My birthday!!! Lake Buena Vista

This year for my birthday we headed to Lake Buena Vista with friends. We always have a blast when we go. My boys spend the WHOLE time on the boat. If it's leaving the shore, they're ON IT! And they come home wanting a boat. The Petersons are very kind to indulge us all. I know they enjoy going too and we always love it when they take us along.

Mommy and Sierra; Ben watching daddy wake board;Bob and the kiddos; Sierra not too sure about riding on the boat; Andrew holding the safety flag.

I figured since there would be NO WAY that I would be able to wake board this time....being 9 months pregnant, that I could at least ride on the tube....as long as we didn't go too fast.

Lisa Miller and I decided we'd take Ethan and Sierra on the tube with us. Ben thought he'd join us too. I think we weighed a little TOO much! We kept leaning backwards! It was SO uncomfortable, but Sierra and Ethan were enjoying themselves. Ben, not so much, so he got to go again later.

Here is Ben riding again since he didn't get much of a ride with mommy. He's riding with Jacob Miller and Hannah Bywater. According to Ben Jacob fell off! He thought it was pretty funny. And Andrew got on with Tim and Hope Bywater. They just wanted to go faster and faster and faster!Bob always enjoys going and wake boarding too. He's actually doing pretty good for only going once or twice a year. Yes, they wear helmets, last year Dan Miller took a pretty bad fall and ended up with a concussion and in the hospital, so they now take precautions.Thank You Petersons, Millers, and Bywaters for joining us at the lake and making the day so much fun!

Andrew on the kid ski!!!!!

This year for my birthday we headed to the lake with our good friends the Petersons, Millers and Bywaters. I didn't get too many pics of everyone there, but I did manage to get some of Andrew taking his second turn on the kid ski. His first attempt was EARLY, before I got there. He was so proud of himself and he LOVED it!!

Here he is starting from the shore...which is supposed to be harder, the other kids generally start from the back of the boat...Andrew doesn't do to well this way. Oh well!

Look at the shear joy and happiness on his face!!! He was LOVING it!Check out that SKILL!!! We were so proud of him for not falling when the boat turned...not as easy to do as you would think.He was getting a little tired, he had been riding for awhile. And down at the bottom shows how it's done. Dad sits on the back of the boat and holds the rope. That way he can let the rope in or out, and pull them in when they're done.

These are a few cool shots Jeff took while standing up high in the boat. He just looks so calm and collected!

OOPS! Then he fell. With a smile on his face:) When we came back around to him, he was all smiles and was giving us a thumbs up!

What a HUGE accomplishment for Andrew this year. His water skills have REALLY improved this year. Last summer he didn't want to try the ski....afraid he would fall. This year...ALL SMILES!!!

Benjamin's Sports Camp

This summer we enrolled Benjamin in a mini sports camp. Since Andrew had the opportunity to do soccer, Ben got his chance to learn several different sports. It was a week long camp and each day they played a different sport.

I forgot to take pictures the first day while they were playing t-ball. Oh well, he decided it wasn't his favorite anyway.

Here was the second day when they were playing soccer. Ben thought the passing the ball back and forth with his brother was BORING. But kicking the ball into the goal....AWESOME!!!

Then they played Basketball....NOT his best sport. He really struggled with bouncing the ball. He wouldn't hit it hard enough to get it to bounce back up. But he still says it's his favorite sport. So we got him a b-ball to practice with at home.

Day 4 was hockey. He just couldn't hold the stick right! He did have fun though. He was such a perfectionist too when it came to hitting the ball back and forth between the cones. If he missed a cone, he would pick up the ball and reset it.

Friday was track and field. He had them running backwards to the cones. I was very proud of him! We do need to work on his skipping though:( Then the coach set up a little track and they had relay races. TOO CUTE!!

His favorite of track and field was the hurdles. It was SO cute to watch them run and jump over them. What FUN!!

There was a park right next to the grass where Benjamin was, so I was able to watch Andrew and Sierra play at the park while I watched Ben play his sports. Andrew was SO good with Sierra. He LOVES his little sister, and she is SO in love with him.

Andrew's Soccer Camp

I've been trying to keep these littles busy this summer. I want them to enjoy themselves. So, Andrew wanted to participate in a soccer camp. He had a BLAST! What was nice was the park near by to help keep Ben and Sierra entertained. His camp was 3 hours a day, so we'd play at the park, run a few errands, and then they always wanted to watch him for a little while, so here are a few pics of my cute littles entertaining themselves while they watch Andrew.

Here are a few pictures of Andrew's camp. I love the one in the middle where they have them stop the ball with their bumm.

He was actually pretty good. He picked up on everything pretty quick. I did notice that he sticks his tongue out when concentrating....like mother like son:) Oh yeah, see the one in the middle, this time they were stopping the ball with their head.

The coaches were a lot of fun and made the camp a BLAST for the kids. Now he wants to play soccer. We'll see what he plays this fall.

Swimming Lessons

After we got back from CO the boys started swimming lessons. We have been fortunate enough to be able to have semi-private lessons for the boys at a friends house. Their teacher Caitlin is AMAZING! She was an assistant to their teacher last summer, but because she's not doing them again this summer, we snaged Caitlin.Before lessons Ben wouldn't go under the water, even though he knew how. And by the time we were done, he was spending lots of time under the water. And he opens his eyes....which Andrew thinks is AMAZING!!

Some how the only pictures I took were of Ben's class, but I did get a few of them all jumping in during free time.

Ice Blocking!

A few weeks ago the youth wanted to go ice blocking. Because all the places to get the ice blocks closed before Bob got off work, we were enlisted to get the ice. This of course sparked the question of whether or not the kids could go. They wantedt to see what this was ALL about. After talking to Bob we decided that it wouldn't be a bad idea. They were told though that they had to wait their turn and let the youth go first since it was there activity. We have WONDERFUL youth in our ward who love our kids and who our kids love. They were so good to let them ride on the ice too. I got several fun pictures. We don't have many youth in our ward, so I was able to get shots of all that were there.

For Andrew and Benjamin's first attempt, Bob tied a rope to the block of ice and pulled them along the top of the hill and down at an angle. Crystal Henderson held Andrew's hand so he wouldn't fall off. Ben just ran along side until it was his turn. They LOVED it!

Bob was the only youth leader to go down the hill. Ben enjoyed chasing everyone down, then of course back up!

Andrew eventually ventured out on his own and took off down the hill! He was all smiles the WHOLE way!!

Ben took things a little slower and went down with Bob before he made an attempt at going on his own.

Even Sierra gave it a try. After spending the whole evening watching everyone else, she finally got her turn. She first went down with Austin Phillips then with Bob. Austin was actually kind enough to take her down several times. She just kept asking him "again?" I think Austin enjoyed it. Sierra's a little leary of the young men (the boys 12-18) and they're always seeing if they can get her to talk to them, or even acknowlede their existents with out running to Bob or I. So for her to play with Austin was a pretty big deal since we were around.

Crystal and Tyler

Alexis Phillips and Caitlin Williams....they started off wrong so the whole thing just didn't work for them:(

Kaitlyn Hunter and Jazmyn Helbush

Sorry Becca, my only pic is of you falling.

Wesley Hunter

Andrew's Birthday Update

I tried to add this to Andrew's bday post, but I was unable. So, here is a picture of Andrew and I on his birthday at school. He had been asking for awhile if I would come and eat lunch with him. So, for his birthday I surprised him at school and we had lunch together. It was a great date!!!! Love you Andrew!

4th of July

Unfortunately I didn't get many pictures of our Fourth of July. We started out our day at the scout pancake breakfast ....

My Cuties!!!

Sierra and her friend Mackensie Peterson

Unfortunatley because Bob's the scout master, we never saw him. He was busy doing this....

Later in the day we headed over to our friends the Phillips for swimming, bbqing, games and fireworks. We always enjoy spending time with them. In fact, we were having so much fun, these are all the pictures that I got.

I love this one of Sierra with her crazy hair!

Four Corners and Grand Canyon

On our way home from CO we decided that we would go to the Four Corners monument and make a quick stop at the Grand Canyon. The kids LOVED Four Corners. Funny since all it is is a big medalion in the ground where Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Arizona meet. But, they enjoyed standing in all four. So of course we ALL had to do it. Even Sierra, she jumped right in there and expected her picture to be taken too.

The kids enjoyed even just running around, each standing in a different state, and Andrew wanted to stand right in the middle. What a great way to stretch their legs!

After we went to Four Corners we made our way to the Grand Canyon.

Here everyone is in a watch tower. I couldn't believe how many stairs!!

Bob and the kids taking a breaj coming down...showing off the Indian art work on the inside of the tower. Bob and Sierra at the top..check out the view! Yeah, I move a little slower, even coming down, but you can see how steep the stairs are.

Andrew wouldn't get near the edge of the patio at the fort, Ben had NO problem!

When we were back down to the bottom Andrew was a little more willing to get near the edge and have his picture taken.

I love these little ones. They are so protective of each other. Ben always wanted to hold Sierra's leash. He's always worried she'll get away.

Here we all are at the rim. It was hard to get Ben to look at the camera, he wanted to see the view!