Last Swimming Lesson

Megan finished her swimming lesson yesterday and did great! She loves to swim without her back float, but is scared to jump into the water without it. She had a very sweet teacher that helped her learn simple tasks of jumping in, putting her face under water, arm strokes, and floating on her back. After her first lesson Josh promised to swim with her after her last swim lesson and Megan held him to that promise, so he got in with her after her lesson was done. I tried to get some video of her jumping in, but after about 10 attempts she finally did it, but not by herself.

Jumping in during her lesson

Jumping in after her lesson, she wanted to do it off the stairs, but also shows her going under water!

Playing with Dad

Megan finally jumped in all by herself off the edge of the pool, with no back float, and even went under water all by herself. But I didn't have the camera to document it. But we are SO proud of her! We will have to keep her swimming this summer to keep practicing what she has learned.

Playing at the Park

The day we drove home from West Virginia we went out to brunch and then took the kids to a park right off the river. It was a great park with lots to do and the kids loved it.
Thanks Jacob & Julia for letting us come out and visit and have a great time. Especially for the game nights, we all had a blast!

Bowling

We played a game of bowling, we had the grown ups on one lane and the kids on the other. I don't know if I had a more stressful game of bowling. Bryson was going CRAZY cause he just wanted to play with the balls, which were too heavy for him to carry by himself. So the whole time was a battle with him. But you have to check out all the scores. The kids played awesome, even though they did have bumpers...

Each of the kids got at least one spare...
Then there was the grown up game... Julia had an amazing game with strikes and spares, and I started off awful and then ending with a Turkey, too bad I had more gutter balls then strikes. Better late then never right?

Teaching Moments

At the Valley World of Fun we played miniature golf and Josh wanted to teach the kids how to golf the RIGHT way. Of course every Father wants to teach their kids how to do things. So here is Josh teaching Bryson how to golf...

Not really going as well as he thought. Bryson really didn't want the help from Josh he just wanted to hit the ball...
But they worked it out, and it is the cutest thing to see!

Here are some more pictures of the kids golfing.

Tea Cups

I thought that this was hillarious. Jacob hates the tea cups but rode so that Bryson could go on them and his goal was to keep the cup from spinning. I think that he did a great job with it. Then Megan & Loraya were spinning like crazy and loving every minute of it!
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Drop Ride

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Valley Worlds of Fun

Jacob & Julia took us to this fun joint that has everything to entertain anyone. It was a lot of fun and we took a ton of pictures to share all the fun! I really don't know what is funner then watching your kids smiling and laughing. So some of the things that we did...

Bumper Cars, swings & one of those rides that spin you around going up and down so fast that you end up squishing the person on the outside.

The TeacupsBumper boats
The Big Slide
The Drop (Takes you to the top and then drops you, this one bounced more, check out the video) & The Rock Wall. Megan LOVED both of these.

Our Memorial Weekend

We had a very fun weekend in Morgantown West Virginia with Jacob, Julia, Loraya & Isaac! We did a lot of fun things, we started by going out to eat which was a little crazy with 4 kids, I think we annoyed the waitress. Then we went to Cold Stone and got ice cream, and was reminded why I don't buy ice cream there. Don't get me wrong, it was good, but I just don't think that it is worth the price... I would rather buy a half gallon of ice cream instead. Maybe I would think differently if we had more money to spend.

I am going to break up our weekend in a few posts to share it all with you. So here is our dinner in this little restraunt, that I don't remember it's name.

A few More Pictures

I got these cute pictures from Tatum's (the cute girl that is in all the pictures with Megan) Mom, i thought that they were so cute that I had to share.
Megan is already missing school. Today is her first day of not going to school and yesterday when we were talking about it she realized that she wouldn't be going back to school and asked if she could say bye to all of her friends. I told her that she already did on the day that Bryson and I came to school with her. I think that she has finally realized that she won't be going back to school till Kindergarden she was sad.

Last Day

Today was Megan's last day of preschool and Bryson and I were able to go and enjoy the day with Megan while they played games and did activities, and of course take lots of pictures! Bryson had a BLAST playing with everything and was great to take pictures of, then there was Megan who was so excited and was running around playing with all her friends, making it a little harder to take any pictures. Well I did get plenty of pictures of her back or side. So let me take you through our day...
Once Bryson and I got there they were playing on blow up bouncers, Megan was EVERYWHERE, and Bryson loved it in the ball pit. I didn't think that I would be able to get him away from that, but then we went to bubbles, and he LOVES bubbles... Megan was everywhere at the bubbles running from cooler to cooler, but Bryson stayed at one and soaked himself. I had to take him to the bathroom to wash him up after getting bubbles in his eyes.

Next we went to the water station, which Bryson SOAKED himself even more and everyone around him that was standing within 3 feet. Megan had a lot of fun fishing for letters. Her friend Tatum even found "a "M" for Megan!" as she says it! We then were off to the sand pools. (now, this doesn't make sense to me, why go from playing with water to playing with sand? I really tried to keep Bryson away since he was soaking, but that only lasted a few minutes.) In the sand they dug for bones and Megan and her friend Josie found most of them! (not everyone was happy about that.) Next was slushy time. A nice refreshment for a hot day, Megan and Bryson shared slushies, Megan loved showing everyone her brother now that things had calmed down and was a proud big sister, and her friend Josie even jumped in on helping out with Bryson.
Next they were off to throw Frisbees, play with the parachute, & bean bag tosses. Lots of running around. Last they were off to the playground where they ran around everywhere, I couldn't even keep track of Megan she was everywhere. After all the fun we headed inside to get a drink and cookies and say good-bye to all of Megan's friends.
I don't think that Megan really realizes that she won't be seeing most of her friends from school anymore. I almost cried as we were walking out, but she didn't seem to care, I think that it will hit her in a couple of weeks when she doesn't go back to school.

Preschool Slideshow

This is only 1/2 of the slideshow, I don't know why only 1/2 of it posted, I will have to see what happend when I get home. All of the pictures at the end are supper cute.
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Preschool Graduation

Last night was Megan's preschool graduation. They had a very cute slide show which they gave us a copy and I couldn't figure out how to transfer to my computer to blog it, so I recorded it on my camera so that you guys could see Megan at school with all of her friends. (above) Megan would play with everyone in her class, she always had so much fun at school and was friends with everyone. She was so excited last night and could not stop smiling, Bryson also enjoyed sitting in and moving the little chairs around everywhere.

We are so proud of Megan and everything that she has accomplished in her first year of school. She had two amazing teachers, Mrs. Kara & Mrs. Leeann. I know that she is going to miss her friends and her teachers very much.

Megan Swimming

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Megan's Thoughts for the Day

So today was the last official day of school for Megan, tomorrow they have a field day where they play games and stuff, so today Megan got sent home with her journal that they write in every day, and also these papers called "Notes to our friends." Where they each take turns each day to say something to their classmates, (so Megan would get a turn about once a month) and the teacher writes it down on this HUGE piece of paper. I thought that they were cute and wanted to write them down somewhere so that I have them since I don't know where to put the paper. So I hope you enjoy them too.
August 21, 2007
Dear Friends,
I have a baby brother.
Love, Megan
September 4, 2007
Dear Friends,
I slept in my bed. I rode on the bus.
Love, Megan
September 25, 2007
Dear Friends,
I have a rhinosaurus in my backpack.
Love, Megan
October 17,2007
Dear Friends,
I was the calendar person. My brother got hurt. He also pulled my hair. (Side note: this is right after Bryson broke his arm.)
Love, Megan
November 19, 2007
Dear Friends,
I have new pajamas. They have Tinkerbell on them. Grandma, Mommy and Bryson gave them to me.
Love, Megan
December 17, 2007
Dear friends,
I had a family home meeting with Bryson Mommy and Dad.
Love, Megan
January 17, 2008
Dear friends,
I have Tinkerbell pajamas. I bought them with Grandma Kelly.
Love, Megan
February 7, 2008
Dear Friends,
I wore my Tinkerbell pajamas they are so soft. I have the movie of Tinkerbell.
Love, Megan
March 4, 2008
Dear Friends,
I have a Dora kite. I flew it by myself. It went high in the sky.
Love, Megan
March 26, 2008
Dear Friends,
I like my brother Bryson.
Love, Megan
April 22, 2008
Dear friends,
My baby brother can walk. I play with my brother outside in the backyard. He always plays ball.
Love, Megan

Swimming Lessons

Megan started swimming lessons at the begining of the month, and I have meant to take pictures every time, but it just hasn't happened. So yesterday I FINALLY did it, and the pictures didn't really turn out too well, but the video did.

This is Megan's first swimming lesson, and she is doing pretty well. She has learned how to swim on her back, and will swim without her back float sometimes. Yesterday after her swim lesson she said that "next time she wants to swim the whole time without her back float." We'll see if that happens. She doesn't like going under water, and when she is suppose to she has to be on the stairs, she also is funny when she jumps into the water. That is what I videoed, so check it out, it is funny. Hopefully I won't forget the camera on the last day so I can show some improvement! (The video isn't loading right now, I will try again later)

Plants in the Ground

Yesterday we went and planted some of our plants in the garden. Thanks to our friends Alan & Brandi for letting us plant in their good soiled garden, and for Brandi helping me plant them. We were able to plant 1 big tomato plant that we bought since the ones I am growing won't be producing fruit till fall (oops, a little late start), also we bought some peppers for the same reason. Then I planted 4 pumpkin plants & 6 watermelon plants that I grew from seed!

The kids had a lot of fun playing in the dirt/mud and finding worms. Bryson was covered in dirt by the time we got home and needed a new outfit. They also went up and saw the horses that they have.

I really hope that my plants will continue growing now that they have been planted in the ground. It is really neat to watch them grow, I can't wait to eat the first vegi's they grow!

Tagged Again

So I liked this tag that my cousin tagged me for, so I thought that I would play along, I'm sure it is going to be long, so feel free to skip it if you aren't in the mood to read!

How To Play This Game of Tag:

Post these rules on your blog. List: 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 goals, 3 current obsessions/collections, 3 random surprising facts about yourself. Tag 3 people at the end of your post by leaving their names. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog!

3 Joys
1. My family of course, my amazing husband and 2 sometime wonderful kids. Which I know at times I don't always think that they are wonderful, but I really am blessed to have them.
2. Working out. So I have never really been one to work out during my teenage years (besides playing volleyball 2 years), but ever since having kids I need it and I feel so much better after doing it, I'm happier, and I actually have the energy to chase Bryson when he starts running away!
3. Traveling. I don't know if there is anybody who doesn't find traveling a joyful thing. Something about packing the suitcase and leaving my duties behind to relax, see friends & family & have a good time.
3 Fears
1. Deep water. Now I never really knew that I had this fear till more recently. I had a bad water experience when I was younger and it just scares me now. And I never have had to swim in deep water since.
2. Someone breaking into my house. So I know that it really is stupid and probably NEVER going to happen (Knock on wood), but I have a very paranoid mother who in turn made me paranoid. I have gotten better since moving away from Utah, but yet can't sleep without chairs in front of the door when Josh is gone.
3. Losing Josh. Again back to my paranoia, but I fear losing Josh and having to live my life without him. I also fear something happening to me and leaving Josh to raise the kids by himself.
3 Goals
1. Be a good Mother. I guess that that falls under my fears also. But I hope to be a good mother to my kids and give them the attention they need to become good kids.
2. Keep Running. I want to run a race after each kid I have.
3. Be a missionary. Weather it be on a mission or to my friends, neighbors & family.
3 Current Obsessions/Collections
1. I collect cards given to me. I know I should just throw them away, but I like to keep them and read them from time to time, especially the ones from Josh & my kids.
2. Blogging. I love to blog, I also like checking everyone else's blog.
3. Getting organized. Right now it is getting organized in my new calling, but I am always trying to organize things, tidy up. It always feels so much better when there is less clutter.
3 Random Facts
1. I watch a Soap Opera. I am actually kind of embarrassed to mention that, but I started watching it when we moved to California since it was on the only station we had while I was getting ready for work, and I have continued to watch it since. I can go awhile without watching, but always go back to watching.
2. I love to turn the music on and dance around with my kids. I usually don't dance much in public, but if you ever peeked in my door you would see me go crazy, I like to make my kids laugh. I would love to take ballroom dancing with Josh someday and learn how to really dance, not just make my kids laugh.
3. I love having people over to eat or play games. One because that means that I have a reason to tidy up and get things clean again, and two it makes it a little easier to get through life with friends by your side!
Tagging:
1. Sarah Watford
2. Tiffani Morgan
3. Tiffany Gremmert
4. Anyone related to me, (Mom, sister, sister/brother-in-laws, cousins)
I would love to read your answers.

Mothers

I just wanted to thank my Mother for everything that she has done for me to provide for me while I was growing up, and for being a wonderful Grandma to my kids. I'm so lucky to have such a wonderful Mother & for my kids to have a wonderful Grandma!

To my second Mom, I am grateful to have married "up" into such a wonderful family. You are a great friend, mother & Grandma. Thank you for all of your kindness, your giving & especially for your son who has made me a mother to our 2 beautiful kids! He is a great father, friend & Husband!

I LOVE YOU BOTH, MOM!

Wheel.... of..... Fortune!!

This weekend we had the wheel mobile in town and we went down to check it out on Saturday and to apply. It was a lot of fun going down there to watch. We weren't lucky enough to make it up on stage since it is a random draw, but we still have a chance to get a call back. They would draw 5 names at random and call you up on stage and do a puzzle, once the puzzle was done then they call the next 5 people. I really think that Josh would do AMAZING on the show, is solves the puzzles so quick. Keep your fingers crossed that he gets a call!

It's Growing

I can do it! Last night I noticed one little sprout growing, and then this morning there were 3, it gave me hope that I might not kill a plant! So far only the tomatoes are growing, hopefully the others will start too! I just had to share since I was so excited that I am making something grow instead of killing it!

BINGO!

Saturday we held our First Annual Derby Bingo Party! I grew up playing bingo in my family around Easter time, and since I have moved away I miss our annual bingo parties, so I decided to do my own bingo party. Thanks to Josh for letting me do this, it means a lot to me to continue this tradition since it is in memory of my Great Aunt Doris. We had a lot of fun playing, it was a little hectic with so many little kids, but next year we will do a more sturdy table. Thanks to all my friends that came to help me enjoy this memory even more. We will just have to improve on it every year. And now I know all that my great aunt went through to put on one of these Bingo parties for us, it is a lot of work.

Everybody say BINGO!

Josh was our number caller and did a great job at it!
Here I am with some of my friends, I had to get a picture of me in here. I was there too! Just behind the camera with Bryson on my hip, handing out prizes.

And of course after we played Bingo we watched the Kentucky Derby race which was bitter sweet. Big Brown won the race even though he was in the furthest gate, but the horse that got second place, Eight Belles, broke her 2 front legs when she was slowing down after the end of the race and they ended up euthanizing (putting her to sleep) her. It was a great race, but ended sad. If you want to watch the race check it out at... http://www.kentuckyderby.com/2008/

My Garden

I have decided that I am going to do a garden this year. One of my friends

has a garden and said that they had some extra space so if I wanted to plant some things that I could. So I've decided to try it out and see if I can actually make something grow and keep it alive. So we are going to attempt to grow, Peppers, Tomatoes, Watermelon & Pumpkins. I am so excited and I hope that they grow!

Pegasus Parade

Yesterday was the 52nd Annual Pegasus Parade here in Louisville, and we decided that we would make an appearance. Josh got work off a couple of hours early since it was slow, so we headed down with the kids, and I thought that I would show you a glimpse of the parade.

The Balloons

The Pegasus Horse

Otto the Auto

Ronald McDonald

Lighting Bug (that is what our gas bill pays for)

Eagle

The Kids

Bryson LOVED being on Josh's shoulders and every time he would see something cool, he would grab Josh's face and make him look at it. Also Megan in her cool Derby hat that some girl on the bus gave to her. Thanks cool girl, we LOVE it. Now Megan did come to the parade with us, but we ended up finding a spot next to some friends that she met in her gymnastics class last year and so she went up and sat with the kids on the street and ate all their candy. Megan is a pro at getting things from anyone else.

People & GroupsThe Red Hat Society (they had the original group)

Patrick Hughes (Was on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition)

Dora the Explorer & Boots

Carrie Ann Inaba (From Dancing with the Stars)

Kynt & Vyxsin (From the Amazing Race)

Ronald McDonald

And of course you can't forget...

The Horses

And here is a video of a group dancing, they had HUGE speakers that they were wheeling behind them that is why you can hear the music so well. It was cool.

We had a blast, the weather was PERFECT! It was a good start to the Derby weekend.