May

May was a fun and busy month around here.  Mallory drove across the country and moved in with us for the summer before heading off to Grad school at NYU. We got Tate signed up for YMCA T-ball and it was just the right speed for the little guy.  It took him a couple of practices to get into it and to be able to pay attention to his coach the whole time, but eventually he really liked going to practice and having us cheer him on at the games.  

Finn didn't like it as much.  Poor kiddo was dying to get on the field with his big brother.  

Here's Tate getting ready for his turn at bat.

Run kiddo, run!

At the end of May Tate had his graduation program from his second year of preschool at Lord of the Hills preschool.  It was awesome.  All the kids sang these hilarious, to me, religious songs.  My favorite of which was "He's a peach of a Savior".  And some really sweet patriotic songs as well.

When it was his turn he walked across the stage and got his certificate and his children's bible.  He was very proud.

And Glenn stayed home from work that morning to attend with us.

On May 22nd Kenzie graduated from Cherokee Trails High School.  Dad, Adam and Cami came into town to attend and celebrate with us so the whole Hansen fam were there except for Cody and Aub and their family.  We missed them but were texting and sending pictures all day so they were up to date on the celebration.

It was a great day to celebrate Kenzie and how much she has accomplished this year.

Some of her good friends from the ward came to cheer her on and take some pictures with her afterward.

The Hansen Siblings.

And here we are with our Ad and Cami.  We didn't get any on my camera with mom and dad.  The kids were going nutso after sitting for so long and it was starting to rain so we headed out.

The next Day we went to Centennial park.  It's becoming a favorite of ours when we have family in town.  There's so much for the grown kids and our kids to do. Here's Finny and Abby on the slide.

Auntie Mallo with sweet Abbycakes on the swing.

Auntie Cami trying the rope challenge.

Auntie Mallo with Finnerface.  Glenn gave me a new lens for my camera for my birthday.  I definitely need more practice with it but it is fantastic!

Tate's favorite thing about Centennial park is what he calls the "spider web".  He feels pretty cool being able to climb all the way to the top and see everyone way down below.  Here he is pretending to be distressed while Grampa is grabbing at him.

Uncle Adam is a pretty sweet Daddy to his little girl.

Another family favorite is this spinning wheel.  It's slanted and really hard to stay on when you get going fast around the downward slant.

This time we discovered this weird teeter toter thing and spent a good deal of time trying to knock each other off balance.

Then of course there's the spinning bucket of death.  It makes me sick for the rest of the day.

It was a nice warm day so we just couldn't keep the kiddos out of the water entirely.

We loved having the fam here to visit for the weekend and it was a bummer when they went home again.  So glad everyone could come play with us for a few days and celebrate Kenzer's big day.
The rest of May was spent playing outside.  I love spring weather.

We also instituted a new chore chart around here.  The boys each have different magnets every day and when they finish their chore they get to move it to the "done" side.  It was perfect timing really.  Tate was ready to have some responsibility and takes pride in doing some work at this age.  And Finn loves to copy brother and "helps" do every chore that Tate does.  Plus it helped us have some sort of routine to our summer days.

We were only able to fit in one session of swimming lessons this summer.  After months of nagging we got into a few lessons with Jordan Dixon and she is just as wonderful as everyone says.  Tate learned a ton in just a few lessons.  That first lesson, I ran out of time to get Finn in his swim suit before we had to go so he spent the hour looking at the kiddie pool through the fence.  Bad mom.

At the end of May the Garlocks invited us to the Eastern Hills preschool spring festival.  Garlock Orthodontics donated the pony rides and the boys were thrilled when it was finally their turn to take a spin!

Here they are ready for the first swimming morning of the summer!

On one afternoon we went to the park and Tate met these two boys who had caught a garter snake.  He didn't want to touch it but he did get pretty close and was fascinated by these brave big boys who kept putting the snake down the slide.  

At the end of May the new Discovery Zone at our Science museum opened again and we made sure to check it out during the members only first week.  The boys weren't quite sure what to think about Mr. Bones.

But they loved this maze wall with tons of obstacles for the balls to fall down.

And by the end of the morning Finny was soaked from this water area.

Tate warmed up to Mr. Bones by the end of our visit and even let him have a taste of his head.

Later that week when Mal and Glenn were off of work we went back again to show them the cool new place to play.  Glenn and Mal had fun figuring out how to use all the piping pieces to make a very unique water feature.

We loved having Mallo here this summer.  She was so wonderful to be around every single day.  I wish she could stay with us always.