Swimming "wessons" (as zac calls them)

 We signed the kids up for swimming lessons last month.  I was not too thrilled that they were going to be indoors, but it turned out awesome.  The kids loved their teachers (well it took zac a couple days...) and it wasn't uncomfortably hot or humid for me sitting on the side watching. 

 Here is Zac ( he is behind the ladder handles).  They had the young classes on a cool platform thing that had some pvc pipe cage type thing that kept them close to the wall.  I am not doing a very good job describing it, but I would have LOVED one of these things when I was teaching a huge class of three year olds years ago.  :)

 Our treat after the first lesson.  I told Zac that if he stayed with his class we would get a treat.  He cried for about 5 minutes, but his teacher was great and had him smiling by the end.

 You can't really see her well, but she is the one that looks like she is drowning in the middle.  ha ha.  She is getting closer to swimming...

Last day!  Neither of them graduated to the next level, but they really did improve a LOT.  I am hoping to sign them up again in a few weeks since Sadie is in afternoon kindergarten. 

Our first stitches

I knew the day would come...I had thought about how it would go and played it out in my mind dozens of times.  It would be dramatic, traumatizing, and just terrible.  I didn't know who it would be, but I knew it was going to happen someday.  And that day was yesterday.

We went to the kids last day of swimming lessons yesterday morning.  I usually take Emery swimming while they are in class, but yesterday I wanted to watch their class and then we would all stay after and swim for a while.  We got in the pool and were having lots of fun...we went around the lazy river, the kids went down a few slides, Emery fell under the water a few times so I had to help her up.  Then Zac told me he was going on the little slide again.  The next thing I know he is screaming.  So I run over and was worried maybe he cracked his chin opened when he fell.  I looked and didn't see any blood so I was mostly just frustrated that he would be trying to climb up the slide.  Then I noticed a tiny bit of blood and told him to look up and saw that he had a pretty deep cut on his chin.  So I got him and Emery out of the pool and put our towel on his chin.  I didn't really know what to do...I wasn't really panicked, but I didn't know what to do.  Just then a nice lady that saw what had happened came over and asked if she could help.  I just asked her to look at the cut to see if she thought it needed stitches...she said yes and told me where I could go since I didn't really know where there were any urgent care places around.  So I went and asked a lifeguard if they had a band aide we could have for the drive just so we didn't get blood on his clothes.  The lifeguard was so nice and gave the kids suckers.  :)

So we drove to the urgent care and got right in.  The nurse there was SO nice.  She offered more suckers to all the kids, she brought us all heated blankets since we were still wet and in our swim suits, and she just knew exactly what to say to Zac.  I loved her.

 Here we are at the urgent care about to take the bandaid off.

 They put a numbing gel on his chin for about 30 minutes which made it completely numb.  He didn't need any shots or anything.  It was so nice!

 Here are Sadie and Emery enjoying the coloring books they had there and eating their suckers.

 Then they turned on Finding Nemo for the kids (this was after Emery pushed a button on the tv and the workers could not figure out how to put it back on the show that it was on before.  ha ha.) 

 Here is Zac all ready to get his stitches.  Like I said before, the nurse was so great.  She cleaned off his cut with a little syringe type thing that she called a squirt gun.  She filled it with water and squirted it at the ceiling and made it "rain" on us.  Zac liked that.  And she even let him bring it home.  She also called his stitches "blue whiskers" which made us both laugh.  

 When Zac was done, the nurse gave us three coupons for free ice cream at a place right across the street.  So of course we stopped on the way home and got some ice cream.  

And here is Zac with his "blue whiskers"  

When I think back on yesterday, I don't even really think about Zac getting a huge cut on his chin.  I think about the great day we had.  I am so thankful that there were so many people that were so nice and helpful and helped make our first experience with stitches so wonderful.  I mean, really it was great.  I know that there was Heavenly help involved because I never even had the chance to panic or get scared.  Zac cried a lot at the pool because it hurt, but mostly because he wanted to keep swimming.  ha ha.  Also, it was a blessing that it happened after his last swimming lesson...because now he can't swim for five days.  Just another tender mercy in this experience.  So our first stitches didn't go at all like it always had in my head.  It was a very pleasant experience.  Not traumatic at all. And I am writing all this down so that maybe when it happens again (which it probably will at some point...hopefully not soon...) I know I can handle it.  And also if someone who reads this is able to help someone else in a situation similar to this, don't hesitate!  It really does help!  :)

Summer fun

 We have had lots of fun this summer!  We mostly just hang out around the house...with some small outings here and there...but we have loved it! It has been nice and warm so we have spent a lot of our days in our swim suits running through sprinklers or on the slip and slide.  Oh and otter pops.  Lots of those!

 I just like this picture because Emery is cute.  This is her swim shirt. 

 Zac graduated to a regular chair at the dinner table, so when we took off his booster seat, we set it right here under the counter.  Emery hung out there for a few days.  She loves that little seat.

 We made some sidewalk chalk paint.  I love how colorful it is.  And the kids loved it too!

 Painting is way more fun than just coloring with chalk!  

 Emery loved it too...she kept trying to carry the muffin tin to a different spot on the driveway which made me crazy because I didn't want her to spill it all, but she did a pretty good job not spilling.

 Sadie loved painting "her rock" in the front yard.  We will have to do this again sometime.

 McDonnalds with our friends the Hatch family.  Here are Emery and Ella enjoying some yummy chicken nuggets.

 And the other kids enjoying their happy meals.

And sadie wanted me to take this picture of her...it is by the canal.  Just a big tree that was cut down and now it makes the perfect seat for Sadie.  

Pioneer day

 We had some company this last week.  It is always fun when we have company!  We love it!  Rob's parents and Andrew were here for a few days.  They weren't actually here on the 24th, but we took them to see all of the floats for the Pioneer day parade up close the day before.  I loved it.  It is way better than sitting in the hot sun and not even getting a close look at them.  Here we got to look at them up close, and some of them even had little activities for the kids to do and it was air conditioned.  Oh yeah...and free.  Score.  We will be doing this every year!

 Zac and Sadie perpetuating brighter futures.

 This is Zac and Emery right before the stool that Zac was standing on fell over.  There were a few tears and a little scratch on his neck, but he was ok. 

 An intense game of four square.

 Four square is always fun!

On the actual 24th of July, we went over to the park because they were having a little thing at the park.  We didn't really know what it was, but when we got there we found this:

 They loved this bouncy house.

 Then they had activities that the pioneers may have done to have fun.  We participated in a potato sack race.  The kids didn't want to do it so Rob and I did it while they fan alongside.

 With some cheating...I think I won!

 This picture makes me laugh.  Everyone is having fun and Emery looks like she is pouting because she had to stay in the stroller the whole time.  ha ha.

 This activity cost 5 dollars so we didn't do it...you can get in those huge balls and walk around on the water.  The kids had a blast just watching everyone. 

 Then we splurged and payed a dollar each for the kids to go in the little petting zoo.  Emery was in heaven.

 Sadie holding a baby chick.

 The little pony was a favorite.

 Then on our way to the playground we ran into these guys and got some free coupons.  :)

 (these pictures are out of order!) More of the parade float preview.  They had the West Jordan High School marching band actually marching around the entire place playing songs. It was awesome.  I loved it!

 Quick picture in front of the float.

 This was our favorite float.  Noah's ark.  It tilted back and forth.  Gotta love Andrew's face in this one.  

And Zachary the Alien wearing a tu tu.  ha ha

I am so grateful for the pioneers who walked so many miles to Utah.  They truly are amazing.  I don't know if I could have done it.  I love reading stories to try to really understand what they had to go through...but I don't think I ever really will.  I admire them so much.