A Relay, A Missionary, Bible Camp, and Swimming

Summer is flying by I can't believe June is already over. I saw fall decorations in Michael's last week. I am so not ready for that yet. More summer fun is definitely needed. The girls are enjoying being home together, they fight a little bit more, but they also play together really well and help me with Logan which is great.

A RELAY

A few weekends ago I ran in the Sawtooth Relay with some of my friends from our ward. It was a lot of fun. I had never done a relay before but would definitely do it again. Everyone did awesome. The race was from Stanley to Ketchum, 62 miles, it is absolutely beautiful up there and made great scenery for the run. The day started out foggy, then it rained, I swear it snowed at the top of Kami's leg (8900 ft in elevation), and it was sunny. We saw it all but I loved every minute of it. We had a great team and I enjoyed getting to know all of them better and covering the 62 mile distance with them. We finished in just over 9 hours, which went by really quickly. I had my best splits yet, maybe I might make Boston someday after all. I look forward to doing this race again.The foggy morning greeting us for our 6:15 start

Some of the beautiful scenery, I love the snow capped mountains and all of the green.

I was lucky enough to get one of the sunny legs. Ryan took this picture, it was nice seeing him and the rest of the team along the way. Perfect motivation.


The team at the finish line. Great job team!!

Kami has picture of all of the exchanges and other events of the day, once I get some of them I will add some more.

A MISSIONARY

After the race we drove down to Utah for the cousin Chelsea who was leaving for a mission. Chelsea spent her first year of college close to us and became part of our family. The girls adore her and so do we. She was the best babysitter and hang out buddy. She would watch sports with Ryan and stay late to watch chick flicks with me. We were sad when she transferred to BYU but knew it was the best choice for her. She has been called to serve in the Los Angeles, California mission Spanish speaking. Her testimony is amazing, she will do great things. The people of L.A. are lucky to have her headed their way. Good luck Hermana.

She promised she would not come home a Laker fan. I am holding her to that.

BIBLE CAMP

The highlight of the summer for the girls thus far as definitely been Bible Camp, yes that is correct Bible Camp. The Christian preschool that Ellie has been going to puts on a camp for a week. It was AWESOME!! The girls are still talking about it and still singing the songs. The got t-shirts, made crafts, played games, had some bible instruction, sang songs, had snacks, and had tons of fun. All for the the unbeatable price of $5.00. seriously $5.00 so AWESOME. They went from 9-12 everyday for a week. We did end up donating to their charity because I felt guilty only paying 10 dollars for such a great program. The girls were so sad when it was over the honestly had the best time. The songs they learned are hilarious and very educational. They learned that Peter was a fisherman, Jesus walked on water, and various other Bible stories.

Son Rock Kids Camp ROCKS!!

SWIMMING LESSONS

A summer staple is the 2 week period dedicated to swimming lessons. The girls have been doing really well. Bailey has been working hard to really get the strokes down and Ellie is so close to swimming on her own. We have this week left so hopefully they will keep up the good work.Bailey working on her back crawl

Ellie swimming all by herself

Pierced Ears

Last Monday (the 8th) Bailey got her ears pierced. I told her she could get the pierced when she turned 8. Since she wanted to get some earrings for her birthday and be able to wear them, I decided to let her get them pierced six weeks before her birthday so she would be able to change them on her birthday. It was not the funnest experience, the girl who did them was lacking some brain cells, and the back has fallen off twice and we lost one of the earrings. They did give us a replacement for free. She is happy with it and loves to take care of them and show everybody. My little girl is growing up!!

It's kind of hard to tell, but the earrings are little flowers with different colored rhinestones making up the petals and center of the flower.

The Saturday before, Bailey had her end of the year get together for girl scouts. They pulled weeds as a service project to their school for letting them have their meetings there. It started out rainy and cold but ended up being a nice day. The girls, and their parents, worked hard and made the flowers beds at the school look much better.
Her troop with all of the weeds that we pulled, it was a lot!!

Wednesday June 3rd--Last Day of School

Wednesday was the last day of second grade. Bailey had a great year. I can't believe it is already over but she had a really good teacher and was sad to say goodbye to her. She said that she just wanted to have Mrs. Palmerton for 3rd grade too. They finished up the year by signing yearbooks, getting report cards and having a family picnic outside. It was a fun way to end the year.

She did well on all of her state testing and on her report card. Her teacher said that she could use a little bit of work on her story problems. I already knew this, but it was nice to have it in writing so I could show Bailey, she was much more receptive about practicing them over the summer because Mrs. Palmerton told her to and not just me.

Bailey and Mrs. Palmerton

LAsT DaY OF 2nD GrAdE

Let the summer begin!

Tuesday June 2nd --Field Day

For the past 2 years field day has had some of the worst weather of the spring. Well this year did not disappoint. The kids were able to start even though it was already sprinkling rain a little. But it just got worse as the day progressed. To bad. I swear the weather has something against field day, the day before and the day after were great. The kids ended up watching a movie instead. Not quite as fun as field day I guess but better than school work!!

Bailey doing the hula hoop relay before they got totally rained out

"I am wet, but its still fun."


MAYBE NEXT YEAR

Monday June 1rst -- Fishing

It was a great night to go fishing. Some of our friends invited us to go out with them on their boat and do some fishing. Everyone was excited. It was a really nice night and once we found the right spot their were plenty of fish to be caught. Everyone caught a fish and when the night was done I think we ended up with over 40.

Logan's first time on a boat. He loved it!
He also ate some of the fish bait. So nasty!

Ellie and her friend Abby. They had fun catching a few fish but they had more fun hanging out and being silly. Bailey caught a few fish all by herselfThe girls loved watching reel some of the big ones in

One of the catches of the night

Sunday May 31st

The newest member of the family arrived today to Ryan's brother Aaron and his wife Mindy. Daxton Keith came into the world happy, healthy and hopefully ready to find his spot in the family. He will be #4 the oldest is 3. If anyone can handle this task Mindy can......go girl!!

The month of May is over and part of me is sad to see it go. Some of the things we did this month we had been waiting for all year. The summer is here and the craziness of schedules will slow down. This is good and bad I guess. The kids had a great year in school and in their activities, it has been fun to watch them grow and watch them get better at doing the things they enjoy. Bring on June!

Saturday May 29th

Ryan finished up all of the little details of the swing set. The kids have been loving it. I am not sure if it has found its permanent home in our yard yet, we have some uneven ground to work with. But for now it is working out great and the kids could not be happier. The neighbor kids have enjoyed it too. I hope no one breaks their arm on the monkey bars :)


Later that day Ellie had her dance recital. She has been so excited about it. She wanted to wear her outfit so bad. They did two dances a tap number to "I Dream a Jeannie" and a ballet number to a song about clouds. She wasn't nervous at all and did a really good job. She knew most of the moves without looking at her teacher and she smiled the whole time.

They colored backstage with the girls from the high school dance team while they waited for their turn. She had fun hanging out with all of her friends.

Friday May 29th

Friday was a very eventful day but definitely a fun one. We hit the temple for a session before the craziness of the day began. Afterward we headed over to Ellie's school for her Pre-School Graduation. She was so excited all morning long and it was so fun to see their class all dressed up in their matching shirts. I can't believe this day is already here. Ellie was our baby for so long it is crazy to see her getting so big.Walking In

Getting All Lined Up

Ellie and Ms. Heidi

It was a very cute little program. They sang all of the songs that they have been singing at school everyday. The always do the Pledge of Allegiance and then sing God Bless America followed by the books of the New Testament (advantage of sending your kid to Christian preschool), the days of the week, the months of the year and a couple of other cute songs. Then their teacher Ms. Heidi gave them their diplomas. I cried a little and then I cried a little more when I looked at her report card. Her teacher said what a sweet girl she was and that she is always kind and respectful and is definitely ready for Kindergarten. What else could you ask for? Congratulations little Miss Ellie. You are getting so BiG!

Ellie and her cute friend Brinley

OuR LitTlE GrAdUtE

After graduation it was off to Costco again for more milk and then a quick stop at the office to check the progress of everything. Its looking pretty good.

Its then time for Bailey's presentation on the Dusky Dolphin. All the 2nd grade classes were assigned an animal habitat, Bailey's class got the ocean. Then each student had to pick an animal to research. Bailey chose the Dusky Dolphin. They had to do research in books and on the internet and then type up a report and make a poster or diaraham. Bailey chose a poster, she picked all of the pictures that she wanted and helped me type up the facts. They had to know a lot of information about the animal and then present it to others for a couple of days. They presented to other classes and then on Friday they presented it to the parents. She did a really good job and knew all of the facts really well. It was fun to see what the kids had learned. It was a fun project for her.

After the presentations Bailey's teacher sent us home with some of her work from the year. It was fun to look through everything and see her progress and the fun projects they had been working on throughout the year. I really like her teacher. It was her first year but I think she did a great job and really cared about these kids. Bailey is going to really miss her. Then the kids gave all of the moms who volunteered in the classroom this year a flower pot they had decorated with cute flowers in it. I love being in the classroom and am happy that I get to do this.


We headed home for a couple hours and then headed out to Bailey's end of the year soccer party. They always do it at a pizza buffet place which the kids absolutely love. The dessert pizza is their favorite. I have really appreciated the effort of her coaches this year and they have decided to return in the fall. Bailey didn't even hesitate when we asked her if she wanted to play, they will get new uniforms to I don't know if they will keep the same name, but until then.... GO TIGERS!
The kids spent the rest of the evening playing outside, their very favorite thing to do this time of year. We are on the edge of the mountian time zone so this time of year it stays light until almost ten o'clock.....summer really is just around the corner.