Big boy

Figured I should give a little praise to this little man who is officially potty trained{for a few weeks now}! We were a little nervous because he had NO interest at all in doing this but once we started it was easy as pie! Luke is awesome and can't get enough of the freedom to play with his friends now!

Ain't he handsome too!

Check it out...

2 wheels!

mom's helper

Worcestershire sauce anyone?

Dance Festival

We are quickly learning that the last week of school is crazy!

Today, Ads danced a mean Hukilau with the rest of the kindergartners.

She just got a little embarrassed when she went the wrong way, bumped Bailee, and yelled "ouch!"

I'm thinking these could be the cutest girls in the WHOLE school!

*Stay tuned for kindergarten graduation tomorrow!

Memorial Day Weekend

When I think of Memorial Day a few of the first things that come to mind are swimming, picnics, bar-b-ques, flowers, sunshine...basically the official summer kick-off, right? Well, as keeping to suit with the weather pattern this year those descriptions had absolutely nothing to do with our weekend!

This was pretty much the only time the kids went outside all weekend! Dad was an awesome sport to build a fire and take all 3 kids out in the FREEZING cold to roast marshmallows.

While it continued to snow outside all weekend, we managed to fill the rest of our time with a few of my favorite things - reading, movies, naps, yummy food, games and just plain good family time!

boating 101

Today, we took the boat to Utah Lake. This is the 1st time this year. We have great hopes of being a BIG boating family this summer - as there are no other plans in the works. So, it makes sense that if today were to have a "theme" driving/teaching would have to be it! I can proudly say that I successfully loaded AND unloaded, docked, and drove the boat the full length of the lake and backed the boat trailer into the water. Chad also had a driving lesson and mastered pulling Mike on the knee-board/ski {something I still gotta learn}. Even Adi and Luke had their turn at the wheel!


The water is still a little cold but Mike braved it and broke out the trusty knee-board and even the slalom ski {I've never seen him ski and he got right up}

Check out my studly hubby on his first run!

*imagine awesome barrel roll video here*

Sorry for the "imagination", after 3 tries I give up - you win blogger!

No real action for the rest of us, just a quick dip for Chad and the kids but I thought this picture of them all drying off was cute to end with.

What could be better than...

...dressing up like a princess,

...dancing to a "happy working song",

...showing off all your "twirly" moves,

...having some of your favorite people {ie. fam, angie, uncles, aunts, cousin, friends} in the audience {LOUDLY} cheering you on,
{Mom's fav - "my best friend Adi rocks!" yelled by bf bailee}

...and getting loads of beautiful flowers?

Not much in this 6 year olds eyes!

Way to go Adilynn - you did awesome tonight!

Less than 7 months...and counting!

Mother's Day perfection!

Just thought I would share a pic of the AMAZING dinner that Mike and Jeremy made me for Mother's Day.

Even got to eat it on my spech plate - made by Miss Adilynn!

A pretty good day!

Yesterday, was a perfect day for flying kites...

looking cool in Diego sunglasses...

and just hanging out at the park!

Last night, however, was not so perfect!

Yes, that is our trampoline that the wind decided to put in our neighbors back yard at 2am this morning!

Service for Africa

As most of you know, Mike's parents are serving a mission in South Africa. They are in a poor little village, Empangeni, outside of Durban, where they spend the majority of their time doing service and teaching the members how to run church smoothly. They have taken on a creche {daycare center} as their main project right now. Here are a few pictures of the creche when they first arrived. There are about 90 kids {all under the age of 5} that come here each day. Most of them are orphans (many parents are lost to TB/AIDS} they go home to go-go's {adoptive grandparents} at night.



Here is the start of the rebuilding. The kids are so sweet - notice the gray, headless-one armed-one legged doll.

And here is the most recent pictures - no dirt floor!

Each time I see these pictures I want to send anything and everything I can! It is very expensive to mail things there and most things like toys and stuff are better bought there. But, it is getting to be winter time in Africa so my sis-in-law, Tanja, has headed up a little project that I was super excited about. The first part of this is making blankets. The goal is to have 100 ready to ship by the 15th, this way they should be there in time for the cold weather. We are just doing fleece, 1yard & 2yard blankets. I was really excited about this and finding a way to involve my kids - hands on. So, as I was cutting the fleece today, getting it ready for the kids to tie, I thought that I would share this on my blog for anyone who is interested. We found fleece for $7.84/yd at Walmart - I assume that is a decent price(its Walmart). So, if you are interested in making a couple blankets or donating some fleece - let me know! I know it is short notice, just 10 days, but felt like I should share this opportunity to serve. Leave me a comment, call or email me kaceebartholomew@yahoo.com if you are interested!

Grandma and the Gardens

Grandma got to come and play with us today, after a week spent at women's conference. The kids couldn't have been happier. We headed over to Thanksgiving Point to try out their Gardens. The kids all loved rolling/running down the hills {is this allowed?} and climbing all over the benches/bridges/steps. Adilynn was my picture planner helper - she did pretty good!

What a hottie!

Welcome to May!

I just have one word for this...CRUEL!