swim lessons

A few weeks ago the boys finished their first series of swimming lessons. I was nervous about them because I had only one day of swimming lessons when I was little, and it was seriously a traumatic experience, so even though I knew it wouldn't be that bad for the boys, I still felt a little bit of anxiety. Kade and Ky however, just thought it was the funnest thing. I think it was the first day, they were playing ring-around-the-rosies and they were supposed to dunk their heads under at the end. The first time they hesitated, but the second time they both went completely under. After that, the teacher couldn't get them to stop dunking themselves. They were bobbing up and down constantly, even when they were supposed to be listening to the teacher.
They took everything very seriously and got very good at floating and swimming on their backs. I think we will have to make sure they do swimming lessons again next year!



This last picture is a "I know you are freezing, but I want a picture of you on the side of the pool so I can blog about your swimming lessons" picture.
Also, notice their tattoos on their chest. Since their swim trunks are the same, and I couldn't put them in different colored shirts, I gave them each a different tattoo so that their teachers could tell them apart. But even still, she mostly just called them "boys." Oh well, what can you do?

kade's new smile!

A couple of weeks ago, Kade got a new smile! He lost his first tooth! His two front top teeth have been wiggly for quite a while, but recently the one got super wiggly and came out while he was drinking a smoothie at McDonald's.

He was so excited to put his tooth under his pillow and see what the tooth fairy brought him. He had told me earlier that he hoped the tooth fairy would bring him paper money because he likes paper money a lot more than just quarters.

His "whole dollar" and his note to the tooth fairy. He loves showing them off, and showing everyone his new smile!

He wrote this note all by himself. I helped him sound out the words, but he almost could have done it with no help at all. You can see that the tooth fairy wrote back on his note that night.

a visit from my cousin

Last weekend, my cousin Janessa and her family came to visit us. Janessa and I spent a lot of time together growing up, but we haven't seen each other since the day the boys were born, four and a half years ago. Her husband Jeremy is doing an internship in Minnesota for the summer, and decided that while we were that close, they would come by for a visit.
Saturday morning, after getting 4 kids ready, we headed to the wildlife sanctuary. The deer were very hungry and the kids had fun feeding them.

It took Ky a little while to decide he wasn't too scared to feed the deer, and I think he was glad he finally did.

Kayla even decided to give the deer a little kiss. How cute!

After that we headed to the amusement park in town and let the kids go on some rides. Kade and Ky have been on these rides so many times, and they never tire of them.

After lunch and nap time, we headed to Lambeau Field where they were doing lots of activities to kick of training camp. The boys dressed as football players, bounced on the inflatables, and got some awesome eye-black.

We got to go inside the stadium and take a few pictures.

Check out their "game faces!" Isn't my family silly?

Jeremy and Bart

Sweet Kayla
The only time I get my picture taken anymore is if I take one of those awesome "stretch your arm out as far as you can and hope your face is in the picture" pictures.

Me and Kade

Me and Ky

Me and Kayla. We became fast friends that day.

Me and Bart (oh, I love that man!)

Our whole family

Kayla and her daddy

The Reese family. I think that is the only picture I got of their baby Avely. She was such a good baby that at times, I almost forgot she was there.

That evening we stayed up late chatting and catching up. I sort of felt like Janessa and I were supposed to make up a dance or a skit or something and perform it for everyone because that is what we did nearly every time we had family get-togethers. I'm so glad that video cameras were less common then, because there would be a serious amount of embarrassing footage if they had been.

Thanks you guys for coming to visit us. We had such a great time, and hope that it's not 4 1/2 years before we see each other again!

4th of july utah style!

When planning our trip to Utah, I decided to stay out there extra long so that I could be there for the 4th of July, because no one does it better than Utah County! And I was so glad we stayed because we had a great holiday (or three days of holiday since the 4th fell on Sunday). Saturday night Ky, Kade, my mom, and I went to the Stadium of Fire. Carrie Underwood was the main performer, and she did such a good job. The boys thought it was so cool that they were at their first concert!

I know it's hard to tell, but I promise that that small speck is Carrie Underwood. It was such a great show!

Once it got dark, my mom gave the boys several of these glow sticks to hook together to form a necklace. They both noticed a little boy behind us who was eyeing their glow sticks, so they each gave him one. I was so proud of my boys for sharing with a complete stranger.

A group shot of everyone waiting for the parade to start Monday morning. Thanks again Andrew for staying up all night to get us such a great spot.

We left Utah the day after the parade, and though we were sad to leave our friends and family there, we were glad to be back home and be with Bart again.

Some of the other fun things we did in Utah that I either don't have pictures for, or just don't feel like devoting a whole post to include:

~ Going to the midnight premiere of Eclipse with my mom

~ Taking the boys to the zoo

~ Swimming a lot

~ Going to Pirate Island (like a pirate themed Chuck E. Cheese)

~ Seeing some of my friends from high school

~Seeing an old college roommate

~Seeing all my grandparents, and a few aunts, uncles, and cousins (but not enough of them. Maybe someday we'll have a reunion or something so I can see everyone.)

~ Eating at Cafe Rio (twice)

I'm sure there are lots more, but that's all I can remember, now that I've been home for almost a month!

dino museum

My parents' neighbor is a paleontologist who works at BYU, and he invited the boys to come and get a special tour of BYU's dino museum. I love this pic of Ky. I think it really looks like he is scared of the T-Rex that is chasing him.


The boys got a tour of the back part of the museum where the paleontologists work at cleaning bones. The boys even got to help clean this large fossil. They both thought that was pretty neat.


Kade & Ky impressed the paleontologist there with their knowledge of dinosaurs' names and whether they were a carnivore, herbivore and omnivore. Thanks Dinosaur Train for that knowledge.

canyon dinner

A trip to Utah would not be complete without dinner in the canyon. While we were waiting for the coals to be ready for cooking our dinner, the boys decided they wanted their pictures taken with Uncle Jonathan.
After dinner, Grandma helped Kade get his marshmallows ready to roast.
Such a happy little guy!

races!!

One of my absolute favorite things to do in Utah is go to Rocky Mountain Raceway. We always go when they are going to do Figure-8 and Train races. We've been going to the races as a family since I was little, and it was fun to take my boys and continue the tradition. I just wish we could have gone before Bart left us to go home and get back to work.

As long as the boys had their earplugs in, they had a great time. Look how happy Ky is!

This sign defines what the crowd at the races is like. Nowhere else in Utah to they have to post a huge sign stating that no weapons are allowed. I love this sign!

playing at byu and the park

We took the boys on campus at BYU to show them where we went to college. It seems like it has been forever since I was in college, and really it has been 5 1/2 years, but still. The boys weren't as impressed as we hoped.

That same day we stopped at In-N-Out and got lunch to take to the park. After eating, we played on the playground and enjoyed the amazing Utah June weather.

Soon Ky is going to be able to go rock climbing with Bart, Jonathan and I. He just scampered up this wall like it was nothing.