Our Summer So Far

We are enjoying summer and have stayed pretty busy so far.

We made another trip to Palisades over the 4th of July. Laurie and Marlin Palmer, Daniel and Erin Palmer and Jon and Andrea Fernelius and their kids went with us. Everyone enjoyed paddling around in the kayaks Daniel and Erin made. We are thankful to them for sharing all of their hard work with us. Nathaniel loved being able to go out by himself and paddle around the lake. It was a nice relaxing trip, all except the part when Ethan started throwing up. We drove to Manti on the 4th for ice cream and the fireworks show. We continure to be thankful to have such good dogs. We take them camping and put them on their stakes and they hang out in the shade. Although we did startle a few people who went to walk through our campsite and stopped when they caught site of this huge dog.

This week the 3 boys have been in swimming lessons. After feeling frustrated with community lessons, I found someone who teaches private lessons in a neighbor's pool. It has been a great experience. She first focuses on them being comfortable in the water and teaching them to find their "safe spot". That means that they learn to float on their back so if they ever fell into water they would know how to respond. There is one other teacher at this pool and she specializes in teaching babies. It has been interesting to watch her teach them how to float on their back. They will scream and cry but they are floating on their back. It's amazing, to know you can teach a baby what to do if they were to fall in water. I never wouldn't have to thought to put Jaxon in swimming lessons but now I wish I had.

We are finished with the baseball/kickball season. The boys had a fun time playing. It was fun to watch a bunch of 5 year olds try to play kickball. The best part of it was that it was an introduction to baseball, teaching them about running the bases, getting outs, and playing the outfield.

In case you were wondering, we had a blast at the summer party. Sierra Pool is a fun place, the food was good and the entertainment was great. The kids are still talking about the fire dancer. They had the employees enter a door prize drawing. Benjamin was the first name drawn. So he had pick of the prizes, and what did he pick, you ask? A giant box of fireworks. I was less than impressed with that but the boys were really excited. So if you want to see a show on the 24th, come on over.

We have celebrated a couple of birthdays. Caleb turned 4, and Benjamin made him a neat pirate ship cake complete with cannons and cannonballs. His birthday was a little hectic as we were packing up to go camping that day but we made sure he had a nice celebration. We had bought a set of golf clubs for the boys to share. But Caleb being a lefty got his own set of golf clubs for his birthday. Benjamin turned, well, older. (Do men care if you disclose their age?) After he got home from work we went to the

driving range and hit some balls. The boys love being able to "hit the balls hard". They are much for the putting green. Then we met his parents at the Trolley in Springville for dinner. We all order a full rack of ribs. YUMMY! Then we came home and had ice cream cake and presents. I think they both had nice birthdays. Jaxon enjoyed a blue Airhead the waitress gave him. As you can see his mouth is nice and blue.