Feeding Giraffes!

While in Boise last week I forgot to post a couple of pictures from our adventure at the Boise zoo with a couple of my favorite friends. I had no idea that you could actually FEED a giraffe there so we were SO excited about giving it a try! We brought my nephew Carter along for the fun!

A beautiful day spent with a couple of the most beautiful girls I know......on the inside as well!

As we were leaving the zoo we all commented on how great it was to just get together for a low key morning and enjoy some fun girl time with our kids. I sure do miss so many of my friends in Boise. Thanks Nikki and Cynthia....I ♥ you both!!

I heart surprises!

Last Thursday morning we received a phone call bright and early from my mom. "Nat's water broke! The baby is coming today!" We have been planning on heading over to Boise next week for my brother's graduation so I was happy to know that the baby would be there and we could go meet him next week. I would be okay not being there right after my nephew was born. I wasn't there for Carter's birth because I was too far and YES I have regretted it for all of these years. I was facing the same situation again....I just live too far away now and after all...I had a MILLION things to do on this particular Thursday. I had visiting teaching (I've been a slacker so I was proud that appointments had actually been made), I had a huge ice cream activity for my Activity Day girls planned at MY house, I had 2 baseball practices to be at...................blah blah blah.

Then I woke up. I realized that THESE are the MOMENTS in life that can't be relived. This is a big day and I was GOING TO BE THERE dang it! After ditching everything, packing a few items, making arrangements for Dallin, throwing Landon and Parker in the car, we hit the road!

3 hours.......and many LIES later: (Hey...I didn't want ANYONE to know I was coming! ☺)

We totally surprised my family and walked into the hospital room to meet my newest nephew. My parents, sis and I were a little emotional to say the least! The baby's name is Bryan (after my dad) Robert  Bleazard! What an emotional, spiritual, and priceless day. I'm SO happy that I dropped everything to be there. I will cherish this moment for the rest of my life.

NOT a fan of the first bath! What a sweetheart!

 After we left the hospital we went back to my parents house to SURPRISE my youngest brother. You see, it was HIS 18th birthday on this the SAME day of baby Bryan's birth! I was so happy that we could be there to celebrate his birthday and make him feel important! Landon and Parker rang the doorbell and jumped up and shouted "Happy Birthday J!!" when he answered the door.

We went to his graduation party the next night as well. It was fun to be there to support him and show him we STILL love him even though he opted NOT go attend BYUI next year. We wanted him closer to us but I guess USU isn't too far away ☺

One last surprise was actually given to ME while we were in Boise. I've always ALWAYS wanted to go to a U2 concert. It's one of those things on my bucket list! Well, long story short Nate and I were in the running for a pair of free tickets to go to the concert in Utah next week. We had a 1 in 5 chance of winning. Well, we didn't win.....and I was pretty darn bummed.

My dad asked me later that day if I had won the tickets. I told him no. He said, "Are you sure? I heard that you won." I assured him that I did NOT win. With a wink and a smile and told me that I won and he handed me 2 tickets to the U2 concert.
He bought me tickets for my birthday. YAHOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! My dad is the best. I can't wait to go!!!

What a great couple of days. I'm so lucky to have such an incredible family and I was reminded of that over and over again these past few days. I'm also so grateful for a husband who supports me in all of the random crazy ideas that I have. When I told him I wanted to go to Boise to be there for my sister he said, "You'll do what you want to do...you always do! Don't worry about Dallin, I will make sure he gets where he needs to be....stay as long as you need to."

I'm a lucky girl.

And the swim graduate is......

Most of you were right! The swim graduate was indeed Mr. Landon!!

A little quiz

3 cute boys finished swim lessons today! Only 1 of those boys passed his class and received the nod to move up to the next class. The other 2 boys received a kind, "Need to REDO" the class certificate.

Who do you think passed the class????☺

Randomness

I've been meaning to put a few of these pictures up. So here they be!

First off are some photos from when we went to Hogle Zoo with our cousins last month! It was a cold and rainy day but we made the most of it! We always do!

We hung out with the Radio Disney peeps who were on HYPERACTIVE OVERDRIVE because we came over to play their silly games and take their free bags, posters, puzzles and more.

We love our cousins!

Landon thought he could walk the entire zoo but soon ran out of steam. Luckily we came across some wet, unattended wagons and we helped ourselves to one. Landon quite enjoyed that.

Next we have some pictures from the kite flying day at Dallin's school. Ironically enough there was NO WIND the morning of the kite flying which is pretty much unheard of here in Idaho Falls in the spring. About 10 minutes prior to takeoff time, the wind picked up. We couldn't have asked for better weather to celebrate!

 We have a pretty sweet kite I'd have to say. It looks like 2 big pinwheels and there is no tail! Dallin was very proud to show it off to all of his buddies.

I have really loved the boy's school this year. They have had some incredible teachers and I'm so sad to see the school year end because of it!

Lastly we have some shots from our first S'MORE roasting of the year! As you can see, a GOOEY time was had by all! We gave those HUGE marshmallows a try. None of the boys could finish their s'mores because they were too sweet! (Of course I'm so proud to say that I pulled if off without any issue. ☺)

 Check out this boy's sweet BLING! I'm not sure how to get Dallin to stop wearing this rockin' mardi gras necklace without hurting his feelings. It is so CHEESY yet oh so innocently sweet. He tried to wear it to church last Sunday. What to do.......

And that's all.

Skimming and Biking weekend.

Last night was fun. James invited the boys and I to go skim boarding with his college buddies. Sierra was out of town and so was Nate so we figured we'd go have some fun and enjoy the sunshine.Yeah, Staci the almost 30 year old with 3 kids hanging out with a bunch of college kids.I felt a bit out of place but hey, the boys thought it was pretty much awesome. Especially when everyone would cheer them on when they tried the skim board! We've had some pretty incredible weather the past few days and it felt so strange getting swim suits on, sun block applied and water toys packed. I do recall it was SNOWING here less than a week and a half ago!

We headed up to Egin lakes which are right next to the HUGE St. Anthony sand dunes. The lake is only about 3 feet deep so it was really warm already! It was a perfect Friday night and a great way to get us amped up for summer vacation! Only 2 weeks to go!

 I love this picture....poor little unsuspecting Landon. Parker the sneaky shark coming up behind him!

While we were busy playing in the sand and sun Nate was over in Boise racing in the Idaho Time Trial Festival! He took 2nd place overall for his division (Cat 3) after 4 events in three days! We're SO proud of him. All of his HARD training is paying off and he was pretty excited to say the least!
Here are a couple photos from the race:

Parker's big achievement

We reached a huge milestone yesterday and I would feel so bad if I didn't say a little something about it here on on the old blog.

Parker has been working so hard on his Kindergarten skills book all year long. We've worked on things like learning letters, memorizing words, numbers, shapes, and even our own address and phone number. Parker and I have had to work hard together to master some of these harder concepts but I've loved spending time with him and watching him catch on. ☺

Parker finally PASSED off the entire book yesterday! Just in time since he only has 2 weeks left of school! He received a special pin and a certificate. We celebrated by going over to Pizza Pie Cafe for dinner!! Proud of you buddy!

**side note-I've never SEEN so much food consumed by my kids. I was speechless as I watched them devour plate after plate of food! I am in SO much trouble when these guys are teenagers!