Water fun this Summer!!

Sorry this is a long one. We certainly had a lot of fun this Summer in the water. Not as much as my boys would have liked though. It is so hard to take James to the pool, since all he wants to do is get in and get out and get in and get out and run around the pool and get too close to the edge. It made me crazy and way too stressed. So the boys had to suffer a little bit, sorry Shawn and Mikey. Hopefully next Summer will be better. We did get a Slip n' Slide and a little pool for the backyard so I could have a little bit of sanity and they could still get out of the heat with the cold water. I love some of these pictures of them sliding! Go Mikey! (look at his hair and his face, very funny) He's coming in!

James getting in the pool very slowly,since the water was still pretty cold, he would not stay in it very long. But it felt good to step into it, it was pretty hot that day!

Here comes Shawn!! Watch out for Mikey.

I love this!! It is Super Mikey!!! Man that looks like it would hurt when he lands:(

Cooling off in the baby pool.

Pushing on the end to make the water spray up higher, they did this a lot which resulted in breaking the first one so we had to buy a new one.

Smile, I love this face of Shawn, so cute!

drink up boys

Love this picture of James, his cute little belly sticking out and his concerned face, I wonder what he was thinking?

We went to The Gardner Pool, which is a community pool in one of the towns near Olathe. It has a bunch of fun stuff for the kids to do, water slides, a playground in the water and water spraying out everywhere. A Lazy river and diving boards. James loved playing with the little water spouts, he would kick them and put his ball up to them and play cars under them, it was fun to watch. It was perfect to just sit in the shallow water and let him play while I kept cool.

Shawn and his friend Austin found these leap frog discs that you had to get across, it was much harder than they thought, Shawn fell off quite a bit, but he kept getting back on and got all the way across, way to go Shawn! I know that was not easy. Shawn also had a really fun time going off the diving boards a bunch of times. He hadn't really ever done that before, so he made the most of that since we don't have a diving board at our pool.

There were 2 really big water slides that Shawn and I and all the other kids and adults went down, but Mikey was not ready for that yet. He found this little water slide that was just perfect for him and he had a lot of fun going down that many, many times. Mikey also had fun playing with friends and new people he just met all around the playground. He is so good at meeting new people and getting them to play with him.

James and I sitting by the side of the pool while James gets a drink and a snack. He always wants a drink and a snack it seems:) I was trying to get a little sun on my legs and the back of me, but it is a bit too hard to do that with a 2 year old running around.

After a long day in the sun and in the water, it wore the kid out. I actually had to leave early because he was so tired. My friend Rachel brought the Shawn and Mikey home after another couple of hours. I can't believe how long kids can play in the sun and in the water.

This is at our neighbor hood pool. We went several times as a family and the kids went more with some of their friends. Like I said I wish we could have gone more,but James wear me out. I love when Chris comes with us and play with the boys, I could watch that for hours, until someone starts fighting anyway:)

Chillin in the float!

James absolutely loved playing with the basketball hoop this Summer at our pool, it was a hit every time. I didn't like it as much because he got way too close to the edge, so a lot of the time if nobody else was there I would drag it over to the baby pool.

Mikey loves to do flips and spins and dives into the pool. Even though he is not supposed to do most of the things he does, he is still very proud of it all.

Chris is helping James ride on the Hover board thing under water, James really loves to be with his daddy and I know Chris feels the exact same way!

The boys got goggles from the Easter Bunny and they seemed to be a big hit this Summer, we couldn't go to the pool without them.

Here is a shot with all three of them, but they are not really looking like they wanted to be in a picture at that moment, oh well what else is new:)

We can walk to our pool in a few minutes, it is just around the corner and so nice to be so close. We will miss the warm weather and the pool when it closes in a couple of weeks. We have a heated pool this year, so they will keep it open a bit longer than most of the other pools in the area. It is so nice to have a heated pool right now with the air getting a bit more breezy and cooler in the evenings. That is usually when we go with Chris.

Tae Kwon Do Mikey

Yes, Mikey can do the splits!! Love the smile!

Mikey Started Tae Kwon Do in late February at Ko's Black belt Academy, he was one of the first to sign up at this location. Mikey did very well and got his Yellow belt fairly quickly. This is his instructor Justin Ko. This is the day Mikey got his Yellow belt- May 7th. Mikey really loved to be doing Tae Kwon Do once he got there, but getting him there was a different story. I struggled nearly ever time to get him in the car. We loved to watch him while he was doing it, he was so intense and excelled very well. He got his Orange belt on July 11th. Unfortunately, he has decided not to continue at this time. He wants to try some other extra curricular activities now and maybe he will go back to Tae Kwon Do in the future. We are hoping that he will find something that he truly enjoys doing. He is still young, so now is the time to get him out there and see what fits him the best. We will let you know how he does with the next activity, I think we are going to do break dancing and Hip hop. And he really wants to do wrestling again.
Look at that face, so focused, I wish he were like that at home when I ask him do do his chores- yea right:)

Look at that flexibility, Mikey is so limber and very strong he can do more push ups than any other kid there.

Wow, what a kick!

He was working on his side splits but they are a little harder to do. You can tell by the expression on his face.

Soccer shoes, soccer shorts, soccer balls, soccer...

James loves to wear soccer shoes. James loves to wear Shawn's soccer shoes especially. He will put them on and walk all over and try to kick the ball as best he can with shoes that are 5 times his feet. It is very cute to see when he will find a pair and he puts them on right away and thuds through the house.
James also loves his soccer shorts, he always asks to wear his "yoccer yorts" he has a hard time saying his "S"'s still. We are working on that. But I like that he still has his baby talk, or I guess his binky talk.

James also plays soccer everyday inside and out. We have about 12 balls lingering about the house and in the garage, so he is never short a ball. I tried to say no balls in the house-once upon a time, but that has been ruled out and I have to accept the fact that there will always be balls in my house being kicked in every direction. I don't plan on having to many expensive things on the shelves. The pictures I am a bit nervous about, but I guess I won't buy expensive frames:)

So proud to have a ball in his hands and at his feet

James also loves to wear soccer goalie gloves. We have one pair that he will put on anytime he can find them. If he can't find those he will put on winter gloves and pretend to be a goalie. It is so cute to watch him.

This is my favorite, I love the socks pulled up all the way!! And yes the stained onesie is a nice touch as well.

He is finally all set up for himself. For his Second birthday Chris got him a Barcelona Jersey, shirt and shorts and socks, and he has soccer shoes that fit him as well. And a brand new ball, of course. Our little soccer toddler.

Grandma Becky and Bob's Visit

We love to get visitors and we were so lucky to get all of them at once. We had Becky and Bob come for a week in June and then my parents overlapped them one day and they were here for a few days. There are so many fun things to do and see in Kansas City that it was a lot of fun to take everyone to all the different places. Hopefully we can get many more people to come visit us in the future! Can't wait for you to come back!Here is the clan before Grandma Becky and Bob hit the road in the morning on their last day here. It is a 10 hour drive back to Fort Collins. Not too bad in the Summer but pretty ugly drive during the winter.
Grandma Becky wanted to see Shawn play some soccer, so she went to one of his practices, here he is kicking the heck out of the ball:)

Like Father, Like Son...

This is what Grandma Becky did most of the time instead of watching the soccer, playing with James and Mike in the trees and in the dirt. What are Grandma's for- right?

I love this shot of his big belly stickin' out

Cooling off in the little baby pool.

I took them to the Union Station downtown and there are so many things to do there. Bob had remembered being there when he was a young boy and he wanted to check it out and see how it had changed. There are not as many trains going through there as there used to be. Here is a big train track that they have set up all the time, it is neat to see all the little displays around the track. The boys like to point all the weird things out that they can find.

There is this fun Children's Museum place called Science City that we were able to get free tickets while we were there. We were so happy to get those. I had no idea what Science City was and it was a great way to find out. They had so many different things for the kids to do and a lot of fun things for the adults to do as well. This is one of the optical illusions room, the boys thought this was so cool!!

This is walking through a blood vessel of some sort, or maybe the stomach, I can't remember
exactly, but it was interesting. James did not like it much, it was dark and kind of scary for him.

At the end of walking around Union Station we stopped at the diner and had a bite to eat, it was a lot of fun, especially when we finally ordered something that they had not run out of. I think Mikey went through 3 things before he could actually get it. They kept coming back and telling us they were out of that item.

My first Summer wedding

I was blessed this Summer with the opportunity to go to three wonderful weddings. The first was one of my good friends from elementary school, Ruthie Sherrod. She is still one of my good friends and I am very blessed to have her in my life. It was a beautiful Jewish wedding at Cheesman Park in Denver, Colorado on June 14th. I was so glad that I was able to come and be a part of that special day with her. She was such a beautiful bride and it was so fun to see her family and many old friends. Her and Josh, her new husband, look so happy together!! This was at her rehearsal dinner the night before, that was a lot of fun to get to meet the groom and see the families and how they are together, it was a fun night. This is Ruthie, Laurie and I. We were great frinds all through elementary school and Junior high, we had a lot of FUN times!!

The beautiful bride and her bridesmaids

Josh and Ruth under the Canopy after they were married.

Lots, and Lots of fun dancing!!!

Beautiful!!

James was there with me, I was lucky to have my mom there too, she took James on a walk when he started getting a bit too loud. He enjoyed walking around the fountains and all the fun structures and ledges.

Shawn's Soccer Tournament

Shawn had his first soccer tournament in Lincoln, Nebraska the first weeekend in June. It was a lot of fun to get to know the boys and their parents better while staying in a hotel for 2 full days and sitting on the sidelines for many hours. The name of Shawn's team is the Kansas City Fusion. They are in the 1st division in our area and they are pretty good!! They played 3 games and won 2 out of the 3.

Shawn is #3 and has bright florescent green shoes, so it is very easy to spot him on the field. He is very good with the ball and loves to play soccer and be with his soccer friends. They had so much fun that weekend I am sure they are very excited for the next tournament.

Here they are getting a pep talk from Coach Mo after one of the games. Their coach is very good about encouraging them and making sure they know their strengths and talking positive to them. Coach Mo also plays on the indoor soccer team that Chris plays on every friday night.

Here is cutie pie James siting on all our luggage while we are getting ready to leave the hotel. It was alittle challenging to have him there with all the coming and goings. He didn't quite get the sleep that he usually gets, but he did pretty good. Plus he is a bit hard to have at the games because he doesn't want to watch much, we are usually taking turns chasing him around the sidelines.

Here is Shawn right as he is about to make a goal. He plays center mid-field so that allows him to make plenty of goals- and he usually makes at least one a game if not more.

Here they are after running around the hotel for hours in between games. They played hide and seek and chase and whatever else they could think of. They also had a lot of fun going up and down in the elevator. We stayed at the Embassy Suites so there are a lot of floors and the elevator is clear so they can watch as they go up and down...

Here is a great team picture minus Shawn, he is the only one that had to look away. The sun was in their face so they look pretty good for all of them squinting. This was after their last game and right before we went to have a big team dinner.

We had a nice time at the dinner and at the end they gave the boys their medals and they were all wearing their tournament t-shirts. We went to Valentinos Pizza for dinner. They had an all you can eat buffet and the boys ate a lot. Mikey ate the most, the Fusion boys were all betting Mikey that he couldn't eat as much as he got - and he had no trouble eating it all. Then he went and got a bunch of desert to top it all off. It was pretty impressive. I have a picture, but I have no idea how to get it on here anymore, so use your imagination.

Mikey Gets Baptized!

We are so proud of Mikey that he chose to get Baptized. He was Baptized on June 6th, 2009. We all had a great experience and I know he was glad that he did it. Mikey says his favorite part about getting baptized is going into the water and going under, he said you feel clean after you come up. He was happy that Grandma Jo and Grandpa Alan could come and share that with him. They both gave very nice talks. Thanks for coming and being a part of Mikey's special day!!

Grandma and Grandpa got him brand new leather scriptures that I am sure he will use for many years. I know I used mine that I got at my baptism all through seminary and college, I still have them- they are pretty beat up though, I guess that is a good thing, it means that they were used.

We are very happy to be members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. What a blessing it is to be a part of this wonderful church. We learn so much about our Saviour and all great stories there are in the scriptures. We are also striving to be better people and do our part in this wonderful world that we live in. I am so happy that we have the true gospel in our lives and that our children are able to learn all the great things that it has to offer.

Chris Baptized and Confirmed Mikey a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

This is such a typical picture of Mikey- it is so him!! We love you Mikey! Thanks for all the love that you bring to our family.