{Great Big Giant Catch-Up}

I just realized that I blogged exactly once June and once in May.... how pathetic is that? Hopefully life has settled down a bit, and I can sort of keep up. As busy and crazy as the last few months have been, they have been good months, really good months. There have been some changes around here, and good things happening, that I hope to blog about soon. As behind as I am, I decided it was a good time for a monster catch-up post. So without further a-do.... May and June (and a bit of April) in a nutshell!

Kaleb tested to advance to a Yellow belt at Karate...... and passed!

His regular teacher Miss Camille was out of town, so Miss Monica tested him. She told me later, it was the first belt advancement she'd done. Because Brock is a belt higher than Kaleb he got to participate in the stomach punch ritual!
Carlie participated in the State Tumbling competition. She placed 4th on her floor routine.

She was pretty un-happy with her one trophy when she saw some of the other kids getting two. She didn't quite understand that they competed in two events and she only did in one!

I finally did get a little smile out of her!

Kaleb earned his Wolf badge at Cub Scouts.

My three cute baseball kiddos!

Kaleb and Carlie are both done for the year, but Brock is still playing. That I can handle, but when we had 4 practices a week and 5-6 games a week, I was a bit base balled out!

Brock- Majors

Kaleb- Minors

Carlie- T Ball

My mom, my sister-in-law Katy and I spent Mothers Day weekend in Salt Lake. We met up with some of my Aunts and Cousins to participate in the Race for a Cure. I always am so touched by the crowds of people and those they participate to support or remember. I've set a goal to RUN next year, not walk. I'm not a runner, but I really want to give it a shot and figure, I should be able to be ready in a year, right?

Kaleb participated in his Elementary School program. This years theme was "We Sing of America". It was weird only having one child participate.

Kaleb's grade danced to "Surfin' USA" and each had to design a surfboard. Kaleb wanted pink flames and luckily he has a talented dad, who sketch out a design, grabbed the paint and went to town painting!

My adorable preschool class had a little graduation program. They each had a little part, and sang a few songs. We had to move it to the church building because of the weather, but it still turned out pretty good.

Aren't they stinkin' CUTE? I really miss them since school is out!

We couldn't come up with a good weekend this summer for our family camp out, so we borrowed my sister in laws family cabin at Duck Creek and had our weekend early.... in the snow :)

The kids (and some of the adults) had fun playing Just Dance on the Wii, and those who didn't dance had fun laughing.

The boys played lots of chess and spent a bit of time outside.

Kaleb ended the school year with a bang..... he broke his arm on the 2nd to last day before summer break!

He made sure the Doctor knew that he wanted a pink cast when he came back to have it set, and pink he got! Silly boy!His pinewood derby car had to have pink on it to match his cast!

Carlie had a bast helping to decide which car won!

Kaleb's car ended up taking second overall!

There you have most of the last few months in a nutshell!

{Don't Give Up on Me, Pretty Please}

It's been busy around here, like crazy busy. Between baseball (still), the end of school, Preschool graduation, broken limbs, Primary, the town park (for Derrick) and the towns insurance policy (me), Girls camp, and a much needed little family vacation.... there just aren't enough hours in the day. I want to blog, I really do. And I have so many things that I want to share (some are SUPER good things, like really, really good). It's on my to do list, but not as close to the top as I want it to be. So I'm begging, don't give up on me. Pretty please? Any day now there will be a list of posts.... soon I hope. In the meantime, all these crazy {MO}ments are creating memories, right?

I just had to add one picture, cause posts MUST have pictures, right? And this was one of my favorites from our little vacation, so I must share it!

{Flashback Friday}

Yea, yea.... I know it's Sunday. Give me a break, Friday was a crazy day, and Saturday was too. Who am I kidding, this time of year is just crazy for us, so let me just pretend it's Friday, okey dokey?
The reason for all the craziness???

BASEBALL!

All three of the kiddos are playin'. Brock-Majors, Kaleb-Minors and Carlie-TBall (and I'm the lucky mom who happens to be co-coaching those cute lil' ones with my sister). Anyhow, that means 5 practices and 5-6 games a week for this family, not to mention all the other regular things like Scouts, Karate, Tumbling and Piano. Ready to jump back to the 80's?

1984 (I think?) Can you find me? Yep, I'm the hat-less girlie!
1985
1986
Don't those Beckstrand girls make fantastic sign holders?
1987- We moved onto girls softball, once again sign holders.

So, with all these years of baseball pictures, you'd assume I had some mad ball skills that passed onto my offspring, right? WRONG! In all honestly I stink at all sports, and really can't figure out why I played that many years of Little League and then played Church ball too? Seriously, I was the kid they stuck in right or left field and then prayed no one hit the ball there? The only kid I see taking after me is Miss Carlie who I'm finding cares more about how she looks in her uniform and gets quite upset when we try to correct her batting stance..... she likes her diva pose, dang it! (need a visual.... scroll down to the {Preschool Craziness} post, add a bat and you've got the T-Ball Diva!)

{Little Miss Tumbler}

Can we say BEHIND?!? Again? I swear I just can't seem to keep up with this blog. The kids have been busy lately and that means this mama's been busy too. I thought about doing one big "Katchup" post, but I felt like some of the things deserved their own post, so I decided to do them all at once.... if you'd like to know what all we've been up too, keep reading after this post!

Last Saturday was spent at a little Tumbling competition in Spanish Fork with Miss Carlie. It was the first one we've taken her to and she'd been counting down and practicing for weeks!

Doesn't she look cute warming up with her fantastic teacher Miss JoAnn? She did a great job on her passes, so great that..... she took FIRST place out of the eight girls in her age group!

and of course she had to strike a pose with that medal!

{Orange.... the Color of the Week}

Last week Brock spent his hour (plus almost another half) at Karate testing for his Orange belt, and I got to stay and watch and see all the progress that he's made.

There were three others testing at the same time, so the process took a bit of time. Each child has to demonstrate each and every skill they've been taught since the beginning and Miss Camille gave each skill a letter grade.

They showed off punches, kick, Kata's and lots of other skills. They also had to answer 3 questions. When do we use Karate? Why do we show respect? And tell us 5 things that show proper manners? Brock also had to have a signed page from his school teacher that said he conducts himself in a proper manner at all times, and a place to comment if there was anything he could work on. When the testing was finished and scored, Miss Camille hits them with the new belt and any higher ranking class members line up to give a punch to the stomach! I think this week orange is my new favorite color. He's been working on this a long time, and I'm proud of him!

On another note, remember that "little" four wheeler accident my little man had a bit ago? Well, part of the deal was HE had to fix my bike, and pay for all the parts. Brock asked Grandpa Dearden, who just happens to own the Polaris dealership in town, for a job so he could earn the money for the parts. They hooked him up with a pretty fancy Polaris work shirt and he grabbed his tools and headed to work. How cute is he? After working each day, Derrick put him back to work tearing down my bike. He showed him what tools he needed, and told him what bolts to take out and left him to work. I'm happy to say he finished the job right in time for the weather to be about perfect for some riding! (and hopefully he learned a good lesson int he process).

{Preschool Craziness}

A day of craziness at Polka Dot Preschool.... well, crazy hair that is!

Carlie decided to go for little messy buns all over her cute little head!

(Check out that pose people! Do you think I may by any chance have a little DIVA on my hands?)Tylie opted for many tiny ponies! and I went for the flower garden look!

Fabulous, right? I know, it's awful and apparently I have no shame, throwing that picture out on the world wide web for all to see. But hey, my preschool kids thought it was great, and that's all that matters right?

By the way..... the rest of my cuties had some fantastic hair too, but I'm not sure if their parents would appreciate me sharing their cute faces with all y'all.

{Arrow of Light)

The highest award of Cub Scouting is the Arrow of Light badge, and the only Cub Scout badge that may be worn on the Boy Scout uniform.

The individual elements of the badge represents: - The sun shedding its light on all that we do. A reminder that Cub Scouts should be a light for those around them. - The seven rays of the sun representing the seven days of the week. A reminder that Cub Scouts should do their best every day. - The arrow which is symbolic of everything which is straight and true. Just as Cub Scouts should be straight and true in their lives. It also points forward to the trail of Boy Scouting ranks and higher challenges. The arrow of light is much more difficult to obtain than a belt loop, an activity badge or even one of the other rank patch. To obtain this award these scouts have met a number of requirements, including completion of eight activity badges, participation in camps, hikes and boy scout activities, the memorization of the Scout Oath and the Scout Law, and the commitment to live by these principles. The ceremony is in essence a 'coming of age' ceremony symbolizing that Cub Scouts are now ready to become Boy Scouts.

On March 29th, 2011 Brock was recognized for earning his Arrow of Light Award. The Cub master took Brock's scout shirt and removed all his badges and awards and moved them to this rabbit skin that he now has on display in his room.

At the end of the ceremony Brock crossed the bridge from Cub Scouts to Boy Scout and was welcomed into the Boy Scouting program by his Blazer leader (who also happens to be his Papa).

What a proud Mama I am! Though, I have to admit, it was a bittersweet moment for me. I'm proud of his achievement, but on the other hand, my boy is growing up a little faster than I'd planned on! Love ya, Bud!

(yea, I know, my eyes are closed, but Brock's were in the other picture we took and it's all about him, not me!)