Good Morning...

My boys are pretty early risers but this particular morning they slept in a little bit and were able to enjoy breakfast with Ella. I really love these 3, oh and Travis always calls Ella, Gma Shupe in the morning after his mom because of her awesome hair!

Swimming Lessons again...

Parley had his second round of swimming lessons up in centerville across the street from his cousin's house. It was  a private lesson just him and the teacher and I couldn't even watch until the last 10 minutes of the last lesson. I was nervous for these lessons because Parley doesn't do well in the water without his life jacket. But he actually did great. I was very pleased with what he learned, he could push off the side and do somewhat of a front crawl, I couldn't believe it. He jumped off the diving board with no fear and he never plugged his nose (although we went swimming yesterday and he plugged his nose every once in a while, oh well I plug mine sometimes too) he could swim down to the bottom of the pool and pick up the toys, he did the back float and tummy float for 10 seconds, He held his breath under water for like 7 seconds, his teacher said he was almost swimming on a  6 year old level and that as soon as he gets more strength he will be that much better. I wish that I could take him swimming every day and work on these things with him but I know that is not possible. Because swimming with my kids wears me out unless Travis is there, I don't even think its the swimming part that makes me so tired because my kids have done great this year, it is the packing everything up and unpacking everything every time we go that wears me out! I feel like we are going on a vacation everytime we go swimming! I was very pleased with these swim lessons and hope to do them again next year! Way to go Parley!

This is him diving for the toys.

His front float..

Practicing the front crawl...

and then doing it all by himself...

His back float..

24th of July and Cherry Hill...

Travis had the friday before the 24th of july off so we spent the afternoon at Cherry Hill. It was so fun, Parley loved it and did all the big slides even cardiac canyon on  a tube all by himself. We all went down the big blue tube slides lots of times even Ella and Brig. It was a fun day especially to have Trav with us because that hasn't happened too much lately!

Waiting in Line for cardiac canyon..

riding Cardiac canyon...

I think Ella's favorite part about cherry hil was this slushie.. we use to be able to just have her share everything with the boys but not anymore, she wants her own so we now buy 3 of everything..

 We Celebrated the 24th with a BBQ and a little firework show with the Shupe's, it was a fun night. I have such a love for the pioneers and I am always amazed by their sacrifices and dedication to the Lord and His church. I had the opportunity to live in Nauvoo for 4 months 10 years ago, and it really is my very favorite place. I love the spirit that is there, I can still remember walking the streets of old nauvoo and thinking about the Prophet Joseph Smith and His wife Emma and other amazing leaders and saints of the church that had walked those same streets and had built up that beautiful city, and then sacrificed everything to come across the plains, What Faith they had!! I know that we face much different trials now then what the saints did but I know that I have to exercise that same faith to get through them. What a blessing my pioneer heritage is to me! Happy Pioneer Day!

(Brig isn't in any of the firework pictures because he really doesn't like them!, he won't even throw a little snap )

Forts and Friends...

I have so many memories of building forts when I was  a little girl, so I helped the kids build a little one the other day, they loved it and played in it for at least an hour. Ella loved crawling in and out of it.

Last week the boys had a couple of friends over and then it turned into a couple more friends, so i had to get a picture of these 6 boys. My house was a little chaotic for a minute but they were having a blast, and I think we went through a couple boxes of popscicles!!