June 17th

 

FHE at the lake.

 

 

And the last Family Home Evening before Marlee leaves for BYU.

 

We can't help pointing out all of the "last times" happening lately.

Like she's dying or something.

 

 

 

 

Lots of swimming time while we worked on getting the ski rope untangled from the prop. Hate it when that happens!

But overall, a great time.

 

 

 

Why don't we do this more often???



June 15th & 16th

We spent Father's Day weekend ditching the kids.

Had a little stay-cation at the Royal Palms. It totally rocked!!

Best Father's Day I've ever had!

 

 

 

 

We were back home on Sunday with plenty of time for the kids to show Daddy some love. Combing his back & his legs, and giving foot "massages".

 

 

 

 

 

Boy do we love this Daddy.

 

Happy Father's Day, baby!!!



June 14th

For the last four months, Marlee's been training with Rob here, (whom we like to call Jason Bourne), in Krav Maga, which is "a tactical martial system developed in Israel that consists of a combination of techniques sourced from boxing, Muay Thai, Wing Chun, judo, jiu jitsu, wrestling, and grappling, along with realistic fight training. It is known for it's focus on real-world situations & extremely efficient and brutal counter-attacks."  So basically, you don't want to mess with Mars. And apparently, she's quite good at it. She's almost done with her training to become a certified instructor in it, which includes sending a video of her to the top Krav Maga guys in the Israeli Defense Forces for approval.
They practice with fake guns & knives & even pens. Not just self-defense, but how to get the knife from the guy & then how to use it on him. 
Crazy stuff!

 

 

It's so nice to not have to worry about her, especially as she goes off to college.  Actually, I feel sorry for anyone who does mess with her. She almost knocked out a SWAT team guy she was practicing with the other day. For reals!!

 



June 13th

 

I wish I could say it's a rare occasion that the playroom/little boys' bedroom looks like this.  But, sadly, it looks like this most of the time.

 

I just try not to go up there unless absolutely necessary.

June 12th

Caroline was my little photo assistant today.

 



She's super helpful. :)

June 11th

Lost in the world of Gus.



June 10th

 

 

Typical.



June 9th

Sunday dinner.

 

 

The usual.  Roast & mashed potatoes.

 

Except that we realized this was the last Sunday dinner with all of us living under the same roof. :(

 

 

 

And it's probably time to chuck the highchair.

 



June 8th

I took pictures of my little bro, Shawn, and his cute family before they move to Las Vegas to start his medical residency.

 

 

 

 

The boys.

 

We'll miss you guys!!



June 7th

Lots of swimming.

 



June 6th

I took these two to our pediatrician's today for physicals.

 

I'm used to bringing in babies & toddlers, so it was pretty funny.

 

 

 

They're pretending to be scared & feeling violated. Not looking forward to the 'turn-and-cough' part.

 

Or maybe they weren't really pretending.  :)

June 5th

Jake taking a dip in the pool after football.

 

Could he be any cuter!?  I mean really !!!

June 4th

 

Ok, so I'm cheating a little bit. These are from a few days ago.

Our awesome friends, the Stapleys, invited us to go paddle-boarding down the river on Saturday night.  A little energetic for us, since our usual Saturday night usually involves sitting in a restaurant & maybe a quick WalMart trip. But it was super fun, because things are always fun with the Stapleys! I think I was 12 the last time I've been down this river! And I don't think it's changed much since then.  Lots of really drunk tubers. Lots of tattoos. But lots of fun.

Thanks Stapleys!! 

June 3rd

 

We've had "Doctor Caroline" in the house today, leaving a trail of bandaid wrappers behind her.

She seriously called herself "Dr. Caroline".

And we seriously went through almost 2 boxes of bandaids.

 

 



June PHOTO-A-DAY

I've always wanted to try a Photo-A-Day challenge, where every day for a month you take & post a picture, usually of every-day-life kind of stuff.  I'm needing some motivation to get back into regular blogging, and to push myself to take more pictures of our daily life. To document. So here we are. It's June already, after a ridiculously busy May, and I'm already a day behind!  But here was yesterday.....

June 1st

 

 

Post-yardwork swim.

 

I was working in my office & watching the kids in the pool through my window.  I watched Max be the cutest big brother to his little sister. Not even knowing he was being watched. So genuine. And always willing to help out.  Man! I love this kid!! 

 

 

 

June 2nd

 

 

My view during Sacrament meeting.

These two always have to be practically on top of me. So conducive to the spirit, right?

 

 



Prom 2013

 

Marlee's last high school dance.

 

 



 

She walks out in her dress, and Caroline's eyes go wide with awe & wonder, and she touches the dress & says, "Monny! You're a PRINCESS!!"

 

I think Mars might miss this little sister when she leaves in a couple short months.

 

 

So Marlee's Prom date was her favorite friend, Weston, who recently received his mission call to Peru.

They had big group pictures taken, but of course I had to take some of my own.

 



They were just so adorable!

 

And I'm pretty sure they had a great time.

 

And now we're on the countdown til the end of the schoolyear, and the end of these guys' high school career. I think we're going to make a paper chain.

 

Big things ahead for these two. That I'm sure of.