Turtle

This morning before church, Tyson was barking a lot so we went outside to see what was going on. This is what we found. I am not sure what kind of turtle this is, but it isn't the box turtle that I used to find. I am not sure how it made it's way into our back yard either. My kids have seen all kinds of animals, but this was our closest encounter with a turtle. They were very excited. They sat and watched it for a while. When I came into the kitchen after some last minute sharing time preparations, the kids showed me how they made a bed and got some toys for the turtle. Too cute!

On our way to church, we took the turtle to the pond by Steve Bailey Honda where we were glad to see other turtles that looked just like this one. I am sure that primary teachers, friends, and school teachers will hear about their turtle friend. They really thought it was neat.

Date Night Party

For Date Night at our house, we decided to have a little party. We used Nathan's new slip and slide and snow cone maker. Here is the clan having some pizza.

Everyone enjoyed swimming and Jakey, Jackson, and Nathan did some batting practice. They did such a good job at sharing and taking turns....(all of the hard work is paying off!)

Everyone also took turns on the trampoline. They really liked it when Tommy held the sprinkler over it!!

I think that the snow cones were everyone's favorite.


Jakey and Jaycie on the slip and slide.

We love to hang out with our friends.

Saturday Fun

On Saturday, we had plans to be downtown so we decided to go out for breakfast at the Crackerbarrel. It was a fun treat. It has been a long time, but I like to go out for breakfast. It keeps the mess out of my kitchen!!

While we were there, we found these cute dress up sets that were very inexpensive. We thought it would be fun to get one for each of the kiddos. Here they are all dressed up. Nathan is a race car driver. Jaycie loves to pretend she is a hair stylist. She went a little far when she actually cut her and Nathan's bangs last month. I hope that this keeps her from doing it for real. Oh, and she had to practice on Daddy!! :)

After breakfast, the girls went shopping at Garden Ridge and the boys went downtown to the bike ralley. Here are the cushions that we found. We were very excited to complete our backyard set up....the grill, gazebo, and finally our chairs have cushions again. I am happy to be able to sit down in the shade now while watching the kids swim!

June activities

Jaycie had swim lessons twice a week for the month of June and she loved it. Every lesson she advanced and I loved to see her excitement for learning. It really helped that there were only 2 in her class. Every one was like a private lesson. She just had her last class and she got her passing certificate to move on. It was fun, but I am excited to not have to try and keep the schedule. It took up our afternoons on my days off!

I loved that the Bethany YMCA was right next to the library. We went after almost every swim lesson. We have been doing the summer reading program at the library. The kids have enjoyed it, and I challenged myself by attempting to find all of the books on this list from READY for Kindergarten. There are 100 books on the list that all kids should hear before starting school. I figured that we had the summer until Jaycie starts Pre-K so we could do it. And we have. With the exception of 5 or 6 that I haven't found yet. It has been good for the kids to be excited about reading. It seems like we couldn't fit reading time in for a while and this little challenge sparked our interest again. Jaycie got to color the star of the books that we read. I learned that I need to read in the afternoon around "quiet time" instead of trying to squeeze it in to the bedtime routine. This list helped us find some really good books that we haven't come across before. (Many award winning books and authors). I also re-learned how to find specific books in the library. Thanks to Marilyn Barta, our parent educator with OPAT for getting us involved in the READY program. It has helped me so much stay focuses on education at home. We are done with OPAT now that Nathan is 3, but we loved Mrs. Marilyn's visits!!

Swim with Friends

Christine and the boys invited us to swim at their neighborhood pool. Charly and Ethan came too. The pools were great and we had a lot of fun. The kids jumped in and splashed most of the time. Nathan jumped in without me catching him because Jackson did. Here we are during a safety break. Jaycie Nathan and Lincoln at the picnic table having a snack.

Then Ethan and Nathan wanted to play catch. Swimming is the only thing that we want to do in the afternoon in this 100 degree heat. Thanks to the Poyners for all of the fun!

Father's Day Eve

Poppy and Grandma were able to come and visit for the evening on Saturday. They came for Nathan's birthday and I took the opportunity to do Father's day too. Dad brought down buffalo burgers, baked beans, and strawberry shortcake for dessert.

The kids played and swam. Nathan got a slip and slide and a snow cone maker for his birthday.

This is our neighbor Bradley's motorcycle. We all like it though. My dad and his little buddy are checking it out. Dad has always appreciated Harleys. This was the picture that I gave him and Tommy for Father's day. 5 x 5 picture collage in a black frame. It turned out cute even though it was an afterthought on Nathan's picture day. Jaycie just happened to need to be in one of Nathan's pics and it worked out.

Everyone was worn out when they had to leave. It was pretty late too. We always have so much fun when they come. We love grandparents!!

Father's Day

We made a sign for Tommy. Jaycie mainly and Nathan decorated it! Here are their cards too that we gave dad. The primary sang 2 Father's Day songs, but Jaycie didn't go up until the second one. She didn't want to sing "I'm so glad when Daddy comes home" for some reason. Tommy was in the bathroom with Nathan anyway. I enjoyed the song.

The kids made some cute things at school and church. I loved the one with the sticks of gum.

After church on Sunday and dinner, we went to the Lindley's to swim. They were out of town and we were adding water to the pool. It was a lot of fun, and Jaycie jumped off of the diving board for the 1st time. She loved it and even tried to dive. She jumped lots of times, and in the shallow end was practicing swimming without any floaties. It was a good day.

Nathan's school party

Nathan brought his birthday balloon and sign to school for his actual birthday. We brought cupcakes to share with his class. He was really excited to celebrate with his school friends.

Omniplex

We went on Tuesday with Grandma to the Omniplex. It was great! I haven't been there in so long that I didn't remember it much at all. There is so much to see and do. The kids were in heaven.


My little astronauts went into a shuttle simulator that "took them to the moon." The lights flickered and it moved as they wathced a screen with the moon on it and someone talked to them through head phones and did the coundown to blastoff 10..9..8..7...
They were so brave. They were the littlest kids that were interested in trying it out.

Nathan loved the kids area with the water you could play in and the treehouse.

Jaycie's most favorite thing to do was definetly the gymnastics area. She couldn't wait to get there because we told here that it was there. Both kids did forward rolls down the mats and walked on the beam and the parallel bars. They loved it! It was hard to peel them away, but there were so many other things to check out.

Week with Grandma

I love it when mom is on summer vacation from school! She came to visit for a week. Friday night after her temple session, we played as substitutes in 2 softball games on Bishop Tanner's team. Even though we were a bit rusty, we had a good time. Mom played right field and I played 1st and 2nd base. We both got base hits a few times at bat. We were sore the next day. Saturday we did Nathan's party and the ward party. Sunday Jaycie gave her talk in Primary....

I can talk to Heavenly Father by praying.

He blesses me and my family.

When I am scared or need help, he will comfort me.

I like to pray with my family.

I know that Heavenly Father loves me and will listen to my prayers.

He wants to help me.

She did a great job, even though her voice was too soft to hear all of it.

Monday after work, we went to Pelican Bay for their twilight hours. Mom got one picture of Nathan coming down the slide before she was told that they don't allow photography.

Tuesday we went to the Omniplex...........

OKC 3rd ward summer party

We continued Nathan's birthday at the ward party. It was lots of fun! The "big kids" put together segments of a complicated puzzle, so it was quite an accomplishment to put them all together.
Picture above: Dan Martin, Zach Richards, Becca Martin, Me and Tommy and Eric Roth...in the back companion and Elder Klineman
Picture below: Jaycie, Margie, Londynn, Gabe, Joby, and Jackson



Cotton candy was a big hit! Here is Nathan giving his ticket for his, and Jakey and Becca getting ready to dig in!



We also loved the Root Beer floats that James made
and the moon bounce that Lexie and Aiden are in front of!

Nathan's Suprise Party!

Grandma and Granpa Brown, Huddson, and Hollister were visiting for Nathan's party. He has been asking for a Spiderman party all year. Mom and I set up the party while the kids played outside. Nathan was so suprised and excited when he came inside! He got a big boy bicycle from Grandma and a Lightning McQueen backpack from his cousins. Right after this pizza party, we all went to the ward party to continue the fun!