Random Springtime Pictures

These are some random pictures, mostly from the park, that we have taken. Also pictures from Jackson and Gabe's soccer season. I have been so busy with my two online courses, tutoring, taking the Praxis test, and life as a Mom, that I haven't been keeping up with the blog. Now that most of that is over, I hope to do better.
Enjoy the pictures!

Fathers and Sons

May 14th and 15th was our stake Father's and Sons camp out. Every year, the boys look forward to this event. Here in Connecticut, it has been rained out for three of the last four years. This year was questionable, but because the threat was just for the evening, the camp out was on!
Phil loaded the car to the top, as usual. And I teased him about it, as usual. But I appreciate that he would rather be over-prepared than under-prepared.
The boys had a blast playing all evening. Then came the thunder storm! It poured on them. We only live 5 miles or so from the campsite, and we didn't get a drop at the house, but they got dumped on. The thunder and lightning were incredible, even at our house. By morning the storm had cleared, and the kids enjoyed a zipline that was set up for them.




All three boys loved being with their friends. And being in the great outdoors camping. With no girls around. Oh, and it was fun to be with Dad, too.

While Jake was at his campout, and Mady was at a friend's, Gabe and Jackson invited Jarrett over to roast marshmallows over the firepit.
It was the first time we had used it, and the boys had a blast making smores and roasting starbursts.
Later Jarrett entertained us with stories about the greek gods. They had a great time, and it was early enough in the season that we weren't bothered too much by the bugs yet.

Pre-Jamboree Campout!

Before Jake's big National Jamboree campout this July, they had a weekend campout to prepare. It was called ShakeDown, and the entire contingent (11 troops) were involved.

Jake has worked so hard to earn money for jamboree, and we are so thankful to the family and friends who have helped him! I couldn't resist taking this picture before he headed out.


Jake had a great time and cannot wait for jamboree. He still needs to earn more money, though, so it's a good thing he still has a little time!

Jake, although the youngest in his troop, was also asked to be QuarterMaster for his patrol. His leaders love his enthusiasm and willingness to help out wherever needed. (Wish we saw a little more of that at home)
Good job Jake, we love you!

Pine Wood Derby

So I'm a little late with this posting, but better late than never.
Gabe had his first pine wood derby in April. True to form, his car was all BYU.

We weren't sure how the car would do, but Gabe was pretty confident. And he got so nervous every time it went down the track. It was really cute to watch. But after two runs, we knew we had a good one.

Gabe ended up first place for the wolves:

And second place overall! Not much separated first and second place.
And he got a pinewood derby t-shirt as a prize. Even though it is red, he loves it!

Great job Gabe! (Only 5 more pine wood derbies in our future, Haha!)

Easter

On Good Friday we were invited over to an afternoon Easter party thrown by some people in the ward. There was egg decorating, bunny hop races, an Easter egg hunt, food, friends, and sunshine. Here's a quick peek:
And here are the family Easter celebration photos:

Note the time on the clock behind Jackson!

It's a Jungle Out There!

It really is...this is our back yard now!

But the day after Jake found the big snapping turtle in our back yard, we saw this:

In the backyard, just checking things out. And when I went on the deck to take a picture, he just stared at me for a minute.

And then, a few days later...Gabe found this:

It was in the creek, close to where Jake found Yertle.

Welcome to the jungle!

(At least it's colorful!)

Playing with the Big Boys

I couldn't help it. I had to take a few pictures and blog about Jake's first basketball adventures. He played with our ward team. Not only was he the youngest on the team, he was by far the smallest on the court!
He did pretty well for his first year, and he's a scrappy little player. But it is really funny to see him out there among the older taller boys. (The pictures may be blurry, those darn boys wouldn't stay still!!!)

Yertle and friends

I was in the middle of a tutoring session this afternoon, when I received a text. It was from Phil. "Jake just found a 25 lb snapping turtle in the creek. We got pictures."
How do you respond to that? That's about all we have heard about tonight. The kids were so excited about it. We are of the opinion that maybe this turtle was nesting.
I know, some of you don't believe that Yertle the Turtle lives in our yard. So we have proof:




And yes, that is in our yard. In the creek I mentioned before. The kids are having a hay day with that creek, especially after it rains a lot. Which it has. 5-6 inches this week.


And just in case a turtle isn't enough, we get to listen to the "Peepers" all the time now that it is getting warmer. Frogs. Loud frogs. They live in the creek and the wetlands across the street. And they sing. All the time. Did I mention they were loud? Phil taught Jackson and Gabe how to catch them last week. And it kept them busy for hours. Proof again? Okay:



One of our favorite past times lately is sitting in the family room and looking out the big picture window at the birds visiting our bird feeder. We were given a cool Connecticut Bird Guide, and have had fun figuring out what birds we are looking at. We have a male cardinal and his girlfriend, a male hairy woodpecker and his girlfriend, several black capped chickadees, various finches, a prairie warbler, and at least one tufted titmouse ("little bird"). We had some blue jays, but they haven't been around for awhile. We just put the feeder out a week ago, so it is a lot of fun to see who is visiting. The squirrels are a little jealous, one climbed the pole but went back down when he realized that the suet was in cages. Even Jackson will look through the book to match up the birds. During the day, the birds compete with the frogs.
(Pictures are coming. Just don't know when. Have to take them first, haha!)

The Wait is Over!

Sorry for the delay. I didn't mean to keep you in suspense so long. Sometimes that's just how things work out. Phil got sustained on Sunday. His new calling is....(drum roll, please) Young Men's President.
Phil is excited to be back working with the youth. We have about 20 young men in our ward. There is no honeymoon period with this calling, he is going with the youth on a temple trip to Boston this Saturday. I have to say I'm a little jealous that he, Mady, and Jake are going to Boston. But what do you do, my turn will come.
So the wait is finally over. After 7 months without a calling, he will now be back to work. Watch out, young men, he has a lot of free time on his hands right now to devote to thinking about you!