Saturday, July 2— It’s Great to Be Eight, the Big Boys Hit the Waterslide, and We Love Uncle Shawn’s Job

On Saturday we went to see this cute girl get baptized.  Can you believe she is eight!  I remember when she was a wee baby with curly dark hair. 

After the baptism it was back to the Andersons house for yummy food and some water fun for the kiddos.  Mindy had borrowed a big blow up water slide from her neighbor.

The kids started timing themselves to see how many times they could go down the slide in 1 minute.  Well, my dad looks at my husband (Mr. Competitive) and says how many times do you think you could go down—well it was on after that.  Dave donned his swim suit, my dad just jumped in in his jean shorts and we started timing. 

Dave matched Syd’s record and my dad scored big with a backwards somersault that would have been a perfect 10 in the Olympics.

Did I mention this waterslide was not made for those over about 12 years old.  The “older” kids about deflated it every time they climbed up and the awkwardness of getting their non-12 year old bodies off the slide was absolutely hilarious.

The little kids had a great time too. 

Syd was in the water for about 4-5 straight hours thus earning her the nickname “water rat.”

The rest of us sat in the shade and thanks to an uncle who works at an ice cream factory ate and ate Fat Boy cookies until we were sick.

Baby Cohen made an appearance and we all ooooed and awwed over his cute bald head.

Thanks for turning eight Brynn so we could all have so much fun!  Hope to top it when you turn nine.

June 25—A Few Bikes, Lots of Balloons & some Horses

Time for the annual 6th ward Primary Bike Parade.

As always the balloons and otter pops were a hit, but the horses were clearly the stars of the activity.

Thanks to a couple in our ward who have horses and the endless patience to give every kid in the ward as many rides as they wanted the activity was a total hit with the kids.  (I think Ian had 7 rides)

Wesley found the Morris’ wagon and made himself at home—he wanted nothing to do with the horses.

**Followed the bike parade with a 32 mile bike ride of my own.  My team didn’t get a ticket for LOTOJA so now I am training for the Cache Valley Century at the end of August.  Yeah, I think the 42 miles for LOTOJA would have been easier.**

June 23—Grand Summer Plans

So, every summer when the rain ends and the temperature shoots up I make a list—a long list of all the grand things me and my kids are going to do during the summer.  The list usually looks like this…

Cook out, go to lots of parks (names included), go on a hike, go to the pool, make homemade ice cream, go camping, read (lots), go on family bike ride, have the kids do some kind of daily study time (workbooks, flashcards, etc.), ride the train to see Grandma & Grandpa Noel, spend a week with Grandma & Grandpa Lee, swim at Aunt Carole’s, swimming lessons, drink lemonade, play football with daddy, …the list goes on and usually gets added to continually as the summer goes on. 

So having ignored the list for a few days we decided to have a picnic in the front yard.

The little root beers where Ian’s idea and he was so excited to have his own can.

Miles was a fan of eating outside and wanted to move all of his books out under the tree to read on the picnic blanket after lunch…we will have to add that to the list.

Wesley loved that he could take a bite, ride his bike, take a bite, play ball, take a bit run around the yard…you get the idea.

So what is your summer list?  I think I might add watch lots of TV and eat Otter Pop’s with the fan blowing on you everyday at 4:00 to our list.