May 11

The hikers, getting ready to head up the trail.















Kent and Miriam came with their kids to spend the weekend. Everyone except for the littlest two went on a hike up to the wind caves.














It was a really nice day for hiking- not too hot or too cool.














Kent framing the perfect shot- Miriam trying to make sure no one fell off the cliff. (Miriam is 6 or 7 months pregnant, by the way, brave woman....)



















Shot of Elliot from inside the cave.














Audrey and Miriam and the kids.
















Elliot with new baby cousin, Lilly.














Audrey holding Lilly (Cec was sick, and couldn't visit for a couple of days.)














Mom's birthday party. Everyone singing.














Mom blowing out the candles.

Dear Grandma and Grandpa,

Monday we went to Elliot's soccer game and since it was Cinco de Mayo, afterwards we went to the Mexican restaurant. It was really good. Tuesday I went to babysit for someone after school until 5:15 because their dad had to go back to work for a while and their mom was gone. It was fun. Then my mom had her birthday party. We invited Emma and Gracie over. We stayed up kind of late and it was fun. I gave my mom this kitchen lotion that smells like lemon and sage. It's a really good lotion. I went to piano lessons on Wednesday. I have a concert but I can't go to it because of Grandpa's birthday party. I'm supposed to bring my cello next week because there's a cello part that is to one of Elliot's pieces. Friday my brother had a birthday party to go to and I went to it too because they went to a movie so the older brothers and sisters went to save seats. And everyone else except me was going to go to Iron man, but by the time the kids got there, we had to save a whole row of seats, so we didn't have enough time to go see Ironman. We watched Speed Racer. It was pretty good. The movie ratings people gave it a one, I thought it was better than that even though it wasn't the best movie. I sat by Elliot and Danny. I went to Elliot's Saturday morning soccer game. I goofed off with the other kids. Diego let me play with him. We kicked the ball. He's almost two. Kent and Miriam came up and we went on a hike to the wind caves and it was really cool. We've been up there before but it was fun to go up again. Emma and Gracie and Jonah came over this morning because Kara was about to have her baby. They came at 6:10 in the morning. Kara had her baby in the afternoon. I made a pie for my mom and it was strawberry, and it was really good. We should have had ice cream with it instead of whipped cream. Happy Mother's Day Grandma and Grandma. Good Night.

Audrey

Dear Grandma and Grandpa,

I spent the first part of the week at Mary's house. I kept telling Mary that I miss my mommy and I want to go home, but when she got me in the car on Wednesday for the trip up to meet Mommy, I cried and told her I wanted to stay at her house. Mommy met us at the park in Bountiful and we played. Then we went to Harriet's and played, then we went to Ashley and Bailey and Kennedy's and played. I went poop on the toilet while I was at Ashley and Bailey and Kennedy's house and Linda gave me some Smarties. Ashley and Kennedy watched me sit on the toilet because they're learning. On Thursday I went to my music class. Jonah and Paige were there too. We got to play glockenspiels and drums and pretend that we were little bees. Then lots of my friends came over and my mom taught their moms how to make French bread. It was a warm day so we got to eat popsicles. On Friday Kent and Miriam came and I liked playing with Brigham, who's the same age as me, and with baby Cate. She's pretty cute. After dinner we went down and got some ice cream from Aggie Ice Cream. I got pink ice cream. On Saturday morning I went to Elliot's game. I was feeling pretty shy and I didn't even want to go play with the other kids. I didn't even go see Eric's doggie who had come. After the game the kids wanted to go hiking, but I was starting to act like I didn't feel very good. So Mommy stayed home with me and Baby Cate. We rode trikes and played with blocks and watched a movie. Lynaea came up and played with us too, but we kept fighting over the hula hoop. The kids came home and we had hot dogs. I had two hot dogs. I was hungry. After Kent and Miriam left, we went and worked in the yard. I helped Mommy plant some pumpkins and do some weeding. I have Dora gardening gloves, and I kept telling Mommy I needed my "Ogavies". It took a while for Mommy to figure out that those were my overalls. So I got those on and helped Mommy a lot. In the middle of the night I woke up very sad, so Mommy took me into Elliot's bed, because Elliot was sleeping on the floor in Audrey's room. And I started to throw up. I didn't feel very good. I was sick all morning and then Jacob called and said that baby Lilly was going to be born. So Mommy went and got my cousins and I stayed upstairs with her and they stayed downstairs. Mommy and I tried to sleep for the rest of the day. But I feel pretty gucky. I hope that you had a Happy Mothers Day without any gucky babies.

Love,

Cecily

Dear Grandma and Grandpa,

On Monday I had a soccer game against BAM, starting off the season they were the second best team, but they aren't really good. I think they got a little too overconfident that they were going to win all games except Thunderfoot. The most exciting part of the game was when I got hurt. I was going up on a guy that was coming to me, and Alex C, I was going to kick at the ball, but instead Alex C tapped it and I kicked and missed the ball and kicked the other guy and the other guy's knee went right into my thigh muscle. Alex C was with three forwards on him and no one in the goal. I raced back, but it really hurt. Alex's mom went and got me a bandage from their house. His dad wrapped it up. We won 2-1. That was the exact same score as last time we played them. On Tuesday, it was my mom's birthday and she got lots of cool presents. The night before we went to Walmart, me and dad and Audrey, we were kind of hyper and silly. Audrey, she kept reading things from the store, and I had to copy them and when we were buying some stuff, there's a play section in the store where you can just have money and put it in a ride, or a game, and there was a "quarter corner" in that area, and Audrey said, "Quarter corner, 25 cents" and I said "Quarter corner, what?" We were laughing so hard all the way home that I was hiccuping and burping. For Mom's birthday I got her a new rake that digs the ground, not the kind that rakes the leaves up. We had strawberry shortcake and it was really good. Piano lessons were pretty good. She said I was doing good on both the pieces I was assigned. One is a concert piece, "Harry's Wondrous World". One is "Campfire Guitar". Then I went to soccer practice and Mario worked with me quite a bit. Friday after school, Collin came over to play basketball, and then Braxton came up our hill and he wanted to play and it was me and Collin versus him, and there was a couple times when Braxton just lifted the ball over my head and went around me. He passed it to himself, but it was only a roll off his fingers because he's so tall. Then I went to Alex C's birthday. We ate pizza and had a pinata. The pinata broke before I got to hit it, though. I got some candy. There was lots of Mexican candy because Alex's dad is from Mexico. Me and Zach and Brock caught garter snakes. One was a little baby. The baby seemed to like us. Then we went over to the movie and saw "Speed Racer". It's about a kid who, his dream is to race, and his older brother, he was a racer, and he owned a car that was fast and cool. Saturday we played Thunderfoot again. I think we played really good, but the first half they really dominated, and it looked like they wanted to win more. The second half we came back, but we still lost 5-4. It was just a really hard game for me as goalie, because they took a lot of shots and they were high and I couldn't reach them. I got discouraged on the last point they scored on me. Number 5 point. I dove for it in the air and I tipped it. I thought I could hit it out, but it was too tall. I fell on the ground and the goal post was right there, and I could see the ball right there in the goal. I just lay there. Afterwards we went on a hike with Kent and Miriam and their kids. It was really fun. We went up and saw the windcaves and there was a little breeze, but it was pretty nice the whole way. Today Emma and Grace and Jonah came at 6 in the morning because their mom was going into labor with Lilly. Cecily was throwing up so we were trying to keep Jonah apart, so I stayed home and watched Jonah for Sacrament Meeting then Dad came home and traded me. It's kind of fun to hear you have a new little cousin. The Jazz game was hard to watch. It was stressful. In the third quarter, Ronnie Price made a good basket because he got fouled halfway to the ground, he threw it up, and I yelled, and I got in trouble. Cecily was trying to sleep and it was Sunday. I need to be calm when I'm watching games on Sunday. But I started playing DS with Audrey, because I had to turn it off, and we thought it was already over, but instead it was OT. The Jazz won. Just barely. The pie we had for Mothers Day was really good. Happy Mothers Day grandmas. I hope you were able to rest. Love you.

Elliot