Kael's TENTH Birthday...

Are you kidding me right now?

We cannot have a kid in the double digit department!

What is going on?!

And yet, here we are with Big Kaelster showing two entire hands when someone asks his age.  GAH!

Kael's birthday fell on a Sunday this year and that little love bug was (per usual) the first one up and outta bed, dressed and ready to celebrate.

Kael actually got a rad mountain bike for his birthday, but we decided to gift it to him early so he could put it to good use this summer along with Dax.

(End of May Birthday Surprise Below)

The two of them have ridden on the trails to the snowcone shack more times than I can count.  We're so happy they got a summer of biking in together.

At ten years old Kael loves baseball, basketball, football, biking, swimming and mowing lawns for cold, hard cash.  Kael is a masterful saver and always takes his money to the bank.  He set himself a goal to save $1000 by his birthday and he MADE IT with cash to spare thanks to some monetary gifts that surprised him on his big day.  :)

 Kael is turning into quite the avid reader and he loves reading stats on his coveted baseball cards.  He is determined, hard working, well-mannered and he still has the best belly laugh we've ever heard.  He is fiercely loyal and LOVES his clan.

Kaelster we hope you know how much we love your guts!

Ten years of awesome has flown by in the blink of an eye and you keep on getting better.

You are a special kid and we can't wait to see what the next ten years brings.

Love you to the moon little Birthday man!

Fathers, Frogs, Funny Faces and Fanatics...

Not funny:  3 out of 4 of our boys have fractured their front tooth.  I'm not betting against Boone, as much as I'd like to.  If there's one thing I've learned about my Gardner Guys it's that they're consistent!

Don't panic - we have ourselves a great dentist who even gave us his cell phone number for just these types of incidences.

My pool boys... in the hot St. George summer sun.

Booner "The Bear" Gardner caught the world's teeny tinest frog and gave me the biggest proudest smile you've ever seen.  

Father's Day for the World's Best.

RyGar got spoiled by his favorite dudes.

Angry Elf

Spider Man

Dinosaur

Muhammed Ali

Have you "BEEn" to the Bees game?  We snuck it in before the season ended.

Baseball Fans for life.

May the Fourth Always Be With Me...

I joke about dying in Richfield on the Fourth of July...

But just for total clarity, I am very serious.

When I'm 92 wheel me to main street for the parade.

When I'm 97 put in the middle of the fish grab to see the mayhem up front and personal.

And if I haven't keeled over by the time I'm 101, then just shoot me out of the canon that tolls every Fourth of July morning in my home town.

What a way to go!  :)

Can you even believe I let my babies traipse into that crowd to catch trout with their bare hands?

Can you believe they survive it, year after year?

And not even just survive - but thrive and beg to go back?

 You make mama so proud you little heathens.  :)

 Boone got an assist from a bro, but you wouldn't know from his proud grin.

Grampa rents the water slide each year to make the long hot afternoon waiting for the pyrotechnics a little bit shorter.  

And in all reality, by the time the dusk finally rolls around they are pooped from climbing up and sliding down 500+ times.

I love every tradition and every fourth I spend in "The Promised Land."

And if you really want to wrap up my favorite holiday with a bow, send me down the canal with my bestie and her crew... make sure at least one kid is nailed by a low hanging branch and another is attacked by a rogue water skeeter.  These are the days, my friends.  :)

Albrechts do Fishlake...

We sprinted from the baseball diamond to gorgeous Fishlake for the Albrecht Family Reunion and we didn't look back.

These little wildlings had the best time with Grandma and Grandpa and their cousins.  We missed Brandon and Carrie and their family, but we powered through with all of the fun activities Grandma had planned without them.  

Starting out with a scavenger hunt in the wild...

And cousin shenanigans lake side at sundown...

In the evening Grandma taught us the fine art of hula and sticks.  The theme carried on for the remainder of the entire weekend.  That spirit of Aloha is real!  :)

In the morning Grandpa Hooky was in charge of a muddy good trail ride to the snow where we used the wheelers to plow through drifts and leave dot-to-dot patterns on the faces of little ones.  He blew up balloons and pulled out the pellet guns for a shoot out and the kids LOVED it.

We ate lunch at the famous Koosharem Cafe and then rode back to enjoy the lake.

Some of our party enjoyed that freezing cold water far more than others...

I'm looking at you Polar Bear Plungers!

The views were spectacularly beautiful and the company was fabulous.  We loved our time together lakeside in a spacious cabin at Fishlake.

It's always hard to say good bye.