Swimming Lessons, Teeth Drama, and Father's Day

The day after we returned from our Logan/Millsite trip Henry and Sarah each taught their youth classes at church. For Henry, this was his first time teaching his quorum class. He was fine about it and even a bit excited. We went over the material together and he chose what he wanted to focus on and highlighted and made notes. He was actually cracking me up a little bit with his thoroughness. I don't see this side of him very often.

He had swimming lessons the next week. His class this year was all about the breast stroke. Every moment he could catch my eye he would mouth "I hate this" and he would complain, complain, complain the whole way home.

Henry stop complaining. "I'm not complaining. I'm just saying it sucks." 

Check out this rainbow.

James has had a wiggly tooth for weeks. Just the thought of a loose tooth has been so exciting for him. He's seen his brother and sisters lose teeth right and left and was eager to join the club. In this photo it's so loose he's able to put it behind his top teeth like it's supossed to be.

One evening he was determined to get it out but it was pretty stubborn and starting to hurt and upset him so I told him to just leave it alone and we'll see how it goes in the morning. He went to bed but about 30 minutes later he came out so upset that his mouth hurt and he just wanted it out. Justin and I worked with it and he was such a good sport. Finally he pulled it out all on his own. He was pretty tearful but happy.

Father's Day! The kids each picked a treat for Justin to open. Henry: Dr. Pepper, Erica: chocolate with almonds, Sarah: BYU ice cream, James: Reese's peanut butter cups. From he he got some new grilling tongs and spatula.

Erica made him this candy filled paper tie in her primary activity.

She was pretty sick this day (she threw up a few times and I had a migraine too so we stayed home from church this day) so this is how I got a group shot of them.

Here's his crew.

They love him so much and he is so good for them. He's always helping them to see they can do things beyond what they think they can do and just makes them feel so special.

Erica got new glasses. Her frames from a year ago were looking a little small and we switched insurance providers so huzzah, she was eligible for new frames.

Henry has been interested in strength training. Aside from taking all my dumbbells down to his room, he grabbed my leg weights. He doesn't know how to use them and it's hilarious.

The week after Henry's swimming lesson the rest of the kids had their lessons. Sarah's lesson was an hour long each morning at 8am. Then I had to go back at 12:30 for James's lesson, sit through a private lesson before Erica's class at 1:30. Throw in a detour due to road construction and you better believe I was tired of driving back and forth and hanging out at Miss Debbie's pool. (I hope next year I have better options for class times.)

This year Erica learned the front stroke. She's moved beyond the floating and breathing basics and is now learning strokes! Henry already taught her at the pool in Logan so she did very well.

Sarah was in the life saving class and one day they had to practice pulling drowning victims out of the pool. It was pretty funny but useful.

Sarah's class (bottom row on left)

James's hair is amazing.

One Week, Two Vacations

 Justin had a three-day training class in Logan last week so we all tagged along. Three days of hanging around Logan, swimming in the hotel pool, hanging out with my brother and my sister-in-law, and snow cones. Lots of snow cones.

We left early Tuesday morning to drive the two hours and get Justin to his class that started at 10 am. We made it to Logan with 20 minutes and 1/4 gallon of gas to spare. Henry was convinced we were going to run out of gas before we found a gas station. 

After we dropped Justin off at the health department, we went to my brother's new house. They moved into a new home in April and we hadn't seen it yet. I was geeking out over the location and the style of the home. It's nestled down in a million trees in The Island neighborhood with views of the moutnains and the university plus it's just a block from the river and a park. 

After a house tour, Lisa had some work to do so we went to a park in River Heights and she was going to meet us up for lunch.

This park in River Heights is right by my school. I have a photo of me at this place.

Ah, here it is.

Circa 1989. L-R Kelly Weese(sp?), Jill Cook, Riley?, Megan Bingham, ?, me, ? I think this was a church activity. 

Anyway, after lunch: snow cones, round one. Matt and Lisa own two shacks and this was just our first of 3 stops.

After this we went to Peyton's place and went swimming in the pool at their complex. That night we had a bbq at Matt and Lisa's house with my nephew and his baby. I'm a great aunt! Aunt at 9, great aunt at 39.

Ack he's sooooo cute! He looks like Matt and my brother Thomas.

We checked out the Logan River across the street from their house. It was rushing super high but they said it wasn't at it's highest anymore. Luckily no one's homes had been damaged by the rising waters. Then we got more snow cones. Of course.

Sarah slept at Matt's house both nights because she could have a room all to herself. The rest of the kids were enticed by the hotel pool and breakfast so they stayed with Justin and I. We actually didn't see much of Sarah the next couple of days since she spent all her time as an honorary employee of Aloha Snow. 

After I dropped Justin off at his class, we spent a couple of hours at the hotel pool. These kids can swim for a long time.

Then I made them get out so we could take Justin his lunch and we drove down a lot of streets like this. I love all the huge trees in Logan.

After we dropped off Justin's lunch (from Old Grist Mill, of course) we took our lunch to Lundstrom Park. 

Then we met up with Lisa and Sarah at the Gossner milk cheese factory store. We bought some fun flavored milk boxes for the kiddos and some squeaky cheese for Justin. Then BACK to the hotel for another hour of swimming before it was time to pick up Justin.

We went out for Indian food that night with Matt and Lisa. They are the only people in my family that love Indian food besides Justin and I. After two rounds of swimming plus a couple of hours at the park, this was Henry and Erica waiting for dinner. We finally tired them out.

From there we went to the Aggie Creamery. This may be one of my favorite places ever. I know it's my favorite place to get ice cream in the whole world. I think I love the way it smells inside and I love that it's inside a campus building so it makes me all nostalgic for my college days there. I should have taken more pictures but I was to immersed in the deliciousness of my peach ice cream cone.

I didn't really drive through campus much. I could tell from what I could see from the main roads that it has changed quite a bit. I can't believe it will be 20 years this fall that I started there. 

Thursday morning more swimming and then In n' Out for lunch that we ate at Merlin Olsen Park. This is the park that we went to the most when I was little. The playground has changed. They took out the animal themed stuff and the twisty metal slide that gave us burns. But stream is still there and the trees are even bigger than I remember. Gosh I love this park. I have very few memories of my family back when we all lived in the same roof and this park was a big part of those years. Matt left on his mission when I was 6 and Thomas was 2 so there are just a few years where we were all together and this park represents that time to me.

The grassy area is turned into an ice rink in the winter (I don't know if they still do that). It's immortalized to my kids in this puzzle so it was fun to show them the puzzle is based on a real thing at a real place.

After lunch we cautiously killed time waiting to hear from Justin that he was done with his test and that we could hightail it home and begin our second leg of our vacation week. He was the first one done with his test, scored an impressive 98% and we were outta there! I already want to go back.

After an extra long drive home through traffic jams, we swapped some clothes out of our suitcases and hit the road again. We drove to Ferron and arrived at 8:30 that night. Most of Justin's family had camping spots in the state park but we stayed at a motel in town. Early the next morning Justin and I walked across the street to the tiniest grocery store to pick up some apples and crackers. This sign shows just how small the store was.

The produce was right next to the frozen food.

Then we met the crew at the state park, ate breakfast and then the kids were dying to go on the boat. Well not James. Don't let this smile fool you, he was nervous for quite awhile. Last summer the steering went out in the boat and we had to be towed back in and James has not forgotten. "What if we get stuck out here? Millsite reservoir is tiny so there's no way people wouldn't notice. But we were the only boat on the water so I'm not sure who would have helped us.

It was pretty cold so no one really wanted to get wet so we did mellow tube rides instead.

After lunch Justin's aunt pulled out her kayak and paddleboard and they kept the kids busy for a long time. Her campsite was right across from this beach and it was perfect. 

Erica has used the kayak before and it showed. She was quite the little kayaker.

Sarah was pretty good at the paddleboard. I must have not been on the previous trip when they learned how to use this stuff. I was impressed.

This was James's first time on the kayak. It took him a bit to figure out how the oars worked and how to go forward, not backward.

But by the end of the trip, he was a natural.

He'd make the cutest little kayak guide.

And then Henry's turn.

He wanted to go fast. It's always a race with this kid. 

Justin and I and the boys went for a drive up Ferron Canyon and then we all had a dutch oven dinner and sang happy birthday to his dad. The wind picked up or we would have stayed longer and eaten smores.

The next morning Justin was pretty sick so we got a slow start to the day. I told the kids to go play at the park on the same block as our motel but they only made it as far as the dinosaur at the gas station next door.

We played some games, Justin felt better, we rode ebikes around the campground then cleaned up camp and headed out. We stopped for a late lunch in Castle Dale then had a uneventful drive home. Justin had a work party that night at the Real game but we didn't plan on going because we knew we'd be exhausted!

Patio Before and After

Did it take longer than we thought? Yes. Were we planning on tearing it out twice? No. Am I so glad it's done and do I love it? Yes!

Before:

We couldn't even use half the patio because it was so uneven. That manhole is access to the old septic tank.

After!

We added a couple of spots for shrubs to break up all the concrete.

We still have to redo a sprinkler line because we extended it by 5 feet. Let's have a bbq!