Strong Muscles and Bones

About a week ago I signed Kylie up for swim lessons. I have been telling her I wanted to sign her up for awhile and she had been really excited about until I told her I actually did it. She had a small panic attack and told me she would only get in the water with her floaties. I told her she couldn't use them and her teacher would help her learn how to swim without them. She was sure she would drowned and needed to wait until "she was bigger" to take the lessons. 

Thankfully a few weeks ago when we were in AZ Kylie and my mom had a good long chat about not being afraid to try new things. Kylie had decided that if she had strong muscles and bones and Heavenly Father and Jesus on her side she could do anything. My mom suggested that every night I  rub "strong lotion" on Kylie to help make her muscles and bones stronger. Kylie hasn't let me forget a night and this whole last week we have been focusing on being strong for swimming lessons and not being afraid to swimming without those floaties...

Well, I think it worked! Kylie marched right into the water and was off. As you can see the rest of her class kinda hung back on the steps at first while she confidently "swam" (as she put it) around in the water. 

Today they worked on floating, kicking and putting their heads under water. I am excited to see all she will learn the next two weeks and difference it will make in her swimming. I am proud of her and her willingness to get out there and do her best. And I am very grateful for my mom and her infinite wisdom!!

Uncle Jon's Boat

Jeremy's brother Jon called us on Saturday and invited us to come boating with them at Quail Lake. My sister was in town so Jase and I hung back, but Kylie and Jeremy went and had a fun time. Kylie loved "playing at the beach" with her cousins. She said the liked riding on the boat, but it was hard to breath when they went fast. Jeremy tried his hand at skiing and is now regretting that decision because he can hardly move with his soar muscles. Any excuse we get to hang with family we love and want to take advantage of. Jeremy said Jase would have loved crawling around in the mud (I think he would have loved the taste of it, as he does everything else) and I am sure he would have. Hopefully we have a chance to go again...when the water is a bit warmer!!

Family Room Picnics

We do this often, and the kids love it. 

Kylie said to me, "The sandwiches tastes better over on the blanket, Mom."

Sometimes it's those simple little things that are the most enjoyable!

P.S. Don't worry Jase ate more than just fish crackers for lunch

The River

Every night before bed Kylie asks, "What are we doing tomorrow?" Now that preschool is out it's time to get creative and find fun things to do so our days don't get long and monotonous. Today we spent the morning at the river. It wasn't as warm out and I had hoped and the water was a little chili, but they didn't seem to mind too much. Kylie ran around and played with all her friend and Jase was fairly content splashing in the shallow water and climbing on the rocks... the very, very dirty rocks that stain your brand new swimming suit with red dirt. I should have known better!!   I'm sure this won't be the last time we come here to play. We have a whole summer to fill. It's a good thing there are several places around St. George to keep us entertained...and cool!!

Kylie's Preschool Graduation & Carnival

Kylie isn't actually graduating from preschool this year, but her teacher invites all the students to participate anyway. It was held at a really nice location that was clearly way too small for all the people there and hotter then heck, but it was really fun to watch Kylie participate. They placed her front and center and she did a great job singing. She was awarded the "most improved award" and came home with a very special red chair which she takes everywhere with her. She is very proud of that chair and she should be. She has done great this year and has worked really hard!

Today her teachers threw a carnival to celebrate complete with lunch, games, face painting and some serious prizes. Of course Kylie thought it was awesome. She came home with a big smile on her face and can't wait to do the preschool thing all over again next year!  

Necessities

There are necessary activities that must take place when visiting Grandma and Grandpa H's house in AZ.

The first, of course being a swim with Grandpa

The second is taking baths in grandma's cool tub with bubbles and color changing lights

And the third is trying to new things, such as eating by himself. Grandma doesn't have any problems with giant messes and letting her grand kids do what they want as long as they enjoy it!

And these were all successfully accomplished along with a few other fun things during our quick weekend visit accompanied by my sister-in-law Ang.

Kylie went over to our friends/neighbors the Heningers and meet the newest member of their family. Their daughter Jami just had a little baby girl and named her Kiley. (We secretly tell ourselves they named her after our Kylie, although that has never been confirmed) Kylie loves having two Kylies/Kileys around and loved holding her.

Cheeeeze

I'm not sure if it's because he has had a camera shoved in his face about 4000 times in the last 17 months or what it is, but the second I wipe that thing out he is all smiles. He knows just what to do. Often times he will stop in his tracks, say "cheeeeese", lean towards the camera and give me a big one! I don't blame him. If I had a smile like that I would be proud to show it off too. He's a good little kid and provides us with lots of good laughs.

Over the Weekend...

We attended the PBR (to be honest, I don't even know what that stands for. I assume it stands for _______ Bull Riding) It was pretty fun to watch though. I like that sort of thing once in awhile. We had really good seats right down at the front except the kids mostly just ran around everywhere.

Jase has learned that crawling on your knees hurts after awhile so he crawls like this and makes people laugh. As you can imagine his hands are filthy when he's done and he wants to pick every little thing up off the ground. Really, REALLY, something has got to be done with his unwillingness to walk!

Mother's Day was a great day. We first spent it at church where Kylie was anxiously anticipating the time she could go up and sing with the Primary until it actually came time and then she wanted nothing to do with it.  After church we went up to Cedar to have dinner with Jeremy's family and spend some time with my grandma and sister.  It was a very nice day and I was sad I left my camera at home.  I was spoiled by my husband and kids with a new clock I can't wait to hang up and Kylie was insistent on getting me flowers (she LOVES to do that for me...what a sweetie) Jeremy also wrestled Jase during Priesthood/Relief Society for the second week in a row. What a nice guy! 

I am grateful for the examples of great mothers I have in my life. My own mother is absolutely amazing and I am so blessed to have her as my own (she gives the BEST advice). My mother-in-law is also wonderful and I am so thankful for all she does for us. I am also grateful for my friends and other women I watch as they are mothers and great examples they are. I wouldn't trade being a mother for anything in this world. I have been truly blessed and I thank Heavenly Father everyday for that.

Lunch With Dad

Jeremy's work is quite a ways away from our house so when he leaves in the morning we don't get to see him until he comes home at night. Kylie hates that he doesn't come home during the day. She always asks when he is coming home or why we can't go see him at work. And she certainly doesn't think it's fair her friends get to see their dad's at lunch so today we decided it would be fun to take lunch to him and meet him at a park close to his work so we could spend some time with him.

The weather was perfect and actually we had to move our blanket from the shade out into the sun because it was a little cool.

Dad is very fun to play with. This picture makes me laugh because Kylie was screaming her guts out because she hated hanging from those bars, but I asked her to smile for a picture so she stops screaming, smiles long enough for me to take the picture and then starts right back up again...that is so typical Kylie!

Jase loves the wood chips, especially the taste. He had a whole mouth full at one point. He also loves the taste of germy, dirty, disgusting metal bars which he insisted on sucking on until I had to completely pull him away from them.

 I also took the kids swimming this morning and just as I suspected Kylie will need at least 4 or 5 more swimming trips to possible get comfortable with getting her hair wet and Jase wasn't thrilled about his floaty he loved last year. I think we need a good few days with Grandpa in his pool to get reacquainted with the water again!

Let Summer Begin

We pulled out our swimming suits for the first time this year in St. George. I was a little worried the water would still be really cold (which it was) but we went to the park with a splash pad and a huge play area so the kids could do both. First of all, we get to the park and I realize Kylie had taken her swimming suit out of the bag and left it home so I turn around and go all the way back to get it only to have her not really want anything to do with the water. She is one big CHICKEN!! I begged and begged her to run through the water and she wouldn't. I tried bribing her with candy and she wouldn't. Good thing I went back for that swimming suit, huh? She warmed up slightly to the idea once, put her shoes on and got her feet wet. That was about it. It tends to take her some time to warm up to things, maybe she'll be more into it when it's 100 million degrees outside!

Jase on the other hand LOVED it. I wasn't sure he would like crawling through it so I didn't even put his suit on, but I should have because he was drenched before he was done. That kid loves the water no matter how cold it is. He would reach his hand into the little water fall, gasp when it hit him and then laugh. I can't wait to take him swimming. He loved it last year and I am sure he will love it even more this year.

Making Hard Decisions

As soon as Kylie was done eating her dinner Monday night and she out of her seat and on her way out the door, but not before I said to her, "Kylie it's Monday night and we need to have Family Night. You can play for a few minutes and then you have to come in when we tell you." She agreed and was off. Well, as you can imagine it wasn't as easy to get her to come back in as she had promised. All of her friends were out and the evening temps are the perfect time to play. She was having too much fun on her bike and she didn't want to be bothered. Jeremy called for her through the window, but she wasn't willing to come in, so I thought I would try a different approach. She was standing next to an open window when I showed her the Friend Magazine and told her I had a fun story to read her and then we could play a game and possible have a treat. She still wasn't convinced it was something she wanted to do, so I then asked her what Heavenly Father and Jesus would want her to. I asked her what her Primary teacher would want her to do. She stopped, thought about it for a second and then said, "They would want me to come in and I want them to be happy." It wasn't two seconds later she willing came running through the door.

We actually had a really fun night. I told Kylie a couple stories from the Friend. One about President Monson (who she LOVES) and one about Jesus walking on water which she thought was awesome. We then played Go Fish with the number cards from our Uno game. Kylie was first on my team then on Jeremy's. Then she decided she could do it on her own and she did awesome! She recognized the numbers in her hand and knew what to ask for. She also knew if she had a card that Jeremy or I had asked for. She knew when she had four cards and could lay them down. It was SO fun to watch her play and be able to do it on her own! We had such a great time together and I am glad we can take the time to be together. I am grateful for Kylie's decision and her willingness to want to make Heavenly Father and Jesus happy! She's not always willing to listen to me, but when I ask her what Jesus would want her to do she'll soften and want to make him happy.

When Did This Happen?

I went in to waking him up for church and he looked so big laying in there. When did he grow up? Apparently over night.

He's also learned that it's funny to talk into the fan. Although he doesn't really talk into it, he sucks or eats it...just like he does with most things!