Graduation and Summer Fun

Cameron celebrating the last day of preschool with his friends. They couldn't even put down their snow cones for the picture.
Wesley graduates from Kindergarten


Wesley really enjoyed Kindergarten. Maybe if he hides in his locker he won't have to leave.

Cameron and Carter really love Kindergarten too!

Wesley with some of his friends in his class.
You have no idea how many shots we had to take to get everyone looking. O.K. if you have young kids maybe you do know!


Mrs. Kenyon was an incredible teacher. She made Wesley's first experience in school a great one. We hope we are blessed with another good teacher for his first grade year.
At the end of May/beginning of June we went to Branson, Mo with the Mons family. It was beautiful and lots of fun. Here we are being "ducks" with the quacking beaks they gave us when we "Rode the Ducks." A "Duck" is an amphibious vehicle that was invented by a woman and used in World War II. We went on a tour of Branson in this vehicle on both land and water. The children especially liked quacking their beaks much to the dismay of the adults.


Each of the children got a turn to steer the "duck" while in the lake.We went to an amusement park called Silver Dollar City. Wesley and Logan loved riding the kid's roller coaster. Look how brave they are--holding up their hands!

Cameron still tells us that he is going to marry Mariah some day.


Carter had fun holding "baby" Harrison who was almost the same size as him. I don't know how much Harrison liked it?
They definitely both enjoyed playing at the lake.

Sitting on the crocodile at the Dallas zoo with the Putnams.

You just can't get better friends than this. We had so much fun visiting with Tyler and Robyn while they were here in Texas and we are so grateful for our friends that are still here with us in Texas (Don and Jill).
After all the caterpillars we have kept in our house, we finally saw the fruits of our labors--a beautiful butterfly!


A visit to Petland always makes the kids smile!

Makes mom very nervous!
And keeps us all entertained. This was Carter's permanent position while he stared, pointed, and played with all the puppies in each cage.

Wendy goes to Arizona

Wendy and Carter were able to go to Phoenix for a few days to be with my mom while she babysat my sister Leslie’s little boy. Leslie and Kim went on a cruise—so jealous. Carter and I surprised my mom by showing up at my sister’s door at 9:00 p.m. It was a nice relaxing time just visiting and letting Conner and Carter play together.

“Nanny” bought the boys T-shirts that said, “My Grandma is hot.” She does look hot and she was hot in that Arizona heat.

We went to the Glendale Library storytime with the boys.

They really weren’t locked in the pack ‘n’ play the whole time—we promise.

Diaper Dudes!

When Carter and I were at the airport flying back to Dallas, my dad was flying into Phoenix. It was fun to get to see and talk with him, but way too short.

Faces only a mother could love?

Strapped in the back seat of Gram’s car ready to go have a sleepover, these are typical faces of Wesley, Cameron, and Carter. Their expressions really show off their personalitites.

"What’s up, Doc?”

“O.K., you can have anything you want,” says Mom.

Big Hug!

Sporting Times

With three boys in our family, sporting events seem to be a common occurrence. Here are some of our latest:

Soccer

Wesley in his second season of being a Gator. Do you think he is intense enough?

Cameron after his first season of playing on the Thunder. He is the token white boy on the team.

Collecting Bugs

We don’t know if this is actually a sport, but it sure seems like it at the Crow house. We always have at least 3 or 4 insects in our “bug jug” and at least one cocoon.

Gymnastics

Hey, Olympics here’s a future rings gold medalist: Carter Crow.

Wrestling

Yes, our children are strong and intimidating and always have lots of fun wrestling with daddy.

Carter has a promising future as a Luchador – look out Nacho Libre!

Car Racing

The movie Cars has inspired some young Nascar amateurs.

Are we there yet?!?

So, many of you have probably been wondering what the Crows have been up to lately: We have a lot of ground to cover, so here we go. Speaking of ground covering:

More snow! That's right - we had three snow storms here this winter (I for one blame George Bush and global warming!). There was just enough snow to make a tiny snow man (lower right in front of the truck).

Once the ground thawed out, Ken raced in the St. Patrick’s Day Triathlon on March 17th in Keller, Tx which is about 30 minutes west from us. He trained really well for it and had a lot of fun. There were about 320 racers involved and Ken came in 90^th overall. He was 13^th overall in the swimming portion of the race. His hard work paid off and his biggest fan now wants to be just like dad.

In March, we went and visited the Rolfsons down in Houston. We all had a great time, and were especially blessed to have some quality time with Erin before she passed away. The drive down wasn’t too exciting (see Carter’s lack of excitement, although he did point out every cow by yelling “moo!”), but once we got there we had a blast:

The first couple of days, Cameron and Wesley just played and played with their cousins Sam and Alex – they had a ton of fun in “the jungle” in their backyard, cleaning out the leaves in the swimming pool, and riding bikes around in the cul-de-sac.

Then it was off to Galveston, with a slight detour to an alligator park just south of Houston. We saw quite a few alligators, and had one close encounter when one climbed up so close to the trail we could not pass. Wesley freaked out, so we said a prayer and Ken threw rocks and sticks at it from a distance (much to the dismay of his wife) until it finally went back in the water. It worked and we were able to get past. As soon as we were a safe distance down the path, the alligator started heading back up on the trail. We were very grateful that none of our children become alligator food.

Notice how this 9-foot 'gator looks like it's waiting for our kids to walk by the trail so he can have a snack - how rude!

The boys loved the beach in Galveston. Digging a pit in the sand seemed to be the preferred activity. All passers by were quite impressed with our work. When asked what he was digging for, Wesley promptly responded, “Gold”. After digging for an hour or so Cameron declared, “This is hard work digging to China”. Carter loved the birds and would run after them saying, “Caw! Caw!”. Even now, whenever he sees a bird he calls it a “caw, caw.”

We also got to drive our car onto a ferry boat and sail to a nearby island. It was a nice little ride especially since it was free and we saw a dolphin swimming in the water.

Unfortunately, we had to make a second trip down to Houston to attend Erin Rolfson’s funeral. She passed away only 1 week and two days after giving birth to Kennedy Erin Rolfson and only two weeks from when we had been visiting them in Houston. It was quite shocking for us.

The funeral was beautiful and full of the spirit. We were reminded of the eternal nature of our spirits and comforted in knowing that Erin’s spirit is still alive. We are so grateful for Jesus Christ and His Atonement. We know we will see Erin again and that she will be reunited with her family again. It was, of course, nice to see family and feel the support and love from everyone.

Ken raaced in another triathlon on May 5 at the University of North Texas in Denton, Tx only about 20 minutes north of our home. A friend of ours in the ward, Ryan Stimpson, raced along with Ken. Wendy and Tina (Ryan’s wife) went to the race to support and cheer their husbands to a victory.

About 175 participants were in the race. Ken took 51^st overall and was 3^rd overall in the swimming portion of the race. He is steadily improving and plans to continue to train and race until he can successfully compete in an Iron Man distance triathlon. This will take a year or so, but he is on the right track.

Some holiday cheer, then on to the new year!

Since our last post, many things happened to our family. We had Christmas, it snowed, BYU tromped Oregon in Vegas, Wesley turned six, and much more. But first things first: Go Cougars!


Anyhow, Wendy's parents flew down from Utah to be with us on Christmas, so it was special - it was Dave's only Christmas out of Utah since his mission, and Dorothy's first Christmas away ever, so we feel privileged, and the boys loved it! But we don't know if they'll be back since Dave caught the flu, which turned into pneumonia. It was probably more fun for us than them, but we hope they'll be back again.


We spent our traditional Christmas Eve at my parents' house, where we read from Luke 2, sing, and re-enact the Christmas story.




We spent Christmas morning at our house, and what do you think the kids did after they opened all of their presents? They started playing with our five-year-old laundry basket. Of course!


We welcomed in the new year without much fanfare - I think we were all asleep by about 10 P.M., but the new year brought new surprises. First, the snow we mentioned was just a skiff really, but it's Texas so we'll take it! It may not have been much snow, but there was plenty of cold to go with it!


Carter went out and played for a few minutes, and his hands were frozen! So I put him in my coat like a kangaroo, and he put his tiny hands under my arms, and they warmed up pretty quickly. I think we both enjoyed it.


Then it was Wesley's birthday. Cameron and Carter had as much fun as they would have on their own birthday.