The Greatest Sound in the World!

I'm so far behind on blogging!!!  Here is something current...

A few days before he turned 4 weeks, (May 22), I was feeding Bronson in the morning and he looked up at me and gave me the biggest REAL smile!  I loved it!  And, just to be sure that it wasn't a fluke thing, a few seconds later, he gave me another big one.  It was just about the sweetest thing ever!  I was in love and spent the next few days doing everything I could to get him to do it again.  He would occasionally, but those smiles were hard to get out of him!  He was a little stingy at first.  There is just something about those sweet little newborn smiles that melts my heart.  I love them.  Bronson's cute little nose wrinkles up and he has this big wide smile that fills his whole face and his eyes get so happy, too.  And if he smiles big enough, he has a couple little dimples. 

At 5 weeks, we went on a little overnight trip to celebrate the end of school.  We were at the hotel eating breakfast (June 2) and Daddy was holding Bronson and started using the binky to tickle his mouth.  He was doing the BIGGEST grins!  Of course, I didn't have my camera with me!  But, after that, he seemed to be the happiest baby around and started giving his smiles much more often.  Most of us had to work for them, but it seemed like all daddy had to do was talk to him and say "Bron-son" in a little sing-song voice, and he would crack the biggest smiles for him.  It was adorable! 

Since then, Bronson smiles all the time.  He is the happiest baby and he really only cries right when he wakes up and is hungry and sometimes if he gets a little too tired before he goes to sleep.  But, last night (June 25), we heard something new and wonderful from little Bronson.  We had gone to dinner with my family in Brigham City to celebrate my mom's birthday and we were out in the parking lot loading kids in the car.  Uncle Kyle (who is almost 13) was trying to get a smile from Bronson.  My brothers always say that he is just too calm.  They love trying to get him to smile lately.  He was jumping around and pulling faces and then...

Bronson laughed! 

Not just once, but a couple of times.

It was the sweetest, happiest sound!  I love our sweet baby boy!!! 

One last Hurrah!

Aug 24th - Since we only had ONE last day of summer left, we didn't want to waste it! We let the kids pick something fun they wanted to do to celebrate their last day of freedom from school. Well...Logan's last day of freedom. Daddy had the morning off so the kids chose a day at the park and the zoo and a picnic. We had a great day!
We started at the zoo. As soon as you walk in, the monkeys are there and we love to watch the monkeys! We spent a lot of time watching them climb and play.We had been to the zoo a couple times this summer, but I think this was Daddy's first trip for the year so the kids were anxious to show him around. I love watching cute Avery run! She thinks she is just as big as the big kids and tries so hard to keep up. Her little legs really move and she swings one arm really big behind her. She tries to be so independent. She didn't want anyone pushing her in the stroller. She wanted to walk around just like everyone else.
Logan howling at the coyotes
I love these 2 cute little buds!
Love this face!
The favorite is always feeding the ducks. Luckily, we brought along lots of dimes so we could feed them for awhile. Avery was so funny trying to throw hers, but it didn't go far.
Off and running again...
Once we were done at the zoo, we headed over to play at the park for awhile. This baby LOVES to swing! She asks to "wing" over and over again and once she is in the swing, she laughs and laughs. She LOVES to go high!
Logan climbing
While the kids were busy playing on the playground, Daddy went and got us a delicious picnic lunch from McDonald's. Happy Meals are a special treat! The kids were really excited! And...a surprise guest showed up, too. Uncle Jeff!!! Mommy had a hard time finding a sitter for Back-2-School night, so I called Uncle Jeff and offered him some gas money if he would do it and he came up to hang out with us for the day. The kids love when he comes!
After lunch, we did some more swinging! This time daddy and Uncle Jeff were pushing and the kids were going so high! They loved it!
I love Avery's face in this one...Then, we showed Uncle Jeff the monkeys and headed for home. Logan begged and begged for most of the summer for a day at the Fun Park, but I really don't like that place. But, since it was the last day before school started and since Uncle Jeff was here, we decided to go spend a couple hours at the soft play there. The kids had a great time and Uncle Jeff was nice enough to go in and play with them and take them down the slide. I love how Avery is looking up at Uncle Jeff
From there, we had to rush home and then Logan and Mommy had to head to Back-2-School night to get all the info for his FIRST day of school the next morning. He is really excited for school. He is excited about school lunch, although he is a little nervous to be gone ALL day. He has counted how many hours that is and he feels like it is TOO many for a six year old. He has lots of friends in his class though and is excited about his teacher. I think it will be a great year for him!
My baby is going to FIRST grade!!! I can't believe it! What will I do without him all day long???

Another Graduate

June 3 - Besides Rylee's Joy School Graduation and Logan's Kindergarten Graduation, we also had another member of our family graduate this spring! Uncle Jeff graduated from High School! It is hard to believe that my little brother who used to dance to Barney and spin on his head to entertain my friends when I was in high school is now a high school graduate himself! He still dances to entertain us, but now it is to Michael Jackson and Chris Brown... not Barney! We are so proud of him!!!
Getting his diploma!!! Daddy and Logan had a Father and Son camp out that night so Logan stayed at a friends house while Daddy was at work and the girls and I went down for the graduation ceremony. We arrived fashionably late, since I didn't know how long my girls would sit through a graduation. They did pretty good! Avery LOVED all the clapping!!! Me and the girls with our graduate - Uncle Jeff!!!
Uncle Jeff and Rylee
Uncle Jeff and Avery being a stinker! A little bit better...
My cute little brothers, although only ONE of them is really littler than me anymore...
Jeff with my Grandmas
The graduate with his mom and Dad. Ahhh.. .Cute! They now have 5 down and 2 to go!
Afterwards, the whole fam went out for lunch. The girls loved it!!! Rylee chowing down her pizza.
Avery having some Mac N Cheese
My cute nephew Ethan
The whole family! Well... Most of us! Darren and Logan weren't there, as well as my brother Dean who had to work. But, it is a pretty good showing! Good thing we had to restaurant mostly to ourselves.
Way to go buddy!!! We love you! Can't wait to see what is next...

Darren and Logan had a great night going to the ward cook-out (the camp out ended up being cancelled!) and then camping out together in the backyard. Logan had a whole itinerary planned for them as soon as Darren got in the tent. It mostly included steam rolling and wrestling, because apparently those are the activities that you should do when you are in a tent if you are 5 1/2 years old! Such a funny kid!