July 2012

In July we learned that Anders loves corn on the cob. Nothing can make him light up at dinner time more than an ear of corn. He chomps it quite contentedly. He also loves peas. Usually he's pretty lukewarm about the rest of dinner.

Of course, in our family the month of July really gets rolling with Ethan's birthday. This year I made him an army cake since he's really been into learning all about World War II lately.

We celebrated Ethan's birthday on the 4th of July at my parent's house. We brought our Kid's Car Wash that Brian assembled himself (awesome), and we had a great barbecue/birthday party/water fight.

I have one very sorry picture below of the evening that we went to my mission president's 50th anniversary party. President and Sister Rasmussen were just as adorable as ever, and it was fun to see some of the other missionaries from my mission. I hope that after Brian and I have been married for 50 years we can look back and feel just as happy about all of our years together. And as a side note- I couldn't believe that I had forgotten the words to Called to Serve in Danish. I never thought I'd see the day, but I saw it.

I spent one day up at Cub Country with the Scouts from our ward. In late April I was called as the Cub Committee Chair. It's been okay, but it's not my favorite calling of all time. It's kind of like babysitting adults. But Cub Country was fun and it was great to be there with Ethan.

The second day Brian went up with Ethan and did a much better job of taking pictures.

 

In mid-July Ethan had a birthday party with his friends. We give our boys the option of having an evening out with dad where they go to dinner and then go do something fun together, or they can choose to have a birthday party with friends. This was the first time Ethan opted for the friends party. We rented a private pool in West Valley for an hour and a half and had a blast.

Ethan invited three of his best friends from school  J, S & K.

He could have invited as many people as he wanted, but I love that he just wanted to invite the kids that our most special to him.

There was so much giggling in the car and at the house afterwards.

His friends were kind and got him some great gifts.

Tanner's advanced another belt in July and though he's running out of steam he keeps chugging along because his contract doesn't run out until January. I can't wait.

At the end of July we were delighted by the arrival of my brother's family from Kansas! Hooray for fun cousin time. We borrowed Anna and along with my parents went to see the performers from the Polynesian Cultural Center at the Cultural Celebration Center in West Valley.

Tanner just loves his cousin Anna.

We had to wait for quite awhile before the performance started so we passed the time with a picnic.

The kids got a little bored, but once the performance started it was pretty incredible.

Have I mentioned before how much I love magna-tiles? They're probably the best toy investment we've ever made and they get a lot of use at our house. On this day Ethan and Tanner's friends S & G came over and they were really into making big towers.

They had to break out the chairs to stack and stack.

And they were pretty proud of their creations.

Sonic Drive-In had a half price shake special all summer long. It's pretty awesome when you can get everyone in your family some yummy shakes for only $6. We took advantage of the special several times over the course of the summer.

And my three oldest boys started swimming lessons. Tanner and Bradon were in the same class and Ethan was in the class above them.

By the end of their lessons Tanner was swimming fairly independently and Bradon was feeling confident about putting his face in the water. They all improved a lot and I love the intimate setting of this swimming pool so much better than the pool at Kearns. It's worth the extra drive.

Ethan really wanted to quit after the first day. He was a little embarrassed about being awkward pulling himself up out of the pool and he's very self-conscious. After a lot of thought and prayers he decided he would go through with the lessons and he did just great. He loves being in the water and I was glad that he didn't give up. He's really a great swimmer and I'm proud of him.