Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming....

Oh my goooosssshhhh. I feel like I am never going to catch up on this flippin' blog! And I know my two faithful readers are completely lost without knowing what my cute family is up to. It hasn't been super busy or anything here, it just feels like I always have something to do. Birthdays, laundry, and don't get me started on potty training. Ugh. I hate potty training.

Anyway, before Kelli and Jeremiah moved (and don't get me started on that. I cried- cough*sobbed*cough- when Kelli came to say goodbye. My kids thought I was crazy for sure) we all had one last swimfest at the pool here in our apartment complex. I'm not in love with this apartment. Other than it saves us money to stay here, the only other awesome thing is the pool. It's so nice on hot summer days when my apartment is so hot, it liquefies the honey sitting on my counter, and softens frozen butter in less than an hour. We just jump in our swimsuits and go outside.

Bryan likes to throw the kids high. I like it because if he misses, they only hit water.

Cole had a freak out moment the time before this. That freak out moment kind of involved him under water for a second before someone grabbed him (hey, we had sometimes ten kids in at a time!). Bryce and Jack and Olivia also had "freak out" moments, with Olivia's being pretty awesome ("No one watched me drown!"). Anyway, he was scared of the water and wouldn't get off the chair.

We also didn't learn our lesson when it came to freak out moments... we trust our two year old in an inner tube unsupervised. Just kidding, she was completely supervised, but his shot doesn't really make it look like that.

Rix was being extra cautious in a life jacket and a tube. You can never be too safe.

The only thing wrong with the pool? It's completely covered by trees so there isn't a lot of direct sunlight. Great for my kids' skin... terrible on the temperature as you can see in Madelynn's blueish lips.

Bryce being silly. He loves his goggles.

I love how fast he is running into the pool. And how much he trusts his dad. And how much fun Bryan appears to be having. Jack did this once without a life jacket on. He had put one on, then taken it off to go to the bathroom, and when he came back he beelined it for the pool and just jumped in. I was on the opposite side fully clothed and realized what he had done as he did it. My first instinct was to yell "Jack you don't have a life jacket on!" but it was all too late. He had already jumped in. But then I was super proud because he didn't sink... he treaded water! It was like survival instinct kicked in. And even though he was crying and freaking out, he still treaded for about 10 seconds until Adam realized what had happened and jumped in after him. It was scary but pretty cool too.

Madelynn loves the inner tubes, hates life jackets, but loves swimming with Daddy.

Olivia did really well in her swim class this summer. She learned to swim without a life jacket. She loved showing off too. She ended up wearing a life jacket most of the time, but still enjoyed the freedom of swimming without it.

Baby Jacob. We still all call him that. Not Jacob. Or Jake. But Baby Jacob.

He actually didn't mind the water. He was really impassive about the whole experience.

It's meeeee! I exist!

Miss Aubrey's parents were on Lafranca time and came late. But she loves her little contraption and hates swimming without it (unless she has a death grip around your neck while you hold her).

Hayden is about to take the plunge. This also gives kind of an idea of what it's like when we're all at the pool. Oddly enough we were there by ourselves most of the time. There are hundred of people who live here too.

Roman.... all I can say is that this kid will smile through everything. He really did not stop smiling the entire time he was swimming. It was really cute.

Bryan also really likes Bryce's goggles.

Madelynn was so proud of herself for swindling the inner tube from Aubrey.

And yeah, I realize I have no pictures of Jack here. I do actually have pictures, but they are all so blurry because he is nonstop when he is in the pool.

Rainier's Game

 My dad won a contest at the Pierce County MBA and got club seats to the Tacoma Rainier's game. He could have like 20 people come and they fed us and everything. We all got babysitters and met up at Cheney Stadium and had lots of fun. I think we had more fun being silly and all more than watching the game. When you get my sisters and I together, it ends up being a giggle fest most of the time anyway.

There's Rhubarb, the mascot. You may remember him from this post.

These two shouldn't sit next to each other. They were just weird. I'm not even sure what Celeste is doing.

See? Giggling ensues.

I told them to get out of the sun because it was making a weird light on Kelli, so this is their solution.

Adam and I being normal.

I thought it was funny that when I tried to take a picture of the Pearson boys, both of them made a face. I think it's genetic for them to not take normal pictures.

Jacob got to come and crashed on one of Celeste's friends. It was super cute.

Thanks for inviting us Dad! He's laughing at something that he did that he thought was funny. I don't even remember what it was. That's how funny it was :)

Jacob did not like the huge hat. He probably felt like Dark Helmet from Spaceballs. Is that his name? Dark Helmet? Maybe I'm wrong.

Pioneer Day Celebration

Every year, our stake puts on a huge Pioneer Day celebration at the Nisqually property owned by the church. It involves camping (which we don't do because I'm more of a sleep-in-a-bed-with-electricity kind of girl, rather than a sleep-in-a-tent-on-the-ground-with-bugs-and-dirt kind of girl), baseball games against the different wards, lots of food and blow up bouncy houses. We only went down for the Saturday events, which was just enough for me. I don't particularly love all the dirt and lack of air conditioning so when it was time to go, I was okay with that :)

My kids went straight for the snow cones and popcorn that were being handed out prior to the big BBQ dinner put on by the Stake presidency. Afterwards we let them jump on slide on the bouncy houses, which were unfortunately put out in a different field this year in direct sunlight. My kids were really hot and poor Jack was sunburned and sweaty almost instantly. The kids had fun running around the different paths with their cousins too. Poor Madelynn, though, was not feeling well and kept saying her belly hurt, so she stayed with me most of the time. She ended up falling asleep on me so I put her in her stroller and she slept for a while, which, if you know Madelynn, is unheard of so she must have been feeling sick.

My mom and dad were partially in charge of dinner and cooked up LOTS of hamburgers and hot dogs. We had watermelon and chips and salads too. It was really yummy and every year I'm amazed at the time and work it takes the Stake presidency to put on such a huge dinner free of charge to the entire stake who comes down there.

After dinner we let the kids swing on the big bucket swings. Did I see on? I meant IN. These buckets have holes cut out on the sides or on top so kids can fit inside and swing around or get twisted up so they get all dizzy. My kids always love these. I even tried them last year and will never try them again. They made me so dizzy and sick! Can't wait for next year when we get to go back, though. Despite the heat and dirt and bugs, we always have fun. Hopefully none of my kids are sick though next time!

Kelli got stuck cutting tomatoes, which is funny because she doesn't like tomatoes. But she did a stellar job cutting them.

I think Jack ate his body weight in snow cones.

Way too much fun. And way too much sun. Haha, I rhymed.

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Do you see how sweaty he is? And red? Not just his hair, but his face? I slathered him in sunscreen after this.

Madelynn was a little more picky about her snow cones. I had to scrape off most of the ice so she could just drink the syrup at the bottom. This could explain her belly hurting her. But it doesn't, she had been complaining for a while, I just thought she was fibbing. She does that a lot.

Don't let this fool you. She's just happy she's swinging in a super dirty swing. See why I don't like camping? Dirty!

See how fast she's going? And the blur of the kid in the background that is about to be whacked by a spinning bucket on a rope?

I'm surprised my kids didn't throw up after this.

Frenemies. Best friends who fought like siblings. Don't worry, Celeste's kids were there too but she had inlaws in town so we didn't see much of them that day.

We positioned her stroller away from others so she could sleep with some quiet. People passing by her stroller, though, looked at her like she had been abandoned. I swear, we watched her the entire time!

Yummy dinner! I think Jack also ate his body weight in watermelon.

Love their facial expressions here. One last swing before we had to go home.

Wedding Dancing

My brother, Kory, and his wife Ana Lee came into town to attend Kory's best friend's wedding. Kory was the best man. It was lots of fun having them in town and we all attended the wedding reception. It was a luau of sorts and the food was amazing. They had an entire dinner spread and a candy table. My kids (and the cousins) made many trips to the candy table.

Anyway, part of the reception was set aside for dancing. The bride's mother and some other women did traditional dances for the bride and groom, and then she asked for two child volunteers for help. So... Jack and Hayden walked right up there and busted a move. It was hilarious! Jack has a very ninja/breakdancer kind of way he dances. Plus he had a sucker in his mouth the whole time. It was way cute. 

BFFs Madelynn and Aubrey had to be in the middle of the dancing kids once they invited everyone out, but neither of them actually did anything but stand there and look cute.

Liv insisted she was hurt out on the dance floor and limped off in dramatic fashion, but I think she was really upset that she didn't get chosen to volunteer like Jack (she was out of the room at the time), plus lack of sleep and lots of sugar does not make a happy Olivia.

Kory, being the best man, was chosen to learn a funny dance where he had to move his hips every time there was a beat. Then a bunch of girls came and danced around him. It was all in jest and he was a good sport about it. And it was really funny to watch.

On the way out the door, Olivia was telling Kory her woes about not getting to dance at the wedding. Kory, being the awesome uncle he is, waited until after the bride and groom's dances were over and invited her to dance with him. It literally made her night. Thanks Kory!

Unfortunately it was a fast song so she didn't get to slow dance with her uncle, but they had a great time anyway. It was fun, but I don't think I'm bringing kids to a wedding reception for a while!