Where did the summer go?

1st day of  school-Notice Ethan ready to go with his lunch packed.  Needless to say he was not a happy camper when he yelled "Bye Mom" and I had to grab him before he got on the bus.  He has been pretty bored without his siblings home to help entertain him.  He has become my little helper at home.  He's an expert on folding hand towels, moving rocks, and digging holes.  He's also started to be more consistent in using the toilet.  I see a light at the end of the tunnel for when I change my LAST DIAPER -YEAH!

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My cute cousin Laura got married this summer to a great guy.  I was so excited and happy for her.  I teared up through her sharing her personal experience on how they met, dated etc.  I could see the Lord's hand and know how important his timing is for what we really need and what will best bless our lives.  Anyways, my very first bridal shower I attended was at Rick's College.  When you don't have a lot of money you can become quite creative with gifts.  My first bridal shower gift was no exception.  Laura was a first hand witness of my "creativeness" and I decided to recreate that "special" gift for her-HA!  All of my college roommates know what it is!  Anyways, she must have had an inklying because she was laughing and turning red before she even opened it.

There's a great $3 movie theater on 12th street and Two for Tuesdays is our favorite.  Ethan is finally old enough to sit and be occupied at a movie theater so we capitalized on this quite a few times this summer.  They have some fun things in their foyer-Cowboy Ethan was in his element in this pic.

My friend teaches swimming lessons in the summer at a neighbors house which makes it quite convenient.  Just to show you how good she is-Before swimming lessons, Brooklyn was a monkey on my back in the pool-she SCREAMED if she was in the water unattached to an adult. 

Here she is just a few lessons in-doing the dead man's float for over 5 seconds-Ya! I know-she's that good!

Jonny-my fearless fish.

This spring Wes and the boys went on their Father/Son campout.  Wes didn't want to worry about Ethan so he stayed home with me and the girls.  They all got to bunk with me that night. Needless to say, I was not well rested in the morning-not because the kids were rolling around and kicking me in the head like they used to do when they were younger-but I noticed Ethan had started snoring the last 3-4 months, like BAD! As soon as his eyes shut, and sometimes a few seconds before that, he'd be sawing logs bigtime!  I didn't really concern myself too much with it but that night as I listened to him snore, I also listened to him stop breathing, and breathing erratically.  Scared me to DEATH!  I called the Dr. the next day and went in.  He said his tonsils were large and then sent me to a specialist.  The Dr. showed me how large his tonsils were-I couldn't believe it, I barely say any space between his tonsils and his uvula.  He did really well, still scary sending your little one for any kind of surgery, but I had great faith in the Dr and his abilities.  It took awhile for him to completely heal but he was a trooper.

The Dr. sent me home with a souveneir.

So this summer I decided to do a 5-week(one lesson a week) Dance Camp and have the kids perform in the Huntsville 4th of July parade.  They learned 3 different dance routines.  They did SOOOooo Good!  They were real troopers and looked so CUTE!  The little one's kept up with the big girls-so proud of them.

I had 20 girls sign up which is a good start to our first year doing a summer camp and parade.

I had a hard time coming up with something to put on our truck that went with the 4th of July Theme-Freedom-the gift of Hero's.  I made a GIANT hand with camo garb coming out of a gift box holding an American Flag.

 

  I was ELATED when I found out Wes didn't have to work the Graveyard shift this summer-last summer was AWFUL!  They got to do their RAD kids program all summer instead(which I highly recommend to anyone if you have the opportunity)  Wes wanted the kids to participate even though we don't live in Layton.  It was a great week and the kids learned a lot.  I feel a little better that if they were in a certain situation they have some experience and would know what to say or what to do.
I was the most impressed with little Brooklyn.  When they did their scenerios with "Red Man" she was the LOudest, most aggressive, toughest person of them all.  I shouldn't be surprised, she is little Miss Fiesty at home.  Here she is striking a pose with Red Man.  The other pic is of the boys practicing their Defensive moves.

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 Zac was lucky enough to get to celebrate his 13th Birthday with almost all of his McKinney cousins.  Amber and the kids got to come down to Utah from Kansas and the twins came down from Rexburg so Zac had fun with his brothers, boy cousins, and a couple of friends at Boondocks for most of the day.  Look at how tall my "baby" has gotten.  We finished off he day with a yummy steak and potato dinner and a friendly game of soccer .  He had a fun day!
  
Cameron turned the big  1 2  !!!!  He's pretty easy to please.  We went to a movie and he got to pick the menu for the day.  He was ordained a Deacon after Hailey's Baptism.  So excited for him to hold the priesthood-we have two deacons in our home now-so blessed.

Cameron and Jonathan were both in the Park City tournament this year.  Instead of getting a hotel we decided to save money and be adventurous and go camping in Park City.  Wes was not thrilled to say the least since he was going to scout camp with the boys for the whole next week but we haven't gone camping in YEARS as a family.  We had a great time to say the least.  We were right by the freeway for when we had to get up and go to games, but we were right by a creek full of minnows and fish that the kids tried to catch.  A mommy duck and her 8 babies were our neighbors and we had an annoying but silly camp pet-a  grouse.

They had a really nice (warm) swimming pool at our camp site- so we had fun swimming every afternoon.  One evening we picked up pizza and took it to an elementary school to eat-and of course, play more soccer.(The kids must really love it!) While the kids were kicking around the ball, a red fox came up and hung out with us on the field for about 20 min - only 10 yards away!  We did some school shopping at the Tanger outlets and just enjoyed each others company.

If you didn't know-August is our Birthday month.  We have 3!  Hailey had a very SPECIAL birthday.  After a scrumptious breakfast in bed we got ready for her special day.  Dad and the boys arrived back from scout camp just in time.  Hailey was Baptised and and given the Gift of the Holy Ghost.

The first pic is Hailey in her new Birthday dress looking like a little Flower Princess.  Here's Hailey given her dad a big hug after she got baptized.  Ahhhh- so sweet!  and a Diva shoe, purse, and sunglasses cake for Miss Diva Hailey.

The Elders in our valley were so nice to come and support our family for the special occasion.  Elder Samia and Elder Poly are just a few of our favorite missionaries.  They are both polynesian and so had a lot in common with Grandma Childers.

Here she is in her Beautiful Sparkly White Baptism dress.  Such a beautiful girl inside and out.  She was so excited for this day and counted down DAILY about a month before.

Our last August Birthday was Miss Brooklyn.  She turned 6!  She wanted a butterfly and flower cake.  She turned 6 just a few days before school started.  The pic above is her on the 2nd day of 1st grade.  Big GIrl!

So things are back in full swing, school, soccer, dance, scouts-and just lovin life!