Father's Day

(these are paper dads that Porter and Dallin colored. Dallin gave Joe a long purple scar. Porter put him in red because it is Joe's favorite color)

Sometimes it is easy for me to dwell on Joe's shortcomings (at least in my perception) but I know my boys know they have a good daddy. He works hard us but always has time to say hello if we drop in to visit him. He picks them up at daycare and gives them dinner (sort of) three nights a week. He plays soccer with them and rides bikes with them. He tries to teach them to take care of their things and put things away. He tries to help them learn to be independent, able to build Legos, color pictures, etc. on their own. He helps them get the things they need. For example, he took Porter to buy new soccer shoes on Saturday, since he going to start playing this week. He stopped working on Saturdays so that he could do things with us, like going to the dinosaur museum or the zoo or even just taking care of the yard. He protects them. He makes sure they don't ride their bikes in the street. He also been known to stare down some naughty little boy or two at the playground who are playing too rough to otherwise threatening Porter and Dallin. Sometimes, he even protects them from me. Once I took Porter's drink away at a restaurant because he wasn't eating. While Dallin and I were in the bathroom, Porter called Joe on my phone and told him that I had taken his rootbeer and was being very mean. Joe told Porter to eat his lunch and instructed me to return the rootbeer. He is a good dad who loves Porter and Dallin very much. One of my favorite things is when Joe and I can talk about all the funny little things Porter and Dallin do and say.

what happens

This is what happens when two boys are left alone with markers

Daycare picture time is here

It is time for daycare pictures again. They mostly turned out pretty well, though a little funny. The worst is the one of the two of them together though.

gymnastics

here are a couple of pictures of Porter doing his floor routine. I forgot to put them in before and I can't figure out how to insert them where I want them in the post

Saturday was Porter and Dallin's gymnastics tournament. They are in different classes now so they did their routines at different times. I was so proud of them both. Dallin was nervous about doing it without Porter but he bravely went on, waving to us from each event. On the beam in Porter's group, they gave them to the choice to dismount with a cartwheel or just by jumping off. I was sure Porter would decide to just jump but he didn't, he did his cartwheel so nicely. I wish I had better pictures. It seems that everything was blurry or a spilt second off from the good part.

Here they are warming up

the bar routines

floor

beam

floor again

vault

trophies, pins, and certificates

afterward, they relaxed in the bath. Porter decorated the walls with the bathtub colors and made himself a hat

Grandma Montague

Joe's grandma died recently. It was a sad even for her family. She had been ill for a while though and suffering from so many of the problems of old age and so, in some ways it was a blessing. I'm sure that she is much happier now with her mind and body once again in tact. Joe's mom told me that the Grandma's bishop had spoken about her at church though and had said how he wished that the ward members all could have known her, not as she had been for the past couple of years, but how she had been as a younger woman, serving in many calling, helping her neighbors, being active in her community. It made me think a little about how many people I know who are "old" and how I sometimes shy away from getting to know them because getting old makes me uncomfortable. I thought about my own great grandma who lived until I was in high school. From the time I was born, she was an old woman. I have a vague memory of visiting her at her house in Logan when I was very young but shortly after that, she had move in with one of her daughters because she was too old to care for herself. I remember being sort of embarassed by her the time she and my grandma came to visit our family in Wisconsin and some of my friends were over for my birthday (in my defense, or maybe to my condemnation, I was embarassed by most adults at that time. I was one of those kids who, by elementary school, was embarassed to have parents, grandparents, etc. It was mortifying to me if my mom came to see me at school or something). Anyway, I feel badly thinking of it now. Even though she was alive, I never really got the chance to know her for who she had been before she was old and fragile. Once, when I was in high school, my great grandma came to stay at our house for a couple of days. I am grateful that I took some time while she was there (sitting in our living room, eating Fiddle Faddle and crocheting) to talk to her about her life. I also read to her because she enjoyed having people read her books or magazine articles. I didn't spend as much with her as I should have, but at least, I went away knowing a little more about her.

I feel similarly about Joe's grandma. When Joe and I first dated, he lived with his grandparents and I would go visit him at their house. Grandma would watch cooking shows and ask me what I thought of them or show me videos and pictures of Joe and his siblings as kids. She was a kind lady who always made me feel welcome in their home. It wasn't long after Joe and I were married though that Grandma's health and mental condition started going downhill. I know that my kids, if they remember her at all, will only remember her the way she was before she died, not as the woman she was for almost 80 years before that. I hope their dad will share stories with them of his grandma so they will know who she really was.

On the up side, having a funeral is a good occasion to see family. Joe's parents and all of his sibling were in town. The boys had such a good time playing with their uncles, Joe's uncles, and their cousin. I didn't take pictures like I should have (in part because my camera battery has been acting up and in part because I saw so many others with cameras that I figure there will be pictures of the events. This is a broad hint to any who took pictures and read this blog, send me pictures). I did take some pictures of Porter, Dallin, and McKayla at the park though.

Ashley's graduation

This happened a couple of weeks ago but I just got around to taking the pictures off my camera. We are so proud of Ashley for finishing up with her MBA, despite being really very sick from pregnancy. Unfortunately, this is the best picture I have of the event. It is the only one where we are all sort of looking at the camera and no one is cut out. I'm not sure if I should blame the photographer (Joe) or us for being unable to stand still for 15 seconds to get a picture taken. We are standing on a slope, that is why I look so short (I look so fat because I am. That has nothing to do with the hill)

Day out with Thomas

Last thursday, Porter, Dallin, and I spent a Day Out With Thomas (the train). We had a very good time. At the end of the day, Dallin didn't want to leave but I told him we needed to go before the traffic got too bad. A couple of minutes later, Dallin was whining again about leaving. Porter said, "we have had a very good day with Thomas but we need to leave now so we don't get stuck in traffic." Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of Thomas the engine. My camera battery died early. I think I put one picture on my facebook page though that I took with my phone. here we are on the train. Porter was willing to ride in an open car this time (last year he insisted that we ride in one of the two closed front cars because they were Annie and Claribel, Thomas' faithful coaches. It was miserably hot inside the cars.)

with the conductor

these are the balloon animals they make for the kids. Dallin's is a bear. Porter's is a snake.

Porter and Dallin got to help the magician with one of his tricks. They both were pretty nervous up there.

We got to stand by pictures of our favorite engines

there was also miniature golf to play while we waited to ride the train

and no outing would be complete without temporary tattoos