June Wrap Up

This week was all about summer strings, swimming and soccer and I spent a lot of time in the car making it all happen.  Jenna loves playing the violin and being in orchestra so when a week long summer string session was offered she jumped at the chance.  Every day she went for 1 1/2 hours and then on Friday they invited the parents to a little concert.

Jenna is right in the front in a white shirt

The group will be performing a song with the Cache Symphony Orchestra tonight up on campus.

Korinne moved up to level 4 and had a great session of swimming lessons.  They are taught in a family pool close to our house which is super convenient.

Each session is only 1 week long so the lessons are 1 full hour instead of 30 minutes. Parents are invited to watch on the last day.  Korinne is a fish and loves being in the water.

Britton has had a lot of soccer since they are preparing for 2 tournaments during the month of July.  Not only is he going to 3 to 4 practices a week, but they require the team to practice a specific list of drills for 30 minutes at home every day.  With soccer, piano, and cello practice each and every day Britton has quite a practicing schedule.  He is willing to do it all, for the most part, but there are a few days when I've had to threaten to take away his books so he'll finish all of his practicing.  I wish I had a dollar for every time I've said, "Britton, hand me the book! You can have it back when you're done practicing."  He never actually releases the book to me.  He just laughs and says, "No, I'll do it, you don't need to take my book".  This week he burst out laughing when I said, "Hey, no more Mr. Nice Mom, you need to get your practicing done!" Glad I can be so entertaining.

Yesterday while Britton was out mowing laws and helping to lay some sod for a neighbor the rest of us went on a little picnic/hike in the canyon right by our house.  I'm embarrassed to say we hardly ever use the canyon and it is only 2 minutes from our house!  In fact, I think this was Jameson's first mountain experience.

Jameson walked for some of it and got on Adam's shoulders for the rest of it.  The weather was perfect and it was so peaceful and beautiful.  We decided we definitely need to come back more often.

Adam and I are both thrilled that the countries we served our missions in, Colombia and Brazil, have both advanced in the World Cup.  Unfortunately they are now scheduled to play each other on July 4th! Uh oh. The kids are going to have to decide which side to take because our house will be divided for a few hours on that day. Adam and the kids were very entertained by how stressed out I got during Brazil's last game.  It went down to the last penalty kick and even though Brazil ended up winning, it really could have gone either way. I've decided I'm not a great sports fan. It just stresses me out so I can't enjoy the game.  Adam would disagree, but to me there is nothing worse than a close game when I actually care about the outcome.

Today was our Stake Conference so we loved being able to sit with Adam.  Jameson wouldn't even go to me because he wasn't going to waste one single minute being away from his Dad.  Our Stake President is notorious for calling people up, without notice, to bear their testimonies at Stake Conference and other stake meetings.  I've never really felt too worried because the chances of it ever being me are pretty slim. Well, today President Hill threw a curve ball when he called Jenna up to bear her testimony.  That was something none of us saw coming!  President Hill has started involving youth in meetings by having them give the opening and closing prayers but today he called Jenna and a 13 year old boy up to bear their testimonies.  I know Jenna looks like she is in Young Women's but she is still only 11 years old!  I thought Jenna was going to die when he called her name.  She just looked at me with wide open eyes that said, "What am I going to do?" but I told her it would be just fine and to simply bear testimony of the basic things we have talked about in family home evening.  When it was her turn she marched up there and gave a great testimony and covered all 5 things that make up a testimony.  When she sat back down it took her another 15 minutes or so to calm down completely since her adrenaline was really pumping.  What a scary thing for an 11 year old! But she handled it like a pro and I'm sure it will be something she will never forget.  Good job, Jenna!  She only found out afterwards that the meeting was being broadcast to 2 other buildings in our stake and that there was a visiting General Authority in attendance. Yeah, sometimes it's just better not to know those kind of things. :-)

Any suggestions on how to keep this kid out of the fridge???

Fridge locks don't work for doors that open from the middle, we've tried.

Eat, Sleep,Party, Repeat. . .

It was a busy week of summer fun with a few music lessons and soccer practices thrown in.  The weather wasn't great the beginning of the week, it was wet and cold, but the kids compensated by playing with friends indoors.  On Monday all the kids were with me when we took Britton to mow the lawn and Grandma and Grandpa's rental house.  We dropped him off and went to the neighborhood park to play.

We still had to wait a few minutes when we went back to pick Britton up so Korinne just chilled while we waited.  I grabbed my phone to document some typical Korinne moments.

After a few days of cold and rain it warmed back up in time for the Poole Pool Party.  Our friend Morris Poole is an orthodontist and his office throws a big pool party every year for all of their clients and families, etc.  We always got invited, too, just because we are friends, but this year we are actually legit since Jenna got her braces on in August and is going to their office. The kids each brought a friend for a free night at the Aquatic Center with snacks and drinks.  Jameson was more brave than he has ever been in the water.  It helps that all of his friends were there, too. :-)

Friday was a K-1 Boating day.  Four of the  K-1 crew members and their kids were able to get together for a boating day at Willard Bay. We missed Heather and Kaylynn!

The kids are getting older and we found that we had to reintroduce them to each other upon arrival.  I guess it has been too long since we've included the kids in our get-togethers!  It didn't take them long to start having fun together, however.  It was just like old times.

It was finally our turn to go out on the boat so we loaded up and Britton and Jenna got ready to ride the tube out from the beach.

Unfortunately we didn't make it out very far before the boat hit a rock (the water is really low this year) and the propeller broke.  This picture let's you see how much Jameson enjoyed his very short ride on the boat.  I knew he would like it more once we got going, but unfortunately that didn't happen.

We made it back to shore and had plenty to do while we waited for Nate to go and get another propeller and change it out.

The kids even rowed out to the small island you can see in the middle picture.  Nate got the boat fixed in time for the kids to all have a turn on the tube before we had to go.  I stayed on the beach with Jameson, who refused to get back on the boat, and the other Moms.  Thanks to Nate for the following pictures and for being brave enough to be the only adult on the boat with 11 kids.

 

We'll miss Ker-dog when she moves to Oregon next week.  Glad we got to see her one last time before she left.

Saturday I was up early for a 65 mile ride around the mountain.  It actually turned out to be 75 miles for me since I rode my bike to the start and rode home from the finish.  It was an organized ride with support that was held to promote "Road Respect" between cars and bikes. One of my favorite parts about this ride was that it was free. Biking events are a little pricey so I'm always happy when something free comes along. It was a challenging ride and the first time I have ever gone through Sardine Canyon on a bike.  With hundreds of bikers going through at the same time I figured it was the safest time to try it.   

Here I am with a big group at the summit of the canyon.

It was taken by one of the organizers and appeared on their website this morning.  I'm in the blue/orange/white kit a little left of middle.

We had a neighborhood party last night at the park behind our homes.  The weather was great and there was a good turnout. We really love our neighborhood and have such great friends here.  Adam was at youth conference so he wasn't able to make it but I sure enjoyed not having to make dinner.  Jameson was heaven running around with his little friends.  They were hilarious laughing and tackling each other and chasing each other around.

Jameson and Rockwell are 4 days apart and are definitely partners in crime.  They may look like complete opposites on the outside, but they are both very animated and love to have fun.

I love you, man.

The neighborhood above us is starting to fill in so our view is going to be changing rather quickly.

Happy Summer to all! It's officially here!

World Cup

Our family was excited for the start of the World Cup this week in the host country of Brazil.

In general Americans don't know about or care much for the World Cup, but since Adam and I have both lived in South American countries where the people eat, sleep and breath the World Cup we get a little more excited about it these days.  It only happens every 4 years and the opening match was on Thursday afternoon between Brazil and Croatia so Adam stayed home from work and the entire family watched the game in the middle of the day.  It was our family kick-off party and it was so fun.  Even Korinne tolerated it since she could watch something on TV during a week day which is unheard of around our house. 

Living in Brazil during the 1998 World Cup was definitely an experience to remember.  Brazil made it to the finals that year and I have never seen a country get so excited about a sporting event. Never.  It doesn't even touch the Superbowl, or the NBA finals, or even the Olympics.  It is complete pandemonium with every street decorated and murals painted along the roads.  I took a picture of this one because I thought it was funny that they misspelled welcome in English.

The night that Brazil lost to France in the World Cup final everyone was so depressed no one would even talk to us.  The streets were silent and it was eerie.  During all of Brazil's games our Mission President instructed us to go inside our apartments and study since working would be impossible.  Every single person in the entire country was watching the game and when Brazil scored a goal the whole country erupted.  Seriously, I've never experienced anything like it.

Since we are talking about soccer already I'll add that Britton's team changed a little bit from last week.  In the end a few of the kids from his U13 premier team didn't commit so the team collapsed, meaning they didn't have the numbers they needed, and Britton went back up to the U14 Select team.  Yes, he'll be playing up another year, but this year they were able to get some kids they haven't had before so I think it will be a better year for the team.  Practices started this week.

Jameson had his last speech appointment this week.  He started speech when he was around 19 months because he wasn't speaking at all, but in the last few months he has really blossomed and is talking quite a bit.  He is making so much progress that we decided to discontinue his formal speech therapy appointments.  They only came once a month so it wasn't very intensive anyway.  It is fun to finally be able to hear Jameson talk and tell us what he wants.  He is putting 2 and 3 words together and sometimes the way he says things makes us laugh.  He is such a character and his facial expressions are hilarious.

Saturday was my Mom's annual Flag Day breakfast and since Adam had to be at Academy's corporate offices in Salt Lake for a meeting on Friday we all decided to go with him. While he worked, we went to the zoo.

It was such a great idea that everyone else in the state had it, too, and it was CROWDED. (Don't let this picture fool you, we took it right before we left so there weren't very many people coming in at that time).  But the zoo is one of the things you can still enjoy with crowds because you aren't waiting in lines for things.

The seals and sea otters were our favorite.  This one just came and parked in front of the glass for awhile.

The girls and Jameson enjoyed a ride on the carousel.  Britton decided he was ok to watch from the sidelines. 

The lion drinking fountain is one of the few things I remember about Hogle Zoo when I was a kid.  Even though today the zoo if very different, they still let you drink water out of a lion's mouth.

I didn't manage to take any pictures of Saturday's flag day breakfast, but I'm sure my Mom did so you can check her blog if you really want to see them.  Mom and Dad's new house being 2 houses down from the park helped a LOT. 

 

Jenna has been saving up her babysitting money for a new bike and yesterday was the day she was able to go to the store and buy it. 

 

 

She loves it and is excited to have a bike that finally fits her.  (She kind of looked like a clown riding around on such a small bike. If you haven't noticed she has grown quite a bit in the last 2 years.)

 

Britton started seeing how much money Jenna was making babysitting and decided to find his own way to make money.  His candy selling venture has been successful, but now that summer is in full swing he is making good money mowing lawns. He has 2 regular weekly customers and another family has said they will use them when they finally finish getting their yard in. 

 

Today is Father's Day.  I'm not a sappy sort of gal, but I will tell you that I give my Dad and Adam a big 2 thumbs up!  Thanks for all that you do, we're all spoiled.

Monkey Business

The first week of summer went exactly how I expected.  There was plenty of fun and general happiness, but there were also a few moments when the kids didn't feel like doing chores and weren't sure how to spend their time when partying wasn't an option.  In short, they laughed, they cried and survived week one of summer.

Tuesday morning was our first outing and I took the kids to the Willow Park Zoo.  When we pulled in and parked next to this car I knew something was up.

 

 

Sure enough Big Budah from Fox 13 news was there to do a live feed. There are a few things about our small town zoo that really crack me up, like the sign at the ticket office that said, "All of the zookeepers are busy so just come in and when you see one of us you can pay us." Classic.

 

Jameson was in heaven.  Even though the older kids have been there plenty of times, they still enjoy a quick trip to the zoo.

 

Getting food to feed the ducks

 

 

One of the 3 full time zookeepers just happens to be in our ward so when he saw us he stopped and talked to us and the kids for awhile and then told us what time to go by the monkeys to see the news crew do their thing.  Here he is showing the kids one of the animals he was going to feature on the news.

 

 

Another zookeeper was bringing out reindeer for the newsfeed.  She was early so she stopped and talked to the kids and told them all about the animals and let them pet them.  Yup, only in a small town zoo.

 

Big Budah, who is well known in the state, filming a teaser line for the news.

 

 

Filming the live segment in front of the monkey cage.  Big Budah is interviewing Carl who is in our ward.  They gave the monkeys some coconuts so they would be nice and active and it was so fun to see the monkeys running around and trying to get the coconuts open.  It made our little zoo experience that much more fun.

 

The kids were in charge of mowing the lawn on Wednesday but our lawnmower was out of gas so I decided to run to the gas station so they could get the job done.  I had Jameson with me and quickly filled the container and secured it in the back of the van before heading home.  Before I got home, however,  I started smelling gas so I pulled over and found that the container had turned over and the cap covering the top of the spout had come off.  Agh, there was a big puddle of gasoline in the back of my van!  Ok, so I may or may not have panicked at this point.  I rolled down the windows and drove home with visions of hitting a bump and having a spark ignite the pool of gasoline in the back of the car and having Jameson and me go up in flames.  Adam wishes there was film footage of the way I pulled into the driveway and yelled at the kids to not to near the car while I pulled Jameson to safety as quickly as I could in full panic mode. Hey, all I knew was that gas is very flammable, I didn't realize it would take A LOT to ignite it in my car.  Adam came home from work for a little bit to help me with the initial clean up efforts and to calm me down.  He was nice, of course, but I'm sure he was laughing at me on the inside.

 

 

Spilling a lot of the gas in the car is not awesome.  We've gone through a lot of baking soda, we've cleaned it with a steam cleaner and a deep cleaning carpet cleaning vac and I'm sure we will continue to do things to get that smell out of our car. While all of it has helped, the smell isn't completely gone yet. For now we roll the windows down and try not to think about how many brain cells we are killing each time we get in the car.

 

On Monday I had my first bike wreck.  Fortunately we were biking into a strong headwind so we weren't going very fast.  I was drafting off of the bike in front of me and all I remember is she lagged a bit and I was trying to not hit her tire and bam! I was on the ground.  Fortunately no one was behind me and I wasn't hurt badly.  Sure, I had the usual road rash all down the left side of my body, but my bike was fine and my helmet protected my head so after a few minutes of being stunned I climbed back on my bike and rode another 10 miles home. I had five days to rest and heal before heading out to Little Red, a 100 mile all women ride with the ladies I ride with.  Fortunately getting back on your bike is just like . . .getting back on a bike.  Ha!  I definitely rode with a little more caution, but had a great time.

 

I'm the one in the blue and orange Academy Mortgage kit on the left

We had a large group of 13 women and had so much fun! The above picture is just before we started and the picture below was our group at the finish line. This year's ride was definitely easier for me than last year when I was just barely getting into cycling.  My legs aren't even sore this year and I felt like I could just keep on going.

 

Here we are at our lunch stop.  I am definitely a fan of any sport that encourages me to stop and eat every 30 miles or so. Oreos with peanut butter and a banana slice on top? Yes, please!

 

 

On Friday afternoon a local business had a grand opening that promised lots of free activities for the kids so we decided to go.  Unfortunately so did everyone else in the entire valley.  I'm not sure the business was prepared for how many people actually showed up.  This is one case where the marketing was a little too successful if you ask me, but for the short amount of time we were there the kids had fun.

 

 

Jameson, did you help yourself to some blueberries??

 

 

Why would you even ask that, Mom?

 

While I was gone riding Little Red on Saturday several families in our neighborhood had yard sales.  I came home to this:

"Look Mom, I got this FOR FREE from one of the neighbors!" Ugh.  There was a reason it was free, my dear.  I'm not super happy about "Bear Bear" but Korinne and Jameson couldn't be more pleased.