Family beach vacation

 Over Memorial Day weekend we took a short trip to Beth's house and spent a day at one of the Charleston beaches: Sullivan's Island. Here are some photos!

Spencer is THE baby whisperer. He can get our babies to sleep anywhere. Thank you.

Car trips. Sigh.

How Declan looked most of the car ride. 

We did have our bright moments. 

Ian and the alphabet

 Ian and I finished learning the alphabet together. Before we could take a picture, Declan ripped X,Y, and Z from the wall. But hey, we had fun while it lasted. 

Audrey decided to get dressed up in superhero gear and fly paper airplanes. She was in her own little world (tapping the buttons on her arm band and speaking commands) and very sweet to watch. I tried to get a candid shot, but none turned out so I asked her to pose.

 Audrey lost her first tooth! It started wiggling a couple weeks ago and finally came out yesterday. After school she wiggled it and it was hanging by a thread, so she let me yank it out. I found that to be strangely satisfying. She has a tooth box from a family friend, Marsa, so we put the tooth in for the tooth fairy. Unfortunately, the tooth fairy wasn't feeling well that night and went to bed really early. But she managed to sneak in those quarters while Audrey was brushing her teeth this morning...

Happy birthday Declan!

Declan did NOT celebrate his first birthday; how sad! But we did. We had our dear friends the Croxalls and the Nicelers over after church for a barbecue and cupcakes. We had a wonderful time, but poor Declan had a fever and slept through the whole thing. He also didn't have an appetite, so we saved him a cupcake, which he ate a few days later on his daddy's birthday (the rest of us ate pie that night!). Let's hope for a better celebration next year! 

Utah trip

In April I went to Salt Lake City, UT, for a girls' weekend reunion with my college roommates. I don't have photos yet from the trip, but I will post them when I do. I also got to enjoy a lovely lunch with my friend Tom, who was my cooperating teacher when I student taught in Midvale, and I got to see my sister-in-law Carly and her husband. I ended my trip by hanging out with my brother Paul in Provo. I hadn't seen him in two and a half years! It was so wonderful to see him again and spend time with him.

Picking strawberries

 I had an unexpected free morning, so I spontaneously threw my boys in the car and drove 40 minutes to a strawberry patch. We spent about an hour picking and tasting berries and came home with two gallons, from which we made three batches of freezer jam and ate up the rest. It was lovely.

Ian wanted to take a ride in the wagon pulled by this tractor, but I said no. He was happy at least to go up and touch the wheel and get his photo taken.