As you can see it was so beautiful! 

The boys loved every minute of it. The threw sticks and rocks in the river, roasted hot dogs and made smores. 

camping trip

Lee was between rotations over Memorial Day weekend so we decided to take the boys camping. We drove out to Lake Sherando in the Shanendoah Valley. We got there about 5:30 and the campground was full! The kids were hungry and so excited to camp we didn't know what to do. We figured our options were go home (a 2 hour drive) or find a hotel. Our car was loaded and the thought of all that effort and not even getting to camp was so frustrating. We stopped in front of a gas station to ask if anyone knew of anywhere we could go, and a ranger pulled up right behind us! So I hopped out and asked her what our options were. She said the only option besides a hotel was wilderness camping. She said she wouldn't recommend it for a family, little did she know we were from Utah and had done our share of wilderness camping! We drove for another 10 minutes is all and found a cute little spot right next to the river!

Dragons

The boys have been playing dragons for the last two days, and Ethan is now called "fire dragon". If we forget and call him Ethan, he is quick to correct us. Mason is the Ice Dragon and apparently he shoot ice balls out of his tail and Ethan shoots fire balls. So if you can imagine the two of them running around flapping their wings, they both stop and point their "tails' at eachother and shoot fire and ice. It's quite entertaining. Mason has his mind set that his middle name is Richard. He has been telling everyone that his name is Mason Richard Stowell. Yesterday as I was looking through his school folder, he had written that on some of his school work! He says he just likes his name to be that and I can't get him to understand that he can't just decide to change his name!

Lincoln is the most restless child ever! Lee made the comment that you need a cattle shoot just to get a diaper on him! It is so true, he hates getting dressed because he has to stay in one place and it takes all my strength just to hold him still long enough to get a onesie on!

The Sherpa

The other day, I  turned my back on Lincoln for about 40 seconds as he disappeared down the hall. I went to get him and he was no where to be found! Turns out, he was upstairs! He has discovered that he can get all the way to the top in about 30 seconds and he loves it. So I set up a gate so he is blocked off from the stairs, and he hates it! He stands at the gate and just yells. He climbs on everything. If he can stand up to something, it's not long before he is working his hardest to get a leg up. So Lee calls him "the sherpa". I didn't know what a sherpa was, Lee said it's a guide for mt. everest. very fitting. Ethan has had several birthday parties lately and he is really into playing with friends. He is doing so well in his speach. Mason is still just busy, and he is reading a chaper book a day. I can't get him to put his book down! He just got tested for reading at school and he is at a 5th grade reading level! He has definately got the reading bug!

piano lessons

Mason started his piano lessons on Saturday and he loved it! His teacher is an awesome pianist that is in our ward. He is a senior in high school, and Mason thinks the world of him. The mother of his teacher said that he was so excited after his first lesson with Mase because he feels like he finally has a student with potential. Mason has been practicing every day. We have still been pretty busy with ball games, and I have Young Womens and Lee's schedule is still crazy. But life is great, we can't complain!

The latest...

I am just getting started on this blog thing, so bear with me. We have been super-busy lately, with Lee's schedule and Mason playing baseball. Lee just got nominated and selected to be on the admissions comittee this coming year. Only 10 people from his class get this honor, he will be interviewing potential students that are applying to start at MCV in 2009. We are excited, this will look great on his application for residency. His rotation right now is pediatrics, he is on the night-shift this week which means he will work from 7pm-7am, then of course he will need to fit in study time. His next rotation is surgery, which is what he wants to do, so he is excited to start that. He has also been accepted for a externship in Arizona, which means he will be gone the entire month of October. Mason is doing great, he just won 2 ribbons at school for all honors and all E's. He also had an art project chosen to be in an art show that was for the entire county. He is in the top 4 of his class for reading and is really into the chapter books. Ethan is doing great, too. He is doing well with his speach therapy and working really hard. Lincoln is now crawling and standing up to the furniture. He is so happy all the time. Anyway, life is great!