Swimming Lessons August 8th-12th

We did another round of swimming lessons. Livy begged and pleaded to get to have them too, so we obliged. We were able to use Karina's pool (much closer for lessons) and Olivia Walker from the ward was their instructor. Livy thought it was pretty cool they had the same names. {on a side note here: I remember when Olivia Walker was born. I had fallen in love with the name and swore someday my daughter would have that name. Funny that here they both are: Olivia and Olivia.} She was great and the kids loved it. They learned a lot. It is crazy, but swimming lessons takes so much energy. They both had naps during this week. NAPS!

Last trip to the lake before School starts

We had to squeeze in one last trip to the lake before school started. We planned it for FHE. The weather didn't seem to agree with our plans. You can tell in the photos by the massive dark storm clouds that we shouldn't have even been in the water. Call us crazy. We played anyway. And yes, we were the ONLY people at the lake!

Jaynee, Kailani, Howie, Livy, and Abigail

Howie syching himself up to get in the water!

Tommy played around for a while and then kneeboarded with howie. I was proud of howie. He did great. Then I got a turn with him. That was my first time kneeboarding with howie. It was so much fun. Glad that he is brave enough to try things.

Howie and Jaynee thought they were pretty cool and were going to "walk on water". There was a sandbar that led to the small island and they got a kick out of walking on water.

Abigail and Livy. It is pretty nice when your cousin is one if your best friends.

We then tried to make dinner. Hot dogs and smores. The camp stove was also against us having a nice time. I thought we were doomed with no flame and somehow Weston got it going. However, we only had a small flame and only enough to cook our hot dogs and some of the smores. It ran out mid way, gave up the ghost. That didn't stop the kids from just eating the marshmallows. Oh ya, and I forgot the roasting sticks, so we used forks.

End of summer, time to start school.

Malheur County Fair

We took the kids to the fair. They seemed to have good time. Funny thing is how much Howie enjoyed watching the hypnotist. He was laughing his head off at the funny things the volunteers were doing.

They had some really crazy looking roosters and chickens. The kids enjoyed the little animals (bunnies, chickens, etc) as well as the bigger ones (cows, sheep, goats, horses, etc).

They enjoyed getting balloon animals made from the clown. Livy freaked out at first and wasn't going any closer than 20 feet away from her. Livy told me she didn't like clowns. Then when she saw what Howie was getting, she then told me she liked clowns and wanted to get closer, then wanted her own balloon animal. Howie got a fishing pole and fish and livy got a butterfly. It was fun and we should have taken more photos, but enjoyed the evening.

Kung Fu Panda 2

We went with Susan's bunch (Rosie's kids were visiting) to the $2 dollar theater in Nampa to see Kung Fu Panda 2. I really liked it. I am reminded, as I had to hold livy down on my lap, why she is too young for movie theaters. She doesn't have the attention span for it. Finally, the last 20 mins of the movie she sat relaxed on my lap. By then, I was exhausted from wrangling her. It was a cute movie and fun time out with cousins.

Front Row: Brady, Kacie, Braxton, Howie, Livy

Back Row: Susan, Blake, Kyle, McKinley, and Me

Watermelon Tablerunner

Sewing. I used to do it more with Julie, but I have my dry spells and then I find something that brings me back to sewing. Breanna emailed me this pattern and I knew I wanted to do it. It is a sewing technique I haven't done before, you quilt it as you sew it. I love the concept. I just need to finish it by adding the seeds. The project can be found at Allpeoplequilt.com

Breanna is a lot like you Julie M, a good eye for fabrics. Hers turned out way cuter than mine. But I love mine too. Fun project. What next? Any good suggestions?