Mammoth 1

View of The Minarets

The first part of our California adventure began in Mammoth Lakes. Google maps gave us 3 route options and we took the one least traveled. Literally. No one else seemed to be driving on the lone Nevada roads we took. But, it made for a speedy journey—10 hours total with 2 stops for food and one more for gas and bathrooms. Our kids were awesome travelers, but I did pack a trusty "prize bag" filled with candy, new coloring books, little games, gumballs, notepads, new pens and crayons, stickers, pipe cleaners and an idea I borrowed from Maggie--dollar store band-aids (best trick of our trip so far). We also had the iPad for Bentley to use in the backseat and DVDs for Livs and Cares to watch in the front seat. Joseph and I listened to Paths of Glory on cd about George Mallory--arguably the first man to summit Mt. Everest (good read/listen). Luke was by far our trickiest passenger as the elevation changes bothered his ears and made for short naps. But he was so sweet if we let him out of his carseat every now and again so he could stretch and stand or lay down and play with his feet (Risky, yes, but it kept us all sane).

Once we neared Mammoth (the northeast side of Yosemite) the mountain views made us very excited. Hello Sierra Nevadas!

 Unwinding at the hot tub after our long day in the car

On day 1 we drove just a few miles up the road to view the striking Minarets and then return to the Mammoth Lodge and ski resort. 

As we discovered in Zion 2 years ago, Bentley and Caroline are huge zip-lining fans and because Mammoth has one, they were so excited to ride it. Once they were done and we were off to find a nice hike, Cares exclaimed that this was already the best trip ever. Zip-lines will do that for her!

 

We made our way up to Lake Mary (only about 10 minutes from our lodge) and had a picnic lunch by the water before hiking along one of many paved trails between the network of lakes.

Kiddos in the forest

 

Cutest little pigeon-toed hiker

In the late afternoon we hit the pool, wandered through the Village Lodge shops, lost my purse...and found it (scariest moment of the trip so far!) ate pizza for dinner and returned home to early bedtimes for all 6 of us.

Ballerina Girl

 UDA Show: Happiest Place on Earth

Caroline's piece: Find Your Wings and Fly, June 15th 2012

Performing as a newly winged fairy, Caroline danced in her end of year ballet recital at Kingsbury Hall this past weekend. I volunteered to help backstage since 1) I know my way around Kingsbury pretty well (the dancers I teach perform there every year too) and 2) I haven't been the most reliable dance mom this winter (new baby and all) and I wanted to redeem myself a little in my daughter's eyes.

We had lots of fun together on our long drives to the U of U on both Thursday (dress rehearsal) and Friday. And Cares proved to be a great backstage aide in helping all the  Kindergarten classes with costume and hair changes (many girls were in a ballet and tap piece in the same show and us volunteer moms had our hands full helping more than 50 girls. It was total mayhem!) Caroline and I were also lucky enough to make it to Maddie's performance in the earlier show before going backstage and that was quite a treat—love to watch that graceful girl dance too.

One moment I will treasure forever: during Caroline's dance she saw me just off stage, watching in the wings, and gave me the happiest smile as she soared around stage with her sparkly wings. It was heavenly to see her enjoying her performance so much. She truly worked hard to be practiced and ready for the night and it all paid off. Many of the girls in Cares' class kept their eyes on her to know what came next in their piece—and all the while Caroline just smiled at the audience and danced away through the whole song. I love that she had such a postive experience with ballet this year and since she is planning on doing more next year, we'll see how she grows with it.

 Caroline had plenty of adoring fans 

and Nanny and Grandpa even brought her a lovely white bouquet

 Maddie performed in the 6:00 pm show and Caroline in the 8:00 pm show on Friday night. My parents were there to see both girls perform too but had to go before the end of Cares' show.

 

Dancing cousins

Joseph brought Caroline the vibrant, orange gerbers. Caroline told him on Father's Day that she loves him because he always brings her flowers. Clever girl.

Of course I couldn't be more proud of my dancing girl. Love her.

Carnivals!

The night before Bentley's baptism we had our ward party—a big carnival. The youth in the ward (or namely their leaders...) were in charge of it and wow, it was a lot of work. But everything turned out so well and we think it was a huge hit, so hooray for that! The Beehives and I worked the face painting station that night—my kids were great models for some of the things we created. The night was so crazy getting all set up, working with other leaders, wrangling my kids until Joseph arrived, and directing youth all over the place that I didn't grab any good pics of all our fun events. We did have a bounce house, cotton candy, bean bag toss, "knockdown" with balls thrown at stacked cans, a fishing pond and face paint.

Because we had a crazy day the next morning I bailed by 7:30 that night and came home to focus on things I needed to do around here. Made for a busy weekend!

This past week the school hosted their end of year carnival too. Of course Tuesday happened to be freezing and super windy so Luke and I gracefully bowed out and let Joseph and the kids play up there together. They had a great time, cold weather and all.

Kindergarten Graduation

 Sitting with 2 besties, Rylin and Maddie

This happened a week ago and Cares has been on summer break since last week. She loves the easy schedule but also told me she is already sad not to be able to see her friends every day. I am hoping to be a rockstar mom and make sure we have lots of play-dates during the summer—my kids get along so well that it's just so easy to let them entertain each other most days. Plus, we have swimming days and adventure days aplenty coming up. But, friends are awesome too. I think we will have Friend Fridays or something like that so we schedule it ahead of time.

Caresie with the wonderful Mrs. Moore. Caroline loved every single thing about Kindergarten and it was the best experience—hooray for Kindergarten!

Bentley's Special Day

After a busy morning of cleaning up, gardening and mowing the lawn, and food preparation, we went up to the Stake Center for Bentley's 1:00 pm baptism. There were a few other wards who met with ours for the general baptismal program, and then just Bentley and our neighbor Michael (Mikey) getting baptized from our ward. Beans and Mikey did joy school and tee-ball together back when they were 3 & 4 years old which seems like ages ago. Darling boys then and handsome boys now:

Our ward was the first to go the font after the talks in the chapel and Bentley was baptized right away. It was so sweet to see the mass of little cousins (and sisters!) and friends kneeling right in front of the font to see the baptism. Both of my boys looked so handsome and so happy in their white walking into the water together. It made me think of the days ahead when we will get to go the temple with Bentley, all in our white there too. Bentley told me the water felt really good and very warm and he had a huge grin through the whole process.

Bentley's older "cousin brothers"—basically who he wants to be just like when he grows up

We met up in the primary room while the boys got dry and all dressed up again, and had a few minutes to hear and bear testimonies. Michael's mom said a few words as did I and the boys' wonderful primary president shared her tender testimony and love for Bentley and Michael. Ruth Ann and one of Michael's grandmas bore testimony too. Ruth Ann told how seeing Joseph in the water reminded her of all the baptisms he wrote home about on his mission (and in Brazil there were several every month.) It made her think how now, as a father, teaching and leading in his very own family and raising his children in the gospel is the most important missionary work Joseph's ever done. And Joseph later commented that baptizing his own son was easily the most cherished baptism he's ever done.

She also shared how Bentley is the "oldest of the youngest" of her grandchildren. There are 5 LeBaron cousins older than Bentley in or nearing teenage years. And then there are 16 cousins (2 more on the way) younger than Beans—many of whom were there that day to see Bentley's baptism. He is such a good example to all of them and especially his adoring sisters and brother. I love that my children have him as their older brother to love them and help them in this life (and forever).

4 uncles, both grandpas and a member of our bishopric to help in this priesthood ordinance.

Bentley is so lucky to have these righteous examples in his life.

The whole event was so sweet and tender. I loved the confirmations given to both Bentley and Mikey and the gentle spirit that was with us that day. Those fathers sure love their boys and the Savior.

We had all our local family with us even though both Mary and Jim had other baptisms to attend at the same time—we were so grateful to have their families come support us and help confirm Bentley before they had to rush off to other obligations. Maggie and her kids were in town as an extra bonus to the day and Bentley's great friends Noah and Drew came to support him too. I know Bentley felt really special to have everyone there for him (and his friends brought him giant candy bars so that was a huge treat too :) 

 

 

I even got a kiss from the man of honor. Loved that day.

Baptism

Today was such a beautiful, special day. My sweet husband baptized and confirmed our oldest, our adorable, smiling, Simon Bentley and we were surrounded by loving family and friends for it. It was such a lovely, significant event. More to come but I had to post this picture. I love those boys so much,