Good For A Laugh

Naturally, since my mom went through chemo, she has a couple of wigs, some she wears more than others. The trouble comes when you take a couple women who are in the mood for a laugh. Mom got out the wigs and we thought it would be funny to put them on the boys. Lets just say they weren't extremely willing participants in our fun. Maybe they could sense that these pictures could possibly be blackmail in the future, maybe they just didn't like the hair in their eyes; either way it was Mom and I getting a good laugh at their expense. It still makes me laugh to see these pictures. Good thing they're good sports. I don't know though, should I be worried about what future daughters might look like?

Just For Fun

Random pictures from the past couple weeks. One thing's for sure, it's going to be tough taking the boys back to a big city with small yard space. My parent's yard is amazing and the boys have loved having so much space to run around.
I finished a baby blanket for baby Tyler while I was here. We also had a little BBQ a few nights back and had fun roasting marshmallows over the fire. We learned that Jacob doesn't like smores and Caleb likes to light marshmallows on fire.

Mothers Day

Mother's Day Sunday was a day full of family, and I wouldn't prefer it any other way. My cousin Benson had a farewell talk before he leaves for his mission in South Korea in the morning. He did such a great job speaking, I know he'll do a wonderful job. After the meeting, we met up at Kenny & Mari's house for a brunch. Both their home and their yard are absolutely gorgeous. Jacob and Caleb had a blast running around the yard and playing in the water- I'm just glad neither of them ended up in the lake.
We couldn't stay too long because in the afternoon, Jeff's brother Jonny was reporting his mission. Once again, it was a wonderful meeting and Jonny did such a great job. It was fun to hear him share experiences and talk about his mission to Argentina. After that meeting we headed over to Stevens' for another lunch with the family. It was fun to be able to visit with everyone again before most people had to leave. (I didn't take pictures because Dad S had his nice camera out and was taking pictures...I'll get copies of them soon)

Bingo Night

Saturday night (May 9th) we had a fun Bingo night at Mom & Dad Stevens'. Gina put everything together including some pretty fun prizes and treats. It was a fun evening after the kids were all put down to bed. Thanks Gina for organizing such a fun evening!

Race For The Cure

One of the organized activities during the weekend of the homecoming was the Susan G. Komen, 'Race For the Cure'. Amanda had the idea, and got everything set up and organized for our team, "Joy-ful-Lee Running" which was in honor of Grandma Forman and my mom. It was a great event to participate in.

Group shot before the race
(David, Linda, Joseph, Dean, Lori, Tami, Gina, Sherri, Angela, Janette, Amanda)

We met up that morning at 7:30 to drive over to the race. I'm pretty sure everyone could have used a little more sleep, but I think most of us have gotten used to going on a few hours. Kristie & Tom got into town late Friday night, so we ended up staying up until 2am talking. My two sisters and I haven't been together for over a year, so we weren't that anxious to go to bed right away. I was feeling it a little when I got up at 6:40.
Jeff, Mom, the boys, and I rode over together in our 3-car caravan. Jeff was a good sport and got the kids dressed after we arrived at the race location since we'd taken them in their pajamas. He also acted as our race photographer. (Unfortunately he didn't realize that the camera was in the wrong setting, so all the pictures we took have an unnaturally blue tint to them, and I don't have Photoshop here to fix them :)
I think the biggest trick was trying to maneuver though the massive crowd. There were over 15,000 running the 5K and that didn't even include all the spectators. I wasn't even planning on seeing any of our family supporters during the race, but it was fun to know that they were there. They included Dad, Tom, Kristie, Lacey, Cole, Jeff & the boys, along with most of the spouses, and kids of the Stevens girls running the race.
The actual race was a lot of fun. (even if I do think the course was a bit short) It was the perfect day, warm and sunny, but not too hot. The biggest obstacle was just trying to get around that many people. Mom and I were able to get somewhat close to the starting line, but even still, you had to dodge countless walkers and strollers. I think the most frustrating part was when a cop stopped a small group of us at an intersection at mile 2 so that a firetruck could drive though, that took up a good amount of time. I ended up finishing the 5K in 22:45.
Kristie, Tom, Lacey, and Cole were there at the end and it was fun to see them cheering us on. One of my favorite parts was watching my mom cross the finish line. She's been running to get ready, but she hasn't ever run that far at one time. It was so awesome to see her coming down to the finish line with a big smile on her face. Then they gave her a flower, and a special 'Survivor's" medal, and announced that Sherri, a survivor, finished the race. She was so proud, and it was a special moment to be there with her in her awesome accomplishment. We were so proud of her! It was fun to find everyone after the race. Jacob and Caleb had some cute little wild flowers that they had picked for me, and they were so excited about the race.
I'm grateful that we had this opportunity, especially since it gave us a chance to celebrate Grandma and Mom's victory over breast cancer.

Stevens Family Fun

One reason we were excited to come back from our Vegas vacation was that we would be able to see many family members who were coming into town for Jonny's mission homecoming. We haven't seen many of them for quite a few years and were excited for a mini-reunion.
On Thursday Tami put together a little birthday party for Cole complete with games, and a pinata; so we all got together at Scott & Amanda's for party, games, and dinner. The kids had fun seeing each other and I'm really impressed how well they all did, especially since there were about 20 kids running around and playing together. It was fun to catch up with all the adults. We ended up staying pretty late, but no one wants to say goodbye.
Friday afternoon we were over again, good thing Scott & Amanda are so accommodating to let everyone overrun their beautiful home! The boys had a fun paintball trip planned, so they took off that afternoon and didn't come home until after dark. They all had some pretty impressive war wounds to show off. Too bad I didn't get any pictures, it was sure fun to hear the stories though.We had another yummy dinner and enjoyed visiting together. A few of us were able to get in a couple rounds of matching game too. I just can't help but feel so blessed to have such a wonderful family. They're the best.

Preschool Graduation...Better Late Than Never

Jacob and Caleb had their preschool graduation the night before we left on our trip on Tuesday, April 21st. I'm grateful that everyone was so accommodating to let the date be changed from Wednesday to Tuesday night so we didn't have to miss it!
It was a little crazy that day trying to finish up all the packing since we'd be leave at 4:45am the next morning. My sweet friend Kristen took Matthew during the morning while Jacob and Caleb were both at preschool so I was able to get in a couple good solo hours of packing & cleaning. It gets tricky when you are packing for both a trip and a move.
It was nice to have a break to go to the graduation. As always it's so entertaining to watch the kids perform their songs and parts. I loved having both boys in the program. The teachers did such a great job, we'll really miss Miss Jamie and Miss Annette. They did a fabulous job during the year, and the boys absolutely loved preschool.
At the end when each of the kids got their cap and graduation gifts, they also told what each child's favorite color was along with their future career. Jacob's favorite color was red and when he grows up he wants to be an Eye Doctor. Caleb's favorite color is blue, and when he grows up he wants to be a Ninja Turtle. We have some high aspirations in our family! :) It was a beautiful night, and so fun to watch our kids with so many friends.