City Pool

My kids have not been huge fans of the water in years past. We’ve been working on it, and Nate has come along way. However, Zach was still not a big fan of putting his face under the water. In order to try to fix that, we bought a pass to the city pool and I’m sold. I think this has to be a yearly tradition as well. We have loved it and I was in denial when the pool closed. We spent many a days at the pool and the kids loved it. The boys jumped off the side of the pool over and over and over. It wasn’t until the end of July where Zach finally got over his fear of putting his face under the water, but then he was all for it after that. Nate finally went off the diving board towards the end of the summer. The first time he went off, he went not just once, but 24 times. We went back two days later and he went off the diving board over 30 times. He has now found one of his favorite things. We will definitely be doing the pool pass again next year.

A photo of all of the kids at the pool



Nate jumping off the side:



Zach jumping off the side:



Zach was very proud to show how he loved to go under the water:

Lake Powell

We usually do a camping trip for family reunion with Jeff’s family every year. This year, instead of camping, they decided to do local stuff instead of a big camping trip. We had tried to convince everyone to rent a houseboat, but that didn’t happen. Jeff and his brother have been very anxious to do another trip to Lake Powell, so we planned one and did camping at the marina with our family, Jared’s family, and Jeff’s parents. It was a blast! We loved it, had a ton of fun, and have decided we have to do a trip to Lake Powell every year, houseboat or not. We’ve been every year since Addi was born and, apparently, we have a new tradition that I hope we can keep up. We camped at the marina in one of their awesome campsites, and then went and played on one, or sometimes both, of the boats during the day. On one of the days, we spent most of the day driving around on the boat, checking out good camping sites for a houseboat, hopefully, next year. We found an amazing spot that would work out great for a houseboat with a good beach, and an awesome spot for some cliff jumping. It had a lower spot for cliff jumping, and then a higher spot as well. Jeff and Jared dove over and over and over and got a ton of video with their gopro cameras. I was really impressed with both of my boys who went cliff jumping as well. Nate we fearless and did the higher cliff that Jeff and Jared went on. Zach went over and over on the lower cliff, which I was really impressed with since even at the end of July he didn’t like putting his face under the water. They’ve come a long way and I’m so incredibly proud of both of them. I even did a little cliff jumping since I couldn’t let the boys show me up. Addi even did a little jumping from the shore to the water, which was a big deal for her to. Jeff’s dad didn’t cliff jump, but he said that if we do the houseboat next year that he will do that and/or the water slide from the houseboat. Here’s hoping to doing the houseboat next year!!!
The campsite was awesome, with running water, great restrooms, and flat spaces. With going late in the summer, it wasn’t crowded and it wasn’t roasting hot. It was just about perfect. We had another couple of days that we found a spot on the beach and did wakeboarding and kneeboarding while the kids played on the beach. It was absolutely fabulous to lay on the beach, under an umbrella, reading a book while my kids played happily on the sand near by.
Jeff got some serious air on the wakeboard and has already been insisting on a tower next year so he can get more air on our boat. Jared didn’t quite land the jumps, but had some awesome wrecks. I didn’t get air, but I did wakeboard, which was still a lot of fun. I’m hoping for some good jumps next year. I did get some air on the kneeboard and was proud to have landed it! The boys tried to kneeboard and did ok, but we’re still working on that. We’re hoping to get them up and more adventurous on the kneeboard next year.
Jeff’s mom is not thrilled with being on the water, but she was also a trooper with being on the boat. She even learned how to drive a boat and drove for part of the time we were wakeboarding. I was so impressed!
I miss summer. I’ll be ready for the water as soon as it warms up in a few months. Until then, we’ll have to find lots of fun things to do during the fall, winter, and spring.
Overall, it was a fabulous trip. I think Lake Powell will definitely have to be a yearly tradition.

Nate

Nathan amazes me. Some of the things he says and does just blow me away. He's been reading some of the Great Illustrated Classics books and he loves it. So far he's read Journey to the Center of the Earth and King Solomon's Mines. He's on Swiss Family Robinson right now and loves it. This is the same kid who wasn't thrilled about reading in kindergarten. Now when we do his reading, he'll set the timer so he reads exactly 20 minutes, or he'll tell me he wants to read for 60 minutes that day.
Nate told me this morning that he wants to be a brain specialist when he grows up. We have a book on the human body with photos and he's read it over and over. He also told me this morning that he doesn't want to spend all of his allowance money because he wants to save it for college instead of spending it all on toys. This is a seven year old!!!! We'll have to see what happens, but the kid simply blows me away sometimes.

September 11th

I thought it would be fitting to write down my remembrances of September 11th on today, the 10th anniversary. I've never been to New York and, at the time, didn't know much of anything about the Twin Towers. I was heading to work that morning, when the radio station mentioned the coverage. They could hardly believe it, and I didn't believe it could be real. At that time in my life, I hadn't really been effected by war or terrorists. The Gulf War was my only encounter and it hadn't really impacted me in any way. The thought of some act of war like this was unthinkable, and I had a hard time even comprehending it. I hurried to work, which was quite a drive, and we listened to the coverage when we were there. They only had a cheap TV, but we set it up in the back conference room and most of us sat together and watched it. every once in a while, I tried to get some work done, but it was next to impossible. the morning also brought lots of frantic phone calls to my parents. My little brother, Chris, was serving in the New York, New York North mission at the time. He was serving in near Manhattan a week or two before, but we thought he had been transferred to Poughkepskie, which was at least an hour away. However, he wasn't the best about keeping us up to date and we were worried that maybe he was in Manhattan on a P day or something. My parents made lots of phone calls to the Church office building to confirm. They received a call back, and my dad left me a message at 11:02 a.m. confirming that he was safe. Prior to that, we watched the towers fall, one after the other. It was unthinkable. Unimaginable. My co-worker, Vanessa, had a sister who worked just a block or two away from the twin towers, and she spent the morning frantically calling to make sure her sister was ok. She was unbelievably stressed when the towers fell. Thankfully, she eventually found out her sister was safe. When I went home that night, I spent more time watching the coverage. That night, I remember Jeff and I getting in line at the gas station to get gas. It was the busiest I had ever seen it at the time. I also remember in the days after, trying to make sure we bought some extra food at the case lot sales going on for our food storage. We had been trying to build up our food storage, but after the terrorist attacks, it became even more important to us.
When I talked to my kids today, to discuss September `11th and see if they even knew much of the story, we talked about the hero's. All of the hero's on the flight that fell in Pennsylvania. All of the fire fighters, police officers, and so many other brave people who helped. I am so very grateful for all of the hero's in my life. Not only those that serve the community, but the many others who touch my life in so many ways. September 11th will never be a day I forget. It has shaped our country and will forever shape our country. I hope my children will be able to appreciate how truly historic this day was and continues to be.

two quotes for the day

The greatest accomplishment is not in never falling, but in rising again after you fall. " Vince Lombardi

"No one is useless in this world who lightens the burden of it to anyone else. " Charles Dickens