Back-handspring Bathing Suit

 Rachel has wanted a new bathing suit this year even though she has three others; although they are small and stretched out they did the job.  I made a deal with her that if she could land her back-handspring without a spot I would get her a new one.  She tried so super hard that even though James still technically spotted her she still did it 98% by herself so we went to Sears to get her a Land's End suit and lucky for me they were 50% off.  She fell in love with the pink polka-dots and ruffles of her new swim suit and looks adorable in it.

  

Rachel posing in her cute new bathing suit by my beautiful pink tiger lily.

My garden snack this morning while watering; first ripe blueberry I've picked from my garden.

Memorial Day 2012

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Brandon, Cami & Zoe at the LasVegas Temple

Happy 26th Birthday Amanda

Julia's Tumbling Run

ROUNDOFF-BACKHANDSPRING-TUCK!

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Mother's Day FHE with Brandon, Cami & Zoe

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Mom,

I hope you know what a wonderful mother you are to me.  I probably haven’t told you enough, but you are.  Being the oldest, I was able to watch you raise my other brothers and sisters as I grew up.  You showed me exactly what to look for in a wife.  I think I did a pretty good job finding a woman that had many of the same qualities I saw in you.  She makes me a better person for being with her.  She has so much love to give.  She has enough patience to put up with me.  She is forgiving.  She is a wonderful teacher and caregiver to our daughter.  These were all things I saw in you as I grew up.  I am so blessed to have two women like that in my life, so close to me. 

Thank you for continuing to love me despite my many imperfections.  Thank you for always being there for me any and every single time I have ever needed you. Thank you for being such a wonderful grandmother to my daughter.  Thank you for being you.  I love you whole bunch.

Happy Late Mother’s Day.

Your Eldest and most Handsome Son,

Brandon 

"Dad Helped Me Face My Fear!"

When we first moved into our house in August of 2008 David had only just turned 3 and loved going down the pool slide with his life jacket and floaties on.  At the beginning of the next summer the kids helped him climb up the stairs and pushed him down the slide; his feet went up in the air as he slid down on his back.  He was totally terrified as he slid into the pool basically head dunked- feet up.  He has been afraid of big slides ever since.  Even when we would go to the park he quit going down the slides...he was too afraid.  It has been three summers since and finally he was able to overcome his fear of the pool slide today with his Daddy's help.  I got home from a Walmart trip and David couldn't wait to show me that he wasn't afraid to go down the slide. It was so cute when he said, "Dad helped me face my fear!"

May 2, 2012 Zoe & Cami Come Swim for the 1st Time this Year

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David with his new "swimming" haircut.

 Amanda came over and brought some new pool toys with her.

 David had tons of fun with his new pool ball.

Love this little boy so much; that tan little nose is so kissable!

 Amanda relaxing in the pool.

Rachel Tumbling April 30, 2012

 Rachel worked really hard at tumbling yesterday to land her standing back handspring,    

                                                                                         

Then she worked on a tumbling run; this was the last one she did for class when James her coach told her if she did one more good effort she could be done.  She has really improved over the last few month with James as her coach.

April 24 Zoe at Grammy's House

Such a sweet day with Zoe.  She is only 19 months old and an amazing little talker.  The first video in this smilebox is of her telling David there are moneys in Grammy's front porch tree.  Zoe's Great Uncle David, my brother, came over unexpectedly.  Zoe was fascinated as she watched David set up the hose to drain Grammy's pool and then to see all the water flow out into the street was some pretty exciting stuff. 

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Fishers Swim April 23

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Sleepy Zoe

Cami and Brandon celebrated their 4th wedding anniversary by going to Napa to stay at my sister-in-laws parents bed and breakfast. It was the first time I got to take care of Zoe over night. She was such a perfect little angel when it came to going to bed. First while playing with her toys she started to suck her thumb so I could tell she was getting tired, then she walked over to me while I was sitting in the maroon chair, and started playing with her hair while continuing to suck her thumb.  I picked her up and she snuggled down on my shoulder...I put her in her crib about 15 minutes later.  She fussed a little for a few minutes and then was out until 8am the next morning.  So, so sweet!

Jared Scouting

 Angel Lopez, Jared, Mike Seymore and Anthony Telford.

Sweet Baby Zoe 1 year Pictures

Pictures by Erin Noel Designs. 1st Birthday present from Grandpa Sheldon and Grandma Lisa.
These pictures turned out so beautiful; Zoe looks like a little doll.

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Justin Beaver

Rachel:  "I hate Justin Bieber"

David:  "I don't, I like Justin BeaVer!"

 Daddy gets home from his Ulink meeting and gets hello hugs from all of his babies.

 Julia's inventive hairstyle for Rachel's tumbling class.

 Silly goofy David and Rachel.

Julia Women of Virtue Video

Julia's Women of Virtue video from Young Women in Excellence.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wj6oxQFO5Eo

Taylor Swift Plays Piano

Rachel as Taylor Swift, (think Love Story), playing her latest piano song.

This is right before we left for the Visions charter school, Harvest Festival.

Waffles

I've been making lots of waffles lately. It's an easy way to use up some of the wheat I have stored and since wheat is one of the few foods that Rachel is NOT allergic to, a good way to fill her tummy. Yesterday I experimented with a savory waffle that Rachel used to make a "waffle pizza" with for lunch, minus the cheese of course since she is highly allergic to any milk product.  Then I made some "Apple-Pumpkin-Cinnamon Waffles for afternoon snacks. I added some brown sugar to the recipe so the kids would eat them like a cookie instead of needing syrup. The kids loved them! Rachel is allergic to butter but here are David and his friend Nolan eating fresh, hot waffles with butter. So satisfing to hear their "Ummmm's" and see their little eyes roll back in their heads as they ate their waffles.

Then the boys decided to go strawberry hunting to complete their afternoon snack.

4 c Freshly ground whole wheat flour

1 c brown sugar

2 T Baking Powder

1 t Baking Soda

1 t salt

1T Cinnamon

1t nutmeg and ginger

1/2t allspice

1/2 c olive oil

2 t vanilla

2 T Vinegar

About 1 1/2 c dried apples blendered till smooth with 2-3 c of water-aprox.

1 16 oz can pumpkin

Add dry ingredients to liquid ingredient.

About 1c batter per waffle.

Cook for about 10 minutes on med in waffle iron. 

add more water if too thick 

(I would add 1-2 eggs if Rachel was not allergic)



Zoe's Verbal Abilities at 13 Months

I took this video a few weeks ago. We hadn't seen Zoe for two and a half weeks; when she came over for a visit she had many new tricks to show us!