Finally a summer photo shoot!

This summer has been so much fun, but super busy. First we just painted our deck, then had a wonderful trip to visit my sister in Colorado. So I haven't had any time at all to have fun with my camera. But a few weeks ago my Mother in laws back hill side bloomed. It is covered with gorgeous purple and yellow wildflowers. It's breathtaking. I'm in love with these photos. The kids did pretty good. Usually they run screaming from me when I pull out the camera for a photo shoot. Benjamin had a hard time, I forgot my trusty fruit snacks I usually use to bribe him. Kate is turning into a little model. She poses herself for the photos. I was super happy with the way our quick photography session turned out. Here are a few of my favorites. This one doesn't look as crisp in the blog as it does normally on my computer, which annoys me. But it's cute anyway.

Kate's Dance recital

Kate recently had her dance recital, (okay I guess it was like a month ago, but I'm trying to keep up with the blog best I can). She was adorable in it. Her dance studio did a very professional job. The theme for all of the dances were fairy tales and fables. Kate's class did the fable of the ant and grass hoppers. She got to be a black ant, danced with large pretend food. It was so cute. She was so excited to be at the head of the carrot, and she also got to carry a huge cheese around stage. I think she has really made a lot of progress with her ballet over the last couple of years. It's amazing how the years fly by. I still remember her first recital when she was one of the itty bitty girls on stage with their big fluffy tutu's. Just for reminiscing sake I've included a picture of her first dance recital. Counting back I guess she just completed her fourth year of dance. She has grown so much in those four years, and they have come and gone so quickly. I feel like I'm about to enter a new phase in life with Kate going to school all day this year. She's going to be gone a lot more now, and we won't even get to have lunch together. I'm half tempted to go the the school and eat with her everyday! But really thinking about how quickly the last four years have gone by, it makes me freaked out to think were Kate will be in the next four years (pre-teen, I'm getting chills just thinking about the teenage years). I'm wishing I could freeze time, or at least make it slow down alittle. Speaking of slowing down, there's an awesome video put out by my church, which addresses the same topic. It's a good reminder of focusing on the important things in life, and not getting to busy to enjoy the little moments that make it so special. We love your Kate, you have grown into such a beautiful girl. We are so grateful that your special spirit was sent to our home. You have brought us a tremendous amount of joy, and happiness.

This summer Kirk started into his first season of Tee Ball. He has been so excited to start playing baseball. My Dad was excited to watch the boys play. He was a super great athlete in high school and college, and played catcher for Weber State University. He had Kirk over one evening a few weeks a go to work with him on his swing.
This is Benjamin sitting on the front porch at my Dad's. He was a great ball shagger. He run and grab the baseball each time Kirk hit it off the tee. Benjamin loves balls, it will be fun to see him get into playing sports as he gets older.

Here are some more pictures of Kirk at his baseball games. Kirk is left handed, so it will be interesting to see what he ends up hitting left or right. I know that a left handed hitter can be a real advantage against a right handed pitcher. But so far he has hit either way. We've tried to teach him to hit left, but he's the only lefty on his team, so I think when he gets up to bat he gets a little confused on which way to stand at the base. We can't really tell which side he feels most comfortable with hitting. Maybe he will end up being a switch hitter. He has really, really loved baseball. I love it how at this age it's not about winning, or competing. All the kids get to run all the bases, and nobody strikes out. However, during Kirk's last game he started calling the strikes, he'd yell strike one, strike two, strike three! (I'm not sure where on earth he got that from because nobody was calling strikes, and we don't watch baseball much on television). Anyways let's just say that he really gets into baseball!