Slaying Goliath

Check out what we did last night at my mom's blog here . Pretty fun! The girls were only familiar with the Veggie Tales version of the story, so it was a great lesson.

Juniper Point Fun Run

Cora loves doing Fun Runs, and I love that she's excited about being active! But they are a little pricey. So I decided to do one for our little neighborhood! We had 43 kids sign up for a .8 mile loop around the neighborhood. Other than some sign-up issues due to Facebook messaging, it turned out great and was a lot of fun.

Here's Cora at the starting line before the race....

And with her age group...

Coming to the finish line...

And crossing it! Cora is a fast runner! She ran quite a bit faster than most of the kids in her age group-- I was surprised.

The HOA provided ribbon and drinks for the kids at the end. It was a great neighborhood activity, I think I might have to organize one again next year!

Black Ridge Reservoir

We were lucky and got to meet up with some of our Stansbury friends at the beach this week. Violet was in a bit of a mood, but the rest of us had fun (you can see her in the back of this picture, determined to not be in the photo!). Playing in the sand is always a hit. Luke discovered the joys of throwing sand (unfortunately), but he didn't mind too much when I redirected him to aim for the water instead of friends, so it was okay... this week at least. The last 20 minutes he had his lifejacket on and loved swimming with Cora in the water. He thought it was so fun and had no fear following her out way further than I would have liked. At least I had my swimsuit on too! He had the biggest grin on his face, just loving swimming by himself in the water. So cute.

Swimming Lessons

We loved our swim lessons with Bobi this year! Cora and Violet were in the very own class and had a fantastic time. I was amazed at how much they trusted Bobi right off the bat, and they learned so much!

Violet is still working on putting her face in the water, but she worked with the kickboard, practiced her dean man's float, and some of the arm movements for swimming. Hopefully next year she'll be ready to be a bit braver. She loved practicing her kicks while holding onto the stairs.

Cora learned a basic crawl stroke, and could hold her breath and swim the width of the pool! She also floated on her back,

and learned some stroked for on her back, and learned to tread water. She jumped off the diving board with floaties on Tuesday,

and with no floaties on Wednesday and Thursday!

She also started knee diving from the side of the pool. I was amazed at how much she picked up in 6 lessons, she really was ready to learn.

And this is what Luke did most of the time at the pool

Slide, eat goldfish, act like he was going to run into the pool, and walk his toy alligator around. He was a handful! Maybe he'll be able to start lessons in a year or two!

Cougar Kickoff

Kevin believe in training the kids up early, so he took Cora and Violet along with him to the Cougar Kickoff last week. Cora was so excited to go, Violet didn't want to go until she heard that they were going in the Jetta. That was the deciding factor for her! Luke and I had a mommy-son night out to the farmer's market and dinner while Kevin and the girls met the cheerleaders, soccer players, and football players. They got posters signed and the girls ran in the run fun. They had a great time!

Faux Camping at Mirror Lake

After Luke's terrible performances sleeping away from home earlier this year, we decided camping was out this year. But I still really wanted to take a trip into the mountains. So we settled on a day of faux camping (or as Cora told a friend, pretend camping).

We woke up early (well, we always wake up early with our three little alarm clocks :) !) and headed up. First stop was the Provo River Falls, where Luke demonstrated over and over what a great rock thrower he is.

First you pick them up

Then you throw

And then you clap for yourself!
Cora and Violet enjoyed throwing rocks in too, and Violet has recently discovered the joys of rock collecting, so she was in heaven.Next we took our big hike. We picked out a 4 mile loop, but ended up missing a turn... and ended up at a different lake than planned... that had a trailhead 3 miles down the road from our car. Kevin hiked ahead of us for the last mile and luckily got a ride up to pick up the car and come back to get the rest of us. And I got a lot of looks for hiking by myself with a 1, 3, and 5 year old! It was a really pretty hike anyway, and Cora was a super hiker and hiked it all with no complaints. Violet hiked all but a steep section up a pass. And Luke took a little nap and loved stopping for lunch and more rock throwing. The kids loved sticking their feet in the cold water and playing in a patch of snow we found.

Next we headed to Mirror Lake. Cora and I walked around the lake while Luke and Violet napped in the car. Later we roasted hot dogs and made smores. It was hard to keep Luke y int he campsite, so we took lots of walks to the lake and around the campground before and after dinner. We stayed late to do some stargazing, but only saw 3 before the clouds moved in. Oh well. The kids had a great time and we hit all the camping highlights without the misery of having a one year old in a tent. They are already asking when we'll go camping next year!

More Priceless Than Pearls

Three years ago I saw this beautiful picture at Education Week, and I've thought about it ever since. We had some extra money this spring, and I decided now was the time to splurge. I asked the artist if she would be at Education Week again, and she said yes, but that she would give me a discount if I bought directly from her in Bountiful. I was lucky enough to see her art studio and picked out the frame from her shop. She is such a nice lady! And so talented. She does a lot of temple and pioneer pictures, but I fell in love with this one partly because of its title "More Priceless Than Pearls". She was delighted when I told her I wanted to hang it in my house as a reminder that my children are more priceless than pearls.... and email, facebook, books, and other things that tend to pull me away from them.

Maybe you can't see, but the child is playing with the mother's pearl necklace. Of course it looks prettier in person, but it is a great addition to our home and I love having meaningful artwork on the walls! It's fun to want something for a long time and then be able to realize that desire.

And, lucky for me, I did get to attend a day of Education Week this year too. So fun! I went to a whole day full of amazing classes. I'm going to call it my mom business trip. Kevin gets to go on them, why shouldn't I too??

Cora had her last soccer game last week. She has really enjoyed it, and asked when she would get to play again. So we signed her up for a different league this year-- it will be two months in the fall and two months in the spring. They do 3 on 3 soccer, so I think that will be nice too.

We went in for a last concert in the park last week. Between the concert and diner, Kissie and Cora got this picture taken at the family history center. Pretty cute!

Summer Fun Update

We've been having lots of adventures the last few weeks, but many of them have been camera-less. Lucky for me my friend Amber took this cutie pie picture of our kids at the splash pad. The kids and I have visited Seven Canyons at Liberty Park, spent lots of time at the pool and the beach, have swimming lessons this week and next week, and are finishing up soccer tonight. Kevin got to golfing, we said goodbye to Keri and Spencer as they move to Texas, Cora got to go to an amazing fairy party, I joined a neighborhood produce group and am going to be a back-up coordinator for another produce group, and we've enjoyed music time at the library. Cora got into Providence Hall Elementary, luckily before she had to start at the other school. We're uniform and school supply shopping too! And of course, we've been having fun playdates.

We even started a little chore tracker system for Cora and Violet. They just move the magnets from one side to the other after they've completed that job.

The kids all got back-to-school haircuts. Luke was holding on for dear life to the side of his fire engine and looked a little uneasy during his, but he didn't fuss. That didn't actually help his haircut though! I think next time he'll get to go with Kevin instead!

Three in a row!

Luke was SO excited about his balloon though! He didn't even care about his sucker, and that's saying a lot!

The girls got their hair done in messy buns afterward. Pretty cute!

And of course, we've been doing a bit of dancing too. It's fun to run Pandora though the tv and listen to Disney tunes. Even tuneless, Luke can do a mean running man dance when he's in the mood. And see how Cora is practicing to be a weatherwoman???

Summer Swimming

After helping a member in our ward move into their home, I was hot and sweaty. I was going to jump in the shower, but decided that before doing that I should cool off in the neighborhood pool. So we ate a quick lunch and got the girls and Luke into the swim gear and headed down to the pool. We left Terrah to her own devices while we had fun in the sun (with a little cloud cover).

There were some friends that were at the pool when we arrived so Cora and Violet were occupied playing with them while I let Luke jump into the pool over and over and over. We got to the point that I didn't even need to catch Luke when he jumped. He would jump in and fully submerge and come out laughing. He is such a little fish.
After the friends left, I taught Cora and Violet the game Marco Polo. Violet needs some work on when to say Marco when she is it, but they loved it. They even played it with each other while I sat out and warmed Luke up.
So one of the best swim gear purchases we have made (besides swim suits...yeah that has to be the best purchase :)) are these floaties. Amazing, Violet can now swim around by herself really confidently. And Luke can float on his own as well...we don't have to worry about his head going underwater and he can lie down on his back. It has made swimming with 3 kids fun and not drowning with frustrations.

Another highlight was Cora showing off her new trick.

Warning: I do not condone the running around swimming pools