Swimming, swimming, and swimming

I know it's raining cats and dogs in Utah, but here, that makes for nice, perfect weather. I wanted to test out my new camera (Panasonic Lumix after much deliberation, study and prayer j/k) so here are our swimming pics of the week.


Brandon at his swimming lesson with Debbie.

We decided to get out of the house and go to the public pool. Another moment of jealousy for you Utah folk. It's only 50 cents and it's WAYYYYY nice, with the diving section, lazy river, 2 BIG slides, 0 entry and the fun bucket tipping tower of terror. 50 cents. I LOVE it!

Ainsley, of course, hiding behind Jake. DON"T TAKE MY PICTURE!

And YAY! No more blurry pics.

Edible Finger Paint

Today to stop the boredome (aside from going to the free lunch!), we made some edible finger paint. For those of you interested, it's a REALLY difficult recipe.

1 can of sweetened condensed milk
food coloring

mix

Because it's edible, Alexa enjoyed painting, too. Notice, however, that her paper is on the floor and her lips are quite colored?

Kept a few kids busy for a while.

Very colorful finished products and lots of fun!!!

School Lunch

My friend Mona was telling me about the free lunches and breakfasts our school district provides all summer. Anyone ages 1 - 18 can go to the junior high and enjoy.

I have to admit, I thought this sounded like something for the trashiest of families. (And might I add, Mona is ANYTHING but trashy. She is beautiful and tasteful.) Or maybe Something the poor kids do when the moms are too lazy to cook? She promised me it was nothing of the sort, so we decided to give it a try today.

Options were:

1)PB&J with fruit and crackers (Out of the question, we brought our peanut allergy neighbor with us.

2)Yogurt, string cheese, fruit and crackers

3) Hot lunch. Today was some nasty deep fried pizza thingys, spaghetti sauce, and green beans from a can.

Milk, chocolate milk and juice are also provided.

Ainsley, Brandon and Alexa all picked #2, Jake, Rebecca and Logan came with, as well as Mona and her daughter, Ava. They all chose hot lunch.

As I sat there looking around, I was surprised at the families. All looked like normal, non-trashy, happy little groups. All except for one. This one lady had so many kids with her. It was as if she brought her entire day care. They were running around wild, all over the stage, in the curtains, completely out of control. At one point, a woman stood up and said, "Whose baby is this?" As I looked, I noticed that familie's baby had pulled off her diaper and was running around bare butt, with the diaper in a pile next to the woman's table.

Acknowledging my mini-streaker, I stood up, grabbed her, put the diaper back on and our entire brood went home. I think I'll go back tomorrow. :)

Elder Richard G Scott

This week we had a visit of one of the apostle of the Lord. Elder Scott came to our stake conference. I was very excited to sing in a small group at the Saturday session, but we were bucked off the program at the last minute. :( At least I had good seats on the stand.

We loved hearing him and Elder Ringwood speak, and the kids felt the spirit of the Lord and recognized it. We asked them after if they would like to meet him. They DID want to, even though that meant waiting in line. The line moved quickly and when we were next, Brandon walked right up to Elder Scott, shook his hand, looked him straight in the eye and said with the sweetest voice you ever did hear, "We're so glad you came today." Ryan and I immediately teared up. Love that boy!

Tickle Tickle

If you knew my other children at this age, you know they were talkers. They could both say just about anything.

Here comes Alexa! She doesn't talk. Well, I will ammend that by saying she doesn't speak English. She may possibly speak Vietnamese.

Here is the extent of her vocabulary:

Tickle tickle tickle

Dad

Anana (This is NOT banana. It is "another" and she says it when she wants more.)

That is it. Once she said "mom." Once she said "night night." Even better, once at church Ryan was up saying the prayer. She stood up and said really loud, "Hi Daddy!" Clear as day. Every one at church thinks she is a talker now. :) Tricked them!

We love hearing her babble and love her funny quirky ways. Hope you enjoy hearing and seeing her tickle the camera.

New Blog

There is a new blog opened up that some of you may be interested in reading. It's found at www.imarriedin.blogspot.com It's a male perspective marrying into a crazy family, in-laws. etc. It's totally anonymous, so if the writing sounds vaguely familiar, I plead the fifth. You will love it, I promise. And I personally know the author who promises to update a couple of times a week. I can't wait! Let me know what you think!

PE Student of the year!

We got an invitation to a end of the year awards ceremony for Ainsley. We were excited, but weren't sure what she won! The only thing we were certain of was that it wasn't for perfect attendance!
All the teachers get to pick a student of the year for their class. We assumed it was that....

Wrong! She won 2nd Grade PE student of the year! Way to go Ainsley!