Lake Whitney

I decided to be spontaneous and take the kids on a little road trip to see my sister a few weeks ago. John was out of town in a "high Adventure" trip. I wouldn't normally go on a road trip, even a short one, without him, but I wanted to do this one, so we just did. It was really fun! We had a great time hanging out with the cousins and are so glad we went. On the way home, we took a short detour to stretch our legs at Lake Whitney, which was right off the beaten path. It was unplanned, but since we were coming from a summer time visit, we had changes of clothes, swim suits, towels, etc. in the car with us. How convenient!
I remember visiting Lake Whitney as a child with my Grandma and Grandpa. I remember that we stayed in their RV and that Grandpa took us fishing. I don't' remember much else about it, even how old I was, but I remember the trip very fondly. I remember sitting on a little row boat with my grandpa and listening to him tell us stories as we waited for a fish to bite. I'm pretty sure we caught one, and released it. It is a precious childhood memory for me, as I love my Grandpa so dearly. Austin and Brooke were very excited about going somewhere that I went as a child. Austin's middle name is after my Grandpa and it was fun to talk about him with them, since they never got a chance to spend time with him when he was alive here on earth. Austin told me that since I started the tradition, he wants to take his kids to that place when he gets older too. I thought that was so cute.

I had a marvelos time just hanging out with my kids that day. We weren't on a schedule, we just enjoyed the beautiful day. The wind was blowing, the sky was a beautiful shade of blue and we were all soaking it in. Everyone enjoyed collecting rocks and throwing them in the water. We also had a bit of a make shift picnic, with some snacks that were in the car. That was fun. Cameron mastered drinking from a straw and gnawing on an apple. Brooke balanced on logs, and picked up rocks. Austin collected rocks and was very intent on finding lots of unique ones. We brought lots of rocks home. :-)

After we played a while and got a little wet, we went up to the park bathroom and discovered that they had showers in them. (it was also a campground) Brooke wanted to shower, so I let her and then washed up the boys for the car ride home too. It was fun to do some out of the ordinary stuff and so wonderful to spend quality, unrushed, unscheduled, time with my kids.

To them it might have been just a stop on the way home, but to me, it was another memory that I will cherish forever.

Summer time fun!

Cameron was all smiles this week when he got to play in the water. Look closely. . . you can see his shiny new tooth! He's finally got one on the bottom and the 2nd is following closely behind! This pool is baby heaven, with lots of fun fountains to grab at and play in. . . woo hoo!

I love summer!

just thoughts about SOTW

I thought since I had a few minutes to myself, I'd add a little update. All is well here. Today was an awesome day of just being home with my kids and doing laundry, etc. Surprising that I'd call that an awesome day, but after the busy week that I had, it was great to stay in my pjs and chill out at home.

The week was crazy mainly due to my duties with the Savior of the World production I'm involved in. I am so grateful to be involved in it and I am wholeheartedly a supporter of the production and it's power to testify of Christ. The spirit of it is magnificent and many lives will be touched by involvement with it. I think that is why we (our committee) feel so strongly about making it wonderful. We want to produce a show worthy of it's name, The Savior of the World. After having this assignment for over a year, it is so extraordinary to watch it materialize and take shape. Our show date is quickly approaching and it is really exciting, but a bit overwhelming and frustrating at times. Some days are more challenging than others and this week was a full one! I am feeling a little under the gun to get the costumes done and I feel like I am spinning my wheels sometimes. I know people want to help, but for some reason it never works out for them to be able to. I know it will come together, but the time is now and it's on my shoulders to make it happen. That is the motivation that keeps me up into the wee hours of the morning some days. I am not even sewing, but so much goes into sorting the fabric, deciding who will where what design, cutting the patterns, assigning fabric and "accessorizing" each character, etc. I just want it to be done well and done right, but I also want it to be done, now. Because it needs to be done now! Combine that with props and rehearsals and my head is spinning at times. . . It is going to be all consuming for a little while, thank goodness for my husband supporting me. He put the kids to bed more days than me this past week. What would I do without him? Well, I'll have to beg friends to take care of my kids, that's what. He'll be out of town for a week soon and I feel so humble, having to ask for help for several long days, but I had no choice. I didn't know what else to do. So, I sent out a plea for help and thankfully had many friends offer to take them. For that I am truly grateful. It may be just a few hours to them, but it is a huge weight off my shoulders to have the help.

I'm glad to be a part of this. I feel the spirit so strongly working with these awesome youth and listening to the words in the songs and script. I wish everyone who saw the show could really appreciate all that is said in the lines and lyrics. It's very powerful. The repetition of working on it regularly is such a great thing. It really gets a chance to sink in. And what an awesome group of people to be working so closely with. We compliment each other so nicely and make a great team. I'm gonna miss working with them and seeing them so often when this show is over. These are great friendships that have been made (and strengthened.) Tasha's ability to lead with the Spirit always in mind, yet with enthusiasm and energy is amazing. She was made for this job! I hope she gets to sleep for a week when it's over. Shoot, I hope I get to sleep for a week when it's over!! Anyway, enough rambling. I just figured, since it's pretty much consuming my life right now, it was appropriate to have an entry in my blog about it. I'm sure there will be more to come. . . but for now, there's laundry to do!

here's a link with info about the production . . .

http://www.lds.org/pa/display/0,17884,7174-1,00.html

Is it already the end of June??

As it always does, the summer seems to be flying by. I'm enjoying some down time with my kids, but there never seems to be enough to go around. . . here's what we've been up to.
Austin finished his last swim meet this weekend. We weren't nearly as tired of the practices and meets as were have been in previous years. It was becoming a bit of a challenge for me to be at the meets with our Savior of the World rehearsals, so I guess the timing was pretty good. Austin really enjoys swimming.
He continues to improve his strokes and has mastered the breast stroke now in addition to back stroke and freestyle. He was disappointed that it was coming to an end, and has been asking if he can be on the year round swim team. We're thinking about it. . .

Brooke is itching to be a swimmer too, and working hard to improve her skills. :-) She wants to go swimming every day and is set on being on the swim team next year. John took Austin and Brooke swimming on Saturday while I was at rehearsal and they had a great time. Brooke was so excited to call and tell me that she swam across the competition pool 3 times all by herself. That's the same pool that Austin races in, so she was pretty pumped up about that accomplishment. She's making headway, that's for sure! I can't believe how big my baby girl has gotten. I am having a hard time gearing up to send her off to kindergarten.
I am really going to miss having her with me all the time. She is such a little sweetheart, so snuggly and such a good little buddy. she likes to help pick out my clothes when I'm getting ready to go somewhere and always compliments me, telling me that she likes my hair, or my

clothes or my jewelry, she is so sweet. Not to mention, she is a great help with Cameron. I think he's gonna miss her when she goes off to school too. He loves her and Austin so much. They are always cracking him up. They are so good to him. We're gonna enjoy these summer days together, that's for sure!

Cameron is growing so fast too! Why do all these kids grow up so fast??? As sad as I am that they are growing so fast, it's fun to watch them learn new skills. It seems like over the past couple of weeks, Cameron has matured so much! He gets around all over the place and much to my dismay, has learned to climb the stairs. We have to keep a close eye on him these days, but that's not so bad, he's pretty easy on the eyes. :-) And a little rascal too! This picture is last week when he got into the bag I had packed for the pool and found himself some twizzlers! He had a great time playing with them. It was a bonus that they tasted good too!

I am so blessed to be the Mommy to these precious little ones. Not a day goes by that I am not grateful for them, but sometimes there are reminders of how precious and fleeting life can be. Recent tragedies with children in our community have made me especially aware of how precious their little lives are.

Summer is here!

I am so excited to welcome summer! There's really nothing I enjoy more than just having time to spend with my family. Wednesday was Austin's last day of school and we've had some fun so far. We've been swimming with friends, played on the neighbors water slide, worked in the yard, and just hung out together. It's nice to do that.

John is gone on a business trip this weekend, so I've been solo Mama. Today was a great day. Austin had a swim meet this morning and he did great. He swam freestyle and backstroke as he usually does, but also swam breast stroke and placed 5th. It was his 1st time to swim breat stroke correctly at a meet, so that was exciting. He also got to participate in the medley relay at the end of the meet. He was the freestyle swimmer and did great with that too. I'm so glad he is able to participate in a sport that he enjoys like this.

After the meet the kids and I went up to the rehearsal for the play I am helping with for the youth of the church. Austin & Brooke were very patient and also helped entertain Cameron. They were rewarded with a prize from Target after we left. Everyone was pleased with their rewards, especially Austin, who told me that this was one of the best days of his life! That's always a great moment as a mom . . . I love making my kids days!

Cameron did something fun today. He said "Ma-ma," It was clear as a bell, several times, which was very exciting to me. It's so fun when they can call us by name. He has been saying "Da-da" and "ball" for quite a while. He comes up with plenty of other chitter chatter too, true baby talk. It's cute, cute cute! Cameron is also getting his first tooth. He is 10 months old and is just starting to grow in his first tooth on the bottom of his mouth. It's been a long time coming, but it hasn't slowed down his eating!

Brookie is great, as usual. She's cute and sweet and happy (most of the time.) She got a new Hannah Montana shirt today and thinks it is the coolest thing ever! She is still really excited about being a big kid and about kindergarten, I sure hope it keeps up. :-)

I'm still enjoying my "boot camp" exercise class that I've been going to Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings. I feel so much better about myself now that I've been pushing myself and really exercising so regularly. (now I just need to stop eating yummy foods all the time and I would really see some results!) I do love the motivation and comradery of the group environment in the class. It has also been fun to get out and get going earlier than I would ever have done on my own. I've never been a morning person, but now that I am working out in the morning, I love not having to worry about fitting it in during the day. As an added summer bonus, our class has been pushed back to 6:00 am instead of 5:30! Woo hoo!!