August update

We've been keeping busy these last few weeks of summer. Here are some of the things we've been doing. We went to the new Southside pool. It was close to 100 degrees that day. Gwyn loved being on the inner tube in the lazy river. We walk around it at least 100 times. Here's a picture of Reagan and Kelsey and some friends in the lazy river. They decided to walk it after a failed attempt to fit all four of them in one inner tube.

Here's the picture of all four of them in one tube. 

And one more picture of Kelsey.

Here's an update of our garden. The zucchini and pumpkin plants have taken over!

And here's what we have so far to show for our hard work. My mission is accomplished, as far as I'm concerned. Anything else we get after this is a bonus. I found a recipe on line for a chocolate zucchini chocolate chip cake so I made it with this zucchini. It was yummy!

We made it to the Mobius Children's Museum, as promised. Reagan and Kelsey read books this summer and earned a free coupon from the library. We went with our friends, the Buers. They had a lot of fun. I didn't seem to get a picture of Reagan,  but she was there too.

We made it to one more Shock game this summer. This was one of the play-off games, which they won. GO SHOCK!

This is an interesting thing Matt and Gwyn did this month. Matt flew to Tacoma to see his favorite band, Radiohead, in concert. It would be highly unlikely for Matt to miss a Radiohead concert anywhere in Washington. He was only going to be gone for 2 nights and one day so he took Gwyn with him. He was staying at his parents house and they were more than happy to have a day with her. At home, Reagan, Kelsey and I brought some scrapbooking stuff up from downstairs and we watched a couple of movies and scrapbooked. It was a nice, relaxing day. 

Here's all of us at the airport. This is Gwyn when she first saw us. Can't you tell she missed us? 

I was trying to take a picture of them walking, but everytime I got far enough ahead of them to take the picture, Reagan was right behind me.  So, this is the picture I got. 

House for sale

This is not our house, this is my mom's house in Bonney Lake, WA. (Click on the link) Since my dad died and my brother Chas went on his mission, there seemed to be no point for my mom to live in this house by herself. She will be downsizing, leaving this house to be filled up by another family. So, if you've ever thought about relocating, come by and take a look. They say the schools in Bonney Lake is what draws people there. It's also by the lake. My mom has also done a lot of work on the inside of the house. Both bathrooms are new, new paint and carpet on the main floor and upstairs, and more. If you don't have a realitor and you just want to look, I can call my mom and work out a good time. Pass the word along if you know anyone who might be interested. Thanks!

Our pet snake

So, the kids love our new pet, Cinnamon. They can't wait until Dad gets home so they can hold her. I even have to admit it's a nice little snake. Gwyn cries because she wants to hold her. She doesn't understand "holding" very well. Holding to Gwyn is squeezing with both hands tightly.  I usually hold her hands and Matt puts Cinnamon on her arms. She likes that. Matt actually let her hold it one night on her own. She did pretty good. Reagan and Kelsey like to hold her and play with her for quite a while. 

This is Cinnamon after eating her weekly mouse. Yum!

No church today

This is a first for most everyone I know, so I thought I would blog it, since it's so unusual. Church was cancelled today for all the wards in our stake. This is because many of the YW that went to girls camp last week got the flu. There were also two wards, not ours, that had boy scout camp last week and many of them got the same flu. They are saying it's the Norovirus that is highly contagious and people that get it are sick for a few days. Anyone exposed to this virus are somewhat quarantined to their homes and are not supposed to go anywhere for 72 hours. One girl in our ward who got sick didn't even go home after camp. She's staying with another family who are all already sick with the virus. I heard that at girls camp, they had a huge tarp and there was like 20 girls puking in buckets. Sorry, I know that's gross. Those poor girls and leaders. I hope everyone will be feeling better soon, and I hope it doesn't come to our family. 

Kelsey is 6!

Kelsey had her birthday last week so now she's 6. Such a beautiful 6 year old too. We love having Kelsey in our family. Reagan and her are the best of friends, and she is such a good big sister to Gwyn. She is always helping her and playing with her. She also helps Mom a lot, loves spending time with her dad, and is a good friend to all of her friends. 

Just for fun, here's some pictures of Kelsey on her other birthdays.

1st and 2nd birthdays

3rd and 4th birthdays

Her 5th birthday was a surprise pajama party with a pancake breakfast! This was before spending the rest of the day at Silverwood.

For Kelsey's 6th birthday, she went to the movies with Mom, Reagan, and a few of her friends. They saw WALL-E, a really cute movie with some funny parts the kids enjoyed. Then we went to Red Robin for dinner. Dad and Gwyn joined us there. Kelsey got a surprise birthday sundae, while everyone else got a cupcake. It was a great birthday for a great kid!

Swimming lessons

Reagan and Kelsey finished two weeks of swimming lessons at the Jackson's pool. It's amazing how much they improved in just two weeks. Kelsey could barely put her face in the water before, and now she can  swim with her face in the water. Reagan learned how to turn her face to the side to take a breath while swimming. They can both jump off the diving board and swim to the other side. They can even do it swimming on their backs! 

The teachers thought it was so cute when Reagan and Kelsey would hug each other to keep themselves warm.

  Here's Reagan and Kelsey diving off the diving board. Amazing! 

The last day of swimming lessons was on Kelsey's birthday so everyone sang "Happy Birthday" to Kelsey and they each got a cupcake.

Ward Camp Out

We were able to go to the ward campout this year. It's been a few years since we've been camping, so it was fun. We inherited this great tent from Matt's parents. It's great because it's a nice size and it was free, but it's not as easy to assemble as the new ones.  

We weren't able to have any campfires, so we had a pot luck dinner and the kids did some exploring. Kelsey was determined to find a snake, but only found a couple of snake holes. Here, Matt and the kids are looking for good skipping rocks. Matt is impressing them all with his amazing talent of rock skipping. Becca, in the blue shirt, is a friend from our ward that was hanging out with us by the river.
When it got dark, we had a little program with campfire skits and songs led by the YW and YM. This was Reagan's favorite part of the camp out. She finds the humor is those skits and songs hilarious. Gwyn was really getting into this story that was told. You had to do certain things when the narrator said certain words, like throwing your arms up and cheering, which is what Gwyn is doing here. 
We weren't able to roast marshmallows and have s'mores, because there were no fires allowed, so after the program we went back to our tent and played games on our I-phones. Then Matt and Gwyn went to sleep, so Reagan, Kelsey and I played skip-bo. That was a nice, easy game to play, that they were able to catch on to it quickly and have fun without getting too frustrated. 

Matt got up early to go running. A few of the campers joined him for a mile or two. The campground was in an area that Matt often runs through, so he knew a lot of the trails and roads to take.  Here's Reagan and Gwyn eating breakfast cooked by the Bishopric. 

After we packed up, we walked around a little bit. Here's a bridge that Matt has run over many times. Notice the big hill after the bridge with the trail going right up it. It amazes me how many long and steep hills he runs up. 

This camp out was so over too quick. It makes me want to go camping again. Especially since we didn't get to  have a campfire. I think I'm going to see about going again before the summer's over. Anyone want to join us?