Wet and Wild Week

It has been particularly wet this week. Everything has been getting plenty of rain. Thursday was the kid's field day. Appropriately it was called a wet and wild day.

The primary kids had quite a few activities available to them. Susie and I were able attend and participate with the boys. 

Braxton, Tavin,  and I had fun throwing around a frisbee.

Tavin is trying to catch the bubbles on his nose.

It was fun to see Braxton on the playground equipment. He has developed so much this year.

Braxton loves water slides. He went on this one over and over.

Tavin didn't appreciate the water slide quite as much. After he jumped out he tore his shirt off and complained that it was wet.

I think Susie enjoyed hosing down the boys a little more than the boys enjoyed being hosed off.

Tavin is decorating a marshmallow with food coloring pens. Susie and I recently discovered this craft. Braxton and Tavin like to help!

This water balloon launcher turned out to be the surprise hit of the day.

On Friday, Tavin went with me to the University to look at the mascots. There is a large fountain in front of the Science building. Since there was going to be plenty of time to drip dry, I gave the go ahead to jump in.

One of the untalked about aspect of parenthood is the hundred of dollars in damage that they cause, but we love them anyway.

It's been a busy week

So it has been quite an eventful week. I finished my last final. I can now say that I have successfully completed my first year of graduate school. I'll spend the summer studying for the qualifying exam in September and figuring out what type of research I want to start doing. The weather has been consistently hot, and we are very grateful for the air conditioner.

These pictures were taken Monday at the play structure at our apartment complex. Both boys still require a little help with the monkey bars, but Braxton is nearly able to do it by himself.

Tavin had great fun with the slide. He would go down, then race around in order to do it again. I know that both he and Braxton thought that Susie was pretty cool to slide down with them.

I was convinced to try the slide as well. I didn't fit well.

Tavin turned 4 on Tuesday. We took this picture in the morning before he left for school. He really enjoys school and having him able to attend with Braxton has been an incredible blessing for us. We have decided that he won't be returning to Pre-K in the fall. I think that he is excited to spend some extra time with Mom before he starts Kindergarten the next year.

Grandma and Grandpa Gerrard sent Tavin an embroidered apron and chef's hat for his birthday. One of his favorite shows is Iron Chef, and he is always eager to help.

Friday night Braxton, Tavin, and I attended a Father's and Sons' campout with the Waco stake. The boys were excited to be able to go camping. They enjoyed playing with the other boys. It was incredibly hot and humid. I sweat through all of the clothes that I packed.

Fortunately, both of the boys understood to keep the door to the tent zipped closed. They didn't want to let the bugs in either. When Braxton discovered the scorpion on the tent wall, he came running to tell me about the "sting ray" that he had found. I think that I have been able to identify these two little critters. The Scorpion is a Striped Bark Scorpion. It's sting is painful, but not particularly dangerous to humans. The spider is a type of wolf spider. There were 4 or 5 that jumped all over the tent while were there.

Sunday was Brad's Birthday. In order to celebrate we cooked and decorated a cake the night before.

The next morning we used the leftover frosting to decorate our pancakes.

Sunday night we had the missionaries over for dinner. It was incredibly delicious and fresh.

Tavin loves every opportunity we give him to "drive" the car.