May Moments

Another fun and busy month in the books for 2026. May was filled with sunshine, riding bikes, young women's activities, exploring, and family time. I always love going through my phone at the end of the month and seeing all the fun things we did. We truly are so blessed and I'm incredibly grateful for the life that I get to live.

Paige likes to take her sisters to the park and on this particular day, there were kittens for sale right by the playground. The girls were in kitty heaven, and we got multiple texts begging for us to buy one.

We started the month off with 80 degree weather and so one afternoon, we went and walked around Soos Creek Botanical Gardens.

McCall kept entertained by taking photos, mostly of flowers but there were a few pictures of feet and her cute shadow in there.

Then the next day we went to Tacoma waterfront for the evening to have some family beach time. Paige and McCall spent the time exploring the beach, looking for shells and rocks. Baylor was happy (most of the time) to sit by me with her binoculars and she did find some of her own treasures.

I love these three so much! I love being at the beach! What a perfect day!

Our little world!

Mother's Day I woke up to the sweetest surprise. Paige had printed off lots of pictures from young to now and had put them on balloons and on the walls all down the hallway. It was the sweetest thing to wake up to! We had brisket along with other breakfast foods for our ward celebration of women and then the rest of the day was pretty relaxing, and I was spoiled with some fun gifts. I found Baylor napping on the chairs at one point in the day. I couldn't believe that she fell asleep that way. 

I went to a fun paint night for a ward Relief Society activity.

If there is a hot day during the week, I text Celina and we go on an outdoor adventure. Our first one for this month was going to Flaming Geyser State Park. The kids had so much fun in the river and playing in the dirt. No swimsuits but that didn't stop them from getting wet and dirty!

We had a fun young women activity where one of my young women showed her dogs. She does dog 4H and she brought plenty of dogs for the girls to try out the agility courses. They also brought the cutest baby kittens that the young women loved.

Paige went ice skating with friends for a birthday party and had a blast.

Baylor has picked up the skill of long boarding and loves cruising down our neighborhood.

Baylor also got an award at school and McCall and I got to surprise her and be there for the assembly.

McCall and I took a nice walk at the park, and it was truly just the sweetest little walk. I felt such at peace and grateful for my life. We were just talking and walking and then she runs up the hill while I was trying to get a picture. She was ahead of me and by the time I walked over the hill, she had just sat down and was staring at the lake. We just sat there for a good 5 minutes taking it all in and talking about what we saw. She played on the playground for a bit and then on the way home we had a "snowball" fight with the cotton that is everywhere.

Another fun adventure with Celina and her kids at Lake Wilderness. This time the kids all had swimming suits. :)

We did such a fun young women and valiant day girls activity. They did an amazing race that Paige and Lizzy came up with. They did an amazing job at planning it and there were so many fun details. It was a fun night!

I know I have already posted about Memorial Day but here are a few more pictures from our phones- One of my favorite traditions!

This past Friday we got to go to a Mariner's game with the youth for our combined activity. The two younger girls stayed home with Nona and Pops. The weather was a bit chilly, but they had the roof closed and the game was amazing. We won in an extra inning and there were quite a few home runs. It was so much fun and Paige even got some ice cream nachos. She had so much fun with the other young women and I got to enjoy the game with Nate. It was also a fireworks night! This has been on my bucket list for a long time, and it did not disappoint. It was AMAZING! It was 90s night so all the music was from that era, and I had this moment of like I can't believe that I get to experience this. It was so cool!

Then, Saturday we got invited with Celina and Brandon and their family to go to the horse races at Emeral Downs. They had extra tickets and they were kind enough to think of us. It was a fun experience! We would all pick a horse that we wanted to win and cheer them on. It was a teacher's appreciation day, so we even got to watch Brandon do a race. The girls loved going down to see the horses warm up and it was a fun little outing.

What an amazing month!

Memorial Day

We had a wonderful four day weekend for Memorial Day. We had beautiful weather and we loved enjoying the great outdoors and time together as a family.

Friday, we went to Dash Point State Park in the late afternoon for low tide. We set up our spot and then we all wandered down to the water. The girls loved playing in the water, finding treasures, and just enjoying the beach.

We found some sea slugs which was a first for us. We weren't sure what they were so Nate had to look them up.

Paige kept busy finding baby sand dollars and sea shells.

Baylor and McCall loved finding the small jellyfish that you can pick up.

Time at the beach is always worth it, and it is our family's happy place.

Then I got to try out my Mother's Day gift for the first time for our dinner. I brought all the toppings for nachos and a big bag of tortilla chips. We were starting to head back to our stuff, and the girls found a crow that broke up the bag of chips and was having quite the snack. Good thing we went back when we did or there would have been no chips left for our dinner. It was the perfect dinner on the beach!

Then it was sand time. We brought lots of shovels and sand toys. Nate kept the older two girls entertained with a game he made up with burying a shovel and trying to find it. It is one of my favorite things about Nate when we go on our outdoor adventures. He always comes up with these super simple fun games that always keeps us all entertained. McCall was quite content playing in the sand.

It was a beautiful way to start off our long weekend!

Saturday, we got lots of yard work done and then Adama and Chelsea and their family joined us for a fun evening of kayaking/paddleboarding, a BBQ, baseball in the road, and smores for dessert. It was the first day of breaking the paddleboard out this year and we loved our time at the lake. It was fun to catch up with them, and I loved enjoying our yard and time with friends.

Sunday was our annual trip to Tahoma National Cemetery and this year Nona and Lily joined us. Our first stop is always to go and visit Uncle Al.

Then we had a handful of pennies for the girls to go and visit whichever grave they wanted and just walk around and feel the peace that is there. It also fills me with gratitude for all those that served for the freedom of our country.

It was cool to see a few graves with other coins besides pennies. A penny represents you visited their grave, a nickel represents the visitor and the deceased served together at boot camp, a dime represents the visitor served in the military with the deceased, and a quarter represents the visitor was with the deceased when they died. Nate also pulled up a website that had what all the religious symbols on headstones meant so it was cool to walk around and see what each of them meant.

Then we always visit Brother Carlson. He had quite a collection of pennies on his headstone.

To those who gave everything so I could have everything, thank you. You will never be forgotten in my home or my heart.

Letters K-N

 This week was a short but fun week for preschool. Baylor and Paige didn't have school on Friday so we didn't do preschool that day either.

Monday was the Letter K for Key. First, she cut up pieces of tin foil to glue onto a key.

Then McCall did a fun key matching game. There was a lock with a picture of a shape on it and a key with the matching shape. She did it very quick and is great at knowing her shapes.

Tuesday was the letter L for Lawnmower. She first painted grass on a paper using a plastic fork. Then she colored a picture of a lawnmower that I had printed off. I asked if she wanted me to cut it out or her and she said she wanted to. So, she cut the lawnmower out all by herself which was impressive.

Her finished product!

Then we went out to the shed to look at our lawnmower. We talked about the different parts: the handle, the wheels, the motor, the blade, and the bagger for the grass.

Wednesday was the letter M for Mail. We had lots of fun with this one! First, she made all sorts of card. She made some for Nona, Pops, Lily, Dad, Baylor, and Paige. She wrote on all the cards and put stickers of them. Then I showed her how to lick the envelope, and she wanted to do it for all of them. Then she used a sticker for the stamp and she put them in our little mailbox decoration.

Then I put colorful envelopes all over the house and she had to be the mail lady to go and pick up everyone's mail.

Then she had to sort the mail by color. Later, we walked over to the park so we put the mail that she made for family in the actual mailboxes outside so that they would have a fun surprise when they checked their mail.

Thursday was the letter N for Nails. I traced her hands and then I drew some nails on, and she drew the words nails and painted the nails with a paintbrush.

Of course, she wanted blue and red, her two favorite colors. (Blue because Chase is blue and red because Marshall is red- her two favorite Paw Patrol.)

Next week will be another four day week with it being Memorial Day but we are getting towards the end of this fun letter themed preschool for the school year.