May

May was super busy, closing out the school year.

For Scooptacular's birthday we had $.70 cones and brought the Halterman boys with us.

 With all the teacher appreciation gifts I was doing for the boys' school teachers (the PTA had a daily theme for the week) I felt like we should include Asher's amazing Nursery teacher, so I put together this gift with all the Nursery kids' handprints.

 We had a long anticipated ping pong tournament and it ended up being the day before Katie's birthday, so we had a DQ cake for her.

The next day we drove to California for Christian Hanshaw's baptism.  The day we got there was Bentley's HS graduation open house.  It was a fun time in the Hanshaw's new backyard.

 On Saturday we went and saw Beauty and the Beast.

 Sunday was Christian's baptism and open house.

 On Monday we played in the pool for the morning and drove back to Phoenix.  This was Asher's birthday (3 out of 3 have been spent in California).  He was excited to have this Mickey train waiting for him at home.

 On Tuesday we had a birthday playdate for Asher.  He prefers donuts over cake, and that is easier for me, so we had donuts and played at a park with his best buddies.

 Lily, Aden, Colby, Asher, Tucker, and Kellen.

 Benton was selected from his class to perform at a school board meeting highlighting his school's new DLI program.  They sang this song and read books they made to people in the audience and on the school board.

Our friends Alec and Darci were also part of the performance.  

 That night my Mom and Gary came into town.  Early the next morning Mike and I hiked the National Trail.  We started just as the sun was coming up.

 Mike did well the first 13 miles, but the last 3.5 were really tough because of the heat.  His hands and feet were swelling up a lot, so we stopped in this structure for awhile.  This Chuckwalla hung out with us.

That night we went to AZ Mills so Mom could buy the boys Crocs, per tradition.

 The next day we had Ethan's piano recital and then I took Mom out for a Mother's Day pedicure.

 Aden came along when we took Mom and Gary back to the airport.  We made it more fun by taking the SkyTrain.

 And watching a few planes take off and land.

 That night I picked up Joe and his friend Tricia from the airport and then on to Lou Malnati's.  Yum!

 Funny story, as I sat down, I got a text from Dan asking if I had been near Lou's today.  Turns out a friend had just text him saying that he just saw Lisa in Phoenix.  Small world!  He was still there when we left and asked to take a selfie.

Asher and I got one more hike in before the boys got out of school.

 He fell asleep between the hike and his end of the year gymnastics performance.

 He LOVED gymnastics this year.  You can see the highlights of his performance here.

 This is too blurry to see, but he has a huge grin as he jumps off the podium.

 Ethan's last day of school was really hard.  His teacher, Mrs. Frankenhauser was incredible.  She was very loving and positive.  Ethan was extra sad knowing that he wasn't going back to EAGLE.  There were a lot of kids crying and saying they didn't want to go to summer break.

 We rode over to take Benton to school and Asher knew without me telling him that he should walk his bike across the street.  It amazes me what he observes on his own.

 Two bikes and a stroller.

 We had the Weber's over for a game night FHE, so fun.

 Benton had an end of the year Kindergarten performance.

 Each student of the month from the year was called, so Benton was called for that.  Then, each teacher announced one student from her class to receive the RISE award.  It is basically student of the year, and Benton was chosen for his class!  I am so proud of him.  His teacher told me later that the decision was made by his classroom teachers and all the special teachers and it was obvious to all of them that it should be Benton.  She said his Spanish elective teacher has even asked about promoting Benton up a grade.  Mrs. Parkerson and I reflected on the fact that Benton is too young for that, but it was a relief that he excelled so much, despite starting young.

 Mrs. Parkerson and Ms. Henry.

 Relief Society freezer meal prep night.

 Play date playdough!

 Sleeping with his pogo "stick" from Grandpa and my foam roller, randomly enough.

 The boys have been good about playing while I work during nap time each day.  One day I watched them through the window so they could be in the pool.

 Wednesdays have been busy, so I've been going to Wal-Mart in time to be there when it opens at 6am.  When Asher is awake, he comes with me.

 We have been trying to hit the library one day per week.  The boys like checking out games.

 Ethan got his Wolf award at the last pack meeting of the year.

End of the year comparison pictures.

 Unprompted, he asked for me to take a silly picture and had almost the same pose.