Quick trip home!

We went home for a couple days to help celebrate Nate's cousin get married. It was a beautiful wedding. It was so good to spend some time with family. Nate's brother Nic was home from Iraq for two weeks and it was good to see him. The morning before the wedding we went to see the Shoshone Ice Caves. Cooper had been reading a book on ice caves and since we were so close, we thought we would take them. It was fun! We saw some friends before they left for Alabama, watched Nate's brother play some baseball at Story Park where Nate used to play, went to a show n' shine that dad was part of at Firebird and saw some racing, and saw some old neighbors/friends we haven't seen in a long time. The third night in Boise Cooper really struggled breathing. He was wheezing and coughing so we took him in the next day. He was put on some meds and an inhaler and the doc said he would most likely get better once we returned to our environment. We headed home that day after dinner. Within a couple days he was doing much better. Enjoy the pictures. I had a hard time narrowing them down.

Charlie sitting in a race car at Fire Bird. This car belonged to the Owen Family (we didn't know them. I thought that was interesting). The boys got autographs.

And Coop's turn.Boppi and Coop watching the races. These cars went so fast.

Riding in Boppi's 1949 Chevy.

Emma being cute at Nanni's.
Silly Emma!

Daddy throwing Emma up in the air.

Family photo. It would have been nice if Nate had put Emma's dress down. :)

Cousins with Great Grandpa.

Some good looking guys.

At Shoshone Ice Caves.




Charlie did not want any assistance. Scared me to death.




We enjoyed our quick trip.

Charlie is 4!!!!

I am almost a month late in writing a post on Charlie turning 4. We have had a busy summer. Nanni Vicki and Boppi Brand came up to visit and help celebrate Charlie's birthday. We had a little get together here at our house and the weather held out for the party. Charlie had a great birthday. Thanks to all who helped us celebrate. We love you Charlie!

Thanks Nanni and Boppi for the new Bike!


Our BIG 4 year old!

Hanging out with Nanni.

Thanks Nanni and Boppi for the new rolling backpack. I love it!

Charlie loves dinosaurs right now. All three kids enjoyed this walking and talking dinosaur from mom and dad.


Fun with friends!

Tamra, Nate and Everett.

Emma and Ali hanging out. :)

Butterfly craft.


Bubbles!!! So much fun! Emma loved the bubbles.

Coop is growing up

Coop's school year is wrapping up. Today he is at school until 3:25 and then he gets to ride the bus home. He gets to get a feel of what it will be like next year eating lunch at school and spending the afternoon there. They are having a field day, but it looks pretty cloudy out there. He was pretty excited. I bet he will be exhausted by the end of the day. I am not sure what we will do without him here. Tomorrow they have an assembly and then Megan is going to help out for a fun day in the park if the weather cooperates. Then we are off to Boise to see family. YAY!

Now that Cooper is finishing Kindergarten he had the option to join scouts. He is super excited. Nate is going to help co-lead the tiger cub group. He has been to two meetings. He has already memorized the oath, hand shake, motto, salute, and boy scout sign. He is well on his way to earning his first badge, the bobcat badge. Next week they will be making a banner and he will be walking in the Genesee Community Day Parade. It did take 2.5 hours to sew on those patches, but we got them on there. :) Coop's first t-ball game is tomorrow, which we will miss since we are heading out of town, but we will be back for his second game on Tuesday.

We are excited for summer, visiting family, going on some vacations/camping trips and hopefully enjoying some warm, sunny weather. It can show up at anytime. PLEASE!

I can't believe this kid is going to be in 1st grade. We are very proud of you Cooper and all your hard work this year. We love you!

And a glace back at his first day of Kindergarten. Sniff Sniff.

Emma trying hard to walk

Yesterday we saw Emma take her first steps. She started with one step and worked her way up to three. Then she was pretty tired of standing and trying to walk. Today we were able to capture some video. She is a little over 15 months and both boys walked at about 16 months. So she is right on track with her brothers.


Emma standing on her own.


Emma taking a step. I love her face expressions with her mouth wide open.





And she was tired of trying to walk and decided to go tackle her brother. :)

Our Butterfly's

We had so much fun watching caterpillars form their chrysalides and then become butterflies. The process took about three weeks. Charlie and I were fortunate to get to watch a butterfly come out of its chrysalis. It was fascinating. All five of them seemed to come out around 9 am in the morning. One would come out each day for five days. We took them down to Lewiston on Friday and let them go in Kiwanis Park. They flew right up to the blossoms on the tree. I would recommend this for anyone with kids. It was fun to watch the whole process.

This is how they came. The caterpillars stayed in this cup for about 11 days and then we moved them to the butterfly garden after they formed their chrysalides.

Here they are in their chrysalides.


Here we go!

Opening up the butterfly garden to get the butterfly's out.

The boys and their friends all had fun holding the butterfly's and letting them fly off of their fingers.



Tamra captured a great picture of the butterfly after it landed on a blossom. Thanks Tamra!

Kindergarten Spring Concert

We enjoyed watching the K-3rd graders perform songs and dances last Thursday. They were all so cute! We were very proud of Cooper. He did so well. Enjoy the photos and videos!

Getting ready for the big performance.


The popcorn Dance



The Popcorn Dance


The Old Grey Cat

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all of you mothers, especially to our moms for all they do. We love you! I was served breakfast in bed this morning and showered with many flowers and homemade gifts. We went to church and enjoyed watching the Easter program. Nate sang a few songs for the program. The young children sang Mercy is Falling. Well Charlie just smiled and looked cute. At the end of the service the kids passed out flowers to all the moms. It was so sweet. Enjoy your day mothers!