Swimming Session One Done!

At the end of this week we wrapped up our first session of swimming lessons. We had a good time swimming every day, but I am glad to be done for a couple of weeks.

I brought my camera this week and had a friend take pictures of Amelia and me swimming together.

She really did enjoy playing in the water. I think she enjoyed wading in the shallow end more than she enjoyed swimming in deeper water with mommy. She kept trying to push away from me as if she wanted to strike out on her own! Silly girl. Here we are practicing Amelia's glide.

The boys have really enjoyed lessons and have been progressing really well. I am glad that we started lessons when they are young because they are really becoming adept little swimmers.

Jacob was really disappointed that he did not pass Level 2 this time. His teacher said he was really close, but he isn't quite ready. I told him that he should be proud of himself because Level 2 is where they learn a lot of the strokes and it is the hardest one to pass. He should be proud that he almost passed after only taking it once!

I think the next session Amelia and I will be sitting out on the side. She had fun, but I wouldn't say that she loved it. We will probably do Mom and Tot again next year.

For the next session, Amelia and I will hang out by the side of the pool. She actually enjoys sitting in the single stroller so it shouldn't be too bad.

Of course at the end of swimming lessons we had water slide day!

Ephraim was lucky because he got to go down quite a few times. There were fewer students in Preschool Level 2 than there were in Jacob's Level 2 class.

 Jacob was disappointed because he only got to go down once. He wasn't quite tall enough to go down by himself so he had to wait for his turn to go down with his teacher. Hopefully next year he will get there and then he can go down as many times as he would like.

It cracks me up that Jacob was covering his eyes the one time he got to go down the slide! No wonder he wanted to go again.

Of course at the end of our session I had to have the kids pose for their poolside shot. Here are the best pictures I got of my three little fish.

Aren't they the cutest? You will have to excuse Ephraim for not smiling. He was bent out of shape because he forgot to get his goggles back from me after he went down the water slide. So he didn't get to wear them for the rest of his last lesson. Oh the horror! Kids are so silly sometimes.

Strawberry Days Parade

Saturday morning I decided to brave the crowds and take the kids to see the Strawberry Days Parade. I was not sure how easy it would be to find a spot to watch the parade, since we have seen chairs out on the parade route since Tuesday!

Luckily we ran into another member of the Stake Primary Presidency, and she told us to sit next to her. So the boys had a front row seat for the parade!

Good thing I brought an umbrella for the boys. It was HOT outside. I also took Amelia in the single stroller and brought plenty of water!



One of our favorite parts of the parade was the motorcycle police. They were COOL!

They rode in different formations, did figure 8s down the street and even gave kids on the parade route high fives! So fun. Plus they had their sirens on the whole time.

We also got to see some fun vehicles, like this old fire truck.

Of course there were some marching bands, and it was fun for the boys to watch them marching down the street.

There were also a few cool floats. This one was our favorite.

You can't have a parade in Utah without a few tractors!

My boys really loved the Macey's float. It had four singing heads, and they got some otter pops from the people walking along next to the float.

Of course we had to cheer for the UVU float, all green and gold and sparkly!

The only thing that would have made the parade better would have been more floats and CLOUDS. It was really hot outside. We left a little bit early and headed home before the traffic got crazy. The kids had fun, but there were a few parts of the parade that they said where "boring". So we will have to see if they want to go again next year!

Ferris Wheel Fun

So after I took those fun pictures of the Ferris wheel on my way out of the carnival with my family, I decided it would be fun to go back with my tripod and take some longer exposures and see what I came up with.

It was really fun to change the amount of time the shutter on my camera was open and see what kind of pictures I ended up with!

I even got some really cool patterns depending on how long the shutter was open. These are my favorites.

How cool are these photos?!

I am so glad that I went back to take pictures. I had to wait for the cars on the ferris wheel to get loaded, but then the light show began. It is fun that I couldn't see these patterns with my eyes, but I could capture them on  my camera!

I originally went with the intent to capture "concentric circles" for my public blog, but I got SO many interesting and fun pictures. Don't you think so?

Who knew the Ferris wheel was so cool? I love it!

Strawberry Days Carnival

This week is Strawberry Days in Pleasant Grove, so I knew the boys would want to go to the carnival. We ended up going to the carnival as a family on Wednesday night. It was great because Joe could help with Amelia. This made it possible for us to go on a ride we never have before, the ferris wheel!

Jacob has wanted to ride on the Ferris wheel, but I have not ever been able to take him! All of the rides were only one ticket on Wednesday night, so we decided to go on the Ferris Wheel first. Ephraim wasn't sure he wanted to go, but he said if I went with him then he would go.

The boys were a little scared at first, but I helped them remain calm. In the end, they LOVED it! They especially enjoyed it when they were done loading all the cars and we got to go around and around. So fun!

It has been a long time since I have been on any rides, so I had fun too. After the Ferris Wheel we decided to send the boys on the little roller coaster. Actually, I stood in line for the roller coaster while Joe and the boys went to ride on the Jeeps. Then they came and rode the coaster. They loved it!

We got to ride on nearly all of the kiddie rides. Amelia only got to go on one ride, which was the carousel.

At first she did not really want to sit on the carousel horse, but once it started moving, she loved it.

We let the boys go down the super slide. Their expressions crack me up! (Do you think it made Ephraim a little scared?)

As always, we rode on the cars/motorcycle carousel as well. Here are my boys on their bikes.

We also went on the kiddie rides that "fly" up and down. What fun!

It was awesome that we could let the boys go on so many rides. We got to do all of these rides for only $20! We did have to wait in line, but the boys were having so much fun that it was worth it.

We ended up staying at the carnival until after 9 pm! Here are some cool pictures I took of the Ferris wheel at the end of the day.

As we left, I stopped and took this picture. I think it is really pretty.

We had so much fun at the carnival! I loved having Joe there with me because it made the whole experience so much more fun. Next year I think we will take Daddy again. Especially since Amelia will be able to ride on more of the rides.

Swimming Lessons

You know that summer is officially here when we start swimming lessons! This year Jacob is in Level 2 and Ephraim is in Preschool Level 2. They are doing such a great job with swimming lessons!

Jacob thinks it is funny that his teacher's name is Jacob too! He is doing well in his classes and is working on the skills he learned last year.

I am amazed at how well Ephraim is doing this year. Check this boy out!

Here he is practicing his "chicken-airplane-soldier" (aka the elementary backstroke).  You can see that his teacher isn't really even holding on to him. Ephraim seems to be a natural in the water.

Here is Jacob doing a back glide. If you look closely you can see that the scar on the underside of his chin is healing nicely.

Some of the skills that Jacob is working on, Ephraim is just learning. It is kind of fun to watch them both work on the same strokes and see the differences.

The boys are having a great time at swimming lessons. Here is Jacob working on his crawl stroke with and without a swimming aid.

The boys really enjoy swimming lessons and look forward to it every day.

Here are Ephraim and Clara, having fun while practicing their "kicks".


I have not had the chance to take as many pictures as I usually do because I am taking a Mom and Tot class with Amelia. We mostly just play in the water, but she is enjoying it. Most of these pictures came from the one day that we skipped because Amelia took a morning nap and I literally took her out of bed so we could go to lessons. Amelia is transitioning from one nap to two, but sometimes she still needs to have that extra nap.


I think we are going to take a short break and then take another session of swim lessons. This time I will be sitting out with Amelia, so hopefully I can take some more fun pictures!