Footweary Soldier

My dad and his brothers went to Utah a couple of weeks ago to perform at a pioneer/independence day festival. I stole this clip from my cousin Chrissy. They used to play together quite a bit before my Uncle Steve moved to Texas. I miss watching then at various firesides around town. They have two Cd's of songs about our pioneer ancestors and I love them all! This one is about soldiers in the Mormon Battalion marching to the war with Mexico in 1847. They marched from Nebraska to San Diego, 2000 miles, which is the longest military march in U.S. history.

Just for fun

It's a ....

GIRL!

Air Show!!

Last Saturday we went to an air show here in Fresno. There were some really fun airplanes, Nick was in Heaven. (This also happens to be an airport that they used in filming for the new Indiana Jones movie! Unfortunately they cut the whole scene from the film.)

Nick ran in to a friend who works in the control tower so we got to go up there and watch some of the show from the sky! (Which was especially nice because it was over 100 degrees that day)

You can see Elsie's little pink cheeks. Poor baby, she was so hot.

Here is some of Aaron's self photography. Behind him you can see the tower that we watched the show from. It is an old tower that they no longer use except for special events. If you look close you can see the stairs that we had to climb to get up. Not too fun, but definitely worth it when we realized it was an air conditioned room!!

Elsie's twin

I have recieved a few emails with this picture attached. Does this baby not look just like Elsie?

Though I'm not sure I would let her lick a pig, it might be fun to print one for our family photo album and tease her with it later!

Swimming again

We have been in our pool a few times this year. I was only brave enough when it was in the 100's for a few days in May but the kids don't care about the cold. All except for Elsie who screams every time you try to take her in. You can't see her face here, but she was not happy. I guess her fear of water will come in handy when we go camping.

She was happy to sit by the steps with me and eat watermelon.

(just a side note-I think I might seriously have the cutest baby in the world)

Aaron was so excited about his new shoes he had to pose with them. I have never bought him any character shoes (or clothes for that matter)before ( I just don't really like them) but he had been such a good kid lately that I thought he deserved them

Last summer we spent a lot of money on swim lessons for Aaron and Charlotte. My friend Sarah was training on my kids so she gave me a half off deal (which still adds up when you are paying for two kids). This year I was worried when we first got in the pool and Charlotte did not want to swim, but Aaron jumped right in and swam to Nick, and then a little while later Charlotte was convinced. Here are a few clips of them in action!

Pizza!!

Aaron's last day of school was Friday. It was a busy week with a field trip, his "year end program" and a picnic at the park for his last day. I'm so excited for summer!! It has been very nice to get dressed whenever we want and go where ever we want and not have to watch the clock. Here are some pictures from our field trip.

This is his whole class. They all showed up for the exciting trip to Me n Ed's pizza parlor. (My personal favorite)

There is nothing more exciting than a school bus!!

Aaron's toppings - pineapple, bacon and olives

Aaron sitting between Payton and Jasmine, two of his favorite friends.

Aaron's turn

After Charlotte's wonderful FHE lesson, Aaron just had to had to prepare one too. First he told us a story from the friend (which I had read to him earlier) and them we played pirates.

Elsie was more interested in getting ready for her lesson next week. (I wish)

Then we (the kids) played hopscotch. If you look closely you can see how good Aaron is getting at writing his numbers!

I wish I had caught Aaron on tape also because it was fun to see the difference in the way the three of them played. Just imagine you just watched Aaron jump by flawlessly before you watch the video of the girls.

And of course, no FHE would be complete with out dessert!!

Ice cream, Yummy!

Half Dome

On Saturday Nick and Nick went to hike Half Dome with the youth in our ward. After scolding Nick about not taking enough pictures at the last camp out, he took lots more for me this time. Here are some of my favorites.

FHE Charlotte Style

Last week Charlotte wanted to be in charge of our lesson for family home evening. She did a very good job re-telling a story from the friend, then we played let's go fishing and then we played with her make-up. All of this was done under a blanket.

Here are some of Nick being a good sport

notice the rings on his fingers!

Could life get any better for a 3 year old girl?

then for dessert, warm chocolate chip cookies which she helped me bake!