Saturday, July 17, 2010

Belated Fathers' Day

I found this note the other day that Danny gave to Brad for Father's Day.

SIDE 1:

SIDE 2:

For those of you who need translation, it says:
"Dear Dad, I love you because...you are six foot four. And you wrestle with me on the trampoline at the end of the day. And you play my video games. You rock Dad. You smile a lot I'm not kidding. You love my mom and family. You're also awesome because you have black hair. From Danny, To Daddy"

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Olive's Blessing

While we were in Utah we got to attend little Olive's baby blessing! Here are some pics of her special day:


Exhaustion

As I mentioned in the below post, Haley and Amber spent the first month of summer picking strawberries again this year. After getting home on their second day of work I called down the stairs to Haley that it was her turn for the shower. Hearing no answer after several attempts, I went down to her room to see if she had suddenly become hearing impaired. Here's what I found:


The poor baby had fallen asleep on her bedroom floor! She didn't even make it to the bed!

What We're Up To...

Our Summer is half over and I haven't updated the blog with any of our comings/goings...guess that means we are having too much fun!

Jacob...is gearing up for Kindergarten and starting to seem like he's actually excited about it (hope that sticks!) He has spent his summer so far playing with siblings and cousins. We just got back from Utah where he enjoyed following his 11-year-old cousin, Trevor, around 24/7.

Danny...would probably say that the most exciting thing about his summer so far has been learning to ride his bike. He exhibited a lot of tenacity in the above undertaking - fell plenty but never gave up. Now he can ride around the neighborhood with ease (pretty much) and is feeling very grown up.

Alyssa...has had quite the social life of late. She has been playing with friends several days every week and has also enjoyed a couple of sleepovers. She says her favorite event this summer so far has been our trip to Utah...which is kind of funny because she threw up and felt sick most of the time while we were there!

Haley...spent the first several weeks of summer picking strawberries at Klickers and looking generally exhausted. She attended BYU Basketball Camp while we were in Utah and loved every minute of it! She got to live in the dorms and everything - lots of fun! Her goal now is to save up enough strawberry-picking money to pay her share (half) of basketball camp and EFY next summer! Can't believe she'll be 14 and old enough for EFY...

Amber...has also been busy picking strawberries, much to her chagrin. She was determined to find a different job this summer, but in the end, went back to her berries. She attended EFY at BYU the same week Haley was at Basketball Camp and had a great time! Interestingly, she was assigned a room in Brad's old dorm this year (Robison Hall) - he was Robison 124 and she was Robison 126!

Amy...has been busy transporting kids to and from ________ (fill in the blank with Klickers, friends' houses, UTAH...etc.) I have also been thinking lots about the new stage of life ahead of me (Jacob will begin all-day kindergarten in the Fall). I think it'll be an adjustment and bitter-sweet in many ways, but it has been fun to think of possibilities and examine long lost aspirations that have been on the back burner for the last 15 years. Stay tuned...

Brad...has been super busy, as usual. Family, church and work responsibilities keep him hopping. I loved the idea of Brad getting a little break/rest while the kids and I were in Utah (he had to stay home and work) but realized the minute we returned home that he had not gotten much rest while we were away! The front and back yards were totally finished (we've been working on them little by little all summer) and looked fantastic! He had spent his week weeding, planting, laying bark, etc. And if that weren't enough, our garage (which has pretty much been a storage unit that our cars have never been inside of) is now immaculate! I cannot believe he did all of the above in one week all by himself! It looks like one of those reality shows came in with a team of people, beautified our yard and organized our garage! Such a fun surprise to come home to! What a great daddy and husband!

Next on the family agenda: Camping in Waterton!

Dayton Days

We went to the Dayton Days parade again this year and had a great time! The weather was definitely lacking - last year it was gorgeous, this year it was cold, windy and even a little rainy at times. But we toughed it out and even kept up our traditional visit to their park.