Arizona-May (Second Half)

I've got a great Mother In Law! She is so fun to kid with. She and Justin, her only son in law are always "one upping" the other with pranks on each other.

One night, Marisa came to me and let me know that Justin had just called and was on his way over to hose Barbara down. We just needed to get her outside. David and Marisa led her outside and Justin had the hose ready as she walked out onto the grass.

And here's a photo after the soak down.

Another time the hose was involved, the kids were out playing with water as well. Justin gave Barbara the hose and swore that the only water he would use was a small yellow bucket full. She knew that something wasn't right about it and it took a good 15 minutes to get her outside, but it sure made for a good show. I love how playful she is and good natured. It makes family gatherings so much more enjoyable.
We love you Mom!

  

 You can see Brighton running away on this one on the left there. He was being a little sneaky so Grandma took the hose to him and I think Justin was sneaking up behind. Even after she got a can of flour poured on her.

 A second dose of flour.

 Yuck! But what a good sport. 

And another angle of it all by Duane.

The cousins at the Ellsworth's had a lot of fun playing outside every day. Here's a song they put together.

I snapped this cute picture of Grandma and William on my phone one time she was helping me out by holding him.

Headed to the Phoenix Zoo! 

 Don't let their facial expressions fool you. They are excited.

 Even this little guy.

 And this one.

   

  The boys loved going in the monkey cage and seeing them up close. Duane almost got his finger bit off by the zoo worker though (not the monkey) because he reached too close to the monkey.

 I loved that Tristen got his map out to see where we were and where we should be going.

 We got to see the peacock walk by while we took a break at the elephants.

After the zoo we drove out to Glendale to see Josh Heaton's house. It was a long drive home from there. Duane, Kalvin, Tristen, and William all slept.

Kalvin calls this the Wii song. I guess he first heard it on his friends wii.

So, the day before Tristen's Birthday, Duane and I took him to Food City to get a pinata. We left Kalvin at Grandma and Grandpa's with Stratton to play with. They took over the game that Duane and David were playing.

RENEGADE!

 I think Tristen liked going out with Mom and Dad on his own or maybe it was just that he got to pick out his pinata. He insisted on carrying it the whole way to the register and then all the way to the car. 

The next day was a big one. We first went to Duane's parents ward for sacrament meeting and then headed to my parent house to set up for Tristen's birthday party/William's Baby Blessing.

 My mom had promised Tristen that she would help him make his birthday cake and the two of them went to the store together earlier in the week to pick out his gift and the cake he wanted. Ironically enough, for such a tough all-boy kind of kid, the scooter he wanted was pink (though my mom gently talked him into getting the blue one) and then the cake he wanted was pink as well. I'm pretty sure it's his favorite color. He's not a huge fan of crafts or coloring, but most times when I'll ask which color he'd like, he usually picks the pink one.

Tristen had a good time making the cake with Grandma. Thanks Grandma for making him feel special and spending that time with him!

We just love Tristen! One thing that stands out to me is that he has such a great sense of humor. He is very mischievous, and I really believe it's because he thinks those things he does is funny. I'll ask him after he splashes a handful of water in William's face and made him cry, why he did it and his reply is, "it's funny". 

Tristen is very independent. I may have pushed this a little as well when I tell him that he has 3 seconds to do whatever it is I want him to do or I am going to help him to do whatever that is I want him to do. Rarely do I do anything for him because he wants to do it on his own (perhaps because I make him feel like if I do it for him or with him that it's a punishment). Having him be independent is really great at times and especially since he turned 3 we've been talking about how he's such a big boy now and that big boys act a certain way, "Oh, Tristen, you're a big boy now and big boys buckle their own seat belts". It takes a good 60 seconds, but Tristen buckles his own seat belt and if I move the car one centimeter before he's finished he'll scream at me, literally to move the car back to where it was until he's finished.

Tristen has a great smile! His smile makes everything better and often I can't get too upset with him after he's done something naughty, if he gives me one of his cute cheesy smiles.

As mentioned before, Tristen LOVES playing in the mud and dirt and if I let him stay in it too long, he'll end up with it in his mouth which I believe is why he ended up with high lead levels when he was a year old. 

Tristen has a great time doing what Kalvin does. We are glad that Kalvin is a great example (a lot of the time) to Tristen. In this regard I'm sad for Tristen to lose Kalvin during the day when Kalvin starts full day Kindergarten in September. We'll have to set up lots of playdates for Tristen in those first few days.

At almost 5 months old, we were finally able to do a baby blessing for William. We had it at my mom's house and mine and Duane's siblings were there except Larry and Karri and their family who were in Pennsylvania again after a one week visit and Ruth who was in California with friends.
The baby blessing was a little rocky at first with trying to remember what we named this little Tristen look-alike, but after that he was given a great blessing.
I'm so glad to have a husband who is a worthy Priesthood holder and can bless our family with it when needed.

 Here are all those who participated in the blessing and Kurtis and Tristen.

  Next we sang Happy Birthday to Tristen.

 I let him pick out exactly what he wanted and scooped it right out of the middle of the cake.

Yeah, I should have put a shirt on Tristen and maybe buttoned his pants... 

 After only a few kids, the pinata broke so Uncle Dean and Daddy and Grandpa Mickelson taped him up good. 

 Dale shut himself in the screen door and was calling for help. This is something we did for fun a lot growing up.

 After all the kids had a turn in hitting the pinata, Duane took a good whack.

 Sweet Willy, being patient with a busy mom running around to capture the moment while Uncle Kevin held him. 

 Tristen was able to get a scooter just like his cousin, Maycee for his Birthday! Yay!

 He'd been asking for this helicopter for months so when he saw it, he couldn't have been happier.

 Duane had pre charged it, so it was ready to go and right away he started flying it all around my parent house.

  

  He was good to let cousin's try it out as well.

  And I let Maylie try taking some pictures as well.

  

I think Kalvin saw his Uncle (little) David do this and then he was hooked and had to try it himself.

Grandpa Dean is known for writing on the kids feet. He'll write his own name. William didn't seem to mind too much.

 Babies love mirrors don't they?

Uncle David and Uncle Don bought jetski's together so while we were there we talked David into letting us come with he and his family to the lake. We had a great time! Each of us adults got a try at tubing behind the jetski.

The life jacket left this print on Kalvin's back for a few days.

Sometimes I feel the kids were so wound up at the end of the day and we were too lazy to sit and read to them for one reason or another so we'd put on a show for them in Grandma and Grandpa's room.

For Tristen's birthday, Aunt Ruth gave him a box of squishy Baff. It was kinda cool and I'm really glad we did it outside in the pool. I really think it was the same stuff as diaper innards. Kinda weird, but the kids had fun playing in it :-)

 Phew! May was a great month for our family!