Ephraim 4th Birthday

My baby boy turned 4!  He loves dressing up like super heros, and got this paw patrol Marshall costume from his friends Owen & Hunter, he loved it!  Here are some of Ephraims favorites right now:

Favorite Food: A fruit snack

Favorite thing to play: dressing up in costumes

Favorite book: Godilocks and the 3 Bears

Favorite Color: Red & Blue

What do you want to be when you grow up: Marshall and all of the rest of the pups

Where do you like to go: to a park

What is your favorite toy: my cars

His party had to get postponed a week because of sickness in our family.  But he had super fun with his friends on the inflatable water slide and breaking open the homemade pinata!

He wanted waffles for dinner and loved the spider man costume we gave him.

Brea gave him a spider man towel which is perfect becasue he loves taking baths and wearing his goggles so he can go under the water!
 

Temple

 We were finally able to go to the temple!  It has been over a year, and I had a little incident with my recommend, it was active but I had my old one with me for some reason.  It was so wonderful to be there.  I am so grateful to have the gospel and covenants!

End of Summer Fun!

We love us some Amys Doughnuts - they neve dissapoint.  I really like the zesty lemon and alyssa likes the sprikles or rainbow and a chocoloate milk.  The elmo and cookie monster are a hit with the boys!

We had a ward activity (first in over a year) and Jeff got a game going and nobody got hurt!

We convinced boys to go on a walk and end at the park, they are almsot too big for stroller.  We saw these beautiful sunflowers growing out a fence just wild, so pretty.

Jeff found out that their is a flower shop at Venetucci Farm, he got me a beautiful bouquet for our anniversary.  They also do a pick and cut session on Saturday mornings.  We took the younger four and they really enjoyed picking out the perfect flowers.  We came home and made them into 3 beautiful arrangements. We gave one to Sister Johns, one to Sister Kaye and kept one.  Such a fun thing to do!  I want to do it again!

Peter got these "fake" glasses at the Summit and thinks they are pretty awesome, he is super cute!

Anyone in front of sunflowers is adorable, but ahhh this kid has my heart!

Random Cramer gals

This lady right here - has such a special place in our heart.  She has taught all 6 of our kids as sunbeams and made them fill so loved and valued as Christ would.  Ephraim is currently in her class, but she gives both Peter & Ephraim a bag of sweets every Sunday and a big hug and kiss.  

Scheels in our new favorite.  I took the kids while Jeff was out of town and we even did the ferris wheel which I will admit made me nervous.  This fish tank had  scuba diver cleaning it, so neat to watch.

Wow! Peter can give Brea a piggy back ride!

He has loved bath lately, now that he has learned how neat it is to go under water with goggles!  He is a fish!

Happy 21st Anniversary to us.  We took lunch break to eat and walk around the Fountain Nature Center.  It was perfect, nothing fancy but just being together and outside, two of my faves!

Stacking cups happens often in our home, but this was a new one. Ephraim sorted them all by color and then stacked them.  I was impressed.

Peter has wanted to make chocolate covered strawberries for some time, and I finally let him.  They were so yummy and he made a plate for Jackie, Dallin, and Dad who were all at work at the time.  He even included a cute love note with them.

Sunday games with the girls.  We will miss Jackie as she is a good game initiator!

Sisters!  These two are close and I love seeing their relationship deepen!

Boating has been a fun family activity this summer!

Jackie took each of the kids on a one on one before she left.  This was Ephraims and they came to meet us at the park afterward.  His facial expressions are hilarious.

The skate park is the go to place for this 5 year old.  He asks almost every day if he can go.  We got him this mini skate board in Florida and he did pretty well.

 Prospect lake paddle board and kayaking 

Dallin 16th Birthday

 

Our Dallin is 16!  I can't believe how fast time goes.  He is a good looking, funny teenager.  He is lifeguarding all the time or hanging with friends.  He moved into the basement now that Jackie is out and enjoys that.  

Brea picked out these fun pants for him, something about teenagers knowing better than Mom about what is in "style"!

Peter & Ephraim wanted to do "hot & cold" to find gifts but walked him right to where his presents were, which was just fine with him.

Sushi and Dallin go hand in hand.  That was his choice for breakfast on his birthday!

First Day of School 2021/2022

Ephraim is in preschool with Ms. Heather & Ms. Angie!  He gets to go 4 days a week for a couple hours each day.  Peter had them last year, so we are happy that Ephraim gets them.  He was super excited for his first day and is growing up way too fast!

Dallin is a Junior at Widefield Highschool.  This picture is totally "posed" as it is not the typical Dallin look, although the smile is genuine!  He is lifeguarding at the pool and enjoying teenage freedom of hanging with friends.  

Brea is a Freshman at Vanguard.  She is doing early morning seminary at the church.  Jeff is teaching early morning seminary too, but not her class.  She is excited to learn Spanish and go on the HS Retreat!  She has a good group of friends that all encourage each other to so well in school and still have fun!

Alyssa is 6th grade at Vanguard.  She has Mr. McKinley and is excited for that.  He is a fun teacher, telling stories and jokes.  Jackie used to pass him dumb math jokes on post-it notes when she was in 6th grade.  She is getting some new glasses and is almost as tall as Brea!  She is doing drums in band and is excited about that.

Peter is in full day Kindergarten and has some awesome teachers!  He likes meeting new friends and playing at recess.  He is excited to be in school and be a big kid now!

Jackie is job shadowing at a physical therapy clinic here.  She is going to study that in college, and was on the ball to do part of the hours this summer. She had to wear these nice "business" clothes.  She will be so missed when she leaves for college which is soon!
 

Jackie High School Graduation May 2021

 

We were so glad that Jackie was able to have an actual in person Graduation.  At first she was told she could only have 2 people attend, which was sad but better than nothing.  Then right before it chaged to 3, so Alyss was able to come see her sister graduate as well.  This has been a crazy year with COVID-19.  Jackie was supposed to be a Junior at Vanguard.  She realized that she could switch schools, and have enough credits to graduate early! She graduated from CSEC (Colorado Springs Early Colleges) with 23 college credits! And a High School Diploma a year early!  Plus she worked about 30 hours a week at Wendys and then at Discount Vending.  When she wants something she goes for it and is very driven and responsible.  She plans ahead and prepares. She is ready for College!  It was fun that she was able to graduate with Samantha and Sklar, even though she didn't attend any classes in person this year, or hardly go into the school building.  I love this picture of them jumping for joy at Graduation!

We had an open house to celebrate with friends nad family.  Mikaela & Jackie!

Sophia, Ella, and Jackie.  Sophia actually attends CSEC as well but is not graduationg until next year.

Grandma and Grandpa were not able to attend the graduation because of COVID restrictions but they came out for the open house which was so nice of them.

Jackies Senior Prom, she was fortunate to have!  She enjoyed the night with a big group of girls and guys. And an Aunt of Katie took these beautiful pictures!