June Odds and Ends

 Trader Joe's flowers for a couple of loved ones...

In June, Ben fell asleep in some fun ways.

Waiting at the window for someone to come...

Lately we have had a hard time getting Ben to leave the dome when we visit on Sunday evenings without bringing the whole toy/book corner with us.  He loads up on everything he can grab...and can't grab before he is satisfied and will go to the car.

This Sunday evening, after we had gotten him home and in to bed, I found him still clutching two balls, a teddy bear and who knows what else is hidden in those fists?

While visiting Park City he fell asleep in one of the dining chairs.

I think I posted about Matt's first pair of altered jeans...he has continued to experiment and have fun with the sewing machine downstairs.  Here is his second pair!  It's really fun to see what he comes up with!

Ben Turns 17!

17!

I can't believe it!

He's always excited to see candles and be sung to :)

It's fun seeing his brothers help him with his presents...

This guy...I have no words!

Fries for his b-day dinner!

and then trying to line up his new Toy Story toys on the carpet...I slipped a book underneath to help.

A few days later at the dome celebrating both Andy's and Ben's bithdays...

Maple Grove/Andy's B-day

Maple Grove Hot Springs has become a favorite place for me and Andy.

We went for the first time shortly after getting back from our cruise on Jo and T's recommendation and loved it!

For Andy's birthday, I scheduled a time that we could go back during one of Ben's last days of school.  

It started out as a cloudy, rainy day...it was beautiful and peaceful.

We got a kick out of Andy's line on his chest showing how deep he had been sitting in the hot springs :)

By the afternoon the sun had come out and it got pretty warm.

That's Andy out in the canoe you can barely see...

While getting ready to leave I caught a flash of bright blue flitting around.

I was able to catch a few pics...it was so beautiful!

Blurry but stunning!

Andy's parents came and took us all out to lunch at Beehive Grill on Andy's actual birthday.  Then Andy suggested we take them for a drive on the south end of the valley.  There is a property that my brother thinks would be a good investment for Andy's dad so we went and showed what we could to them and then we went further south into even more beautiful country, into a canyon and to a nearby dam.  Merill loved it!  Both of them love going for drives and it was a cloudy, rainy day which they recognized made it even more beautiful.  They couldn't stop talking about how amazing it was.  It really was a lovely drive but drives are not really my thing because of motion sickness and on top of that, I had had a lot of water at lunch and I really should have used the restroom before we left the restaurant.  I was super uncomfortable almost the entire time.  Each time Andy's parents suggested we go a little further I about died!

I made it though :)

I was too slow to get pictures with the candles lit but I did get a couple of Andy playing with the smoke after he blew them out.

I think his favorite gift was a large coffee table book with different artists' depictions of the Savior.

It's actually a book that Abby texted to Andy several weeks ago and said she had seen it at a friend's house and loved it.  Andy had shown the text to me and I hurried and texted her back and let her know I already had it in my closet for his birthday :)

So here is Matt face timing Abby showing her the birthday boy with his gift.

Andy chose to play Camel Up for his birthday evening activity. (Josh was at work)

Ben came over and couldn't stop giving loves to Andy :)

That makes 49 for this guy!

Can't believe we're at this stage in our lives...it's been wonderful so far though!

Let's see if we can double it Hon!