Wild West Days & Ogden Music Festival

This year, our city put on Wild West Days. We decided to check it out. They had some activities and things to see set up during the day along with vendors and such. Our first stop was the Indian Village. This was probably my favorite part. They had different activities throughout the day, but when we got there they were doing a Pow Wow of sorts and performing different Native American Dances. It was so cool to watch!

This little boy was so cool decked out in his costume!

This boy was amazing! Only 10 years old and he did

an incredible hoop dance! It was so fun to watch. He

was just as good as the professional hoop dancers we

watched later at the show!

The kids next to one of the teepees:

Next we went and saw some of the old Western artifacts. They had a bunch of neat old restored wagons, carts, etc. They were so cool to see!

This old buggy was one of my favorites:

This was a medicine wagon:

This was interesting. An old hearse wagon

with a coffin:

The petting zoo:

This was a really fun exhibit. All different kinds of drums!

Bryce and Josh:

Parker trying out the drums:

Bryce LOVED the drums!

That night we went to the Wild West Show. It was really fun. They had sharp-shooters, a stagecoach, trick riders, trick ropers, and Native American dancing. We decided it wasn't the best thing to take young kids to though. It didn't even start until their bedtime, so the entire time they were wanting to leave because they were tired or they were cold. :( I think they somewhat enjoyed the show anyway though.

The stagecoach. In the beginning it came racing out and

around the arena at top speed. :)

Some of the Native American dancing.

I think they called this Roman riding? He rode

both horses at the same time and did tricks

that way!

A team of miniature mules:

The next day (June 4), Josh and I went up to the Ogden Music Festival which was held in Eden this year. My mom and my sister Cammie gave Josh tickets to the Festival and my sister offered to watch the boys for the day. After Josh was done with work that morning, we headed up and dropped out boys (except Quinn) off at Cammie's house in Lehi. We stopped and grabbed lunch at a little Greek place, then went up to the festival. It was quite a ways away, but once we got to the mountains it was a beautiful drive! Eden was the prettiest little town nestled right in the mountains. We got to the festival and were able to watch a few of the performances. It was kind of a mix of bluegrass, blues, and a little country. It was fun! Josh loved it, especially the bluegrass parts. Quinn was so good. He just hung out quietly, and the loud music didn't bother him at all.
Since it was so far away, we ended up being super late. Then, on top of that, we got a flat tire on the way home! It was kind of scary because we were right on the freeway. Not fun having to change a flat on the freeway.
We got it changed and picked up our tired kids and headed home! So thankful for my sister for watching the kids for the day (and night)! It was a fun day and nice to have a little date together.

Quinn's Blessing

On May 21st Josh was able to give Quinn his blessing. He was 6 weeks old! We had it in our home. My parents, Josh's parents, Josh's sister Melissa & her kids, and my Aunts Lisa & Terri and their kids all came. It was a really neat day. I was happy we were able to have so many come and join us for Quinn's special day. I wish I had taken more pictures!

By the time I realized I needed to

get a picture

of Quinn with Josh,

he had already changed his clothes. Oh well!

ETA: Yay! My mom sent me some pics that she took at Quinn's blessing:

PS - I uploaded some pics from my phone and ended up adding one each to the Misc in May and Mother's Day posts below. FYI. :)

Bryce's Preschool Graduation

Oh, my little boys are growing up! Bryce graduated from his preschool this year (May 19) and will be going to Kindergarten next year. The way Bryce's preschool is set up, they have a Mon/Wed class and a Tues/Thurs class. Bryce's delays have been severe enough that he has qualified to go to both classes (so he goes 4 days). Because of this, Bryce ends up doing two programs at the end of the year. I went to both, but forgot my camera the first time (darn it!). This year they performed and sang Nursery Rhymes. In the first program Bryce played the cat in Hey Diddle Diddle. He was so cute in his little costume. I really wish I had a picture of it! These pictures are from his second program. He played the mouse in Hickory Dickory Dock. I recorded it, so I didn't get a picture of him doing the actual part. It was very cute. While the kids sang the song, Bryce jumped UP when the mouse ran up the clock (with his teacher's help), and squatted DOWN when the mouse ran down. Okay, so the mouse went up and down a lot. LOL. He had a lot of fun, and it was cute to see him doing his part and having fun with the songs.

(See the boy 3 down from Bryce? That was the costume Bryce wore the first day)

Bryce and his teacher Miss Nicole. We're going

to miss her! She was so great with Bryce the last few years.

As I mentioned, Bryce will be going to Kindergarten next year. This district has been SO great in regards to their special education program. They have placed Bryce in what they call a self-contained Kindergarten. He won't be going to the same school as Isaac and Parker, but will actually be attending a school in Salem called Salem Hills Elementary. Josh and I went in and met the teacher. She is great. We were really impressed with the teacher, the school, the class, and all of the aides. I think Bryce will do great there and have a lot of fun. It's an all day Kindergarten, so all my kids except Quinn will be in school full-time next year! That will be so weird! I'm so thankful to have such a good system in place for Bryce and such great teachers and aides there to help him progress. They are all so willing to do their best to help him and to find what works best for him and the things he specifically needs. It's hard as parents to accept that your little boy won't be able to go to a regular kindergarten and have the same experiences as his brothers (or go to the same school for that matter), but I do know that he'll be in a good place and that it's really the best place for him. We are so proud of Bryce and the progress he's made during his preschool years. Preschool has made an amazing difference with his development and progress. We're excited for him to start Kindergarten!

Parker's Kindergarten Graduation

Parker is now a Kindergarten Graduate! We are so proud of Parker and how well he has done this year in school. His teacher told us he was her top student and best reader in both her AM & PM class. He has just loved school this year and was always excited to go.

They put on a little program for their graduation and it was SO cute. They did a great job with all their songs. It was very entertaining. :) I'm still upset at myself for not recording at least some of it. We got to the school and realized that our camera was almost dead. We had Bryce's graduation to go to after Parker's and wanted to make sure we had enough battery to take some pictures at Bryce's too, so we didn't record. We ended up being able to take pics at both and record some of Bryce's though, so I think we would have been okay. :( Maybe I'll have him sing some of the songs and record that.

I had to snap this cute picture of Quinn hanging out

with Daddy while we watched Parker's program:

Parker with his best friend Molly:

Parker and his teacher, Mrs. Ellingson. We have just LOVED her! Parker actually started out with a different Kindergarten teacher (Mrs. Harris), but she decided to leave on a mission in the middle of the school year and Mrs. Ellingson took over for the remaining half.

Josh's 30th Birthday

Josh turned 30 on May 18th. He opened his birthday presents in the morning before the kids left for school. He got an electric guitar! He also got a few wii games & another wii remote which we've been needing. The games were Smash Bros, Free Running, and Wii Play (which came free with the remote).
For Josh's birthday dinner, he requested Indian food. I made some Chicken Saag with rice. Very yummy. It's become a new family favorite.
Josh's birthday cake was a dark chocolate cheesecake - and boy was it dark. And Chocolate. Very yummy. :)

On the weekend following Josh's birthday we had a party at a Sushi restaurant with family and some of Josh's friends. He had a good time and it was some good sushi! :)

Miscellaneous in May

You always hear parents say that they have SO many more pictures of their first child than they do of their last. Well, with us it's the opposite! I think I got more pictures of Quinn in his first three weeks than I did of Isaac's entire babyhood. But digital cameras just make it so easy! All we had with Isaac was a cheapy 35 mm camera. Makes me wish I could go back in time with a digital and get more pictures!

Anyway, here are a couple of cute ones of Quinn. He was 3 weeks old in these. He is just the smiliest baby ever! He is so much fun. He started smiling in response to us talking to him when he was only 2 weeks old. I've never seen a baby smile that early. He's a happy boy!

Isaac wants to be a geologist when he grows up. This is a picture I caught of Isaac doing a science project. He was growing some crystals - emerald crystals this time. :) So cute.

One day the boys wanted to have some popcorn and watch a movie. I was trying to fix dinner and Quinn was fussing, wanting to be held, so I had Isaac hold him while they watched their movie. :)

This year, Isaac got to participate in the Pinewood Derby for scouts! He was SO excited and had a lot of fun making and decorating his derby car. He didn't place, but had a lot of fun with the races too. He did a great job with his car! He named it "Rocket".

This is our new lawn mower! We decided to buy a manpowered push mower. It's kind of like a modern version of those old fashioned lawn mowers they had back in the olden days. It's so cool! Easy to push, does a great job cutting, it's quiet, and obviously better for the environment. The only problem we've really had is that by the time we got our mower, our lawn was a jungle it was so long. So it took a few runs the first time to get the long grass down to normal length, but otherwise we've been really happy with it!

Bryce and I love to bake things together. It's interesting to me since Bryce has been tube-fed his entire life and is just now beginning to eat more food, but he just loves making cookies or cupcakes. This time, we made some cupcakes and Bryce got to put all the papers in the muffin pan. He was so proud of the good job he did! :)