Fun in the Sun!!

4th of JULY:

    Mandy and James celebrated the 4th of July by playing in a softball tournament with family and friends.  In between games, we were able to go to the parade.  Ayden loved the fire trucks the best because they sprayed him.  It has been in the mid to high 90's all week, so the water was refreshing.  Ayden ended up with plenty of candy from the parade.

    After the ball tournament, we had a BBQ at Grandma and Grandpa's.  Then we went to watch the Melaleuca fireworks - which are said to be the biggest this side of the Mississippi.  The fireworks did not disappoint.  Ayden said they were the biggest fireworks ever.    

    On the 5th of July, we did some fireworks of our own.  Aunt Julia always provides an excellent show too!

JULY:

    We have been to the drive-in movie twice so far this summer.  The first trip was to see Cars 3 and Wonder Woman. Cars 3 was GREAT!  We loved it.  Mandy and Ayden slept through Wonder Woman.    
    On the next trip to the drive-in, we saw Despicable Me 3 which was also great!  The second feature was Transformers: The Last Knight.  Mandy slept again.  Ayden made it half way through it before falling asleep. James is the only one who can make it through two movies late at night apparently.  Haha.

    Ayden's cousin rode a mini bucking bronc in the local rodeo.

JUNE:

    T-ball this year was super fun!  Ayden knew what he was doing and was super fun to watch.  He has learned to actually catch with his mitt and one game he caught three throws for outs at first base. He was so excited about the outs.  He also hits much better this year.  One of his hits went way out into right field and he got a triple - he would have had a home run but his coach made him go back to 3rd.  

     Ayden also had swimming lessons in June.  He has improved so much!  He is so much braver than last summer.  He can swim under water which is a huge improvement over last year when he hated his face in the water.  And, he jumps off the diving board and swims to the side without any help.
     This summer he learned basics of the different strokes and how to tread water.  Ayden thinks treading water is pretty awesome.  He also can float on his back for over a minute.  However, he still is really uncomfortable about being on his back in the water.  He isn't so sure about the backstroke and prefers to swim on his belly.  

     We planted the garden in mid-June.  Afterwards, Dad and Ayden raced on their bikes around the yard.

     On Father's Day, we went fishing for the afternoon and had a picnic.  Ayden is quite the fisherman.  He can do everything himself.  He casts, sets the hook, and reels in the biggest fish.  He likes to make sure everyone knows that his fish is the biggest too.
     The day before Father's Day, Ayden asked if he could shave his head bald like Dad.  His head was so white that it took a few days to get a tan and not have it look so drastic.  He was a little self conscious about it for the first day.  Now, he says he wants to grow his hair really long.  We will see how long that idea lasts with the hot weather.  

(Grandpa got his Father's Day nap.)

     We went on a camping trip in June.  We camped out in a tent near a creek.  Ayden loved playing in the water, fishing, and catching water skippers.  Mandy and James enjoyed the break from "real" life and loved the relaxing weekend.  Uncle Jake joined us on the trip, which was fun.
     We joke that we eat better camping than in real life.  The food was great!  We had pancakes and sausage, we made fresh fish and fries, and of course we cooked marshmallows and hotdogs over the fire.  It was perfect.  

     A friend came by our camp with horses and took Ayden for a ride.  He likes to pet horses but has always been afraid of riding - I think it's his fear of heights.  He wanted off within the first few moments.  But finally, he relaxed and enjoyed the ride.  He suggested that the horses go through the creek and thought that was fun.  In the end, he didn't want to be finished riding.

Three years of camping/fishing.  "A boy and his dog."

     One of Mandy's childhood memories is catching worms (night crawlers) and selling them to the bait shop for money in the summers.  So, she and Ayden have been earning some cash from worms this summer. Ayden likes to pretend to be an eagle or hawk swooping down to grab worms.  

    A killdeer bird laid her eggs in the middle of our gravel driveway.  We checked on and watched her take care of her eggs for a couple weeks.  Ayden and his cousins noticed one day that one egg had a tiny hole in it and there was movement inside.  The next day, the 4 baby birds were all hatched.  One day after that, the mother bird had them up and walking and we found them in the pasture.  We didn't see them again after that day.  It is crazy how fast those babies were up and going.  Nature is amazing.

    Ayden is learning to be a hard worker.  He has chores and responsibilities.  One day, he helped Mom to clear the ditch bank of big weeds and thistles.  He thought cutting down the thistles was great fun.

    Ayden loves to play outside.  He loves to play in the ditch when there is water.  One day, after watering, the ditch was mostly empty.  But, Ayden found two fish stranded in the ditch.  One was a cutthroat trout - it was dead.  The other was a sucker - it was still alive, barely.  Ayden made it his mission to rescue the fish. He first found a place in the ditch that had a little more water.  But, he soon decided that that was not enough water and he filled a sled with water for it.  Unfortunately, the sucker didn't make it.  Maybe from being out of water too long before Ayden found it, or maybe from being manhandled so much by a 6 year old.  

    The next time there was water in the ditch, Ayden sat on the ditchbank trying to catch a fish.  He was sure that he would catch one like the two he found the time before - but no luck, so he resorted to swimming instead.

    One of our favorite things to do in late spring, early summer, is to pick asparagus from the ditch banks in the neighborhood.  Ayden LOVES to eat asparagus.  Mandy was telling her Grandpa that asparagus was Ayden's favorite vegetable.  Ayden overheard and said, "Wait, asparagus is a vegetable?!"  Ooops, sorry to break that to ya buddy!

    Ayden has some outdoor allergies.  One day in the wind, he found that goggles were the solution.  He is such a cute, silly boy!

    Snow Cones! A highlight of the summer months!

MAY:

    We usually spend memorial weekend camping and fishing or the likes.  But this year, we decided to have a family service weekend.  We spent Saturday helping James' sister paint her house and do yard work to help it sell.
    Then, we had a picnic Sunday in the mountains.  Ayden found mud and water to play in with his cousins.  The water was freezing from the melting snow run off, but they didn't seem to care.
    On Monday, the family came to our house to help put tin on our roof.

    Ayden "graduated" from Kindergarten!  We can't believe it!  Time flies!  We are so proud of him and how much he learned this year.  His teacher was AWESOME!  Ayden can count to 100 by ones and tens, he can do simple addition and subtraction, he knows the alphabet names and sounds, and he can read a little. Homework and school work isn't his favorite, but he loves school and being with his friends.  So far this summer he has asked several times how long until 1st grade starts.

Ayden was able to ride the bus to school on the last day.  Usually he only rode the bus home from school.  So he thought it was pretty awesome to ride to school with the "big" kids.

Future Class of 2029?  WHAT?!

Singing and dancing in the program.

Grandma S, Grandma M, and Mom and Dad were able to come to the program.  

Ayden told mom she had to wear a skirt to the program.  Silly boy.

Mrs. Judy

The Kindergarten program was called an Extravaganza and there were activities after for the kids.

    The high school had a fundraiser carnival in May.  Ayden won a goldfish.  Unfortunately, the fish only lived a couple days.  Ayden rode a mechanical bull and rock climbed at the event.  He didn't make it very high because of his fear of heights - he would just give up and go back to the bottom.

   In May, there was an open house for the newly renovated/remodeled Idaho Falls temple.  It was beautiful!

    Dad took Ayden on a camping trip with the scouts.  Young Ayden and second cousin Ike out-fished the teenage scouts and that made James and Jake proud dads.

APRIL:

    The last weekend of April, James and Mandy played in a softball tournament.  Ayden enjoyed the skate park there with his cousins.  

    On the way home, we visited Shoshone Falls, which was booming!  The water levels have all been near and at flood level all spring and summer from all of the extra winter snow we got. So the waterfalls were very impressive.  We got soaked from the mist it was making.

Easter Weekend!:

    On Friday of Easter weekend, we colored Easter eggs.

    We spent the Saturday before Easter doing a extended family service project cleaning up Great Grandma and Great Grandpa's yard.  Many hands make light work was sure true.

(Ayden was obviously not thrilled to have his picture taken.)

    We left the yard cleanup for a while to take Ayden to his last wrestling tournament.  He wrestled his same friend AGAIN.  They were the only two in the weight class, so Ayden got the 2nd place award, again. There was a Easter egg hunt after the tournament for the wrestlers.  

    On Easter morning, Ayden found dinosaur hand puppets in his and Dad's baskets.  He had to use them to search for eggs.  It was funny.  

Just for fun... Other Misc. Photos:

Ayden stole Dad's phone for a selfie duckface.

Puppy attack!

National SCRABBLE Day with Grandma-Great and Grandma Susie.

Mandy's bubble!

Ayden's cousin made him wear a princess tiara on Mother's Day.

Showing off his muscles with Tomas!

Summer is really just the best, isn't it!!  

Love, 

James, Mandy, and Ayden