One Decade Old

Happy Birthday to my Dallin!  Dallin had his birthday at the end of May and I simply can't believe that my sweet Dallin is growing up.  Dallin is thoughtful, emotional, loving, full of energy, a risk taker, daring, outdoorsman, comedian, and active.  He is so good with little kids.  My neighbor commented that one day he was walking to his friend's home and he stopped to say hello to her and her 3 and 4 year old.  He called each one by name, gave them five, and then went on his way.  My neighbor said he was so polite to her and her kids thought it was so fun of him to stop.  It is these little things that he does that make a big difference to all.  Though he can be wild, he will take the time to say hello, make sure someone is OK, or give a hug.  He is tough and rugid when it comes to play, but he is also sincere and caring to others.  I love this about him.  Dallin has had to adjust to some big things this year, but he has taken it all and made some very positive relationships.  This year he has gone from a non-reader, to loving books.  He has grown several inches.  And as always completely surprises me when it comes to how much pizza he can consume in one sitting.:-) 

Take me out to the ball game

At the kid's school the sports and activities are included in the tuition. The activities work a little differently here in Chile, it is mostly through schools or very expensive clubs, so this service that the school offers is amazing! Each semester the kids get to choose a couple of activites to participate in. Drew did soccer two days a week and then games and sports one day a week. Dallin did three activities - Little League, basketball, and computer club. Mason did swim team three days a week. So the nice thing is that it is all right after school. So the younger kids would finish at 4pm and Mason at 5pm. And then nothing, no nights, and only two Saturdays the whole semester. It was really nice. They participated and the week days were still a bit crazy, but the weekends were ours. Dallin had one national tournament and Mason had one swim meet (the pool just got finished last November so this year was more club and next year they start more competition). So here are the pictures of the baseball tournament from May 19th and Mason's meet which was June 16th.

 Their team placed third, however there was a tie for one of the games and the way they break the tie is to flip a coin...huh?  Not sure about that rule.  Anyways they won three games, and tied one.  Good job my Dallin! 

Mason is in the middle lane, I have determined that taking pictures during swim races does not come easy.  Go Mason!  Since we have moved here, thanks to a wonderful swim teacher in the summer and a semester of swim club, Mason has moved from barely knowing his strokes, to a very strong swimmer.  Some days they would swim one km in the pool.  That is 40 laps in a 25m pool!

My little men

Mother's day was a very nice day and my husband and children spoiled me. I love those little men that have made me a mom. I also got to spend a morning with Easton at preschool for a special Mother's Day presentation. 

 For some reason this preschool loves facepaint, which Easton does not appreciate.  They painted the kids faces, but Easton spent a good deal of time trying to get rid of it.  Luckily he got distracted. 

 His cute teachers.

 Dallin made me a "cootie cather."  Do you remember those?  It was so sweet, it had such sweet words written in it for all the numbers I chose.  He comes up with such great ideas.

So you can't see this very well, but it is what Drew made me.  It is this plaster tree to hang jewelery on.  It is so cute, and yet I can't help but want to laugh every time I use it.

Up, Up, Up, and Away

The first Saturday in May (yes, I am a tad behind) we headed up the more than 50 switchbacks to make our way to some of the ski resorts. It had been cold with lots of snow the weekend before, however it was warm and beautiful for our little adventure. We had a couple of stops along the way to enjoy the amazing views and the wildlife. A few weeks before this trip Mark had taken some coworkers visiting from the States up to the resorts and stumbled upon a little area near condor nests. By chance they stopped at a place where professional photographers sit quietly for hours upon hours to get amazing photos of the condors. So we stopped there and were definitely not disappointed. Our camera stinks for this sort of thing, so we didn't get any decent photos, but we saw them up close. It was truly awe inspiring. Mark and I love the mountains and are proud to say we have brought our kids up to love them as well.

 The only picture I got was as it was flying away.  And I am not even sure if this is one of the condors or hawks that we saw because we saw many of both.

 Our little snowman...if we had had gloves it would have been bigger, but our hands were freezing by this point.  Despite the fact that the rest of us was very warm.

 Love those mountains!

 One thing that is weird to me is how these resorts have no trees...