Summer Love 2012

(Brian snapped this photo of Sophie and Katie at the Ogden Arts Festival last weekend).

This summer feels like such a blessing.  My kids are still young enough for me to really enjoy them and we have had time to go and do some really fun things together.

Last Friday we took a beautiful hike with a group of moms and their kids in the morning, and in the afternoon, we were invited to swim at a friend's pool.

Swimming in a backyard pool is so relaxing.  I like being able to see all of my kids all of the time in a small enclosed area.

We had such a good time, that today we did pretty much the same thing.  We went on a hike with the same group of friends.  This time, it was to our little pond that is just .75 miles from our front door.  I love being able to walk to the mountains.

We have started taking family hikes every Sunday morning to this pond (and other lookouts a little further up the trail).  The kids often complain, especially when we are getting started.  But, I hope that when they grow up, these hikes are one of the things they will remember about their childhoods.

After lunch, we headed to the North Shore Aquatic Center, a large pool in North Ogden.

The outing started out warm and the forecast said it should be in the upper 80s.  But, after we were there for an hour or so, a pretty strong wind kicked up and big clouds covered the sun.  Standing in the wind soaking wet with no sunshine felt pretty cold.  Staying in the water wasn't bad, but after a couple of hours we took a break, dried off and had some snacks.

I'm telling you, I am no fan of being cold and after I had dried off, I was feeling in the mood to be a supervisor from the side of the kiddie pool for the rest of the day.  But, my cute little Isaac really wanted to go down the big slide.  Kids under 48" can slide down with an adult and anyone over 48" can slide alone.  He is 47".

I made him go back to the lazy river for another 30-minutes while I thought about what to do.  I really did not want to get back into that water.  But, then I realized that my son would always remember that I took him on the slide (or, that I didn't).

He was so patient and cute.  He just kept playing in the lazy river without complaint.  I think he assumed we would go on the big slide soon.

I knew what had to be done.  So, I left the comfort of being dry by the side of the pool and marched that kid up several flights of stairs to the top of the slide.  I told myself that we would go down that slide as many times as it took to make him satisfied and then I would get dry and warm again.

We had an exciting ride to the bottom and a splash down that took us both under the water head to toe.  As soon as we emerged, the announcement came over the loudspeaker that they would be evacuating all of the pools for 10 minutes for a "safety check."

You know what that meant.  Ten minutes of getting dry and warm before we could go down the slide again (hahahaha).

When the pools re-opened I asked Isaac how many times he thought he would need to go down and he said 10.

I said 5.  He said O.K.

Dear Isaac,

I want you to always remember that I took you down the big slide even though I was warm and dry and the weather was cold and windy.  I hope you remember how we both screamed as we whipped around the corners.  And, that sometimes we closed our eyes.  And, once, while we were closing our eyes, you slammed your head into the side of the slide but you didn't even cry.  In fact, I'm pretty sure we both had smiles glued onto our faces as we hustled up those steps so that we could ride down the big slide over and over and over.  Ten times.  Even though you were shivering all over and your lips were blue.  I love you.

Love,

Mom

Do it Like This!

Somehow, Brian was able to take these amazing photos in a completely dark theatre, with no flash, from our seats, which were not super close to the stage.  I am so grateful for his talent so that we have these to remember Sophie's beautiful hip hop performance to "Do it Like This" at Weber State (the fact that her group is wearing the school's colors is purely coincidental).

She was so pleased with herself when she finally mastered this move - the coffee grinder.

Sophie told me that hip hop is the most fun thing she has done out of ballet, piano, basketball, softball, gymnastics, track or any other extracurricular activity we have signed her up for so far.  Looks like we'll be signing her up for another year of it!  

I am so proud of that girl.

Let Summer Begin!

I have a lot to be grateful for right now.

For one thing, Brian got the swamp cooler installed.  Hooray for a cooling system!!!  A funny story is that, after he worked non-stop through four days of sweltering heat, he hooked up the last part and turned it on for the first time just as the temperature dropped by 30-something degrees.  Poor guy!  After days of our house being 84-degrees inside (despite our best efforts to cool it), when he finally flipped the switch, the kids and I said, "turn it off we're too cold!"  Hahaha.  The irony of life.  That night, the heater turned on even though we had the thermostat set to 62. 

At least we are ready for the next big heat wave.

Brian really wanted to put a central air unit in our attic (we don't have a furnace - we have a boiler and awesome radiant heat).  But, the central air unit was 3x as expensive as a swamp cooler.  And, the swamp cooler was 4x as expensive as the one we installed on our last house 13-years ago.  Holy sticker shock!  After much discussion, Brian was able to put aside his disappointment and install the swamp cooler.  I told him to think of it as our way of "going green." 

I, on the other hand, love swamp coolers and I especially love the power bill that comes with them.  So, I couldn't be happier with the way things turned out.

Last weekend, it was the swamp cooler and this weekend it was the Ogden Arts Festival.  Brian set up a booth last night.  He is selling his Ogden book.  This year, he took a printer and a backdrop down with him so that for $10 extra buyers can have their own photo taken and inserted into the book.  I think it has helped boost sales.

The festival is going on all day today.  I took the kids down to look around, make art projects, get their faces painted, and eat cookies and kettle corn.  Good times!

Next week, I guess it will be back to the yard.  I asked Brian if he is getting tired.  He works SO hard!  In between all of this working on our house and yard, he has also been working on drywall projects for other people in the evenings.  Sometimes he works all day, comes home for 5-minutes and then works on drywall until well after midnight.  He said he is loving it!  For that, I am very grateful.  Because, if he ever gets burned out of working on this place . . . we are going to be in big trouble!

I am also grateful for all of the things I have been able to do with my kids this summer already.  We have taken numerous hikes, visited the Hill Aerospace Museum, taken multiple trips to the library for different events, gone to a movie, and yesterday we got to go to a friend's house to swim in their pool.  It is so nice to get to spend this precious time with them.  I am truly blessed.

We found a summer acting camp for Sophie.  It is funded by the RAMP tax and the 6-week camp cost only $30!  I was so happy to find something so affordable to keep her busy and entertained this summer.  They are putting on the show "Peter Pan" in July and she is cast as a mermaid named Abalone, an "extra" in an Indian scene, and Jane.

Her 5th grade put on "Aladdin" in May.  She was the Magic Carpet and did such a great job.  She is a natural on the stage and when we were prepping her for Peter Pan try-outs I was amazed at her ability to quickly memorize lines.

The boys are in a track club that practices twice a week.  I love how dedicated their coaches are and seeing the kids' little red, sweaty faces as they run their hearts out in the heat.

Sophie had a great year learning hip hop from a dance studio and her performance last week was stunning.  I am so tempted to put Katie in the 3-5 year old Jazz and Tumbling class next year . . . Is it too soon?  The tiny dancers were too cute to be believed and Katie has always loved dancing.  I know all kids love to dance, but I think that, like Ian and piano, there is something more to Katie and dancing.

There are a lot of things that I am feeling happy about right now.  We also got the plans back for our yard, and it is going to be so, so lovely!  I can't believe that we will be able to transform it in just a few short months.