Summer gone again

Here in Georgia it has cooled down quite a bit and we are moving into one of the nice months of the year when we don't have to run AC or the heater. Before we say hello to nice cool weather though, lets say goodbye to the scorching heat of summer.
Looking back on the pictures from this last month it doesn't appear that a whole lot happened to us, but I'm sure that is not the case. 

I went on a temple trip with some friends. We packed a car full and made the trip to Columbia, SC.  It was so fun!  Lots of good conversation, a nice temple session, and then Frosties from Wendy's on the way home.

Bridger started school at the beginning of September.  He is in the Georgia lottery funded Pre-K at Brody's school.  His teacher is so sweet and he loves it!  He was more excited about riding the bus with Brody than actually being in school. I was a little worried about how he'd act in class (he is really active and has a lot of energy), but he has been great.

Getting on the bus for the first time!

Have you ever seen a happier face? I love this picture.

This is when he got off the bus in the afternoon.  I think I was more excited to see him than he was to see me. I asked him about his day and asked him to give me every detail and he said, "I don't remember."  So I'm just assuming that he had a good day.

Adam took Penny to Indiana to see his little brother and it was my turn for our babysitting co-op.  1 adult, 8 kids, 1 movie, lots of quesadilla = a really fun night!  It was so easy- we have such good, obedient, and happy kids in our group.  Love them.  They watched Rio and went to bed like champs.

We took a quick trip to the beach with my friend Alexis and her 3 kids.  Hilton Head was beautiful and all the kids had a great time.

 

I found these boots for Penny and decided it didn't matter how much they cost, they had to be on her feet.  Good call, right?  I love them- and she loves them too.  I could eat her she's so delicious.

My dad came for a few days last weekend to ordain Adam a high priest.  It was a last minute trip and we were so grateful that he could be here.  My kids love him (Penny loves the Mike n Ike's he always seems to have with him) and they got to go for a day at the park while I had a baby shower here at the house.  I love this picture- Penny's little hand resting on Grandpa's lap.  She doesn't take to strangers too kindly but she always warms up to my dad so quickly.

I love this- his little bulky body and his happy face.  He reminds me so much of my brother Mikey.

If you saw the progression of photos for this one, you would see that Penny ended up looking like an angry elf.  We are posting just the happy one for your benefit.

July is gone already!

July in Augusta, Georgia can be summed up in a single word: supasweatyhot. Of course we spent some time at the neighborhood pool with friends, but sometimes the water there was simply unrefreshing. We enjoyed turning the hose on and chasing each other around the backyard a bit as well. There is nothing quite like the thrill of chasing down a small defenseless child and spraying them down menacingly with cold water. Ahhhh, the good life!

We also took some time out to see the firework show they had on base to celebrate the 4th of July. Brody and Bridger were actually able to stay awake for the whole show, which was excellent, but about 30 seconds into the ride home the were out for good. I wish I got a picture of the inhuman angles of their necks as they slept like rocks in their seats. How do kids do that? Seriously, the bent neck and the fountain of drool - its amazing.






Grandma and Grandpa Parry were able to stop by and see us this month as well! The boys had a blast hanging out with them and even got to go see the new Smurfs movie with them. Here is a nice shot of Brody "helping" Grandma with a game on her phone. It was very intense.












 Jessica loves her mama and papa. They got to sit and chat it up more than they have in a very long time and loved every bit of it. It was sad to see them go as is always the case. Thanks for coming out to see us!


While Grandma was still here we made the drive out to Hilton Head to check out the beach. When we arrived we saw so many people out riding bikes that we thought the air must feel so cool and there must have been a fantastic breeze. Boy, did they have us fooled. When we first opened the van door it was a wave of hot muggy air - worse than Augusta! The hotel where we stayed was great though and gives an awesome military discount. We played in the pools, and of course, on the beach.


It was Penny's first time to the beach. We thought she might be a little hesitant to go near the water, but she loved it. She ran around excitedly pointing at the birds and the dogs and trying to chase them down. She wasn't a huge fan of the water, but the rest of us enjoyed swimming around in the waves and walking in the cool sand.






The boys loved digging and playing in the sand. They kept trying to dig a huge hole, only to have the tide come up and wash it away. They were much more fearless in the water this time than the last time we made it to the beach. At night while the kids slept and Grandma Parry stood guard, Jessica and I took a long walk along the beach as the sun set. It was really nice and made us wish we could live a bit closer to a beach like that.





















Oh, and I forgot a swim diaper for myself. What a mess I made!

Last week marked the start of first grade for Brody. He was super excited. We went the week before and met his new teacher at the brand new school he is zoned for. Everything looks terrific and we think he will have a blast despite his dismal daily reports. "I had a bad day", Brody will say. "Why Brody?" "Because Joey wouldn't let me sit by the window on the way home from school." ".... Uh...was that the only thing bad?" "Yes." "Okay, well you don't know what a bad day is. Be happy." He is a bit of a pessimist. He does enjoy learning though. We only hope he doesn't get bored and start being the naughty kid in class. First grade is all about learning to read and do math, but Brody already reads at like a 5th grade level and does multiplication. Soooo....maybe we'll have him in college next year. Or hire him as an accountant. Is that legal? Probably, this is Georgia after all.





We found out that Bridger got the spot to get into the Pre-K program at Brody's school, so starting next month they will get to ride the bus together. Honestly, I don't know how good I feel about having Bridger gone all day long five days a week, but I guess I better get used to it. Like I remind Brody just about every day: "You better get used to it, you'll be doing this every year for the next 15 or so." Bridger is also very excited to go to school and to ride the bus with Brody.





So Penny feeds herself now! Yay! Changing her clothes after every meal gets ridiculous though. That girl can eat. She can pack down cereal, or a hot dog, or some fruit like nobody's business, and as soon as she's done she makes a b line for the pantry asking for a snack. But look at that face - would you, could you say "no"? Don't be a sissy! We do. Take that, cute face!

What Would You Do For Free Food?

Yesterday we went to see Cars 2 with the boys.  Our good friend Shalynn watched Penny so we could all enjoy the movie without chasing her.  The movie was really cute and the boys were laughing hysterically during a lot of it.  Right after the movie, thanks to a reminder text from Hannah, we rushed home to get ready for Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-fil-a.  We had about 20 minutes to dress like cows (or a dalmation in Penny's case, but close enough) and then we headed to Chick-fil-a for dinner.  It wasn't as crowded as I though it would be and our $28 meal was on them.  We looked ridiculous but so did everyone else there.  We ran to Target afterwards and looked more ridiculous, since no one else there was dressed like us.  All in all, a good day.  Fun movie, free food, and Target. What more could a mom want?

Fun Times

I suppose some of you haven't had the pleasure of seeing and hearing Penny do a hearty laugh, and show her skills. Well, here you go. Enjoy!

Getting all caught up

So of course there was a lot that happened over the last few months besides us going on a totally awesome cruise. I'm going to sum up each of the events with at least a thousand words and a short description of those thousands. Above we have our first event. Bridger was a clown for Circus Day at his school. He made a very good sad clown. Cudos to Jessica for putting together such a great costume for him! School is over now. Luckily, he graduated.

In April the newly renovated Atlanta, GA temple was reopened so we took the kids to the open house. I'd like very much to say that it was a spiritual experience, but mostly it was exhausting trying to keep Brody and Bridger from destroying the place and whining their faces right off.

While in Atlanta we took advantage of the aquarium there and took the kids for the first time. They actually really enjoyed it and so did we. They have some whale sharks there that are just amazing! There is a glass tunnel we walked in and watched the huge animals swim above us! We all loved it. Brody was also very proud of himself for touching the stingrays and even one of the little sharks.

Also, we celebrated Jason Woodward's birthday and home coming from Iraq. Jessica and I realized that we really love to dance and party like crazy people. We had so much fun that night. We were sad to say goodbye to the Woodwards, but hope to see them out in Utah some time. If anyone doesn't know, Jess and I can really boogie. In the picture above I'm doing my world famous "Carlton Banks dance".

Penny loves bikes! This picture of her catching a ride from Bridger is just adorable.

For Easter this year we got the boys some nifty little rain boots. I think they wore them twice before they turned them into dirt buckets. Don't they look cute though?

This picture can speak for itself: Cute.

We had a bunch of families over to do an egg hunt in our backyard the Saturday before Easter. It was a lot of fun to see the kids run and go crazy looking for the candy, but it was most fun to see Penny go to town. We pretty much let her have whatever she wanted. I think she ate several chocolates, caramel, cupcakes, and cookies. She would just go from person to person scrounging and stealing. She looks kinda gross and messy, but I assure you she is quite delicious.

In the picture above the string is caramel - not snot. Luckily.

The Galans came over and I loved this picture of all the kids on the swing in the backyard.

When Eliza was here Penny got her very first hair cut. It turned out to be a cute little bob. How could it not be cute, right?

Also, I finally finished the fire pit. Just in time for summer! Yay! We roasted mallows and had s'mores for the first time and I'm pretty sure Penny thought marshmallows were bits of heaven neatly packaged.

Brody turned 6! He chose to have just a family party at Chuck e Cheese so we brought his presents there and even ordered the pizza there (which wasn't too bad actually). Brody had a ton of fun and loved running from game to game trying to get more tickets so he could trade them in for lame toys and cheap candy.

There is a little roller coaster motion video that they all sat and watched together. Its even cuter in person.

Brody is normally afraid of sweaty mutes in animal cartoon character costumes, but for some reason he actually went right up and hugged Chuck. Bridger and Penny were terrified.

Penny LOVES putting all kinds of big shoes on and trying to walk around in them. She can hardly move in  my boots, but it makes for a great picture. Even not being able to move she starts complaining as soon as I take her out of them. What a weirdo.

We also had to say goodbye to our good friends, the Galans. We had them and a few other families over for some good times. In order to say goodbye the girls all jumped in the air and the guys built a human pyramid. I have no idea why. Well, in the case of the guys I know why - it was because the alternative was not going to happen. The girls wanted all of us guys to lie down on our backs in a circle with our heads together. We said that was not going to happen.

Penny learned to play the piano! And she is really excited about that! She also loves to dance. Her dancing consists of bobbing her head and swinging her right arm furiously as she turns in a circle. IT. IS. MAGNIFICENT. TO. BEHOLD.

I finished the first phase of the playground I'm building in the backyard. Its a covered sandbox and I think it turned out pretty well. Penny and the boys love it and spend plenty of time out there, but now we find ourselves having to bathe them more than once a week. Tragic! Also, as I was building it we discovered what we believe to be poison ivy again. Brody and Penny and I were all affected by it so we cut the tree down that had the huge vine growing on it. Good times. Also, poor Penny didn't know how to scratch an itch. When we started scratching her poison ivy spots she would freeze and just have this look of amazement and enjoyment, like "ah, yeah, that's the ticket. What is this magically scratching and why didn't you tell me about it earlier?"

Penny in pigtails!!

I think that pretty much brings us up to speed. Lately we've just been hanging out, working in the backyard, swimming at the pool, and shopping. Speaking of shopping, this last Sunday was Father's day. Jessica made the mistake of going shopping with me on the day before when I had a sense of entitlement. I ended up getting a quart of chocolate milk, a Ben & Jerry's Americone Dream pint, blueberries and strawberries, all the fixins for sandwiches, and Fruit Loops. Needless to say, I had a great Father's day full of yummy food. Jessica was also nice enough to let me have a nap and fix me one of my favorite meals for dinner. I love her and I love our family! Woot!

Don't feed the fish!

Looking at the picture above you probably are thinking "Wow. That lady with the huge glasses on her head next to that mildy attractive guy is really hot" and you'd be right. You might also be thinking: "Wow. They are in a beautiful place and are probably having a perfect day" and you'd be wrong.

We are in a place called Costa Maya, Mexico. It has gorgeous sandy beaches, pristine blue waters, nice people, and great weather. We decided to go scuba diving for the first time in our lives. We booked with some little place online that told us to walk past a bunch of buses right off the pier and go to where some cabs were sitting. We did, and quickly found that the guys not by the pier didn't speak English. Luckily Ben was comfy enough with Spanish that he could tell the driver what we were trying to do, but honestly for a while there I thought we'd end up lost in some back alley. We ended up in an alley, but not lost.

We booked a tour that included a 1 hour training session with Jorge and Claire, who both spoke pretty good English. We like them a lot. They were very knowledgeable, personable and concerned with our progress. The girls went with Claire for their lessons and the guys were with Jorge. I could see Jess in the shallow waters scooting about like a pro and figured I would do the same. Turns out that trying to clear my mask under water turns my brain off. If you've never been scuba diving you have to learn to clear your mask by lifting it slightly from the bottom and blowing air out of your nose. Well, apparently that is near impossible for me to do and if I had panicked the 15 times I tried I probably would have drown in 4 feet of water. Jorge probably thought I was a moron - I know I did. Its like I just forgot how to blow out of my nose! In the end we both figured that I should just be really careful not to move my mask once we got 40 feet under. Jessica was awesome at it and picked everything up like a wiz. Shari was good at it too, but very scared to go out to the 40 ft water. She was brave, though and faced her fears.

They took us in this little boat pictured above to a place a few minutes from shore where we could anchor and dive to 40 feet and swim around the corral. It was all fine and dandy until that boat stopped and I started a rockin'. Some find the rocking motion soothing, but I find it to be gross. In fact, I was just telling Jessica that very thing when I puked over the side. I had taken a dramamine that morning, but it wasn't helping. I figured once I got to the bottom where the waving wasn't so pronounced I'd be fine, so I dropped in with Jessica and we held on to the rope to slowly descend to the bottom. I was doing okay and in control and kept giving Jorge the "OK" sign. Once we got to the bottom Jessica and I started to swim around a bit. Suddenly I didn't feel so good. I took my regulator out of my mouth, barfed, put it back in and went back to breathing. Apparently, you can barf through those, but I didn't know that. I also didn't know that at that moment Jessica thought I was going to die. I didn't though. In fact, I didn't die the other 3 or 4 times I spewed under water either. (sidenote: great thing about puking under water is you don't have to clean it up!) I was becoming quite the pro, but I decided I didn't want to attract any sharks and finally told Jorge I was ready to end my scuba experience. He took me back up to the boat where I promptly asked to be taken to non-wavy land. Jessica and the others swam peacefully with the fish and even saw a giant lobster. They all thought it was a great experience. When they came back to shore they told me they were very impressed with my survival skills and my cool under pressure. I agreed. (now that I think about it though, it freaks my freak.)

Before going back to the ship Jessica was able to finally buy one of the dresses for Penny that she had been wanting during our whole vacation. Its a cute little yellow dress....er, shirt. Apparently Penny is much larger than either Jessica or I had remembered. Either that or she grew A LOT while we were gone because the "dress" we picked out only fit over her huge head after cutting it and only went down to her waist. They grow up so fast, right?! Even still, there is no denying that she is adorable.

  

Finally! I'm finished blogging about the cruise...now I can go back and blog about everything else that happened in the last few months! And while I do, I'll be planning our next cruise!