Cry Wolf!

Dallen has been working hard all year to earn his cub scout wolf badge. Well, actually not all year. He started out with a bang, going gang busters. Then slowed down for a while, and came on strong at the very, very end. He actually earned 3 arrow points too. On to Bears.

Dallen's 9th B-day

We were supposed to go camping for Dallen's birthday, and Memorial Day weekend, but the weather wasn't good so instead we went to see my parents. Dallen decided it would be more fun to go over there instead of them come here because he would be able to spend his special day with many more relatives. My mom made his favorite breakfast, cherry crepes. Later, we had a party and lots of relatives came, Dallen's grandparents, Uncles- John, Malachi, Isaac, and Caleb, and his Aunt Talitha. We also got to see Aunt Lane and Uncle Nathanael on other days. The weather was good there. Dallen had a baseball and bat cupcake cake. He got many great presents too, i.e. Heely's, a new CD player, crazy hats, a pocket knife, a bowling game, candy, a money counter, a cool bag to carry his scriptures, and some water toys. He was in Heaven. Don't you love how lots of the wrapping paper looks very similar to shopping bags. That's how we roll.
I think the thing he enjoyed most about the whole weekend was going to the YMCA with his Grandpa Swift, he really loves the "Y" and especially spending time with Grandpa.
Aunt Talitha, the fun Aunt, bought all of the kids these giant Sugar Daddy's. Fun!! (for the kids, not the parents)
This was my dad's idea of consequences. Dallen had some work to do, and this was my dad's idea of work for him. You would think after 8 children he would know this is just fun for boys.

James and I take a trip

James and I went on a trip. On Friday we flew out of Spokane (James' 1st time on an airplane), and met up with my parents and my sister Talitha in Denver. They we all flew together to St Louis. We rented a car, which was a huge fiasco. They tried to put all of us in the smallest car, even though we rented a medium car. From there we drove about 100 miles to Rolla, Mo.







On the way we stopped at Meramec Cavern, an incredible cave, it was huge! Here is a link to their web sight, if you want to know more http://www.americascave.com/. They next evening my dad received his PHD from Missouri S&T. It was neat to share that special experience with him. My Grandma and Grandpa Swift , and Uncle Mark, Aunt Angela and my cousin Kristen came too.
On Saturday we drove about 360 miles to my brother Joshua and his families house in Stillwater, Ok. they are living there while he is getting his PhD in Psycology. En route we stopped in a couple of small cities in Missouri. The first was Cabool, Mo. where my Great Great Grandparents on my dad's side were buried. We made some gravestone rubbings, it was a neat experience.
The second place was Mountain Home, Mo. This is where my Grandpa spent most of his years growing up. We went to his old home and also to a memorial park. It had big slabs of stone with the names of the graduates from each year. My grandpa had moved his Junior year so his name wasn't there, but is was neat for him to see the names of all his buddies on the stones.







Then on to Tulsa, Ok where we stopped and my Uncle Mark and Aunt Angela's. They are building a beautiful new home, which we toured. I hope I get to see it when it's done. Then finally we made it to Stillwater. It was wonderful to see Joshua's family. They have a new baby Ethan, who was only a week old. Ooh, so tiny!. The weather was warm, something we hadn't had in Spokane in a while. We went for walks, toured the college, played games, went to church, and went out to eat at Eskimo Joes. It is a famous place in Stillwater. They have a gift shop where they sell the 2nd most souvenir shirts after the Hard Rock cafe. It was nice to see everyone and their homes. On Tuesday we were on our way home again.

It's Baseball Time Again!

Dallen and Evan are playing baseball for the second year. Last year, it pretty much consumed our life for a couple of months. This year should be better. I was able to move Evan out of T-ball and up to Dallen's team. You are supposed to be 7 & 8 to play coach pitch, but I guess they can make and exception if a boy played T-ball the year before. The boys weren't too sure about being on the same team at first, but now they enjoy it. And Jim and I are so happy to only spend 2 nights a week at 2 hour games, instead of 4 nights. When Ashton saw I picked up the uniforms for his brothers, he was very excited and wanted to know where his "umifoam" was. He loves baseball. I dug out Evan's last years uniform and put it on him. He loves it! Every day he asks me if it is baseball day, if I say yes, then he immediately runs to put on his "umifoam". It doesn't matter if it is 4 hours before baseball starts. He comes to every game in uniform, he thinks he is on the team. He never forgets his bat, ball and glove.

Mother's Tea

Today Evan's class had a Tea for there mothers. It was very nice, Evan was such a gentleman getting me punch and cookies. They shared some of there work and sang us songs. It was a special time for the two of us. Most of the kids dressed up, but Evan said they didn't HAVE too, they just could if they wanted. I guess he didn't want to.