Beware: Over the Top...Proud Mom Post!

Seth turned 8 this month! He will be baptized on Saturday. Seeing him in this uniform and imagining his baptism is melting my heart. I love him so much. He is truly a good boy. We enjoy his sense of humor and sweet presence in our family.

He has been taking piano lessons (from me) for the last few months and it has been such a good time together. I have been surprised with how well he is doing and how willing he is. He is now playing songs on the grand staff. This week he started a song that has notes in the bass cleff and treble cleff at the same time. He counts out loud and learns fast. Soooo cute! We are just getting to the hard stuff so I realize I may be singing a completely different tune very soon. Learning an instrument is hard work!


He had a pool party in Granny and Grandpa's backyard. My pictures from the party are not great. I think my camera was on a wacky setting by accident. Oh well, I still want them in my record so we can smile and remember this day 10 years from now. He had a Toy Story 3 Cake. Kyle gave him a baseball and glove and they play catch in the evenings...again my heart melting. Another gift Seth was so excited for was his diary. He recently read all of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books. He asked me several times for a diary for his birthday so I found him one that has a lock and key. He hides the key in a little clock that granny gave him...it has a little drawer and he painted it himself. He seems so much older now at 8. My heart is melting a lot lately.


Seth and Julian. They are in the same primary class and have the same teacher for 3rd grade in the fall.



Kyle is looking awesome. Too bad it's so blurry. He is about to catch the yellow football in the upper right corner.



Violet has been swimming this week without her life jacket! I took off her life jacket one day at the rec center and she swam around in the zero entry pool. It seemed like she was doing some real swimming in that shallow water. So at Seth's party I let her swim to me. The first time she sank and I wasn't sure we should keep trying. I had her practice kicking from the steps and practice using her arms. Then we tried again and she did great! She is very proud of herself. I warned you this post was over the top. I'm indulging.

Crabby

Seth had surgery to remove the rod and screws from his femur exactly one week ago. I told him he could get a pet hermit crab when he started walking again. He was very brave and started walking on Tuesday! Today he had a doctor's appointment and his bandages were removed. He can go swimming tomorrow! Yipee! He likes taking care of his hermit crab. He named him Crabby and he loves the double meaning.



Cousins came over the day we got the hermit crabs (Jana had a doctor appt nearby). They held the crabs and had cute conversations about what the crabs liked and how they were feeling. I'm liking this pet because they can hold it and feel more attached (before we had Gophiss the snake who was way too scary to hold).



Jonah picked out a hermit crab too. He dropped his little hermit crab twice onto the hard floor within minutes of getting home. We've made a hard and fast rule to hold the critters over the kitchen table. I think the dropping was partly because he was still a little nervous to hold the crab. Jonah likes to make sure his crab is well misted with a little sprayer we bought.

San Diego vacation

Sand Monsters. The goal of this trip was to have the kids play and run wild. We spent most of our time playing and swimming at the beach. Seth and Jonah were great in the waves. I am so glad we brought their life jackets because they were not shy about going out pretty deep. After each swim they rolled around in the warm sand. I remember doing the same thing when I was little because the water gets so chilly. I admit I became a sand monster this trip as well. I even talked Kyle into laying in the sand to warm up!

Kyle and I also went on two wonderful dates after we put the kids to bed (we left them with my mom and dad). We saw the movie Prince of Persia and we both thought it was great. It's a good one to see in the theater! I really liked that I didn't know a thing about this movie, so it was awesome to see the story and visual effects unfold.


Boys play.



The castle building begins.



Dancing on the beach.



The castle building progresses. I can see Kyle in the background bringing an orange bucket of water to fill the moat.



Violet is buried.



We all snorkeled at La Jolla beach. Seth would come up shaking with excitement every time he saw a fish. He LOVED it. He had surgery the day after we came home from this trip and as he was being prepped, I told him about snorkeling in Hawaii and how the water is so clear and you can see all kinds of fish and coral. I told him we'll go someday and he'll love it. As they wheeled him away I said to Kyle, "Did I just promise Seth we'd take him to Hawaii?!" He just said, Yesss.

Violet did not like the waves at all. Kyle convinced her to lay on the boogie board so he could pull her around on the shoreline. It was adorable. Seth and Jonah were great boogie boarders. They were all for getting a ride. Kyle took them way out to the big waves and then gave an extra push and they rode all the way up to the shoreline. The first time Jonah did it, he didn't have a good grip and position on the board so he wiped out big time. After tumbling through the waves, he poked his head out of the water, wiped the sand off his face and said, "Let's do it again." Kyle said Jonah must of thought this was what boogie boarding was (getting smashed in the big waves) and Kyle couldn't believe Jonah was okay with it.


She looks cute even if she won't get near the water.



Searching for crabs.











The crab collection







We saw seals at La Jolla beach. Jonah wanted to swim out to this seal so badly. In the cave next to the rocks where the boys were hunting for crabs, there was a sick seal stuck in a hole. We went in the cave and took a closer look. Pretty sad. Later some animal rescuers came and took him out on a stretcher.




Violet spots a seagull.



The squirrel near our camp on the beach.



Hi Mr. Squirrel.

The Mormon Battalion

On Sunday we went to the Mormon Battalion visitor's center in Old San Diego. It was absolutely amazing! It was recently redone and has only been newly opened for a few months. They did not cut any corners. They have an outside area for old west activities and chores.



Seth is panning for gold with Grandma.


Violet and Jonah are watching one of the films. They were so well done. We were surprised to see John Hanks from our old Green Valley ward as a main character in a film. In one room the seats vibrate with the action in the film.



Violet is pumping water for her tough day ahead as pioneer girl.



Our sister missionary was so cute. Made me want to go on a mission.



Seth worked hard to bring the bucket up to the surface.



A little wagon ride.



Seth is strong and valiant like this soldier.

Belmont Amusement Park

We found this small amusement park near the condo and right along the shoreline. The rides are 1/2 off on Tuesday nights.


Kyle was brave enough to ride the roller coaster.










We were watching the kids go around and Kyle told me to look at the expression on this horse's face. We laughed because she happened to choose this horse among all the animals.



Here's the close-up. What a crack-up to see that tongue.

Toy Story 3

On the drive home from San Diego we pulled off I-15 as we entered Vegas and saw Toy Story 3. The timing was perfect. We missed the previews, but I don't like my kids to see all the previews. Seth and Jonah were familiar with the new characters and the story because I bought a Toy Story 3 book from Smiths. They read it on the drive up to CA. They also have a Toy Story 3 comic book that kept them busy for a good chunk of the drive.



This picture proves that I was on the trip.

brown hair

I colored my hair before we left for San Diego. It took me a few days to get used to the new look...but I think I like it. I've had highlights for so long so it feels like a big change. The big plus is that I had a friend help me with the color, so I'll be saving some big bucks (at least until I go back to the highlights).

my girl

Violet found this hat in my closet.

kindergarten graduation

I am emotional about Jonah finishing kindergaten. His kindergarten year flashed by so fast and now I can see him as a big 1st grader. He is so independent and wide eyed and a joy to have in our family.



Here is Jonah in a slide show. He wants to be a gardener when he grows up. I believe this is exactly what Seth said when he was in kindergarten. They love mowing the grass with Dad and working outside - like all boys. With Kyle's landscape business, Seth and Jonah should have plenty of opportunities to live out their career dreams as gardeners :).



Jonah bought this gumball machine this weekend with his own money. He gave the store clerk his cash and then Kyle slyly switched the clerk for his Discover card. Kyle pulled out the card ony because we had several purchases paid with pennies and nickels and it was beginning to be a mess. Yesterday we were handed all of Jonah's school work from the year. I was reading in his journal and found a recent entry about his gumball machine that he bought with a "credit card." I had to laugh because he didn't miss a beat. Kyle and I remember when we had gumball machines around the same age. I know that I loved mine!

Seth wanted to save his money so he did not buy a toy. Violet really, really wants a pillow pet, especially the unicorn, but Target didn't have pillow pets so she found a jack-in-the box. The next day she was crying over how much she wants a pillow pet, and I told her she could get one for her birthday. I couldn't believe it when I heard seth trying to comfort her. He told her he would use his own money to buy her a pillow pet. How sweet! Another time he used his money to buy her furniture for her Dora house. There's something not normal about this :) but I don't want to stop him from being generous.

warm springs

We enjoyed a ward camp out at Warm Springs. Next time, I want to let the kids explore the streams. I noticed there were families exploring all over the place. I followed some voices and found a pocket where a stream widened into a little pool. What could be more fun for boys...and girls too? The warm water makes for great swimming!



This is the main spring. The whole place is owned by the church. The kids swam with fish, and they were entertained all afternoon swimming down to touch rocks and bringing them up to the surface. Back in the day when Kyle and I came with our own families, they had a rope swing and they allowed cliff jumping. I am so sad the rope swing is gone.



The kids enjoyed sleeping in a tent and playing with ward friends. We should buy a family tent and do more camping.