Late April and May Stuff

One thing we love about this time of year is that there is so much to see and do! One night we ventured out to Bountiful for their Chalk Festival. As we talked about going during dinner Hudson remarked, "We are going to a chalk festival. But I would rather go to a CHOCOLATE festival." The chalk drawings ranged from fun and interesting to down right amazing! Hudson, obviously, loved this one of Lightning McQueen. Afterwards we treated the boys to ice cream (although Hudson did NOT choose chocolate) and it was just a pleasant, fun evening.

 Chase started T-Ball and it is the best! He looks forward to games and shows a lot of enthusiasm (when batting that is, being in the field is a different story). Ben helps coach and says it's pretty crazy out there trying to keep 13 little boys focused and teaching them the rules. Chase makes a friend with whoever is standing on base with him and tells the coach and other players all kinds of pearls of wisdom! Nana and Papa come watch his games whenever they can, and Katie and Nora even came once. Chase definitely feels like the star of the show, and it's fun to see him so excited about sports! He mostly enjoys the social interaction of being on a team and doing something active. When Will asked him who won his game he answered, "T-ball is just for fun!"

 We've been spending lots of time at the park lately. The boys were initially disappointed this spring that the sand at our neighborhood park was replaced with wood chips! They literally ran up to the park, and then stopped dead and just stared at it in disbelief the first time we went back this spring. We've all adjusted, and even though we are sad that there isn't sand to dig in anymore, we've learned that there are plenty of other fun things to do at the park. We meet a group of friends there every week and it's a blast!

We got to attend the BYU vs U of U baseball game during May. Layton City gave all the kids who played baseball (and their families) tickets into the game, and a chance to go down into the dugout and meet the players, then stand on the field for the national anthem. It was so cute and fun! One Utah player teased Chase by taking his BYU hat away, so naturally Chase likes to retell that anecdote to anyone who will listen. We only lasted about 3 innings of the game (which was over an hour) before it was time to leave. And then Hudson screamed the whole way out of the stadium and half of the way home because he really wanted one of the T-shirts they threw into the stands. I was literally carrying him as he was screaming, "Go back! I want a SHIRT!" One lesson we are continuing to learn whenever taking the kids on any outing- take the good with the bad. Chances are that someone will have a tantrum at some point- we just roll with it. 

We have been very busy with yard work this Spring! Our yard felt like such a mess last year, and with a lot of pruning, weeding, planting, and tearing out 12 trees, it's starting to look like a yard that someone cares about! We've planted our vegetable garden and a bunch of flowers- and we are actually enjoying it! We love pleasant evenings that Ben and I work in the yard and the kids happily play in the dirt. I loved this view one night of Chase helping Ben mow the lawn- that little mower is usually used by a small boy when the other (real) one is running!