May 2026

May 31, 2026

This week was the first week of summer and we were scattered. I was in Boston for most of the week for work, Addie was in Colorado Springs with the Burnsides, and Kas and the boys were home in Lehi. We had our first week with a Nanny (who is also named "Addie") who Desi loves and refers to has "Nanny!!" Hinckley took some bike rides and started the outdoor swim practice early morning sessions. Greyson played with friends and went to a sport camp with Lehi City. 

The boys at a poppy field

Addie archery with Grandma and Grandad

Dad/Hinckley shooting date

First cookie walk of the season

Addie had a blast with her grandparents. She did archery, went to the mall, made and ate tasty food, played the piano a bit, and more. She was very excited about it all but also happy to come home. 

We had our first neighborhood cookie walk of the summer which was successful. I'm now off to Chicago for another work trip. 

May 24, 2026

This was the last week of school for our kids and we're now officially in to summer. Addie and Greyson did a good job in their dance festival at the elementary school, and Hinckley enjoyed roaming around the streets of Lehi, eventually ending up at McDonald's and Macy's with a pack of middle schoolers. He decided in the 11th hour to reattempt trying out for the advanced orchestra and got accepted, so looks like he's going to continue on. Addie finished up voice lessons, and now says she's willing to try piano. Fingers crossed that that will be more positive than the last few extracurricular attempts. Greyson is also going to try out piano with a boy teenager teacher this summer.

Greyson 2nd grade dance

Addie 5th grade dance

Dad/Greyson Mountain Biking date

Dino baby in Vernal

Dino museum in Vernal

Quarry in Dino Nat Monument

Dino kids

S'mores baby

 

For the holiday weekend, we're in Vernal with Kassie's parents visiting dinosaur national monument. Desmond is on cloud 9 with all the dinosaur talk and statues around the town. He's constantly pointing and saying "Roar!"

May 18, 2026

This week we all enjoyed Hinckley’s final orchestra concert of the year. He did really well and we all enjoyed it. Desi enjoyed running round with Grandpa following behind. Addie helped me finish off planting the ground cover for our front island, and we got a new shed installed and I painted the trim. I’m excited to clear out more stuff from the garage and get a little exercise space in there! Greyson had a fun birthday party for a friend at the skatepark. I took him again on Saturday along with Desi who enjoyed chasing a leaf while GG did tricks. He is enjoying baseball machine pitch and I’m learning how to coach. Kassie and I had a fun date playing pickleball with another couple in our ward and getting dinner after - then we met another couple later that evening in the Rec center hot tub. We were proud of our social efforts. I enjoyed lunch with Mom at a Mexican restaurant in Orem, and we enjoyed time with them and the Kay kids on Saturday at the Bean/Creamery.

Video game boys

Baseball boy with Nana/Grandpa

Boy and coach

Blub Blub with Sadie and Addie

Elephant in the room with Jack 

Desi watching Hinckley game

Final orchestra concert

May 10, 2026

This week Desi began in earnest to reference himself as "baby". He often will beat his chest and yell "Baby!" and then begin rattling off the names of everyone else in the family (though he still can't figure out how to refer to Hinckley). He is often referencing his dinos as either babies or daddies/mommies. He just loves following Greyson and his friends around, Addie too. At Greyson's first machine pitch baseball game (and my first time coaching baseball) Desi insisted on having a hat on - mine in this case - and wanted to sit in the dug out with the other kids. He was pretty disappointed he couldn't go on the diamond as well. 

Greyson enjoyed his first practice and then game and has a bunch of friends on the team. He continues to burst with energy and we are struggling to find productive ways to channel it without imploding ourselves. I got to go see his Great White Shark diorama and report at school this week. He did a lot of great writing and drawing for it, and even created the diorama on his own when we were gone in France. 

Great white shark and Greyson

Addie and Brooke, for an updated weeding flier

Desi in a box

Looking at the Marmot 

Addie is excited for school to end though she's enjoying the dance festival preparation. She said her teacher wanted her to demonstrate for the whole class how to do the dance. I thought of my own 5th grade dance festival - the high point of dance in my life. She's excited about applying to 6th grade student government for next year and is looking forward to the interview this week. She helped me plant ground cover on our front island in my likely hopeless quest to conquer the morning glory once and for all. It was delightful to plant with her and hear her chatter about a variety of things. She had a really fun time with Sadie and Kate at Abi's place Friday night, those girls seem to get along so well. 

Hinckley had another swim meet this weekend and felt ok about it. He's trying to get a state qualifying time for the 13-14 year old bracket because he turns 13 one week before the state tournament and all of his current state times will be voided since they are for the 11-12 year old bracket. It's tough! But he might pull it off. He is also trying out for the advanced orchestra at school, but his teacher wants him to try again in the coming week(s). Thanks Rach for your support on this! He's navigating some friendship situations that are hard, and we hope that can be resolved in a positive way. 

Kassie and I went and saw "Hallmarked" at the Hale Center Theater which was pretty fun, it was a birthday present from back in February and we both commented on how we can't believe it's already May and time to go to the show. Things at work for Kassie have really turned up in intensity as she's taken on the responsibilities of a co-worker who recently left and she's trying to determine if it's too much.