Swimming at Heidi's

On Saturday, June 26th, after going to the zoo in the morning with the three littles, and picking up the three bigs from their sleepovers, we invited ourselves went to Heidi's condo to swim. It was SO FUN!!!  Heidi's always so nice to help with the kids.  It was nice this year that the older ones at least knew how to swim a little.  Heidi took everyone to the bathroom at least once though.... HUGE help.  Nate had a lot of fun throwing the boys in and catching them when they jumped in.  Charity and Kelly mostly swam around taking turns using Kelly's goggles, and standing on Mom's back and going for dolphin rides.  Brad loved showing off his skills and being able to touch more this year.  Luke was quiet and I think he got really cold there near the end, but he had a lot of fun jumping in!  He was really shy about his swimming skills.  I'm not sure why he kept saying he can't swim, he's normally a little fish at swim lessons.  Noah was petrified in the pool unless he was sitting on the stairs.  He had the death grip on you if you tried to take him away from the steps, but seemed just hunky-dory while he was on them.  He's funny.  Erika liked the water at first, but got tired and hungry and nursed a lot of the time.  I had fun showing the girls all the fun stuff I used to do in the pool as a kid.  Hand stand contests, letting them stand on my back, dolphin rides (as I used to call them).  It was a lot of fun.  We all got sunburnt except for Noah and Erika who for some reason were the only ones that got any sunblock on them.  Bad parenting.  We all went to Wingers for Dinner afterward.  What a blast we all had!!!  Can't wait for the next time we invite ourselves Heidi invites us back :)

Things to Remember

1. On Friday, 6-25-10, Brad was invited to sleepover at his cousin Evan's, and Charity and Kelly were invited to sleepover at their cousin Sierra's.  So we were left with 3 kids.  We wanted to enjoy the "break" and also spoil the ones that were with us so we went to dinner, had a wii night (Luke's choice) with dippin' dots ice cream, and a few other goodies, and then Saturday morning we took the three to the Zoo.  It was a lot of fun.  And while it's still hard for me to say that having just the younger three is a break in terms of how much there is to do, it sure was nice to be able to devote all of our attention to the younger three.  I took a mental picture of us at Olive Garden, Erika munching on the coaster, Luke flattening his napkin out all over the table on his side of the table, and Noah coloring with Nate as we waited for our food.  It's funny that we still get the "handful" looks and comments when we're with only half of our kids.  Hilarious.  I don't want to forget how cute Erika looked tearing the breadstick with her teeth :)  She finally has two now!  They look really cute on her, and she's making good use of them.  The kids had a lot of fun with their cousins and sleeping over.... that's always fun.  Charity calls it a "dream come true!"

2. On Wednesday, June 30th, we finished the Book of Mormon as a family.  This is our second time making it through the whole book.  (with one start over to get in line with a Primary program in Eagle Mt. so we've technically read it 2 1/2 times :))  It was really neat to point out that when you finish the book you can then go to Heavenly Father and ask him if it is true.  I love that my kids take those things so seriously.  Sure enough, when Charity said the bedtime prayer for us that night, she asked Heavenly Father to help us know that the book of Mormon was true.  I felt the Spirit so strongly during that prayer (even though there was SO much chaos that evening.... we were finishing the book of mormon.... go figure!  stupid satan)  It made me want to be so much better at reading on my own, and having that feeling more often.  I'm glad our family is doing so weel with the reading though.  It's fun to think that we have solidified this habit and made it such a crucial part of our routine.  I know it will keep our family together and help us be a stronger family.

3. On Friday, July 2nd, while we were camping, during the time where Sarah and I were left with the three little ones while everyone went fishing, we had the opportunity to play cards while being distracted and interrupted by the cute little boys playing around the campground.  I thought it was a lot of fun.  It was hard to really get into the card game, but still, very well spent.  Anyway, the thing I want to remember was how funny it looked when Charlie was sneaking in one last nose pat (that's what I'll call it) with Noah's Ee-oh, before Noah could grab it away from him.  SO HILARIOUS!!!  I'm sure Charlie just thinks Noah's crazy with that satin pillowcase and yet he still had to try it out :)  Doing exactly what Noah does with it.  Makes me laugh just thinking about it.

4. On Saturday, July 3rd while camping, I was in the tent, trying to roll up the sleeping bags and clean out the tent.  Noah was in there with me, talking and asking questions about everything I did.  The usual :).  At one point the wind got really wild, and the tent was really blowing, and Noah started saying the cutest things, "Mom!  Oh no!  The tent going go up in da sky!" Then hurrying into the corner saying, "Hurry mom!  Lay down!  We're up in da sky!"  I chuckled when I realized he was probably getting that idea from Wizard of Oz :) ..... what a cutie. 

5.  Kelly gave a talk today in Church, July 4th, about following the Savior's example.  She had Nate help her write it this morning (we had forgotten about it) and then did such a fantastic job on it!  The Primary Presidency is always so amazed with how well she can read and hand write her talks on her own.  They always make a point to say something, it's cute.  I'm always so proud of her.  She was very proud of her talk as well, and got really sad when church was over and she realized that Sis. Rose had not given her talk back to her (they like to make copies of the kids' talks to use for the Sacrament meeting program in October).  We just had to stop at Sis. Rose's house to ask her for it to which Kelly was even more devasted when she learned that she would have to wait till the next week when she was able to get a copy of it.  The only reason I mention this is because it made me smile to think that she was so attached to her talk.  I love that my kids love that stuff.  I hope they do for a while.  I love that my kids get the chance to do these things as well. The church is so true!

At the Park

Went to the Red Park on the 24th.  It was one of our lazy days.  I love lazy days.  I guess that's why I always take so many pictures of them and want to hang on to them.  I'm certain that these are the moments I will miss the most when my kids are grown.  Just so much innocence.

Noah hasn't been big enough to swing in a big boy swing for long.... he's still just a little nervous holding on himself.  But oh so cute!!

Brad found this little spider and knows how much I love to use macro :).... gross that he's letting it crawl all over him though, huh.  Boys.  Brad's new thing is that "spiders are nice!" He got really upset with me the other day for killing a spider.  He's such a sweet little guy.

Who doesn't love that face!  She loves swinging!

We've got so many helpers these days.  Luke and Erika have a special little friendship.... it's really sweet to watch them.

Kelly is my little runner most of the time.  She's the first one to volunteer to help out.  I can't remember exactly what she was doing in this picture, but I assume she was helping me with something.  She's such a good helper.  I hope she knows how much I love her and appreciate her help.  She's amazing. 

Noah seems to be growing up too fast for me lately too.  Talking more, doing more crazy little imagination-type things, being a tease.... I love it, but it definitely shows he's growing!

I don't know how this one ended up on this post, but to avoid wasting more time putting it on it's own post.... this was from Friday, the 25th when we met two of my friends from HS at Rocket Park.  I LOVED hanging out with Ashleigh and Rachel!!  It's been SO long, but it really just felt like yesterday when we would talk.  It's fun when you can just pick up where you left off.  I'm sure it's harder for the people with me, considering what a crazy teenager I was..... but it's fun to see us all with kids and new lives.  I love it.  Here's some of our kids rolling down the hill.  The few moments that my kids weren't hovering around trying to catch every bit of the conversations :)  Ya gotta love that.  Thanks again Ashleigh and Rachel!!  Love you guys!!!  Let's get together again soon!!

Sisters!

These pictures might seem a little redundant or meaningless to some people, but not to me.  Charity couldn't sleep one night and so we let her stay up a little with us.  She and Erika got some sweet, sister bonding time.  I LOVED watching them together.  To watch two little people, one larger than the other, that my sweetheart and I with the help of the Lord, made. having a moment together on the chair with some crackers, is like heaven to me.  Maybe that sounds weird.  But they really are just two little miracles, and the fact that they love each other so much is just an added little bonus miracle in my mind.  I love it.

These two actually have a ton in common too.  Besides having the same big, beautiful, brown eyes, their personalities are VERY similar.  Makes me wonder what Erika will do.  If she will be like Charity in 8 years.  I get anxious, but at the same time, I get blown away thinking about how fast these little girls are growing!

I can only hope that these two will always love each other and want to be there for each other.  With how many years are between them I know it's likely that they won't always be real close, but I'll keep hoping that they can beat the odds.  Oh I just love being a mom and having these little beauties in my life.

If you haven't already

I really love the new design for blogger... ya know how it keeps suggesting the idea to switch.... I fully recommend it!!  It was a little tricky for me because I didn't realize I could just change to a 3 column background until after a lot of fidgeting, but you should do it!!  Look how big you can get your pictures to be!!!  I love that!