Water Party

Today my friend Kristi invited us over to her family's annual water party. Her mom has a big blowup waterslide that the kids just loved. Ben stayed away, but stayed cool in the kiddie pool. Everyone brought treats and they even made snow cones. The kids had such a fun afternoon and were so tired that they were ready for bed by 7 p.m. That's my kind of party!

Pioneer Day

Spanish Fork has a bunch of festivities on the 24th of July, including a kids 1 mile run called the "Speedy Spaniard". Bradley has been looking forward to running (and getting the t-shirt) for about a month now, and we had done a couple training runs to prepare. He did well, finishing just over 12 minutes, and he didn't stop once. Here's an action shot of Bradley near the finish (I jogged along to keep him paced).
Bradley and I at the finish line. He told me right after the finish that he wanted to run another race, so it looks like we may do more of these.
At night, the city puts on a great fireworks show at the softball fields. There were thousands of people there.
We got there a little after 9 pm, and the show didn't start until 10:30, so the kids had plenty of time to play. Ben loves to ride on anyone's back, and Bradley was happy to oblige.
At long last, the show started. We didn't get many good pics of the actual fireworks, but here's one. The show ended around 11, but the parking lot was so packed we didn't get home until around midnight. It was a long, but fun day.

9 Years!!! (July 22, 1999)

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

We wanted to celebrate our 9th anniversary with a look back at our life together. It's only just the beginning...

Swim Lessons

After 2 long weeks, swim lessons are finally over! Kylie passed Level 1 and Bradley passed Level 2. They both had a great time and I was able to hang out with my friends while they swam. Since today was the last day, all the classes got to go down the water slide and jump off the diving board. Kylie was scared and had to go with her teacher, but she had a great time. Bradley is more fearless and loved every minute of it. While it was fun, I am definitely not going to miss chasing Ben around the pool!


Kylie's face in this picture is priceless!
She's deciding if she should jump to her waiting teacher. She eventually did!
Bradley loves jumping off the diving board and swims to the edge on his own.
Waiting in line to jump off the diving board again.
Swimming buddies
(Peyton, Isaac, Bradley and Jacob)

Camp Boston (Boxx & Weston)

This weekend we took the kids camping up Spanish Fork Canyon. It was only 2 nights, but with kids that was plenty! We went with our friends, the Boxxes, and had a great time. The kids loved exploring the "haunted forest" around our campsite and walking in the river. My favorite part was roasting marshmallows at night and watching the kids use their imagination! It was a fun weekend, but definitely exhausting. Here are a few highlights from our trip:

Dan and Bradley setting up the tent

Kylie standing on the tent

Ben relaxing while everyone sets up camp

Bradley, Dan and Kylie

Bradley holding the rattlesnake skin that the kids found

Ben, Peyton, Logan, Bradley and Kylie playing in the tent

Peyton, Kylie, Logan and Jarom roasting marshmallows

All the kids exploring with their new flashlights

Playing in the river

(It was moving really fast so this freaked me out a little)

Cooling off

Riding in the back of Jarom's truck

(They said this was their favorite part of the whole trip. No seatbelts, woo hoo!)

4th of July

We had a fun, easy day yesterday. It has become a tradition, 2 years now, to see the latest Disney movie on the 4th. Last year it was Ratatouille and this year was Wall e. The kids enjoyed it although I think I fell asleep for a few minutes. It was definitely not my favorite Disney/Pixar movie. Afterwards we barbecued at home and ended the night with a few fireworks on the back patio. Kylie and Ben both have ear infections so we kept it simple and had a good day.

Patriotic outfits

Bradley playing with the sparklers

Ben stayed in the house, but was still curious

He ran away the minute it went off!


The kids all loved the sparklers

Freedom Festival 5K

Provo does a 5K and 10K every year on the 4th of July. I ran the 5K today because I have had some severe congestion and have felt like crap the last few days. I didn't do too bad, finishing up at 27 minutes. I've got plenty of room to improve, but it was nice to get back out in a competitive run.

T-ball

T-ball season came to a close on Wednesday. Bradley's team was the Gators, and they improved a little over the last couple months, plus they had fun. He loves the social part of the game most, and he had his buddies Peyton and Jacob on the team with him. Thanks to coach Kirsten for working with the boys. Bradley in action, taking the tee out and getting a hit.I guess this would be his fielding pose.Kylie and Logan hanging out on the sidelines