Ten Things

1.  A beautiful country sunset.

2.  A spontaneous swim party, which made everyone happy and tired.

3.  A special program and trip to the temple for our primary children. Kathryn with her primary teacher.

4.  Sunday nap with my little cuddle bug. Actually, both of our kids are cuddle bugs!  We love it.

5.  Ward party...and ice cream.  Need I say more from those clothes and faces?

6.  Favorite play area is shady, muddy and lots of fun.  And it's where many summer mornings are spent.

7.  Max, you look really, really good in that sparkly green crown.

8.  My birthday.  Michael sent me for a pedicure and manicure the night before.  It was awesome!

9.  Kathryn enjoyed the goody bag she received after her dance recital.  The lip gloss was the best. 

10.  Tired little boy fell asleep during his lunch.

Swimming Lessons

I can't say enough good things about swimming lessons this summer.

Kathryn grew by leaps and bounds this year.

It was amazing to watch her become more and more comfortable in the water.

She became so much braver too.  She was willing to try new things and she learned so much.

I was so proud of her for jumping off the diving board (she jumped a total of six times).

She wouldn't have touched that thing with a ten foot pole last summer.  I loved watching her blossom.

She had a great teacher this year and he gave away a lot of snow cones for good behavior.

She passed level one and even made a new friend in the process.

I think she told her cousin she was going to marry him?! Maybe there won't be lessons next year... :)

Dance Recital

Kathryn had her first dance recital back in June.

I was just a little bit nervous for her. 

She was in the beginning dance class...and there were a lot of  busy little girls.

  

We practiced at home before the recital and I encouraged her to do her best.

Her class (The Shooting Stars) had two dances.

I couldn't have been more proud of her.  She did an excellent job!

There was an award presentation at the end, and Kathryn was named Little Miss Performer.

Grandma and Grandpa came to watch and support her.

And after the recital, we all went out for a little treat.

Michael and I gave Kathryn a gift for doing her very best.

She was a happy girl with her new Fancy Nancy Books, pie and ice cream.

The first of many

Several weekends ago, we attended the wedding of my nephew.

He is the oldest grandchild, the first to serve a mission, and now the first to get married.

Our family is in for a long haul:)  And I mean that in the kindest way.

My parents have thirty-one grandchildren and one more on the way (ours of course).

And someday soon, I imagine, there will be lots of great-grandchildren running around.

It will be fun for my kids to have little friends to play with, since we are kind of at the tail end of it all.

 

The temple sealing was beautiful, and my nephew married a wonderful girl.

They make a strong team!

We had fun seeing most of our family and celebrating their beautiful day with them.

After the wedding, we went over to my sister's home for an open house.

We got to visit with a lot of family and a few friends.

This is my mother and her 85 year old Aunt.  

Who still happens to drive long, long distances.  She is an amazing little firecracker!

And I couldn't help but take this picture of my children with their grandparents.

My dad made a joke about what a good memory it would be for Max someday.

Him trying to get away from his grandpa. I love it anyway.  

And he likes his grandpa, he just wanted his mom at that exact moment.

The weather held out for about one hour of the two hour open house.

And then the wind blew in. It was a mad dash to salvage everything possible.

It was a beautiful day, and we look forward to doing it again (and again).

Maxwell's 2nd Birthday

We had a fun time celebrating Maxwell's birthday this year.

It was very last minute and low key, with all the holiday partying we did the previous week.

But, he's only two, right?

On his birthday, we invited grandma and grandpa out to our house for dinner and dessert.

And a family friend joined us later in the evening.

I think this Lego set that grandma and grandpa gave Max was a favorite.

The kids have loved playing with it every day since.

I successfully made my (Max's) first birthday cake.

I've always made cupcakes for my kids, but wanted to try something different.

It wasn't too fancy, but fun to make nonetheless.

I think everyone ended up with a frosting overload when they were done eating though.

Later in the week, we had a little birthday party with a few friends.

The kids ate snacks, played, blew bubbles and swam in the kiddie pool.

It's much easier throwing a summer birthday party, that's for sure.

Not much planning and preparation is required!

Happy birthday little buddy!  We love you.

Thanks to everyone who made Maxwell's birthday extra special this year.

Terrific Two!

Happy Birthday Maxwell.

It's hard to believe you are actually two!

My how the year has flown by right before my eyes.

Last night, as I moved you from our bed to Kathryn's, 

(you were having a hard time going to sleep)

I noticed it was the exact time when I realized you were making your way into this world.

You sure are a handful at the ripe old age of two.

  Full of energy, full of life and full of spunk.

Oh...and full of opinions.

To say the least, you give us a run for our money!

You can be the sweetest and most loving little boy.

You love to cuddle, play, wrestle and you give the best hugs and kisses.

You are a little ball of fire...ready to explode.

You are so much fun!

You love babies, which is good because you are about to be a big brother soon.
You love to play with Kathryn, and she is a good big sister to you.
You love to color, read books, swim, play in the dirt and eat anything made of sugar.
You are a special little boy and we are so grateful you came to our family.
Love you Maxwellian.  We hope you have the happiest birthday.

4th of July

We had a great 4th of July.

We celebrated with family and played hard all day.

The kids had fun lighting fireworks at grandma and grandpa's the night before.  

And Michael's brother put on quite a show for us once the little kids went to bed.

 Our little family woke up early on the 4th and went to our ward breakfast and flag-raising ceremony.

Then we met up with family for the parade.  We couldn't have asked for better weather.

The kids loved the airplanes that flew overhead right before it started.

Sadly, some of our favorite floats weren't part of the parade this year.  We missed them!

After the parade, we headed to the park for some food and rides.

I think I devoured an entire elephant ear by myself.

We put the kids down for a nap and then watched Despicable Me 2 with everyone.

And later that night, we watched the big fireworks show.
It was great finale to a wonderful day.

Family Vacation: Part 5

We loved the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.

This time, we tried not to get too overwhelmed and did what we could in a day.

We started with a tram ride, which was neat to see the animals in a setting more like their natural habitat.

 

We loved the gorillas.

They really put on a show for us.

The smallest one got mad at the bigger one because the bigger one took something from the smallest one.

We explained to Kathryn that they were a lot like her and Max.

We met the king of the jungle.

Or wait, shouldn't it be the king of the safari...

Before leaving, we stopped by the carousel for a ride.

It was a tough decision which animal to pick.

In the end, Kathryn rode on the lion and Maxwell rode on the gorilla.

That night, we drove to Oceanside and stayed in a hotel right next to the beach.

It was the last "fun" day of our trip and we knew wanted to make it count.

It was absolutely beautiful and the weather was gorgeous.

We walked out on the pier, which seemed to stretch for miles and miles.

Then we went for a bike ride.

Michael did most of the pedaling though.

I thought I was helping out more...  

 

Can you tell by their faces that they were super excited?

They loved it!

On our way back to drop off the bike, we stopped at the park to play.

We got a good laugh when several people stopped to pose by the bike for a picture.

 

While we were at the beach in Oceanside, Race Accross America (RAAM) started.

It is considered the world's toughest bike race.

The team in the picture below stayed at our hotel the night before.

We ate gelato and watched the teams start their race. 

That night, we stopped in Las Vegas to sleep.

And even though it was super late when we pulled into town, 

We rushed our kids to see a few of our favorite things we had missed the first time.

The next morning, we sadly packed our suitcases and drove the final leg of our journey.

It was kind of a bummer for Michael, since it was Father's Day.

  

 We loved our trip.  Las Vegas was fun and San Diego was Perfect!

We will definitely be going back someday soon.

Kathryn still tells me on a daily basis how much she misses Shamu.

I think we all miss Shamu!