Fwd: One LOVED Little Whipper Snapper

Nothing melts my heart like seeing my big boys with my little boys.  Holland and Mudgie are the twins favorites and those two never lack for brotherly affection and attention.  

Fwd: Best Summer Yet

It has been a spectacular summer.  Loads of sunshine.  Lots of heat.  Trips to the lake.  Swimming, sprinklers, and more than 300 otter pops. Bike rides.  Hikes.  Shorts and Flip Flops.   It is awesome.  

Oh What Do You Do In the Summer?

I love seeing things grow.  After a winter of black and white, I cannot get enough green and color in my life.  Oh, how I LOVE my little garden.  I have zucchini, squash, and lettuce already growing.  The peas and green onions are not far behind.  With the heat I may even get a tomato or two.  

I put fresh cut lilacs in a vase and it brought back all sorts of childhood memories.  

How do I capture all of this green and excitement and bottle it for the winter?

Shoveling It In

This boy insists on using utensils.  Tonight you could tell that he thought he was king of the mountain as he shoveled in his spaghetti.  Can the boy walk?  No.  Can he feed himself "properly"?  Yes.  Pretty much defines the Bacons. . . we are master eaters. . . and proud of it.

Cha-Ching

This is what $5800 looks like

(luckily, with dental insurance, we only paid $3800)

Family Hike

Tuesday at 7:15PM we left our house as a family to hike to the top of
Baldy. We didn't realize that it was going to be a 3 mile mudslide of
fun and would take not only strength but strategy to get to the top.
I pulled out one of my favorite sayings several times on this hike,
"Adventure is Misfortune correctly understood." (Thanks Leslie for
not only teaching me that phrase but modeling it so well.)

I was so impressed with my little family of hikers. Warner made it to
the top first. Amazing. Mudgie hiked his own little self to the top
without a single complaint. The bigs boys took turns shadowing him
just in case he slipped on the mud. Eric miraculously muscled his way
both up and down with the baby on his back.

By the time we made it down the mountain we were tired and covered in
mud. The adventure itself warranted a chocolate dipped cone from
McDonalds and I was thrilled to finally make it to the top of this
mountain.

Morning

Four little friends at the park for about forty minutes.

summer. . .

Oh how we've missed you Mister Summer. It was so good to see you
yesterday. We've been in heaven. Can you stay for three months
please???

goodbye dear friends

we said goodbye to our dear friends last night. their life's path is
taking them away from us. oh how we will miss them. Meg has not only
been my best friend, but Gavin and Asher and Sam are the best of
friends, and Corbin and Hyrum have been inseparable.

Over the last few years we've camped together, biked together, eaten
together, watched movies together, hiked together, played games
together, celebrated holidays together, gone winter camping together,
gotten through two deployments together, two babies, and a dental
hygiene program. Meg and I have played basketball or walked together
almost everyday. Our boys have built legos and played pokemon. It
has been an amazing friendship.

A little bit of my heart left on that airplane yesterday and I am
grateful for our time with this good family.

Track Stars

My boys had fun doing track for the first time this season.

Tanner quickly fell in love with the hurdles and broke the school record.

Christian's first love was the high jump.

At one meet the coaches got them mixed up and put Tanner on high jump
instead of Christian. Mind you Tanner had really NEVER high jumped
before and was receiving last minute approach coaching from Christian
(he didn't even know what leg to jump off of. . . ) We were surprised
to hear that Tanner cleared 5' beating Christian's previous record by
2" and setting a new school record.

Needless to say, I now have two high jumpers.

(Christian also did amazing at the relays. . . the longer the distance
the better)

My Mediums and a few of My Littles

I'm not sure who took this. . . but I love this picture of my boys.
[Can you see me in the background. . . obviously dreaming of
Californai]

My boys are getting so big. Today is the last day of school and I'm
looking forward to an entire summer of playing with them.

California Dreaming

A month of so ago we applied for a position in Fresno California.

While we obviously didn't get it, it was fun to "live" in Fresno for a
few days via the internet and my dreams.

Our weather at the time was extremely bleak. . . which made it extra
fun to picture ourselves living somewhere warm and wearing flip flops
and shorts. Eric would come home daily to a new rendition of
California.

In My Mind I'm gone to "California". . . .

California Dreamin

Hotel California

or my favorite

The Sun will come out in California,
betcha your bottom dollar that in California,
they'll be sun.

Just thinking about California,
clears away the cobwebs and the sorrow,
till there's none.

When I'm stuck with a day,
that's gray and lonely.
I just stick up my chin and grin and say. . .

California, California, I love you California
You're only 5000 miles away [repeat]

Arrow of Light

Sam received his arrow of Light last night with his two best friends,
Gavin & Asher Speaks.

You're all Invited!

At one Holland has mastered the stairs and still bites everything and everyone (though he mostly manages to get clothing, I believe this is intentional on his part).

He can say Mama and Uh-Oh, never on demand.  He waves Hi, Bye Bye, and can sign please.  (They all look suspiciously the same)

He loves to play with the phone and prefers household goods to toys, like banging the rocks in the planter box together.  He enjoys a good game of patty cake and is very ticklish.  

He walks along furniture but doesn't seem interested in full fledge walking yet.  Whenever the front door is open he crawls as fast as he can and tries to escape.  

He loves to snuggle and suck his thumb.  

He's been sick on and off (heavy on the on) the past six months.  He's swallowed a marble and gotten a bloody mouth a dozen or so times (he's not catching onto this sure footing thing very fast and usually misjudges a step and goes down hard)

Favorite recent moment:  He was playing the piano on his tip toes, would stop and cackle, and play some more, cackle again, repeat.  It was really cute to see him so proud of himself. . . and I'm a sucker for a good baby cackle.  

Re: FW: Student-compliment

addendum:  After posting this my little lunchroom angel came home from school and proceeded to have a couple of mini trantrums void of kindness, quietness, and any sort of manners. :)

On Thu, May 2, 2013 at 1:48 PM, Stephanie Bacon <baconbits4@gmail.com> wrote:

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Colgrove_Erin <colgrove_erin@asdk12.org>
Date: Thu, May 2, 2013 at 11:36 AM
Subject: FW: Student-compliment
To: "baconbits4@gmail.com" <baconbits4@gmail.com>


HYRUM'S TEACHER FORWARD THIS TO ME TODAY.  To quote a Kevin Henkes book. . . "Wow,"  that was all [the mother] she could say was, "Wow."

Hi Erin,

A parent was visiting her students during two lunches today, and she made a point of coming to tell me that Hyrum Bacon is an amazingly well-behaved young man in the lunchroom. She said out of everyone she saw, and she wasn't trying to be judgmental about anyone, she just was impressed at how kind, quiet, and well-mannered he was. I thought you might like to know:).

Hope this made your day happy.
Debbie

Fwd: FW: Student-compliment

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Colgrove_Erin <colgrove_erin@asdk12.org>
Date: Thu, May 2, 2013 at 11:36 AM
Subject: FW: Student-compliment
To: "baconbits4@gmail.com" <baconbits4@gmail.com>


HYRUM'S TEACHER FORWARD THIS TO ME TODAY.  To quote a Kevin Henkes book. . . "Wow,"  that was all [the mother] she could say was, "Wow."

Hi Erin,

A parent was visiting her students during two lunches today, and she made a point of coming to tell me that Hyrum Bacon is an amazingly well-behaved young man in the lunchroom. She said out of everyone she saw, and she wasn't trying to be judgmental about anyone, she just was impressed at how kind, quiet, and well-mannered he was. I thought you might like to know:).

Hope this made your day happy.
Debbie

Hy's Big Day

[Not sure why this didn't post with the pictures. . . ]

Hy was baptized on Saturday.  While we are sad that we aren't surrounded by grandmas and grandpas, aunts and uncles, and cousins we truly felt surrounded by family.  The Speaks & Holts, our Alaska family, were there along with our neighbors the Galloways, Jimmie Michaelis, Hopkins, Porters, Turners, Bonnie Victors, Penfields, and Hy's Primary Teacher Jeremy Jensen and his family.  

I asked the twins and the Speaks to share a brief experience they had either living up to their Baptismal Covenants or a time when they felt the Spirit.  I was really touched by the experiences my boys shared.  

Christian mentioned that in Elementary School his friends were always trying to get him to use "cuss words."  He never did.  He knew it wasn't good.  Then recently he and a friend were talking.  The friend was insisting that surely Christian had used cuss words before.  Christian said that he was able to look back and honestly say that he never had.  He knew that he had been blessed for keeping himself pure and clean.  [As a mom can I say, "WOW!!"  I had no idea.  I knew this one was good and pure, but to hear this story just astounded me.  I think I often don't give these two the credit they deserve for being amazing young men.]

Tanner spoke a few minutes later about a really bad day.  When he got home he felt prompted to read his scriptures.  He kept putting it off thinking that there would be nothing in those pages that would help him.  He doesn't remember what he read when he finally opened up the Book of Mormon, and his day was still down right horrible, but he was "filled with hope.  Hope that tomorrow would be a better day."  

I know that this post should be all about Hyrum and about how he is special and marvelous.  He is.  But I was just blown away by the goodness of my two boys who could stand and share with such conviction and confidence.  

. . . Back to Hyrum.  He was the only one baptized today.  I'm not sure he loved all the attention and he was filled with an expected amount of anxiety.  Yet, he felt "special" and "excited"   He loved his new white shirt and the donuts his friends gave him that made the letter 8.  He is an inquisitive little soul who will wonder, question, and ponder about the ordinance he participated in today and the covenants that he made.  I hope he spends a lifetime discovering and rediscovering the blessings and beauty of his baptism.

Fwd: As good as it gets

I had high hopes for a decent family picture this weekend.  Too many little ones.  Too much sun.  This is as good as it gets. 

Birthday Beard

Some Bacons eat their food.  Others seem to wear it.  Mudgie is sporting some Birthday Breakfast while he reads his books.  This kid just cracks me up.