Kayaking

As a graduation gift, I rented two kayaks for a couple hours on Jenkinson Lake one afternoon.  The day was perfect, the water was clear and we had a wonderful time.  We hiked around the lake a little after returning our kayaks.  

We live in a really beautiful part of the country.

 

Two!

I can't believe my little man is two!  He is so grown up in so many ways and definitely starting to test some limits.  I love this little man (and this big man) dearly.

For his birthday, we went to Cronin Ranch for a hike.  We made it to the river where Wesley celebrated in his birthday suit in the water.

Putting his face in.

He loves to help in the kitchen "coo-kin" and "mih-mih" (mixing).  After I made his cake, he took the cleaned mixing bowls and did some mixing of his own.  He decided the best position was sitting in one bowl while mixing in the other.

Pictures of the Wee Lad at the park.

Excited to see what this next year of being two holds!  I'm crossing my fingers for some hide and seek.

Hail to the Graduate!

Gil graduated!!  I can't express how incredibly proud I am of this man and all his hard work and accomplishments.  I have watched him get up incredibly early in the morning to catch the train into south Sac to make it to class when he was at the community college and anxiously watched the clock waiting for him to come home from a late evening lab.  I have watched him sit at our kitchen table with his books for entire weekends doing homework and I have kept Wesley from swallowing countless small electronical parts for school projects.  I have never seen anyone so focused.

Riverside Hall was the building where he had many of his engineering classes and labs.  (Wesley is posing behind the sign.)

On campus taking pictures, we had to stop and smell the roses... now that Gil has time to smell the roses.

It's a really big sign.  Can you see his hands?

Tassel worth the hassle or tassel is a hassle?  It was a windy day.  Sac State held a Car-mencement, where graduates were able to drive through campus, similar to other events all over the country.  We decorated the car and then drove through the bands and the cheering staff, the mascot and cheerleaders, and tv screens of people giving speeches.

I was so pleased with the mortar board Gil made and put on the roof of the car.  Unfortunately, it didn't make it all the way through campus.

Congratulations, Gil!  We are so proud of you and excited for what comes next.

Montana

I had a dear friend get married in Montana over the weekend.  It was fun to go visit and see old friends from when I lived there, some of whom I hadn't seen in 15 years!  It had been four years since I'd last visited and I'd forgotten how beautiful western Montana is.

We spent a lot of time at Grant-Kohrs Ranch where I used to work.  We saw horses, cows, and chickens.  Wesley was especially taken by the cows.  We couldn't get him to stay in his bed the first night because he needed to go look at the cows out the window.

There was a new park on the north end of the town we were in and it had some fantastic equipment.  We spent quite a bit of time there too.

Wesley wasn't having much fun at the wedding reception but boy did he look cute!

We tacked on a quick visit to Gil's oldest brother and his family in ID.  Wesley loved going up and down the stairs in their house. 

Hooray for road trips, family, and friends!

Playing with Cousins

Gil has cousins in southern CA that we usually go visit for April General Conference.  We didn't go last year so this was the first time Wesley got to play with some second cousins.  He had a blast and I was thrilled with how well he did with so many people.

It was also Easter and Wes participated in his first two egg hunts.  He enjoyed finding eggs and putting them in his bag during our first egg hunt.

By his second egg hunt he had since learned from the first that there was candy in the eggs.  He ran out into the yard, found 1 egg and sat right down, opened it, ate the candy, and considered himself done hunting eggs.

Wagon rides!

Piano practice!

Getting his scalp massaged.

Swimming between sessions!

Trying the trampoline!

Swinging with Dad.

We love our cousins!

Pinnacles National Park

We took off for Pinnacles National Park for the first part of Gil's spring break.  I love, love, love this park.  It was more crowded than I had ever seen it before, especially for the middle of the week, but it was spring break for who knows how many.

The weather was perfect.  Wesley decided he needed to climb as many rocks as we came across.

There were beautiful views!

There were amazing rock formations.

 It was a looong hike but Wesley did ok.  He rode on Gil's shoulders for a good portion of the hike and we may have bribed him with fruit snacks to keep walking at times.  Hooray for adventuring.

Playing with Friends

I was ready to get out of the house!  I was ready for my little man to start playing with other kids.  I started a park group.  We meet once a week at a different park in our area. 

We have two good friends we like to play with. 

Sometimes they come play at our house.

Sometimes we play at their house.

While our friends are ok with their moms leaving to run errands and do other things, my dear child screams and cries and won't let me leave.  I need to work on that....

We are thankful for good friends!