Our neighborhood 4th of July party is so cute! All the neighbors can dress up and march in the parade. Since it was Sunday we sat with our cute neighbors Selma and Bob and watched the parade.
Kimball and Joey were not too fond of the loud firetruck, but the candy that everyone threw to them certainly made up for it. Peter threw most of it away as soon as we got home. He's such a dentist :)

After church we were very excited to meet the newest member of the extended Gurr family--Ella Davidson! She is sweet and beautiful and it was so fun to see Kimball adoring her. He loved everything about her, especially her little feet and hands. He wanted to play with her and show her all the toys to keep her happy. What a sweet boy!

Joey and his braveness jumping in to the pool. At the end of April we did our neighborhood swim lessons and he wanted nothting to do with it. He is very careful about everything he does, and swimming was just something he did not want to do. (In his defense, the water was still a bit chilly). But a month later with Grandma Taylor's encouragement, mom's coaching, and Joey's burst of fearless excitement--he became a little fish. I couldn't believe this was my child. He was wild and carefree and anxious to jump right in and swim away. It was great to see his new found independence and confidence in his abilities. He is one great swimmer!

More fun

This is what happens after Kimball helps me make chocolate cookies.

Can you see what's on Thomas's face?

Climbing on the trees in the front yard

Joey's Beach Birthday

lSharks mouth gift shop

The USS Lexington--a retired air craft carrier docked along the beach. It was so fun to sit on the huge anchor, walk through the ship, see the airplanes, and push all the buttons in the hands on cockpit!

walking the plank

Those cute "Top Gun boys!"

All the ladders going from level to level

Two cute captains

Kimball steering the ship. He was convinced it was really a yo-yo

The huge ropes on the back of the ship

After dinner at Joe's Crab Shack we took the boys to an amazing park on the beach. They loved climbing in,over, on top of, and around everything.

Then we took our tired family back to the hotel. The boys wer so excited to sleep in a hotel. They couldn't stop jumping from bed to bed. We finally got them to sleep at 10 and Peter and I watched Napoleon Dynamite on the DVD player. Neither of us got much sleep because we thought it would be good for us to each sleep with one of the boys. That was a bad idea. We got poked and kicked all night. Next time we'll let the wild sleepers share a bed and we'll sleep in peace :) Joey was lying on the ironing board bed extender I made to keep Kimball from crashing on the floor all night.

The next morning we headed for the beach. We all had a blast findng sea snails and playing in the sand and water, and jumping waves in the ocean.

It was such a wonderful weekend! It was so sweet to see the pure childhood joy the boys had doing such simple things. It was great to have a mini vacation with just our little family!

Joey's preschool graduation hat. He wasn't able to be in the program because we were flying back from UT that day.

Sweet Joy

Today Kimball and I went grocery shopping while Joey was at preschool. Kimball is insistent on pushing the cart completely unassisted. He goes nuts when I even lightly touch the cart to guide it away from objects/people. He immediately pushes my hand away and tries to reassure me by saying, "I'm not gonna crash mom."

By the end the cart is really heavy and he struggles with all his might just to keep it moving forward, standing on his tippy toes to see over the top. Yet he still refuses even a little help. I am afraid people will think I'm making him do it. I put my hand on the cart when I see people looking at us so they can see him push my hand away and know I'm not abusing him--he's not really my midget slave :) But his fierce independence and willpower make me smile. I know they are traits that will give him the strength to overcome this world. That makes me happy.

Then at the end, when we were almost done. He runs off to the end of the isle and with his back to me, starts doing his "booty shake"--bent over, bum wiggling all over the place. It just made me so happy. To see my sweet, wild, independent son doing his free spirited booty shake right in the middle of the store.

It's one of those moments I hope my heart never forgets.

Happy 5th Birthday Joey!

Joey, you were so excited to have a spider cake with gummy worms caught in the web! You insisted on his name being Joe, not Joey because you are getting older, just like Uncle Joe.

You wanted a race track for your birthday. You and dad and Kimball had lots of fun racing the cars down. You jumped the cars right over Kimball's head.

You must be part ninja because you can catch a fly with your bare hands. If I hear one buzzing around, I send you after it, and in a few minutes you come back with a live fly, wiggling between your fingers. You then graciously set it free outside. Iasked you how you learned how to do that and you told me your teacher Ms. Monica taught you at school. Something tells me that you really didn't have a lesson on fly cathing though :)

Happy Fathers Day

Peter was so happy to get a dutch oven and recipe book. He immediately texted the other scout leaders to tell them of his new treasure.

Thanks for being such a great Dad! For chasing those hyper boys around the house, taking Joey on his father-son dates, leaving sweet notes for them when you go on a trip, having scripture time, and teaching them to be kind and loving!

Kimball waiting for a bite

We had steak, roasted potatoes from our garden, spaghetti squash, and grilled peaches.

Rhubarb Pie

Splash Time

Cute little boys! I love them!

I have given them both haircuts after these pictures were taken :)

Caterpillar cacoon

The big, green caterpillar starting it's cacoon. It was so amazing to see fine silky threads appear and magically enclose the chubster.

Kimball somehow tied the worm onto the stick. Such a boy.

Showing his Shamu stamp (the re entrance stamp for Sea World he always has to get), but really I think he just wanted to flex.
The boys love to play and splash around in the yard. I filled up the water cooler and they had lots of fun splashing around. I loved that it was still March and already warm enough to be out having fun in the water.

feeling cold