Katelyn's Party

Another thing that has been special this summer is having Caroline's cousin, Katelyn, come to our house most days. Caroline has loved having a bigger kid around to play with her. Before Katelyn moves back to AZ she wanted to have an early birthday party with her Mississippi friends. she wanted a makeover party, so Ryan asked if I would stay and help.

I painted all the girl's nails and they did each others hair and makeup!

Katelyn was Caroline's last remaining cousin in the area! She's very sad that Katelyn's moving back to AZ but they had a lot of fun together this summer. The timing works out pretty well though since I start babysitting the boys again next week! Never a dull moment!

Swim Lessons

We've been keeping pretty busy this summer. One of the things that has occupied our weeks are swim lessons. I had a total of 14 students and we held lessons twice a week. It was a lot of fun, a lot of work and a big learning experience for me - I learned that I don't have as much energy as I did 10 years ago when I first started teaching! But I loved all my kids and they really made me laugh. Here are some pictures from our "end of the season party":

Family Date Night

This week we went to see a stage production of "Bye Bye Birdie" as a family.
There were a few members of our ward in it and they did wonderful!

Caroline was so excited to see her friends on stage - she kept pointing and waving to them!

It was a lot of fun and Caroline was glued the whole time.

I'm so glad Caroline likes to go to musicals and I'm glad that Dave is at least willing!

4th of July

The 4th of July always makes me a little homesick when I'm not with my family. Mostly because I know exactly where they are and what they're doing and that they are all together having a great time. But we did manage to have a good weekend here in the South.

One good thing about the 4th here is that you can buy your own fireworks! (which is illegal in AZ)


So we bought about $10 worth of sparklers, bottle rockets, and other dangerous toys and had some fun in the backyard.

I love this one of Caroline watching Dave set some of the bigger ones off.



All dressed in red, white, and blue for church.

Watching fireworks from a lawn next to CVS - what? it was a great view!

friends...

Yesterday we babysat some friends. Overall, I had 4 little girls - the oldest was Caroline. It was full of giggling, and running amuck. The girls were all very good and though it was a little hectic, it was also fun. My favorite part was after lunch. I put a video on and had them all sit down to watch while I cleaned up the kitchen and when I came back in I saw this:


Caroline and Mary all snuggled up. They actually stayed like this for a while - it was so sweet!

Worth a thousand words...

Recently we had our nieces come over for a sleepover before they move. Caroline was ridiculously excited for two days and was one happy camper while they were here playing with her. All was fun and happiness...except for one moment. Caroline requested they play Candy Land with her. Take a look at the picture and guess who wasn't winning...

Somehow Caroline has managed win this game of chance every single time I've played her, But once she realized she wasn't going to win this time, her sunny disposition turned very dark!

We are really going to miss these girls. Lots of Caroline's cousins and friends have either moved away recently or will be moving soon and she's going to be one sad girl when it all sinks in :(