Summer Swim Team!!

Last year after Coleton attended a end of school year party and the Washington Community Center with his first grade class, he walked in the door and we asked him how swimming was, he explained to us that "i drowned" He had a life jacket that we sent with him knowing that he needed it but since all of his friends were not wearing one he decided he didn't need one either! Though he was being a tad dramatic and actually just swallowed a little water we realized that he needed to learn to swim so we didn't have a real accident!

We got a pass to the Rec center and Brandon took the boys every Tuesday and Thursday to teach them how to swim! They loved it! I loved it!  They were making great progress and after a few months of practive were doing up to 20 laps unassisted! We had made our goal! They boys could swim and keep themselves safe in the pool! We told them that if they continued to progress that they could try out for summer swim team and they were so motivated! They worked hard and once school was out of session, they both tried for the SUSAs summer swim team and made it!

They went Tuesday through Friday in the morning and then had about six swim meets during the summer! We were lucky to be able to carpool with Bonnie Flitton and her son Burke It was so fun to see a sport they enjoyed and were decent at! They never complained about practice and they tried their hardest to improve and we were so impressed with how well they did!

Hayden was in the six  and under age group (which did not have as many)and Coleton was in the eight and under age group (which was quite large!) so Coleton and Hayden both did great but with smaller group for the six and under group Hayden received more awards!

 We were sad to see summer swim team end, but Coleton has already told us that next summer he wants to do it again, so hopefully this wasnt the last time at a swim meet!

Madison Update!

I have not kept very good records of what Kenzie and Brooklyn developmental developments! I use to be so good at keeping track of what they were doing and at what age they hit milestones but taking a break from blogging limited what i kept track of so i will just take not of the things that i do remember!! I went in for Madis 16 month check ups! She has been healthy and doing great but she needed vaccinations so off we went! Luckily, Brandon had taken the day of to read (he has been reading a lot of church book about the controversial topics so he has been home reading) so i was able to leave Kenzie and Brooklyn home with him! I took the older boys with me so after the appointment we could do some back to school shopping for uniform items (mainly shoes) I got her stats and Madison is weighing in at... 25 lbs  which is 75% and height is at 31.5 in which is 72% so she is healthy and happy! The doctor didn't see anything that he was concerned about and she is hitting all of her mile stones! She is walking, and running when she needs to which i love!! She doesn't need me as much to carry her around and she follows the other kids all over the place! She doesn't really play with baby toys since i have pretty much gotten rid of all baby items! She is in her own room, and is a great sleeper! She doesn't mind staying in her crib for as long as i will let her and loves the time alone! The two girls share a room and about 3 months ago we transitioned Kenzie to a toddler bed which has been and interesting struggle! Brooklyn has always been a night owl and is up late playing in her bed and Kenzie us to just fall asleep when she got bored but now that she is in her own toddler bed she seems to have the freedom to get up and play til the wee hours! This is the time of night that kenzie can be difficult! She takes off her diaper and falls asleep, plays dress-up and gets All of her clothes out, or just dumps the books on to the floor! Brooklyn and kenzie get along but when they both get tired, oh the drama that can happen! Madi does seem to have a bit of the kenzie crazy in her which makes us a tad nervous! She has just a few months til nursery and we couldnt be more excited to get her in! She went last week because i taught sharing time and Brandon lead teacher training and she went so well! It will be nice for the first time in our marriage to attend our classes with out a child! It will make church a completely new experience!!

Daddy Daughter Date

Last night Brooklyn (age 4) was sitting quietly at the table, and I couldn't help but wonder as I looked at her, "what are you thinking?" So I asked!
She responded "um, can we go on a date?" 
I'm not even sure where she got the idea (we've never done that before) but I agreed, and asked her what she wanted to do. She quickly replied, "can we go on a walk to the park and play on the slide?"
Again I agreed, and tonight we did just that. Our very first daddy daughter date, walking to the park where we played on the slide. . . And it was awesome!
I'm not sure I know what I'm supposed to learn from this whole unexpected event but I hope I don't forget it any time soon!

Life is good!

Surprise Gettaway!!

This past weekend, Brandon surprised me with a two day trip to salt lake with out the kids!! We headed up to Cedar to celebrate Grandma Lornas Birthday and then about 5:30pm we headed for salt lake! It has always been a dream of ours since we were unable to afforded it as newly weds and so he scheduled the anniversary inn for us!! i was so excited!! when we finally made it there about 10;30 we were told that our reservations were made for the night before (so when we actually got online and reserved it) and that our card was already charged for a no-show! it was a pretty devastating blow! Lucky there was another women their that had had the same issue of reserving a room online and it reverting the date back! They were booked at the location that we were at but said that they had a few rooms in their second location that we could go to down the street and so we did! The other building was beautiful!! They had told us that since they made an error they were going to five us a discount on the Diamond room suite since it was the similar one to what we wanted but still upgrade us with free drinks, in room breakfast, and free cheesecake! It was amazing!! We were in the Meadow room and it had a Jacuzzi tub with a waterfall shower, balcony seating and was so cute! It really was just as magical as i hoped it would be for the past nine years!

We also went to the new Church History Museum, the Joseph smith building garden restaurant, hit PF Changs (which was amazing, went to Seven peaks without any children, and slept in!!

It was an amazing surprise and it was so nice to get away from the kids and just have fun as a couple! Having five kids in seven years can really wear on you so it was fun to be alone again! Thanks joleen for watching the kids! And most of all thanks Brandon!! Love you Honey! 

Time with the boys!

Hayden's school needed 30 desks put together, so we made it a father-son thing. I've never seen a six year old who loved manual labor (and power tools) so much!
It was pretty neat to see the proud look on his face after two hours of hard work, and hear him say "that was fun! Can we do it again next week?"

Parenting can be tough, but today was a win