Let the Good times Roll!

While there are about a year's worth of back posts I may get to, I want to capture the recent happenings and savor them. After all, don't we write taste life twice? Here's a little bit of our springtime happenings...(because technically the summer solstice isn't until June 21, right?)

The weather lately has been glorious. It's a great day when my kids can be out playing with their neighborhood friends, which has been so great. With our crazy May happenings I felt like we were constantly on the go and their playtime was limited. Fortunately there were a few moments in May that I slowed down:

 Ellie and Ru walking to Ellie's house hand in hand...

Ruby enjoying the slides at Cade's school...

Late one night I was starving so I went downstairs for a bowl of cereal. Cade was still awake and asked if he could join me. Sure! Why not? I was proud of myself for taking advantage of this mother-son time with him. He gets more chatty at night so it's always a good time to bond with him then. This time it was over a bowl of Cheerios.

One morning Savvy came in my room and brought in some pants that had a huge hole in them and asked if we could sew them up. And then after we sewed them up could we make something fun like a pillow? It was one of those rare moments in time where I paused and thought, when was the last time I told this girl, "Yes." I'm working on saying yes more, and being distracted less.

So sew the pants we did. And then I sent her down to my little cupboard of fabric scraps to pick out a material she wanted for her pillow. She played eeny-meeny-miney-mo in order to decide. In fact, that's become her choice selection method recently for quite nearly every decision. It's hilarious.

Ruby played with the spools of thread.

Savvy stuffing her pillow...

....then hand sewing it shut. What a big girl!

She was so proud of herself for doing this. I was proud of myself for doing it, too. It was another sweet memory made.

Snippets of our first week once school got out.

The Last Day of School: Also high school graduation. 

My sweet friend in YW made these beautiful floral headpieces and candy leis for the girls and we took our chances that we'd run into them after the ceremony. 

We lucked out!

But it looks like the man sitting behind us didn't quite have the same luck. Poor guy.

See how sad they are that they won't be in YW anymore?  On the up side I told them they could now call me by my first name because we are totally peers now. No more "Sister Woodbury."

Just before dinner time on Cade's last day of school I wrapped up some boxes of sugar cereal, a card game {Skip-Bo}, sidewalk chalk, glitter glue and watercolor paper and let them open them. 

Then I let them have the cereal for dinner. 

They were tickled. 

I think we started a new tradition!

I let Cade and Savvy had a sleepover that night. So cute. And so surprising they actually fell asleep. Usually when these two get together they can't stop talking.

My cousin Megan spent some time up here with us and it was SO fun! I really enjoyed having another adult in the house. Megan is incredibly sweet with the kids and so helpful. She was either playing with one  or all of my kids, folding my laundry or cleaning my kitchen during her stay. It was a sad day when she had to leave. Not just because she was so helpful, but I truly enjoyed her company. Love her!

Sunday Morning fun:  Using Costco boxes to build cars and houses. This kept them occupied for a good 3 days. It was awesome.

Savannah is hiring Cade out to build her a door. He gave her a price quote so she went and used her recently self-printed money to pay him for his services. Love it.

First thing on the Monday morning after school got out (Thursday) the kids were up and at 'em. Cade started soccer camp at BYU and Savvy started swim team. They've been awesome at getting up and being ready. It's nice to have them home the rest of the day once their activities are over.

Later in the week Sav and I went on a date! We ate at the Olive Garden, which Savannah thought was incredible. She's so free with her words and feelings and is so cheerful. 

After lunch we hit up BYU for some bowling. Savvy was such a sweet "opponent."  After every single shot she'd tell me what a great job I did. And she really meant it. 

When the date was over she said, "Mom, I had so much fun with you. I just love spending time with you. Can we do this again?"

Melted my heart right then and there.

Ruby missed Auntie Megan so her solution became sleeping in the guest bedroom. So precious.

 This is a snapshot of the cabinetry/workbench progress in the garage. Our house, unfortunately, as wonderful as it is, lacks in storage. So over the last few years we've done a number of things to maximize the storage in the garage. I've joked with Kyle that it's a sad thing when you love your garage cabinet so much more than the kitchen cabinets. But I'm not really joking. I think these turned out beautifully!

I found this picture on my phone. One of the kiddos must have taken it. One of my favorite things about this time of year is how many delicious fruits and veggies are in season right now. It makes preparing for dinner time super easy. See?

One day I'll say, "Look at this beautiful spread from my garden on my dinner table!" But for now I'm thrilled to just make it to the grocery store and bring this stuff home. Baby steps, right?

Star-crossed cousins. For some reason Ruby lacks patience when it comes to her cousin Liam. He is a saint to put up with this girl! Here is a rare moment of peace between the two of them. Usually she is getting on his case for looking at her.
My sister says one day they are going to be best buds. I think she, too, is a saint to be thinking that.
I'm hopeful, too. But in the mean time I really don't like waiting around for Ruby decide once and for all Liam is not out to get her.

My Sister came into "town" from Vernal so we decided to make a party of it, thanks to my mom. We bar-b-qued (really my Dad did, but it's so much more fun and inclusive to say "we" did it) and took the kids to the splash pad while the men hauled stuff for my folks to put in a storage unit so the basement could get finished. 

My Grandma Sheppard surprised us and came to our little party. It was so good to see her.

Had to get one with her and my kiddos. We love this woman and clearly so do my kids.

And there you have some of our sweeter moments of the week.
The End.