Blooming photographer

As a bonus, my friend, Krista was at the BBQ snapping away with her new camera. She took a ton of awesome pictures of the kids. Here are a few of my favorites. Thanks Krista!

Moodswings grown up!

The Fastners' came to town which warranted a gathering of the Moodswings. My how we have grown up. We are up to 11 kids amongst us....all under the age of 3! There were kiddie pools galore along with a large swingset and sandbox so the kids had a ball. The parents had some fun, too! It was great to spend an afternoon with my friends.

Swim class without Mommy

Time for swimming lessons to resume.

Now that Aubrey is three, I moved her up to Parkie's Paddlers which are lessons with an instructor rather than with me. I thought she was ready to make the move, but she has proven me otherwise. After refusing to leave my side for level 2 lessons, she was demoted back down to level 1 where they are more accustomed to kids that are scared, shy, etc. While most of the kids in level 1 sat on the edge to get in the pool, Aubrey was clinging to my side. Luckily, her teacher, Miss Tia, went out of her way to make Aubrey feel comfortable. She took her to get some pool toys (Thomas and starfish) and that was enough to get her in the pool. Although she's not performing to the level that she was at in the Parkie's Babies class, she is doing her front and back floats like a champ. Now if we can just get her to put her face in the water!

Garage sales in Orion

Finally recovered from vacation, we took a trip back to Orion to see my family. Conveniently, our trip was the same weekend as the garage sales in Orion. I sure love to garage sale! I decided to get to work and make some more bows, clippies and my latest, bobby pin creations. I sold about $30 worth. I wish I would have sold more but I only had them at the sale for one day so I am pretty pleased. Maybe I'll have to start taking this hobby a little more seriously.

We had a great time visiting. Aubrey and Lainey got some more bonding time and I was able to spend time with my siblings. Orion will always feel like home. I love going to visit!

Aubrey and Tyler photos

Here are the photos that we just had taken at JcPenney's.

family

three generations

Aubrey at 3 years

Tyler at 15 months

Nationals - Day 7:Almost home

Well, we learned our lesson on the trip out to Arizona. On the route home, we ate every meal in our sleeping car and didn't let the kids escape at all. Even though we got a little cabin fever, the kids were much better behaved and we were a lot less stressed. I will admit, I am so sick of Caillou though. He is a great tranquilizer for the kids, but is pretty annoying after watching/listening to him for hours on end. We survived our trip home. Like Dorothy says, "There is no place like home." We even saw a double rainbow in her honor.

Nationals - Day 6:Finals - victorious?

Today was our last day in Phoenix. Summit started the day with a tough first match against Aim to Kill (Joe Gustafson's team) and came out on top. This puts them in the finals. Fortunately for me, the finals started right at nap time. I was able to get Tyler to sleep and laid him down in the stroller. Aubrey sat nicely and I was able to watch almost the entire match. Towards the end, Aubrey fell asleep just as Tyler was waking. So, sub one in the stroller, Tyler out - Aubrey in. Tyler sat calmly on my lap for the remainder of the match. I then put him back in the front of the stroller and was able to take pictures during the awards ceremony. So lucky!

I am so proud of how well Jeff played this tournament. He missed the last half of the USAV season due to illness but bounced back well. He ended up making all-tournament team while leading Summit to their fourth USAV AA title. He is such a great player. I'm proud to call him my husband.

Now, back on the road to Flagstaff to board the train home!