Diving Board Competition

First, meet the competitors:

vs.

And now, for your viewing pleasure, the final entries in the 2010 End-of-Swimming-Lessons-Diving-Board-Competition: 

Gold medals for everyone!

one and a half

A few important facts about Samuel:

Fascinated with the trash truck

Loves to read books, especially Good Night Moon 

Loves to sing songs, especially Wheels on the Bus

Has about a 50 word vocabulary

Has a blankie addiction

Obsessed with Buzz Lightyear and Elmo

Loves to see or hear birds and dogs

Is a picky eater (Doesn't like green eggs and ham!)

Always requests ice in his water

Is an avid thumb-sucker

LOVES his siblings

AND

is so much fun to have around

Sleepover

Even though sleepovers are somewhat forbidden and taboo in our culture nowadays.....

we did it any way and had a great time:

We're so glad in our absence of cousins that we have wonderful friends to fill in. Thanks to Jillian, Kendra, and Lauren for spending the night at our house last week! (Not pictured: Garrett, who was at this exact moment throwing a fit because he didn't want to be the youngest and have to sit at the bottom of the slide.Sigh.)

Wet

I head some good advice once regarding children:

when they're crabby, put them in water.

Three guesses as to how we're spending our summer:

Okay, I know Josh isn't really my child, but if his parents weren't so attached to him I'd take him in a minute. I guess I'll have to settle for seeing him everyday.

We've also spent two weeks with Miss Tara at swimming lessons. I've heard tell of certain swimmers jumping off diving boards and swimming under water without holding their noses. Impressive.

I'm not sure how this turned into the Garrett-in-Water Montage, but it did. Never you fear, the other three are just as crabby, and enjoy water just as much. I'll have to try harder to spread the camera love a little more.

Shh! It's a Cecret.

On a Saturday in July we headed up Little Cottonwood Canyon for a beautiful hike to a place called Cecret Lake. Evidently those who discovered this little gem hundreds of years ago were more adventureres than intellectuals and the misspelling of the name continues to this day.

It was cool and beautiful up in the mountains, away from the smog and heat of the valley.

The trail head begins right above Alta, so we got up close and personal with their chair lifts and....

SNOW! 

There were all the components of a great hike---streams to ford, rocks to climb, siblings to tease, and tons and tons of beautiful scenery:

There were fields and fields of Forget-Me-Knot, Columbine, and Indian Paintbrush in full bloom.

The best part about this "Cecret" hike is that the lake truly remains a secret, until you scramble over rocks for the last 1/4 mile and crest the ridge, and then you see this:

The lake was so clear, you could see down to the bottom.

We ate a little lunch and marveled at our newly discovered "Cecret".

Samuel found the whole thing quite hysterical and..

eventually gave it up on the way down. All that hiking just tuckered him out!

Oh Say, Can You See? (More pictures of my cuties)

A little water, a few Cheetos, homemade ice cream, and a box of sparklers sure makes for a fun 4th of July.

And then there are the faces. I consider myself an EXPERT at photographing faces, at really managing to capture the true personalities of my subjects. I think you'll find the following images really are worth a thousand words.........

Rich and his Dad. I can't say for sure, but I'd wager they were discussing the finer points of perplexing programming problems (PPPs) that the world faces daily. They are quite the think-tank.

My favorite 5 year old. Too bad he's so camera shy and inhibited.

My MIL and her sister. My superb photographic skills at work. (Either that or my kids just splashed them for the hundredth time after being told to STOP SPLASHING PEOPLE!)

 In case you can't interpret his face, this means "I don't want to be in the pool, but I don't want to be out of the pool. I just want my mom to stand by the pool and lift me in and out continuously all day until I make up my mind."

And now for some tricks....

and one treat

2 for Sam

Camp Hope(fully)

We took a deep breath and violated rule #3 of our marriage contract:

3. NEVER, unless under immediate threat of death, take children under 3 years old camping in a tent.

But who could resist this "child under 3"? He's even cuter in a tent!

We went for a quick overnighter with our fabulous neighbors up to Hope Campground, up above Squaw Peak in Provo Canyon. (Who knew anything was up there?) It was a beautiful little campground and the trek did not violate the rule of "never drive with children anywhere longer than a movie on their ipod lasts". Although we did plug the children in for the drive up, we also issued a "no ipods while camping" mandate in the spirit of the great outdoors. 

Camping

by Kelly L. King

Camping is......

hanging out with friends..............

...cooking and eating yummy food

and posing for silly pictures

(yes, that is Vicki and me swinging from trees)

Camping is also...

eating breakfast around the campfire in blankets and pajamas

And new for 2010, camping is also about...

MARSHMALLOW GUN WARS!

and for good measure...

We came home dirty and tired and laughing, and THAT is what camping is all about.

P.S. Go here to get easy instructions for these great marshmallow shooters. We had a blast making them and I can't believe how many hours of fun our family has had with them!