Summer days

 Just two projects from first grade.

 

I love it when I find all the kids playing together at once. The were playing "motor boat".

Juliette loves it when they treat her like a big kid.

 

And here I found Charlie laying in a sunny spot on the trampoline, contemplating the infinite.

Back to Utah

 

Usually when I go to the motherland I leave behind a green California and come to brown Utah.

 

This time I left behind the brown California drought and came to green Utah.

 

It was heavenly.

The kids played with their cousins nonstop. My Dad had a water fight with some of his grandkids. They loved ganging up on him.

 

I love the Manti pageant. I love the Manti temple. We made it a point to take the kids to the pageant for the first time in their lives. They loved going there and sitting on the grass, but there were parts of the pageant where they were bored. But I loved being there.

We were able to see cousin Tyeler complete another important step to be ready for his mission in September. Yay!

 

Fun at Grandma's.

This year we even made it to Lagoon. We went with a bunch of my siblings and their kids. Everybody had a great time.

My uncle Stephen and his family own 200 acres in Sanpete county. Every summer my Mom's side of the family meets there for a reunion where we camp for a night or two. It's so pretty.

The boys and their swords.

This girl went through about 4 outfits a day. Camping with a toddler is never easy. But I was just grateful I didn't have a baby. I think camping with a baby is even harder. I'm almost to that "sweet spot" in mothering, where things just get easier. I think I'll be there in about six months when I can reason with Juliette and she doesn't walk around trying to find new ways to try to kill herself every five minutes.

Swim Team

 Last summer I had the boys try out for swim team and they both made the team. Then I decided I wasn't ready for the time commitment and didn't go through with it.

This summer they made the team again and I decided I was willing to make the sacrifice. Every morning, Monday through Friday, we are at the pool by 8am, swimming laps. The boys are doing awesome. It's been really good for me to see them learning the stroke refinement that I've been wanting to give them but haven't been able to since I'm always focused on the non-swimmers in the family and teaching them the basics so they don't drown.

Sometimes the boys don't want to go because they're tired or just want to stay home. I just tell them they don't have a choice, and when we get there they always have a good time.

I have never enrolled any of my kids in swim lessons, they've all been taught by me since we had our own pool and I was a life guard and swim instructor for years in college. So watching them thrive under someone else's instruction has been really fun for me.

 

Now, if I can just keep Juliette alive until she learns to swim on her own I will be so proud. That baby never stops and she is so daring. We have already had to save her from drowning three times in her little life. One time she jumped in the pool in Lava Hot springs and sunk like a brick to the bottom at 4 feet deep. I had to jump in and save her. I've always been right next to her when she pulls these stunts, but it's always scary and leaves me feeling like I have PTSD.

 

Swim team is fun and we love it.

At our leisure

 

Scarlett has a best buddy. It's little Owen. They have been thrown together since they were babies. Their Mommies have taken them to Hawaii together, camping, Santa Cruz, playgrounds, pools, bowling and everywhere that is fun.

Avery and Edmond have been hanging out together since they were in the womb. Eight years in one place provides plenty of opportunity to build the friendships that feel like family.

Charlie and Caitlin used to hug and dance together on the trampoline during preschool.

Now Caitlin is a little mother to my baby.

And Scarlett and Owen (both 3) are swimming on their own.

 

I love these people so much. We've had a lot of good times, tears, and laughter over the past eight years. I've been blessed to have friends that are like sisters to me, who have been involved in my day to day life and have been there to help brighten up those mundane Mommy days.

 

Some changes are coming our way, hanging out with these ladies and their cute kids won't be as easy as it used to be. But it's still going to happen. We'll make it happen.

 

And I'll have to start over in a new place, building new friendships that will hopefully feel like family again.