Our 2024 Future Olympians!!

I love this picture because it captures our summer!! We swam every single day!! Well- I should say the 4 oldest kids did! They went to swim practice every day at 8am, and had a swim meet almost every Saturday. I was one PROUD mama! The improvements they made were phenomenal! Their commitment was incredible. They gave their best every time and the results are so easy to measure because they shaved off seconds every meet! And at one meet when Luke and Joey finally "got it"- they shaved 25 seconds off their times each! It was a JOY to watch them and cheer for them! Very fulfilling way to spend time together as a family for us, and to learn to swim, and to get Awesome exercise, and to just have fun! A time I can Yell FOR my kids instead of AT them! (I'm seriously getting better at yelling- I've got it down to about once a month now)


Of course all the kids HAVE to be on 3 different levels. Luke and Joey went to the Bronze County Swim Meet. Jordyn qualified for Silver. And Tyson at Gold. Jordyn could have gone to Gold- but I thought it would be fun for her to really experience a lot of sucess at Silver. And she did!! She came home with 3 Gold medals and a Silver. I was so proud of her hard work and effort!!
Tyson surprised us, even at the Gold Meet came home with a Gold, Silver and a 4th place. Wow! Even though I tell the kids that they are really racing against the clock, to beat their own best time. It seems they are much more motivated when someone is neck and neck!


I don't know what happened to the video of Jordyn's butterfly. But Lukie's backstroke is a hoot to watch! I love it, cuz his arms are in Turbo speed motion!

HIKE

When we first moved here in May- 2 of my sisters and I and all our kiddos (11 between us) hiked up a trail in Pleasant Grove. It was really cold- so some turned back.

But at the end was a fun waterfall!! We knew we needed to come back on a warmer day!


So- we came back when it was 95* outside! The water was freezing!!


But it was FUN!!

2 States Later!

We made it!! We have succesfully made it across a couple states with a 26ft Uhaul, with a trailer carrying the Civic. And me driving the van loaded to the brim with stuff that didn't fit in the truck! We actually gave away 2 sets of couches and our truck was still completely packed tight- I don't think there was an air hole in that thing. Regretful for me- we left the Ping Pong table- I kept trying to persuade JD to make room for it, but it wasn't on his agenda. We also left an entertainment center and lots of very good friends! We could have made room for them in the Uhaul, but nobody wanted to take us up on that! As we were packing toys, I made 2 separate boxes- toys they play with a lot and toys they play with a little. Luke said "Mom, we could put Gunnar in that box- we play with him alot!" That's how we feel about all our friends- we'd like to ship them out with us!



This is our view out of my sister's backyard. Hello- Mt. Timpanogos. One year 2 of my sisters and I hiked all day and didn't even get to the top!


We have invaded my sister's house. Luckily it is a large home that seems to absorb us all well. They are sweet to let us be here during this time of transition for our family. We are trying to make every effort to help and not be a burden, but how can 6 more people NOT be a burden. We just keep cleaning and communicating though and it seems to be a Win/Win so far!!

JD is in Henderson, NV during the week and comes home on the weekends. His title is Entrepreneur Consultant. He helps people who have started their own business automate and systemize their business, so they have time to do the things they want to do. He is catching on fast and enjoying it! Although I think we underestimated how hard it would be on our family to be apart! It has actually been a struggle that's also been a blessing because it has caused us to really communicate and really miss each other!

I lined up the 4 boys and they all got their summer haircuts this week! I'm almost ready to do that to myself!

JD has come home one weekend so far! I found a cheap flight for him on Jet Blue to come home last weekend (or so I thought). He got to the airport and realized I scheduled the flight for THIS weekend. And he can't even come back this weekend because of a training. And now we won't see him for 2 weeks! As my Grandma Taylor would say "I'm so mad I could just spit!" JD and I laugh at the movie "Maverick" cuz there's a part that Jodi Foster is trying to help Mel Gibson, but she ends up shooting the guns in his holsters. I feel like that's me 75% of the time.

The only thing really on the schedule for the summer so far is.. Swim team. It's fun to see Luke and Joey's different personalities come out again. Joey went 5 strokes, got tired and grabbed the wall for a rest. Luke would rather die than touch that wall even though he looked as though he could drown at any time. They said we could let Joey try it for a couple weeks and see if he likes it. It will be fun to see them progress! So all 4 kids go to swim practice every single day for an hour. And a swim meet every Saturday. I wonder if they'll hate it or love it by the end of the summer?

Luke and Breanne playing the piano.

The boys got into some sort of argument that turned into a wrestling match. They had to sing "I'll be nice, nice to my brother- kind to each other always a friend. And I won't- I won't be violent- keep anger silent- control within. I'll be nice, I'll be kind. Treat others nice. Make up my mind."

It's my favorite song! You can see they are thrilled to be singing it.

But, brothers always make up and love each other again!

Treasure the moments??

In General Conference a couple weeks ago, we were instructed to enjoy the moments in motherhood and life. After all, isn't that what we remember the most- certain moments. We've had a couple moments in the last week- some that I'm not sure I want to remember, but know that unfortunately I will. It is totally embarrassing though funny enough to share....
Our family was asked to sing in church. We chose the song "Love is Spoken Here". It's truly AMAZING that JD even said YES to doing this. But, we have such a small ward and were trying to help contribute to the spirit of the meeting- so he agreed. We get up there to sing and Jordyn and I start on our part. The spirit was there to help us out and I could even see some ladies starting to tear up. It was sweet. Then the boys started to sing their part and I realized that nobody can hear Luke and Joey at all, so I gently pushed the microphone down towards them. (At this point, our friends in the back said "Uh-Oh.") Well- Luke (5) saw his opportunity to be a STAR! He grabbed the microphone and started singing right into it quite loudly. I obviously didn't anticipate that! So when Tyson started laughing- I quickly gave him that motherly look (the one that says "Stop that- right now!"). However, probably the fact that I was already shaky and nervous about being up there and the sound of Tyson's giggle made me start to giggle! I stared at the wall trying to gain composure and sing the rest of the song. It just seemed like the harder I tried to be serious the more impossible it became. I think at one point that JD was the only one singing cuz the rest of us were giggling! It was horribly irreverent and embarrassing.
When my sister Lindsay and I were children we got sent away from the dinner table SOOO many times because we got the giggles and couldn't seem to be normal enough to eat dinner without getting out of control. Well, the 7 year old in me still comes out sometimes! BUT, I guess I can learn some compassion from this. For my own crazy kids and the cute Primary kids in my care who are not purposefully trying to be irreverent or disobedient- they just get a little rowdy sometimes! So- Laugh all you want- just not in Sacrament meeting at the pulpit!

The Littlest Dancing Star

Dancing With My Stars!!!