Summer Fun

Caroline finally figured out how to swim by herself with this little tube around her waist- thanks to Aunt Britney for leaving it for us! 

We swim about 5 or 6 days a week.  Natalie NEVER gets tired of swimming.  She is a fish.

 Trying to get Caroline to jump off the diving board takes several brothers

Wesley likes to create and bring lego boats, cargo ships and coast guard patrol boats.

Emery

 Savannah came up to me and said, "Both of my two bottom teeth are loose, can you pull them out for me?"  I helped her pull the first and she was a little surprised that it hurt and bled, but then immediately asked me to pull out the other one.  She is a tough girl...and great swimmer.

Ammon hates to have his picture taken, so he was trying to hide- but I got him!

 Wesley going down the slide

Savannah frequently wakes up and comes down to our room to use the restroom (the one in her room is too scary) or to sleep on our couch.  She even wakes up with great hair.

 Joel wanted to go on a hot air balloon ride for his birthday.  It took several months to schedule it due to weather (the wind and temperature have to be just right).  We finally went on our flight on an early summer morning.  It was surprising mellow.  It felt just like floating up into the sky on a balloon.

We landed in a field and had to walk out through some brush.  It was fun!

Our little Emery turned 8.  He wanted a chocolate football cake, of course.  After going to the neighbors house and seeing their little ATV, he decided that he wanted one for his birthday.  Joel found him this little one, and he LOVES it.

That evening he was baptized by his father.  It was a wonderful program and even Uncle Dillon was there!

 Our boys move pipes all summer long to earn the money for their missions and college.  It is fun and rewarding to watch the neighbor come and cut and bale the hay.  Savannah has made good friends with the farmer (her Kindergarten teacher's father) and runs out to ride in the tractor whenever he shows up.  She loves to talk to him the whole time.

Our Branch went on a 4 day Pioneer Trek up at Moses's Ranch.  They walked and pulled carts over 40 miles.  The youth were separated into families and Ammon got to be the father of one of the groups.  They had a great time.

 When Ammon saw me, he ran up to give me a big sweaty and dirty hug.  Great son

Preston was a little bit less excited to see me (Joel was on the trek).

 All of the kids dressed in pioneer clothes the whole time.

We had a branch dinner to welcome the kids back from the trek.  The little kids loved playing with the kid hand cart.

Preston turned 14.  He loves berries on his chocolate cake, a perfect mix of his mother and father.

After begging for a pet all year long, we settled on getting him a bearded dragon lizard.  He named it Mushu (from the dragon in the Disney movie Mulan).  It's pretty cool

 Football season started last week.  Preston signed up for High School football and went to two-a-day practices all last week.  Emery had practices every evening with Joel as an assistant coach.  Ammon also started cross country, and Wesley starts middle school football next week.  Let the games begin.  This was Emery's first game at the Jamboree at BSU's indoor practice field.  He almost got several flags.

On Saturday Joel, Ammon and Derek (who is here for a few weeks) decided to throw everyone in the pool-clothes an all.  I went to get my camera to take some pictures of the event, when Ammon and Derek met me at the door.  I should have known their purpose.  They took the camera and tossed me into the pool.  It was great fun for all.  Natalie loves it when her daddy flips her into the pool.

 Since Derek was at our house, we took advantage of the convenient babysitter and went on a week long trip to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.  We walked on the beach, worked out, went out to eat, swam in the pool, went snorkeling, paddle boarding and took naps.  It was nice and relaxing.  I even finished two books (and Joel read one)!  Thanks Derek!  We video chatted with our kids everyday and felt like they did great without us.  It is so nice having older capable kids.  They made all of the meals, did the laundry, and kept up on the house.

 Our hotel had beach beds set up on the beach.  They hung by ropes, and were covered in pillows.  A very unique and fun way to relax on the beach.

The housekeeping was outstanding.  They left us this on our last day.

Summer time

When Joel's parents got called to Panama on their mission, we decided that we would have to go visit them.  I filled out all of the passport information and took some passport photos.  Here are their mug shots:

 Emery

Natalie

                                     Ammon (with braces)

Wesley

 Caroline

 Savannah

                                                      and  Preston

Savannah's Kindergarten Graduation (she was very excited!)

 Holding the official diploma

 With her classmate Gage Howerton

And her teacher Mrs. Larson

                                         Lillie and I at the start of the Newport, Oregon Marathon

The beautiful Yaquina Bay Bridge

Wesley had the camera and took a lot of pictures (of course they are a bit blurry because we were running so fast!)

 After the marathon we had a great week staying at a rental house right on the beach.  The kids even swam in the freezing waters.

 Joel and the five older kids even walked across the bridge.  They said it was very scary with the fast moving traffic and narrow sidewalk.

We also went to see the Yaquina Lighthouse.  

 Preston and Caroline were buddies

Beautiful Natalie

 The beach by the lighthouse was covered in round black rocks.  Each time the waves crashed, it sounded like loud clapping.  Very cool

throwing rocks

 Emery and Savannah loved climbing all over the rocks.

Preston (before braces)

We were all a little cold most of the time we were in Oregon (the highs were in the 60's every day), but it was Joel's favorite weather.  He even asked me if I wanted to move there...but I need more sun and snow.  

We took another trip down to Utah for the kids BYU summer camps.  Ammon and Preston were gone from Monday morning until Saturday morning, so we were able to spend some time with the younger ones.  We showed them around temple square, then we all went to see the Joseph Smith Movie (except Caroline, who was bored of it after 20 minutes).  Then we went to the Lion House for dinner and the reflecting pool in front of the temple.

We finished off by going in to listen to a few songs by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir (we didn't see Uncle David).  They even sung "Consider the Lillies of the Field".  It was so much more beautiful to listen to it live, then on tv during conference. 

After going to, EFY, Football Camp, Gymnastics Camp and Basketball camp, with a trip to the Hoogle Zoo, Temple Square, the new Bean Museum and the Provo Rec Center (for the great pools and water slides), our kids were wiped out.  We even got to spend time with Ashely's family (for a great dinner, the zoo and swimming), and Stephanie's family (the zoo).
My little baby and my big baby even sleep the same.

When we got back Preston got new braces.  He didn't eat much for several days.

 Ammon got his braces off, and celebrated by eating everything he missed for the past two years (lots of corn of the cob and apples).  He looks good.

For the 4th of July, we went to the annual Gemtek Boise Hawks Baseball game.  It was very hot, but we still had a good time.  We even had a great barbecue dinner.

Emery and Wesley got to run the bases after the game ended.  They loved it.  It all ended with a great fireworks show (that Caroline hated because she hates fireworks).