First day of KINDERGARTEN!

We made it home from our travels TWO days before the big first day of school. 
With a little prep, a Father's blessing, and a little partying...we were ready!  

Cal with his best buddies Lincoln and Shep.

He was happy to have Jake with him in his class!

And I had to get a picture of him doing his job after school.  It was so fun to hear him talk all about his own life... one that really didn't know anything about.  I could tell he was loving the independence.  He even had to tell me about all the "cool" snacks other kids brought like Oreo's and juice boxes and how his snack was not that cool. :) 

Hip, hip hooray!!  It was a wonderful next step...one that we have both been really looking forward to!  (No tears all around...well except Rhett who realized that he couldn't stay at school too.)

Arizona

Lunch and Last Chance with the Mamma and my sistas! Life doesn't get much better for me. 

(We are lamenting here over our identical cowlicks.  A gift from our mom!)

We had plenty of time to snuggle and love on all our favorite cousins!

We celebrated Grandpa Rob's 97th birthday!

It was so sweet to get to spend a little time with my Grandma Donna as well.  She passed away less than 2 weeks after these pictures were taken. Oliver and I are headed back to AZ for a quick weekend to celebrate her and her wonderful life!

And Arizona summers, wouldn't be 'Arizona Summers' with out some fantastic rain storms and monsoons!  

Utah

We celebrated many fun events in Utah.
I think it is safe to say we celebrated "Adam" in St. George. :)
Then headed north for my new SIL Taryn's bridal shower, SIL Paige's baby shower, and then Doug's brother CJ's wedding. 
It was a non stop Lewis family party! 
We are so, so excited to add Taryn to it!

Georgia

I was getting a little desperate for adult conversation, so we left Doug at home (or should I say at work) and I took the boys on a road trip to visit my brother and his wonderful family. Driving through Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and finally Georgia did feel a bit long!  But as always, the company was so worth it!  

Top right: FDR's home (where he died with his mistress by his side.)

our top 10 exciting celebrations

10. My birthday: I turned another year wiser... 29, yikes!

9. Preschool Graduation: I love these 9 little monkeys and it was so neat to get to see my own little Cal grow so much this year.  Each of the kids got an award.  I gave Cal the award for being a super reader.    

8. Cal's birthday:  He's 5!  Some mom's throw big elaborate parties.  I guess that is not me.  His actual birthday was several days later on the cruise, but we wanted to open his presents the day before we left. I texted 2 friends at 9pm and invited them to a casual low key breakfast party... He seemed to have fun regardless.  (That is when he wasn't in time out or pouting about the tee ball game.)  

7. Father's Day:  these 3 boys sure are lucky to have such a great dad. 

  6. 1st day of work:  Dr. Doug started residency... boo for long hours and single parenting.  But he does look like such a cute Doctor.

 5.  Ollie bear is 4 months!  Doug's Aunt Mary stitched him this darling sleeper.  (4 months later and I still sometimes find myself in shock... I can't believe he was born in the CAR.)

  
4.  Brothers:  I had no idea 3 boys was going to be so much fun! I hit the neighborhood pool with these little swimmers almost every day.  I love my boys!

 
3.  Rhett is potty trained!!! (Mostly... he still needs lots of reminders.)

 

2. We had an awesome 4th filled with a very hot neighborhood parade, pot luck breakfast w/ face painting, a barbecue with old and new friends and perfect seats to watch the firework show.    

1.  I got me some new wheels! Wahoo! Who knew the swagger wagon could be SO exciting!

Cruise to Caribbean

We love spending time with Doug's extended Smoot family.  It is always SUCH a party!

44 of us set sail out of Tampa, Florida aboard the Carnival Legend ship.

 We had some very fun sea days on board the ship!

High's: all you can eat ice cream, Karaoke, fine dining, strip tease fashion shows, Mafia, the towel animals and daily Chocolates on our pillows.

Low's: Having to go back to the room and pump milk every 3 hours... but we sure did miss baby Ollie and Rhett who were safe at home with Grammy and Aunt Lindy!

 

 1st stop Cozumel, Mexico

High: We visited the awesome Mayan ruins at Tulum.

Low: We never got to swim at that beautiful beach.  And... World War III almost occurred due to mine and Doug's alarm clock dying during the night...

2nd stop Belize City, Belize

High:  More Mayan ruins and Cave tubing with head lamps! Soo cool!  

Low:  Doug's new water proof camera died before he could try it out on his scuba diving adventure with 4 others.  He described the crystal clear water and awesome life below the ocean though in much detail.  :)

3rd stop Roatan, Honduras

High: Intense family volleyball game, swimming, relaxing, and window shopping.

Low: Not getting out of tourist town and seeing much of the real life out in the country. 

 4th stop Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands

High:  Seriously BEAUTIFUL ocean water... And no, we are not in a pool.

Low:  Cal screaming bloody murder about getting in the water and missed out on snorkeling and feeding/petting/kissing the giant string ray's.

We had a rocky day discovering the boat/airlines would not let me fly home early from Grand Cayman as planned  (Passport cards are NOT passports!)... but it miraculously all worked out in the end!  

 Cal was lucky enough to celebrate his 5th birthday on board the boat!  Dad made it a special day (I had already flown home.)  Despite the several melt downs, fits, and broken china in the Dining Room, we are so glad we got to have this one on one time with him.  He is such a creative boy who talks of getting his own pet from sun up to sun down.  

We owe a BIGGGGG thank you to Grandma and Grandpa Smoot for a wonderful week!!

texas reunion!

We had such a blast with my parents (and beautiful little sister Lindy) and beautiful older sister Emily (and her awesome family) came to town!  It is fun to be a tourist in your own town.  We had really good luck at the alligator park, had a fun hot morning at the Aquarium, hit up NASA for an afternoon, and spend a couple days in Galveston playing at the beach.

Twilight called: they saw these pictures and got jealous....we will not reveal the location to them though.  :)

I am way in love with these logs and the sun beams coming through the moss filled trees!   

We celebrated the boys upcoming 5th birthdays.  They missed their third triplet cousin Brody though! 

 Not planned matching swimsuits... must be sisters! 

Beautiful baby Remy makes me all the more determined to not give up hope yet for a girl of my own!

A huge thanks for making the journey all the way out to Texas!  

It was a blast! 

(all except for that one toilet overflowing incident...)