James is 11

James is 11 years old! Time flies, he used to be a 9 lb 6 oz baby with a ton of blonde hair who cried for 12 weeks straight. Now he's a dinosaur, Spiderman, Lego and Pokemon-loving boy who loves to give and receive a kiss on the cheek each night before bed.

On his birthday he requested Tonyburgers for dinner, and Millie took the kissing pictures. (Andrew and Ben were at FSY.)

We had his cake on Sunday before his birthday the night before Ben and Andrew left for FSY and we were with the Richards. He wanted peanut butter and chocolate.

 

We also had Phin and Kira's birthday cakes and they were all soo good! I remember being so jealous that Phin was born first, because I was so tired of being pregnant. And then Kira came along in June, too! 

Here are the Richards cousins who were there. I miss Max in group pictures like this.

And here James holding the Arizona Richards cousins' new dog.

On Wednesday during the day James had a few of his school friends over. Crazy how last year at this time they were still in school. 

On Thursday JB took James and Millie to Lagoon while I was in the office. Even on his birthday, she picked the car color.

Happy birthday to James!

School is out!

That's a wrap on 2nd, 5th, 7th and 10th grades! They were done just a couple of days after Memorial Day.

Here are James and Millie first day compared to last day.

It was a busy month. James had a field trip.

Millie had a school dance "informance"

Andrew had his last orchestra concert.

The elementary had school field day where I handed out snow cones and went to grab a photo of the kids with their friends at the other stations..

Ben had an end of year tennis banquet.

They had some parties in May and June to go to, like the ward picnic when I was out of town.

Ben had a school dance and this is what they all wore (or some variation)

Millie had a friend's kitty cat birthday party.

Andrew had a friend's birthday party out at Jordan Landing.

And it was Phin's 11th birthday.

I don't think Ben went to high school for almost the whole last week -- either his teachers weren't even there or they asked the students to not even come. Testing was done and they had grading and cleaning I guess. He played tennis and basketball and mowed lawns instead!

Rugby and tennis spring sports

I found a 3-week rugby clinic through the county parks and rec program, and these two boys really really loved it. 

Last year I tried flag football for them both but they just wanted to tackle things — each other, mostly. And Andrew plays football all the time outside at school with friends. 

This rugby clinic taught them all the fundamentals, and they wanted to keep going into a tackle rugby league, but it is kind of far away. So....we thought, if they are really this interested in tackle football, let's try it. They are now both signed up for fall with the league right in our neighborhood and I am cautiously optimistic about all the things I am worried about.

Oh, and Millie often came to their practices in April and kept taking photos and videos of herself.

Also this spring, Ben played on the high school developmental tennis team. We were thrilled when we got the chance to see him play.

Look at that athleticism! He was great at the net with those long arms and quick reflexes.

Here is Millie wandering up a hillside during an away match.

And here is the victor after a home match.

I have been getting Facebook and Instagram memories from last year's tennis season when Max was a senior and the captain and I've been quite nostalgic for our boy!

Spring break and Easter

 Saturday March 30 we drove to John and Pauline's Escalante cabin to spend Easter with them and part of our Spring break week with cousins. We went to Easter sacrament meeting with both wards combined in town. This is the bell outside the ward building.

James gave me a cuddle in church and I wanted to sneak a look to see if he was asleep and ended up taking a picture.

Then we had an Easter egg hunt with the cousins! Ben — who was the oldest of the whole crew by a lot — helped hide the eggs and then helped Lou find some eggs.

The hunter-gatherers and their spoils.

The days were full of playing games: board games, card games, adventure games, role-player games, all thanks to the Robertsons. The boys told me they really had fun. We played Azul, Roam, Silver Coin, 7 Wonders Architects, Gnoming-A-Round, Cover Your Cookies, and more.

There was lots of outside play, too, down by the creek and the fort. You'll notice our youngest child kept sneaking outside in her pajamas.

Making treats was also a hit.

Ben and Lou were often together. She would find him and hang out by him or he would go find her to tease her.

We did have a sad hour or so when James fell into a cactus and I had to pull out the needles as he screamed and cried.

Then later I found this selfie on my camera with the cabin's bear so he rallied.

On Tuesday we took a great hike to 100 hands, by the Escalante River trailhead. These are petroglyphs high up on a cliff face.

Papa and the grandkids (Lou also came and was such a trooper).

Papa accidentally stuck his hand in a cactus while gaining his balance on a hill. He was much more stoic and calm than James was earlier in our stay.

That day JB and Suzanne made homemade pizzas in the pizza oven with Suzanne's homemade sourdough crusts. We all sat outside and ate under the blue skies and this might have been my favorite meal.

Seth brought BB guns and slingshots and the kids had fun shooting at the target.

And we had a couple rides in the side-by-side.

All too soon we were back at home in the city! I need to get my children out among sticks and dirt and nature more often. Thank you, John and Pauline!