basement dug,

 basement walls poured,

 basement framed and floor being laid,

 outer walls of main floor framed

so that's basically it. we also registered mason for school. he got accepted into the Kimberly school district which we are super happy about! that means he wont have to go to a new school now and another new school when the house is finished. he starts august 31st.

hopefully the next time I update this our house will be finished!