I can hardly believe that Ireland is in 3rd grade now and Ethan is in Kindergarten.
We had a great weekend with Chad and Bren. They came up from Maryland to visit. Here are a few (ok, lots) of pictures from last weekend. The first bunch of pictures are from a park on Lake Ontario.
Caleb, Aden, Ryan, Bren and Addy in the back
Ryan. He and Aden threw rocks in the lake for a solid hour.
This cute old man (83 years old) lives across the street from us and is the self-appointed mayor of our street. All the neighbors call him Ron the Mayor. He keeps an eye on what is going on at all times in the neighborhood. We don't need a neighborhood watch program, we have Ron.
I was outside talking to him today and he asked where we will be moving next year when Scott is all done with training. I told him we were looking at a few places and named Utah as one of them. He said, "Yeah, you guys would probably like to go back to where your people are." At first I thought "your people" meant our extended family, and then I realized "your people" meant other Mormons. I got a good laugh from that one. Maybe we will head out to our UFO and return to our planet to be with our fellow martians. I will miss him next year when we leave planet earth.
The end of the summer is almost here and although I love the summer, I am happily relinquishing my "entertainment" chairperson duties! I have exhausted myself entertaining kids all day. We've been to the park many times, swimming lessons, vacations, riding bikes, playing outside, playing with friends, soccer camps, movies, and today we went to the zoo. We'll get in a few more times at the pool, Chad and Bren are coming for Labor Day weekend, and then school starts up again.
Ethan, Ireland and friends Kate and Stratton
My dad died of sudden cardiac death at 56 years old. I miss him as much today as I did the day he died. I wish he was here to know my kids. He would love them so much. I wish I could call him whenever I wanted. He was full of wisdom and always had great advice. A few of my favorite memories of him include all the years he coached my (and my sister's) soccer team (I think it was 9 years). All the other players wished he was their dad, but we were the lucky ones. I remember him tearing up because he was so proud of me when I received an admission letter to a Masters program and when I crossed the finish line of my first marathon. I love that he was a solid, pure person and didn't need material things to make him happy. I miss seeing him in his "uniform" of dark brown pants and a green shirt (we teased him that he looked just like an Andes mint). I miss seeing him relaxing on his back on the floor (even though we had a very large couch) resting his head on his thumb watching boxing or football on TV. All four of us daughters (and of course his sons) could tell you all about Sugar Ray Leonard, Roberto Durrand, Floyd Patterson, and Archie Moore (among others). The Chicago Bears and San Diego Chargers were his teams along with the Cougs (BYU). If it wasn't one of those teams playing, he always cheered for the underdog. He always thought of everyone else first. He was unselfish. He was loyal. He made the best of every situation. He had perspective. He was one of a kind. We miss you and love you dad.
We packed in lots of activities while we were vacationing in Utah. We were busy from early morning until late at night. I didn't even have time (or remember to bring my camera) to take pictures! Here is a few that I did get...
Ireland is getting baptized in a couple weeks with her cousin Savannah, so of course we had to have a photo shoot of her in her dress...
Tagged by Jen...here are my favorite TV shows (pretty much the only shows I watch)
1. House Hunters...Designer's Challenge...Property Virgins....Divine Design....Big fan of HGTV.
2. Amazing Race.
3. 24. Brit and Craig hooked us on this one.
4. Survivor, American Idol, So You Think You Can Dance...sometimes. I usually watch it when it gets down to the last 6 or so people.
That's about it. I've seen way more Scooby Doo and Tom and Jerry than anything!
It's my mom's birthday today! I don't even know how old she is...(I'm sure she would be happy to know that). I think she is 62? Can you believe it? I think she will always seem 45 years old to me. She is still quite the beauty! Check out the picture. She's had 6 kids, lived through raising them (4 teenage daughters--now that's an accomplishment!), was a stay-at-home mom, survived our dad dying at 56 years old, got a Bachelors degree, then a Masters degree, is now a realtor and social worker. Superwoman? I think so! The older I get (and the more kids I have), I realize how much my mom did for us. Raising 6 kids is no easy task! It involves lots of sacrifice and lots of patience among a million other things! A few things (of the several) that I love about my mom are the way she says such nice things about everyone. If ever someones name comes up, she always says, "She is so smart!" or "She is so talented" or "She is beautiful", or "He is very charismatic", "He is such a hard worker", "He is so kind". She gives great advice, but is always aware of saying it in the most non-offensive way. Example...if I ever asked, "What do you think about this dress?" If she didn't like it she would say, "It's not something I would particularly wear, but it looks good on you." She doesn't tell you what you are doing wrong (i.e. letting your kid have cake for breakfast), just gives suggestions on what might work better. She has great taste! She loves to decorate and does it very well! She changes her house decorations for every season or holiday. She has lots of energy and stays up late every night! She loves to go to lunch, talk about anything, and have family over as much as possible. She's survived some major trials in life and still has a smile on her face all the time! We love you Mom! (and Granny!) Happy 45th!
Ethan begs me to give him a faux hawk all the time. Occasionally I give in. Here it is...the faux hawk (right before a haircut).
We had a barbeque at a friend's house on the 4th with some other families. It was great!
Experimenting with the template. I found a great website--TheCutestBlogontheBlock.com. Now I can't get back to the one Steph did for me...but at least I know how to do it now. Yeah! (Brit and Lorenne, check it out.)
