Craig and Rachael came down from Kimberly Idaho for Craig's football game in Logan, and the kids and I volunteered to watch Xander at our house while they were gone. Ellie and Jake were so excited to have a baby at our house, and although Xander isn't much of a baby he is the closest we have had at our house in a long time. Jake quickly pulled out some of his (baby) toys, and was excited to let Xander play with them.
Xander kept acting so concerned over little bugs on the sidewalk after it sprinkled, so Ellie and Jake helped him step on them. After a little while I went over to see what this terrible bug was that he was stressing over, and found that they were potato bugs. I got quite a kick out of it.
We pulled out Jake's old (baby) three wheel spider man scooter for Xander to play with. He quickly picked up on how to ride it, and spent a good hour outside with Ellie and Jake riding scooters up and down the sidewalk. Of course he was more than happy to have Ellie push him around, and she was more than thrilled to do it.
When Xander went home Sunday morning we sent the scooter home with Xander. We decided we would rather give it to him, than to the little neighbor boy. Ellie gave hers to one of our little neighbor girls a few years ago, so Jake wanted to give his to someone as well.
While Craig and Rachael were loading their car to head home Craig put his helmet on Jake. Jake thought he was pretty darn cool, and of course had to have me snap some shots of him posing with his big huge mussels. Now Jake is insisting when he grows up he is going to play football just like Xander's dad and he will be strong, tough, and cool. I love boys and their imaginations.
Thanks Craig and Rachael for leaving Xander with us for some fun. And thanks for spending some good visiting time with us. We love you, and hope you will come back soon.
The ducks were really brave, and came right up to us to be fed which is always lots of fun. I think we enjoyed feeding the baby ones more than the adult ones this time. They were just learning how to fight for the bread and I loved watching them win.
Jake found that it was much easier just breaking his bread into lots of little pieces and then throwing it all at once into the water. I think he figured it would keep the ducks from coming to close to him. He did not find their bravery as cool as his mom did. :)
Here is a cute little bird who I thought was so brave. The first time I threw him a piece of bread he waited until I walked away before he would grab the bread. Then I would throw a piece closer to me and look away and he would grab it and hop away to eat it. By the time I was done I was able to put the food down by my foot and he would hop over and eat it without hopping away.
I love this picture of Jake. He was so fascinated by the sprayer in the pond. I think if we would have let him he could have stayed there for hours. 
Below are two pictures of Ellie and Jake posing for pictures at there college. Every time we go to the school we talk to them about the school and all of the things they could become. I think they just assume that it is their school by now. 
Ellie and I decided that for our birthday we wanted to go bowling and then out to dinner. We were able to do this at the college also. They have a summer deal that if you bowl between the hours of 2 and 6 pm the shoes are free. We each bowled a game and then headed off to dinner. The kids both did pretty good for it being Jake's first time, and Ellie's second. Jake scored a 64, Ellie bowled a 65, and I bowled a 96. Ray was happy to just sit back and watch us. He wasn't up for bowling so we had fun without him. (lol)
After bowling we headed to Layton to a nice Chinese Restaurant for dinner. It was a lot of fun, and Ellie and I enjoyed the time out with Ray and Jake.
My roses are starting to bloom, and I am so excited. They are looking so dang pretty. I was concerned at the end of the year last year that they may not survive the winter, but they survived and are back to bloom away. It makes me so happy to look at them, and I can't wait for all of the bushes to bloom. 
This summer I am hoping that the neighborhood kids get along as well as they did today. I am going to try to be a better mom by letting my kids out on their own more, but in order to do this the neighborhood kids need to be nicer than they were last year. Here are some random shots of some of the kids my kids like to play with. A mom can hope for kindness in the neighborhood can't she?
Chase asked me to take a picture of him in his baseball uniform and hat. (cute kid)
The kids sure have been interested in the holes Ray has dug for our sprinklers. It will be nice to have him finish this project so that they can play in the sprinklers.
Victor, he is just going into first grade. I think he has a tiny crush on my Elle Bell.
Austin, is such a cute kid, he comes over every morning to see if Jake can play. I have to keep the doors locked or he will just walk in and start watching TV even if the kids are still sleeping.
