today was gavin’s graduation from preschool!  we thought we’d take this opportunity to let gavin know just how happy we are:

gavin–

we are so very proud of all you’ve done this year in your very first year in school.  we were nervous; we didn’t know what to expect or how good (or bad) your teachers would be, how well you’d do being away from home without mommy or daddy around for the first time.  but you took everything in stride.  you were so excited your first day, and throughout the year you showed us how eager you were to learn.  and you did!  you learned so much, and would come home singing the songs and rhymes you learned in school.  we had the chance mid-year to transfer you into a different — and better — school and, even though if was at a rough time, smack in the middle of the day, you showed us every day that it was the right decision.  you made some good friends.  you liked your teachers. (your teachers adored you!)  you even went to a couple birthday parties.  it was a good year.  we’re so happy for you and can’t wait to see you tackle the challenges of kindergarten in another new school.  we know you can do it!

we love you very much!

~mommy & daddy (and lilah, too!)

more graduation pics here

we found a neat hike up the mountains a few weeks back.  it was beautiful, but of course we left the camera at home.  we went back over the weekend, this time bringing the camera.  gavin, of course, was busily hunting for new additions for his rock collection.

"i found a rock!" he says, while surrounded by rocks...

you can see more pics from our adventure in the mountains here.

meanwhile, lilah found a new, fashionable use for stickers:

grandma & grandpa R came to visit the kids (and, presumably, us too) from California.  we had lots of fun adventures like going to red butte garden (gavin was excited to show grandma and grandpa around), the clark planetarium and the living planet aquarium.  gavin was especially excited about grandpa’s new car, complete with sun roof, rear camera and display when you back up and a GPS (that had some problems with Salt Lake City’s numeric addressing system) that talked!

more pics from their visit can be found in the flickr gallery we made.

gavin and lilah have been playing a lot more together for longer periods of time.  i snapped these pics when they were being particularly cute together one evening during dinner.

we took a long road trip with g-ma & g-pa to moscow, idaho to see the kids’ great-grandparents there.  it was a two-day drive and the kids were wiped but we were glad we split the drive up rather than try the 11-12 hour trek in one go.  the kids had a good time hanging with the fam and exploring great-grandma & great-grandpa’s house.

i took a lot of pics on easter.  here are some of our favorites…

the kids have been working on their faces

gavin happy

gavin excited

gavin grumpy

gavin angry

i don’t remember what this was supposed to be, but what it actually is is gavin saying okay mom and dad, that’s enough now

similarly, i think this was intended to be grumpy but came across more confused…

lilah happy

lilah excited

lilah surprised

lilah grumpy

as per usual, the kids have been sick.  so imagine my surprise last night when, rather than unhappy wailing, i suddenly heard rambunctious giggling and laughter from the other room

the kids were exchanging tickets (puzzle pieces) for a chance to ride on the slide (large armchair)

this was being done as a solo activity (pictured above), or with gavin standing behind lilah and sliding down together

a few minutes later, the game changed, and one of them would get “stuck” and require the other’s help in rescuing them

gavin, of course, was the ringleader of this operation

last year on halloween, we got a monkey suit for gavin because he was really into monkeys.  but he wasn’t into the suit so much.  (at least, not on halloween.  later, he was more than happy to run around as a monkey.)  i wanted to get a gorilla suit to encourage him to jump in the monkey suit, but you’d be surprised how difficult it can be to find a gorilla suit (at least, when going to halloween stores in real life — this year i found plenty online).

gavin really likes pirates and pirate ships, so we decided to get a pirate costume for him this year.  and we got a bumblebee costume for lilah because they were so cute.  i decided that i could help encourage gavin to want to wear his pirate costume if i was a pirate, too (and that had absolutely nothing to do at all with wanting to dress up like a pirate myself.  nope.  not at all.)

here’s some of our dress-up adventures:

gavin tests out the bumblebee suit

once pirated, encouraging "arrr"'s are performed to get him in a piratey mood. instead, he has a look of "dad, what are you doing?"

but after further demonstrations, he starts to get the hang of it

lilah shows off her stinger

like pirate...

...like son

gavin shows off the broom he and mommy made at Red Butte Garden's Garden After Dark

...and starts practicing for the quidditch team

the day is topped off with the first annual pumpkin rolling contest

we took a camping trip to southern utah’s capitol reef last weekend.  i posted some pics to flickr and on my blog, but here’s the kids highlights.  it was great fun, and the campsite had a couple fruit orchards that the kids, especially gavin, loved.  also, the orchards were great for attracting a family of deer who would wander through the campground to the orchard and have breakfast on the fallen apples.  unfortunately, no deer shots here.

then there was lilah’s birthday when we got back…

lilah models her new birthday dress

gavin, of course, wants to pose, too

lilah (and gavin) had a great time with her new tea set from g-ma & g-pa reynolds.

later, lilah presided over the opening of her presents.  she allowed gavin to help, and even rewarded him by giving him a ride her her new baby doll’s stroller.

but then she reclaimed it for her baby doll.

what’s this for, mama?

lilah tests the juice to make sure it’s acceptable for her baby girl.