4th of July fun!

The fourth of July was a great weekend for our family! The boys woke up super excited on that day and remembered it was the 1st Saturday of the month-- so that meant Home Depot kid's clinic!
This time Daddy got to come with us so it was especially fun! They made little picnic caddies and now they are the tote for whatever they can find that fits in them!







Then we got adventurous and decided to go to a big children's amusement park near Pittsburgh. It is called Idlewild, and it was such a great place! Everything is geared for young children, so Carson and Connor where able to ride on EVERYTHING! It was so fun to see how excited they were about what looked like the lamest rides. They didn't care and had such a great day. We even stayed until 10:00 when they had a firework show and it was also great. It has an attached (and included in the price) water park with big slides and tubes kind of like Sunsplash in Az. We got in our suits and realized that 70 degrees just isn't very warm to go swimming. :(
Overall though I would recommend this little place to anyone who has young children who ventures out this way!
Here are a few highlights:

This one looked especially lame, but it turned out to be one of their favorites! They basically pedalled with their hands along this little track. We weren't sure if Connor could do it or not, so they let one of us walk behind with a stick in case he needed a push. As you can see, the stick was not needed since Kevin was RUNNING just to keep up with Connor! He was hauling!

Carson's Church Talk

A few weeks ago Carson was asked to give the talk in Primary class at church. Now, as a preface, he has NEVER given a single talk in Primary. Has he been assigned before? Yes. Would he stand up and talk in the microphone? Not a chance. Not even a bribe has worked so far. So, when we got the paper slip stating the date and theme, I knew we were in for another struggle.

The week went by and I forgot about the talk, but luckily Daddy had enough smarts to remind Carson about it on Saturday. With dread, I had him come look through the Home Evening drawer to see if we could spark some creativity. He looked through and then told me, "I want to write my own." What do you mean 'write my own'? As in write your own talk? Okay, whatever you want.

So Carson goes off to his room to write a talk on forgiveness while I stare blankly at the drawer, trying to come up with a simple, effective talk.

Five minutes later, he comes in with his talk completely finished. I laughed and asked him to read it to me. I was dumbfounded when he was finished. He had caught the perfect essence of forgiveness and it was perfect. Was it long? No. Was it eloquent and thorough? No. But it was Carson's testimony of forgiveness and I loved it. Add his sweet testimony of the Savior and prophet at the end, and you can see how my heart melted when he stood up and read his own little talk that Sunday. So here it is, hand-written by Carson:

Translation (if you can't read his sound-based writing):

Forgiveness is when you do something bad. You say, "sorry." You ask for forgiveness and that person says, "yes."

We're back!!!

We are alive! Sorry for the delay. We appreciate you patience (most of you, anyway) as we try to get back to a normal summer routine. My music classes have been soo great this summer, but it has been a little consuming. It is great news to finally have the classes boom, so I can't complain, but apparently others can (Marc).
So, here we go: I'll post all of the random things we have done this summer and show you how much fun we have been having with Carson home. I LOVE it! I have missed having him be away at school, and being gone full day in the fall will be really tough, but we have enjoyed every minute of the summer togetherness. Enjoy! Finally!

Catch up!

It has been pretty busy since the last post, and here is what we have been up to:

Two weeks ago we went to our friend's church's car show. It was so fun! They had pony rides, games, activities and even a free lunch. The boys had a blast but we had to leave early to get to Carson's last soccer game.

Carson sliding down the huge slide:

Bouncing:

They stopped to give mommy a kiss through the net. How sweet!

Connor, not to be out done!

Carson was on fire at this game! He loves to play forward because it is his best chance to score. This time right after the whistle blew, he power-kicked it across the whole field and made a goal! It was pretty awesome!

A little blurry, but making his way down for his second goal:

A happy soccer champ!

All of the soccer friends from the neighborhood:

Notice Connor: He is just happy to get a snack.

Daddy got to go on Carson's field trip to the farm last Wednesday. Carson was so happy to have Daddy with him and introduced him to all of his friends and teachers.

Last weekend we went to Philadelphia, but I didn't bring my camera. Aunt Kristy and Uncle Tyler were there with all of the cousins too, so it was extra fun! I went to Arizona for a music training and had a great time playing wii with Grandpa and Grandma Kuzdas, while the boys had a blast with their cousins in PA. It was a busy trip but it worked out great! Thanks for a super fun time everyone!

Last day of school! Almost all of the bus stop friends:

Last bus ride to school as a Kindergartener:

Carson's wonderful teacher, Miss Mechler:

Connor's Birthday

Connor is now three! He had a wonderful birthday with many surprises. Grandpa and grandma Ellsworth came to visit along with Uncle Matt. When he woke up he wanted muffins, so we had a big breakfast and then when everyone woke up we played outside until Carson left for school. He had a special delivery of "fruit salad" and then he went to the park. A little while later Daddy came home from his last day of school, which was a great present for us all. We all met Carson at the bus stop then picked up pizza and went to Schenley park for a birthday party. We opened presents, had pizza and cake, and played and played. When we got home we did a few little sparklers, although Matt almost exploded with all of the sparklers he lit simultaneously. Connor was pretty tired by the end of the day, but we all had a great time and it was a special day for him!

Eating "fruit salad"


Happy!


Playing at the park

Schenley park looking at downtown:

Opening presents:

Eating cake:

Spring has Sprung!!

I love having a full spring here. It sure makes winter a distant memory! It also makes me so grateful for the beauty of green and colorful flowers. I love it!

Here are a few shots of our lovely yard. Having a big backyard has been a blast for the boys (and me too)! Any time the sun peeks out, even for a few moments, we run outside and enjoy the time. I still miss my skin being scorched when I walk outside (really, I do), but I am told it gets quite hot here too, so I'll be patient.

I'm a little too late to capture the full majesty of this magnolia tree, but when it was completely covered in blooms it was SPECTACULAR!! It is in the front corner of our house and I would have people stop and comment on it all the time. It was a little messy when the blooms dropped, but it was worth it! This picture was taken 4/21 and the next one was today (5/12). Not quite as pink, but still pretty! It is fun to see the progression of the plants in the background and underneath growing too...

If you were to ask, "What kind of weirdo takes a picture of her mailbox?" I could answer, "Me!" I'm a dork, but I love flowers, and after a grey and cold winter, I am relishing these days!

Soon to be strawberries! We have 54 more plants like these...

Connor enjoying the sunshine. I love having a little "retreat" to just hang out on, read, etc. while the boys play.

Isn't it fun? Come visit and see first hand!

Fun with Grandma

We had a party weekend since Grandma Ellsworth came into town. She arrived on Wednesday and we had such a great visit. On Friday Kevin was invited to perform his cello at the memorial service for the medical school and it was beautiful. The whole program was very nicely put together and the number we played added a nice tone.



We had an interesting experience when we ate at King's restaurant, but the rest of the eatin' was pretty good! We tried a new place called Harry's pizza that was fabulous and then ice cream at Sarris' candy shop, and what trip with the boys would be complete with out Olive Garden! We even had a fantastic dinner on Sunday from HoneyBaked Ham. Grandma was sure good to us!!
There was plenty of entertainment as well with the Home Depot clinic on Saturday, as well as several goals at Carson's soccer game.

Uncle Matt came to visit that night with his friend Tally, and after staying up way too late watching Madagascar (I & II), we woke up early on Sunday to go to Stake Conference. It was a satellite broadcast and was nice. Matt said his favorite part was the time: 90 minutes.

It was a fun week, but there were some grumpy faces leaving the airport this morning! Thanks for the great visit everyone!