May 2025

June 1, 2025

We've had a fun full week of summer. We kicked it off on Memorial day with a quick trip down to Goblin Valley where we camped. The kids enjoyed walking around there and made some friends at a nearby campsite which was really cute. Hinckley had another swim meet and made some new PRs. Greyson had some baseball games and is loving his Lehi rec center sport camp he's been doing this week. He and Addie are both enjoying swim lessons as well. Desmond continues to flirt with walking but always wants two firm hands to guide him around. He recently has really enjoyed throwing and rolling balls around and gets a big thrill. He also really loves when we get the air fryer out for some reason. We took him and the rest of the kids to the splash pad and he had so much fun! 

I'm on a work trip in Austria this week and am looking forward to visiting M&D for a couple of nights at the end of the week in Hannover. 

Cousin walking time

Memorial day in Provo

Goblins

Fire maker

Posing goblins

All the goblins

Making banana bread with Mom

Splash pad fun

Walking with Hinckley

Campsite imagine zone

May 25, 2025

We had a great weekend with family and cousins! On Saturday we met the Tiecherts and Kays at the Thanksgiving Point dino museum and then returned back to our place for extended playing time. Earlier today we enjoyed Millie's great talk and musical number and the incredible feast put on by Trent and Natalee afterwards, followed by more play time and a visit to Grandma and Grandpa Halvorsen's gravesite. School is officially over and everyone is happy about it, though admittedly afraid of the pending boredom. Hinckley graduated 6th grade and went to a pool party with loads of other 6th graders and got very sunburnt. He and Kassie then went on a fun date to a live recording of Studio C in Provo. 

6th grade grad

Desmond explores Hinckley's eyelashes

Studio C

I watched Mulan with Addie and Greyson. Those two did great in their dance festival and had a lot of fun (with Kassie and Des) at a neighborhood end-of-school party. Addie has been enjoying lots of play time with her friend Brooke where they make believe they are children of their favorite fiction characters (e.g. Wicked, Harry Potter, Hunger Games). She was quite tender when she got home from school on the last day, sharing some tears of bittersweetness to be done with her teacher and class. 

Sandbox boy

Dino museum with cousins

Scary dinos

Playing in the water sand

More scary dinos

Cousin movie time

Greyson had so much fun running around with James and Henry. He is very excited for some sports camps coming up this week. Desmond was very excited to discover the sandbox this week. He got almost as excited as when he in the bath! Kicking his legs and laughing very hard. He also started playing "catch" with a ball, and gets a huge laugh out of throwing the ball around with his siblings. 

May 18, 2025

This week was stacked with a variety of things. I went to a disc golf activity with the Elders Quorum, and Kassie went to a Pickleball activity with the Relief Society. Hinckley had a swim meet in Bountiful and we stayed the night with some friends there to save the driving up and back (the meet was Friday night and Saturday morning) so that was really fun. 

Swimmer ready for Little Cheesers

Cool kids

Katniss Addie

Hinckley doing the cool dance with 6th grade

Hinckley also participated in his final end-of-year dance festival dance and did an at-home violin recital since the actual recital was rescheduled for a time we couldn't make it. Addie is both excited and sad about the end of school, and dreads "spending time with my brothers all summer". She made her own quiver and arrows from paper, tape, and sticks she found at the park. She is very interested in the Hunger Games and Katniss Everdeen. 

End of another season

Greyson performs for his friends and brother

Ready for baseball with the Cheetahs (or "Cheetos")

Walking man

Greyson had is final soccer practice and game, and ... with great excitement and glory began his first baseball season (coach pitch). In his typical fashion he is completely consumed with it and was overjoyed when he got a "cap" as a part of his uniform. Desmond continues to flirt with walking and figure out how to express himself and make his opinions known. He loves to move to music and good food. Sometimes, when he is truly delighted, he will tip his head back and clothes his eyes with his mouth open making happy sounds. Ready or not, we are entering the last week of school! 

May 11, 2025

This week we completed another phase of work on our new room upstairs by adding some couches from Facebook Marketplace and a giant TV and soundboard, wahoo! That room is quickly becoming a favorite for all of us. 

Hinckley on the program

Brother walking

TV view

Couch view

Hinckley gave his first Sacrament meeting talk today in church and did a great job. He talked about joy coming from a focus on Jesus Christ. Adelaide had her 4th grade Utah performance where she sang some songs and such ("Utah, people working together, Utah...what a great place to be!"). She also has been complaining about her teeth hurting and we took her to the dentist who promptly pulled 5 teeth out! That was a surprise to all of us. She and I had a fun date to Fat Cats arcade, my favorite activity was where we shot these water spray guns at digital dinosaurs which would freeze and break apart when you got them. I enjoyed hearing her reflections on her 4th grade year as we ate some Brooker's ice cream afterwards (she got "Patrick Henry's Give Me Chocolate or Give Me Death"). 

Behind home plate

At the game

Ready to ride at Fat Cats arcade

Figuring out the new phone

Greyson dressed up as a baseball player for the school theme day of "dress for your future profession", and he work that same outfit on our date to see a UVU baseball game in Orem. It turns out the tickets are only 7 bucks and there were tons of open seats...so we sat on the front row right behind home plate. It was really awesome! We both had a great time. 

Desmond figured out how to go down stairs this week and can do so an an alarming rate. I keep thinking he'll get his foot stuck under him as he essentially slides down the stairs and do a backflip. I hope that remains a bad thought in my head and never reality. 

Homemade poster for Mom

Reading guys

We had a good mother's day here celebrating Kassie, and later having the Burnsides and Kays over for dinner and fun this evening. Everyone is ready for school to end and can hardly wait the 2 remaining weeks we have left! 

May 4, 2025

This week Hinckley had his first YM campout with the Deacons at a local campground. By all accounts it sounds like the typical fare of fire, knives, and other antics. He seemed to really enjoy it despite forgetting his pillow and getting very little sleep. He's loving swimming and relishes the "hard days" and took initiative to talk to his coach about how he can improve. Adelaide is nearly done with her end-of-school tests and is very excited for the summer time. She recently moved her white board closer to her bed so she can write out the day's itinerary for the following day, including a weather report and outfit plan haha . She loves to organize things in her room just so and has a keen desire to spread order over chaos. Greyson enjoys getting outside every minute he can and is bursting with constant energy. He's getting excited about starting baseball soon and is constantly wanting someone to play with him. Desmond wants someone to hold his hands so he can walk around on his pound-cake feet. He has begun to see the power of his voice to get our attention. He's become quite persuasive. 

Reading boy

Cuddling with Dad's feet

We are entering phase 2 of our upstairs room project and this week we found some couches on Facebook Marketplace that we got for the space, and also ordered a giant TV and soundbar which will be installed this coming week. We are all excited about it. John (Kassie's dad) helped me build a new deck out of Trex for our back porch and it looks really good! The old one was likely the original and was warping and getting dangerous. 

New couch

New back deck