The story of the 3 yr old biker and misc. Miles activities

Since this format is now our family journal, I am trying to record our events of each week, plus recent things I have missed recording. Justin is the highlight of today story. He is my only 3 yr old to ride a two wheel bike with no training wheels. Justin received his big boy bike earlier this year when I found a good sale. He was very excited to ride everywhere. This lasted a short while until the training wheels moved some making him less stable; then he would tell me it was too scary to ride. After a little more time, I noticed one wheel was missing - just a stub still attached to the wheel. (courtesy of Jaden) At this point Jaden would ride the bike to tease Justin at the same time trying his best to keep the stub from scraping the ground. Justin would attempt riding now and again but the stub was frustrating. In June, Dale took matters into hand and removed both training wheels. He told Justin he can ride a two wheeler because he balances so well on his big kid scooter. Dale took him out a few times before vacation where Justin got the basics. Since coming home he is an old pro and is learning to go down hills very fast and still be able to stop.

The two little boys are at a perfect age for outings with Dad. Two Saturdays ago, Dale took them to Rancho San Antonio - a nature preserve with hiking and biking trails and a small farm. This was Justin's first big hill on a bike. Dale thought for sure they were headed for the ER because he didn't know how to brake. Justin just thought it was great fun. I think everyone on the trail held their breath watching him. ( I am glad I wasn't there - heart attack) Friday night, Dale took them camping to Camp Lehi for a ward service project. They took their bikes and had a great time. The little boys did not want to come home. All I hear about it camping!

This week was also our last week of summer. Justin and Jaden had three last swimming lessons. Jaden is swimming with rainbow arms across the pool. I think the one on one lessons paid off for them both. Lots of progress in a short time.

Now to the trophy. Tamara and I have been playing tennis on Saturday mornings for the past 6 to 8 months. She has talked about getting a trophy for the winner to display each week for a long time. Well, here it is. I have had it displayed since it came for two weeks. But alas, it was lost yesterday morning. Till next week.

Shenanigans of an almost two year old

Hi all, I have some great pictures of some of the messes Beka has gotten into recently. She being the fifth child, one just has to laugh as opposed to crying or being angry. Her first big one was somehow getting ahold of the jar of triple paste ointment - you know the one for diaper rash, and smearing it all over her body and head. It took 10 shampooings just to get to the acceptable level and fifteen to finally be rid of it over the process of a few days. The second day her head was plastered with crinkly hair. Everyone at park day asked what happened.

We had a similar incident a few weeks later in route to Aunt Lori's house in Utah. We had stayed over night in Las Vegas - having smores for dessert. See where this is going? I thought that the marshmallows were sufficiently hidden, but Jaden was able to locate them and gave one to Beka. She was so quiet for a long time, I thought she was entertaining herself with books, her favorite. Jaden finally called for us to look at Beka. She had marshmallow on her arms, legs and in her hair. What can you do? Just keep going, because it isn't coming out until you reach a hot bath!

Beka has now learned to open the fridge. I discovered this one day as I walked into the family room and discovered a carton of eggs on the carpet with a few smashed eggs. Good thing it is ancient carpet! Oh well, at least she no longer plays in the toilet, just the bathroom sink, so my bathroom gets a regular moping courtesy of the cute one. I often sound like a broken record -"Close the bathroom door or Beka will get in".

We don't want to end on a messy note, so I will say this. I am so thankful to have a little girl at the end. She is so delightful and different than the boys. She loves to read books, to the point if you are sitting you are fair game to read her a book. She talks an incredible amount for not even two. Plus she sings. We recognize the tunes and more and more words as time goes by. None of my children have sung so young. Girl and all, she can hold her own with her brothers and even has Nathan wrapped around her finger. Of course, Daddy is a big sucker for her loving ways. She is very, very affectionate; she loves to give and get hugs and kisses and feel your hair. We went to Stake Conference last week and towards the end, when Jaelyn brought her back in, she reached for the brother in back of us. She snuggled up on his lap, felt his fuzzy head and felt his whiskers with some hugs and kisses. I was marveling at this for a minute, when I realized this brother works in the nursery and he told me this was there routine every Sunday. Of course, his two year old was jealous of her daddy snuggling up someone else. Beka is a source of lots of joy and ours forever!

Summer 2008

What an exciting summer. We are now in let down mode after all the time spent with family. June began with Rebeka's adoption - finally. June 4 was the official day with Aunt Lori and Uncle Tom driving up for the special occasion. We celebrated with dinner at Armadillo Willy's, one of our favorite places.

Right after school got out, Nathan went to Zion's camp and had a good time. They kept them busy from dawn to dusk. Jaelyn left for Girl's camp the following week, barely surviving her two day back packing trip.

We left for family vacation on July 3, making an overnight pit stop in Las Vegas - welcome to the heat. We did enjoy a family swim and were amazed at being dry by the time we were back to our room. We drove through southern Utah to visit Dale's sister Lori. The most beautiful country is in south central Utah; we had no idea. It is truly worth the visit to see the canyons, mountains and high desert. We spent 5 days with Lori and Shawn. They took us on a cook out next to a beautiful creek which the kids loved. We were excited to be there for Destiny's baptism and to see a small town parade - lots of candy. We drove to Capital Reef National Park one day and where able to see the amazing canyons in various colors, pick apricots in Fruita, and see Indian hieroglyphs. We also spent a day driving around and playing in the water at Fish Lake and other creeks. Dale was able to do lots of hiking, many right from town.

Our next stop was with Sherry in Snowflake. We spent one night with them and enjoyed lots of games and Dale's grilling. The park was also fun for the little ones.

We drove down to the Valley of the Sun in time to get a day of rest before the big day. Saturday, July 12 Rebeka was sealed to us in the Arizona Temple. It was an extra special day because my niece was sealed Tim and JoyAnn right after our sealing. Don't ask how our was, because it was chaos with three preschoolers tired out from traveling. Rebeka did look beautiful in her white dress and now she is ours forever. We had lunch with the Miles family at Sandy's house that morning, it was great to see everyone and visit for a short time. After the sealing we joined the Harms and JoyAnn's family at a banquet room (Mexican food) for dinner and cake. We were much better behaved here.

Sunday we got caught in the biggest down pour I have seen in years- it was fabulous. I got soaked to the bone helping my mom to the car after church. We miss the monsoon storms! Tuesday, July 15 was another big day. This was the anniversary of my Grandmother Jaunita's death and we spent most of the day doing temple work. Jaelyn was baptised for her, by her Uncle Mark. Samantha was also able to do some baptisms for her family names. Shannon and I went back in the afternoon to do the preparatory work before our 7 pm session. She had a dozen or so close family names. Many of my family were together for the session with a sealing session afterwards. It was a beautiful day. Thanks Lori for taking good care of the children, even with a cold.

At last we spent a couple of days in Buckeye with Dale's parents. We had a great time playing games. The Buckeye pool was fun for everyone on family night. The little ones also enjoyed the slip and slide at Grandma's. She also treats us lots of yummy food and snacks! We headed for home on Friday night. I had one day to get some food in before Chuck and Shannon and family arrived on Sunday night. We had a great week playing lots and lots of games, visiting the beach, which was freezing and going to Vacaville to pick up my Mom and get ice cream at Fenton's. Chuck was also a very kind brother and did some home projects for me. Plus, with family up at our house, we blessed Rebeka on July 27. So now we are without family and missing everyone. We are thankful for the time together.