August Rush

August has been full of activities for our little family. My mom was able to join our family for an entire month. She got here on Saturday August 7Th and stayed with us for a month.

It's been a blessing having her around.

I don't think I loaded my dishwasher once while she was here or clean the table and floors. I am definitely going to miss that extra help. I never realized how much work raising three kids would be.

So to sum it all up with my mom here, everyday was something new to do.

.....We visited with family and had many trips to the park, to the pool and to our back yard.

Lots and lots of treats were eaten; and many sights were enjoyed through the window of our car.......

Julia had swimming lessons. She was on level II. She really loves to swim now, considering that last year she screamed every time she went into the water. She learn to float and submerge her entire body under the water for 15 seconds. She can also swim forward with help and backwards by herself.

My favorite part about this experience was that every time she learn something new she would look immediately at me and give me thumbs up and a big smile. You could tell how proud she was of herself for overcoming her fear of water.

Josh was a very proud brother too. every time Julia did a new trick he would run to the pool and tell her " Good job Julia, good job"

I decided to sign Josh up for a parent/toddler swimming class. As you could imagine it didn't go so well. Let's just say the teacher though he should repeat the level.

It was a very amazing experience to do this with my son though. I realized how strong and how much trust he has on me. Every time we were in the water, just by ourselves, he loved it.

He would kick his legs, blow bubbles and do all of the exercises the teacher had previously showed us, even jump from the side of the pool straight into my arms. When the teacher was around, he would freak out and cry in panic.

Thankfully I didn't sign him up with the intention of having him swim perfectly, but so that we could bond and have fun doing something just by ourselves. I can happily say that I achieved that.

We went to visit Thanksgiving Point, Temple Square with my mother in law, Spencer and the Kids.

I also ventured myself to drive into Antelope Island for their balloon festival. we loved it and we were able to even see buffalo right next to our car

My mom and I started a project I have not been able to weed my backyard since we got our house. I had attempted to do it, but it was more than one person could handle.

We volunteered Spencer and the kids into the project and after a couple of weeks it was finally done.

It is so good to open my back door and let the kids loose on that backyard, knowing they'll have a fun time playing on the sand and the swings for as long as they want while I can tend Andrew and do so quick chores around the house.

We also signed Julia up for Soccer this year. We weren't going to, but once day playing on the backyard she showed us that she could really kick the ball and so we signed her up for the Fall Soccer season in Syracuse. There are 5 kids form the team who are in our ward and her coach is Mike Hall, also from our ward. It's been so fun for her and for Spencer. Finally something that he can be more involved into.

He really enjoyed going to the mall with Julia to buy her her new cleat shoes and shin guards, not to mention the new Adidas pink soccer ball.

They both practice in our back yard as much as they can. I am just glad that he has 2 boys to continue his Soccer enthusiasm with, because I am claiming Julia for dance next.