Itty Bitty Winn Boy Bums

Does that scream "awesome summer" or what?  HA! Those boys were in their swim suits so much!

Kade and Luke helping mom pick raspberries.

Max loves the dryer!  He's always trying to climb in there when I'm doing laundry.

My boys kill me the way they go through socks. I mean WHAT happened here!  I throw away all the socks with holes in them every time I do laundry--but then, randomly, we'll be at a play place, he'll take off his shoes to play and BAM!  Giant holes.  I.Love.Having.Boys.  They're so weird.

DRIVE IN!!!

DRIVE-INS.ROCK!!!!!!

HONESTLY!  I LOVE DRIVE-INS SO MUCH!

We always celebrate summer by having an ALL-NIGHTER.  We try to do it on the actual 'first day of summer' but this year it got pushed back for some reason...but for the best. We waited until they were playing Despicable Me 2, loaded our GIGANTIC suckers/water/snacks/camping chairs and pillows, paid our $1 per kid and $7 per adult fee and we were IN.

I honesty think there are few things better--especially as a kid--then loading up your car to make it soooo comfortable, staying up way late, and watching a movie OUTSIDE!  Growing up we went to them all the time and they really do hold such a happy place in my heart.  Plus, now that we can listen with the clarity of car stereos, and not those weird boxes on posts it's even more amazing.  

LOVED. IT.

(side note:  the second show was Man Of Steel.  HA! I was suppressing laughter most of the time cause I thought it was pretty rough.  BUT--still totally worth it!  Plus, it was so cheap for 2 new release movies!)

Winn Cousin Day

Emily, Andrea, and I tried to do a Cousin/Family day once a week since we all live so close (turned out to be more like a month--boo) but we had soooo much fun when we did get together!  

(above is on Julie's birthday with all her grandkids.  She's an awesome grandma!)

The first week we went to SEVEN PEAKS!  WOO WOO!  I was soooo happy about how well Kade, Luke and Brody did when they went on rides without us. (and how well we as moms did for that matter).  Everyone had fun AND no one died.  AWESOME!

LUNCH TIME-- I have to mention this because of how amazing the deal was.  I bought some discount tickets on City Deals for Pizza at 7 Peaks.  Get this--I paid $5 for an 18" pizza--which sells there for $25.  WHAT?  Yup--awesome right.

Another time we hit up 7 Peaks Fun Center in Lehi.  Here's Rhett and Afton--she adorable.  It was CRAZY Crowded...we stayed for an hour of fun...

And then went to Ikea.  It was my first time. And it was AMAZING!  Plus the kids get to play in the day care together and...well...that's fun too :)

I love being a mom

I'd called for all the boys and we were starting our walk to church when I looked down and saw Rhett was completely ready...suit, hair, backpack and everything...but didn't have shoes on....silly silly.

So, since we're commonly 'almost late' Kade ran super fast, got them and put them on Rhett.  

I thought it was sweet. 

Mostly because this is the way Kade lives his life. He's always helping his brothers with something

And here's the way Luke lives his life--ha!

This is just so random.  I was using this as my scoop for my laundry detergent.  I was making more so it was out and Rhett was playing with it. He started sobbing and came up to me with this in his hands.  He felt so bad he'd broken it and must have felt that it mattered so much to me.  It was just so sincere of an apology he gave that it made me almost cry.

When we went to B.J. and Kara's ward in California, Kade's primary teacher made quite an impact on him.   The lesson was on the word of wisdom and I guess the teacher had told the class how he LOVED a burger from Carl's Jr. that had Bourbon in the name.  He said he didn't think it even had Bourbon IN it, but asked the class if he should eat it?  I guess all the kids emphatically said 'no!'.  

Fast forward a month:

After grocery shopping with the 4 boys,I thought they'd done really well so I decided to let them each pick out a treat to take home.  Kade picked some mentos gum.  When they were strapping in the car, he called out, "ahh, mom, this has green tea extract!  He spit out what was in his mouth and gave up his treat.  Sweet.

Max and Rhett playing in the backyard.

They LOVE each other .(despite the fact that Rhett doesnt' ALWAYS realize that his screaming means, "I don't actually love that." ha!)  They really do play well together though and Max is getting to be such a big kid. He's mimicking more, following more complicated directions...I saw him trying to crawl out of his crib the other night--so that's fun....but really--he's growing and I love watching that.

I walked into this one morning. Mom and Dad were finding out if Luke could tell the difference between different colors of Nerds candy.  Just thought it was sweet and cute. They're good grandparents.

This boy can tie his own tie! Woo woo

Kade woke up, learned how to tie his tie--and Wa-La!  Did it all by himself. So so grown up that one!

Kade got shot on Independence Day

Our 4th of July 2013:

So, Kade got shot on Independence Day.  

My kids don't wear shoes--not that we don't HAVE shoes...they just choose to not wear them quiet often when they run to their friends houses to play in the neighborhood. On July 3rd, my mom brought them outside to watch some early fireworks. Kade ran up the street and stepped right on a rusty nail.

It was about 10:00 and dad read online that we have 24-48 hours to get a tetanus shot after an 'incident' so come July 4th, I called our doctor, found out that he had a tetanus shot 5 1/2 years prior...but that they're only good for 5 years.  HA! So off we went to the Doctors.

Kade's foot.

So Kade was pretty nervous about getting the shot. Worried about it all night, and all morning. Once there he asked the nurse how big the needle was.  She showed it to him (it's skinny minny) and he relaxed a bit.  As it was going in, and finishing you could see the relief on his face when he said, 

"oooh, you're right, that doesn't even hurt."

He was so happy about that.  What is it about pain that is so petrifying even when we know it will only last a second?

Here is some promised Macey's ice cream to the boys for Kade's bravery.

Then home for some neighborhood slip'n sliding

And family bbq

Kade and Luke asked Scott if he'd play Nintendo with them.
(They actually NEVER use the word Nintendo...but since that's the only console I ever played growing up...that is what ALL video game consoles are to me :)
He said yes and called his friend over---they all played Smash Bro's.  He's such a cool uncle.

So... Jess is awesome.  Before he left for Hungary he gave me an early birthday present.  He bought 3 tickets for Stadium of Fire (We LOVE Kelly Clarkson) and had called 2 of my best friends earlier to see if they could go with me.  (Get this--all 3 of us lived in GA 3 years ago..then Kelly moved..then we moved...and Jessica moved here a few months ago!  AWESOME!)

It was SO fun!

I LOVE the mountains!  Seriously, look at that view mmmm. I love them.
They had sky divers land on the field carrying the flag behind them. Cute dancers. They had a cirque du soleil group who were AMAZING. Then Carly Rae Jepson sang--she was super cute, and then KELLY CLARKSON! So so so fun. She was awesome and I love her. We had so much fun! Thanks Jess for being so thoughtful and nice!  (And thanks mom and dad for helping our boys have an awesome 4th of July too!

Tadje Cousin BBQ

TADJE COUSIN BBQ!

(I love sooo much that Joshua put on that Pooh costume. It was so so hot, but he didn't care--just wanted to wear it.  Kids are awesome!)

I have an amazingly fun group of cousins.  We all just got together and talked and ate some great food. This was one of the first times that my boys have ever played with their second cousins and they LOVED IT.  We all had so much fun at Tara's house.  

Plus--it's kind of amazing--filled with everything a kid could EVER want!

Zip Line (Luke and Rhett in car behind Kade)

HA! This was funny. 

Marcus stopped Kade by grabbing the rope underneath the seat, 

but Kade kept going somehow and caught the rope with his hands before totally bitting it!

Scott played an intragual part by being the runner. 

(pulling the kids from bottom to top of zip line each time--I'm sure it was quite the workout!)

Too cute!

ICE CREAM PARTY!

It was so fun to talk and hangout with my cousins.  Me and the kids LOVE being back....have I mentioned that yet? :)

Soccer Camp 2013

Soccer Camp.  Kade picked Soccer for his summer sport.  So I decided to sign both he and Luke up for the highschool's weeklong soccer camp.  They both had friends in their groups so they loved that too.

Here's what Kade had to say about it:

"It was so freaken hot? But it was really fun."  

(I walked on the field to pick him up on the last day--and was sweating like crazy in minutes.
They could only use the field for the camp from 1:00-3:00--
mostly 98-100 degree's--gross.  So yeah, warm-ish)

Luke and Coach Pitch

COACH PITCH!!!

Luke picked Baseball for his summer activity!  He was so fun to watch.  Plus he practiced with me in the backyard as much as he could.  He did great at hitting the ball on the first or second pitch every time. (In this league kids bat until they hit; it did make for the occasional lengthy time at bat for some--but for real--adorable!)

This is my favorite Little League Stereotypical Picture.  

1st basemen taking a little breather :)

Have I said this before? "I LOVE LIVING BY FAMILY"!  Here's mom and dad watching the game/wrestling kids.

Luke after getting his medal :)

Luke is a Picture Crazy Man!  He make strange faces, flares his nostrils, does bunny ears....

On their team photo he did 2 crazy faces.....

and then on the legit "crazy face" photo opp?  A smile.  

Stinker