Summer Swimming

We had our first family swimming day of the season. Last year we made the most out of our family pass to the Champion pool. We were there 3-4 days every week over the summer.

It is funny that a few years ago, we couldn't take Caeleb to a splash park, let alone a swimming pool, without causing him a panic attack. Our first attempt at enrolling him in swimming lessons when were were living in Calgary ended in failure, without his even getting wet. However, since we started doing lessons and family swims in Champion he has become quite comfortable in the water. Now he will jump off the diving board without any hesitation.

Elva and Mary both take straight to the water. Elva is eager to follow Caeleb's example, but still needs a little extra help. Mary loves to splash around the shallow end, doing her own thing.

For Selman, this is a new experience. Last year, he just watched from his chair on the side of the pool. This year he is in the pool with everyone else. While he was reluctant to get in the water at first, once he was in and free to splash how he wanted, it became clear that he liked it. More tears were made getting out than getting in.

We are looking forward to another summer filled with sunny-wet days.

Faith of a Father

This will be a very quick post but I just want to record here (so I remember) how much I love my Father and how much I admire his strong faith. Even though he has his physical struggles (he just broke his back a month ago) and mind struggles, his faith remains as strong as ever. Yesterday, someone in our family was really sick. Dad, being in a back brace and unable to stand for long, gave this person a blessing while they were both sitting. It was a short but powerful blessing. And I felt the spirit so strong. And the blessing helped. It really did. Dad has a close relationship with his Savior and Heavenly Father. I am so grateful for his example and I always want to remember and follow this example of having a simple yet powerful faith. Thank you Dad! I love you so much!

Disneyland!

We had the adventure of a lifetime a few weeks ago. Chris finished his last day of student teaching on Thursday April 19th. What a crazy 3 years it has been but we have done it! I have spent the last 3 years saving little by little for a graduation trip for our family to Disneyland. Caeleb and Elva have been asking to go pretty much since Chris and I went almost 5 years ago and so they got tickets for Christmas this last year. However, we told them we were going in August.

We went down to Camellia and Doug's house on Thursday Evening and we told the kids that we were going to visit the Nelsons. On Friday morning, we woke the kids up about 6:00 and they were able to check out their little Easter bags full of good road trip treats. Then the Watters and the Nelsons loaded up into 2 vehicles and off we went. We told the kids were going to visit some other cousins.

The 12 hours drive went pretty smoothly with kids switching vehicles back and forth and talking on the walky-talkies between vehicles. We arrived in Ogden at Aunt Marilyn's and Uncle Gord's house about 8:00 pm. It was so good to visit with them and with Heather and Brooklyn too. They both have such nice houses too and we were grateful for their hospitality. Saturday morning we woke up to a yummy breakfast prepared by Aunt Marilyn and then we went to Heather's house for a Easter Egg hunt. How fun! They really made the morning wonderful!

Then we went to Temple Square in SLC with Heather, Brooklyn and Aunt Marilyn and had a special time showing the kids the Temple, Christ statue, and Conference center. It was special to spend Easter Saturday at such a Holy place. We left SLC about 3:00 pm and headed to Las Vegas where we drove by the lights of the strip and arrived at our hotel about 10:00 pm. The next morning we went to a 0900 Sacrament meeting in Las Vegas and we had a picnic by the church and a fun little "reveal" as we told the kids that our next leg of the trip would be Disneyland! They were surprised and giddy with excitement.

Traffic was a bit crazy headed down to Anaheim from Las Vegas but we made it there around 5:00 in the afternoon. After settling into the hotel, we walked the 20 minutes to Downtown Disney and you can eat restaurant on the other side of Disneyland. We did a lot of walking during our 4 days at Disneyland. Both Camellia and I bought the same cheap purple stroller to hold their Porter and our Mary. I held Selman in a front baby backpack and we also had a hiking backpack that he and Evelyn took turns in and Camellia had a sling for Evelyn. The bigger kids did great with all the walking that we did but I did carry Elva at times when her feet got tired and I did put Caeleb on my shoulders for the California Adventure Water show one night.

Doug and Chris did an amazing job with the Disney App on their phones getting us plenty of fast passes so that we could go on as many rides as possible. We were at Disneyland at 07:45 on Monday morning and we started the day with Splash Mountain for the older kids and Winnie the Pooh for the younger kids. I think Splash mountain was a bit much for the older kids as they did not want to go on it again but Camellia and I had a blast and I made a point of going on it again on Thursday evening by myself. The we all went on the Haunted house ride and then Pirates of the Caribbean. Then the kids had a blast on Thunder Mountain railroad and we made our way over to Fantasyland and Space Mountain. We saw a parade that day and it was special as Cinderella saw that Elva was wearing a Cinderella dress/PJ and she blew a kiss to her and Elva's eyes just lite up. We went on most of the rides during our time in Disneyland and California adventure. Chris and I worked great together packing so much into our 2 days at Disneyland and 2 days at California adventure (Disney on day one, than California adventure, then California adventure and then Disney). And we only lost Mary once when she wandered off into a busy crowd. But don't worry, we found her a few minutes later as we had written our cell number on the kids' arms and we got a call from someone really quick. We saw the play Frozen which Mary loved. We went on the Cars ride several times. We saw the Color show at California Adventure. The last evening was magical as we watched Fantasmic at Disneyland and we saw the fireworks. And we ended the evening with Caeleb's favourite ride - Space Mountain.

We went for a Swim on Friday morning at the hotel and after leaving at 1100, we drove back to Utah and stayed at Chris' uncles house on Friday Evening (we got there at about 12:30 in the morning). We had a good visit with his cousins on Sunday morning and then we went to visit his Aunt Jan and then to Aunt Marilyn's house for pizza and a visit and bed. We got up about 6:00 Sunday morning and drove home. We were home about 9:00 in the evening.

I have been working almost ever since. Almost full time actually. 20 days in May. Maybe more in June. Most of those shifts were at Claresholm Mental Health and Addictions and a few at the Rockyview. I have been so blessed to be loving both places. Chris has been at home with the kids and trying to write his resume as well. He is being Mr. Mom while I head off most days to bring home the bacon. I am a traditional person and it isn't how I envisioned our life but I love my husband and I love my family and I will do what I can to provide for our family. And I really feel like we will grow stronger for every experience we have in our marriage if we let ourselves grown from them. Chris has supper on the table when I come home most evenings, he is up with the kids at night, he puts up with me when I have had a bad day or am overtired. He is such a great guy and I am blessed to have him in my life. I feel blessed for my family and that we live on the farm. I feel blessed to have a wonderful job to be able to provide for my family until Chris gets a teaching job. We went to his convocation last Tuesday and he looked so handsome in his cap and gown. I am so proud of him and all the hard work he has put into becoming a teacher. I know he will make an amazing teacher because he teaches me things everyday.

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