What Happens When Dad Goes to the Store

Need I say more?!?!?!

A Fish in Water

Anna took swimming lessons for the last month of summer. As she already loved the water and "swimming," she did awesome. She can float, kick and even do some strokes. At the end of each session, she got to go off the diving board. She loved it, of course. They had her wear a life jacket, but later while we were swimming, she went off without one. I had to catch her, and I didn't have a floaty or a life jacket, and I think we were lucky we both made it to the side without drowning. I won't do that again!

Reflections of Summer

The title is deceptive--a little pun, if you will. What I mean by the title is that this post will reflect the state of our summer: sort of chaotic and disorganized, but fun nevertheless. My posts are not nearly as frequent or as organized as they have been in the past, but that's sort of how life is right now. I asked Anna the other day if she had had a fun summer, and the question was a bit too much for her. I had to remind her of all the "fun" things we have done. I really did try to let the kids do fun things while I wasn't working, and we did. I just hope they enjoyed it all! I go back to work on Monday, so we're back in the routine. I'm dreading it. I've had so much fun being home. Hope you enjoy!
I came down the other morning, and Thys was helping himself to breakfast. Here is his way of eating a kiwi--boogers and all.
While Les and Jake were here in the travels of getting the baby, we went to the dinosaur museum. The kids had fun, but Thys would not play in the sand. He just wanted to throw the dinosaurs into the water. Then I had to fetch them out and give them back so he could throw them again.

We went on a picnic up the canyon to find cooler air. We did, thank goodness. It is beautiful up there, and we did a little "hike," and Thys was so great! He loved it!

Sandy City has a balloon festival just recently. Last year we went early to see the balloons launch, and it was too windy. Same story this year. At night they light them all up and just leave them on the ground to look at, but this year it got rained out. However, we did haul ourselves out of bed and go in our pajamas to see the launch. Thysie kept saying, "Look, Mama!" at dogs, balloons, and whatever else was exciting. The best part was that I told Annie we would just go in our pajama's, and she got this worried look on her face and said, "Mom, but then everyone would see you naked in your whites." I had to laugh, and I did wear clothes!


We went to the Sweet' s Candy Factory on a tour the other day with the cousins. It was very interesting to me, but I think the candy store at the end was more interesting to the kids. Contrary to what you would think in the pic, Thys screamed when we tried to get him to wear the hair net. They wouldn't let him in with out it, so I bribed him with salt water taffy all the way through to distract him from taking off his hat. It worked. There is nothing that makes this kid happy like sugar!

A New Baby in the Family!

We are so excited for Jake and Les, who were able to finally adopt their second child. She is adorable and her name is Kira. She was born on July 22, in Florida. Good luck!

Summer Stuff

I don't know where the summer is going (oh, wait--strep four times (me 2x, Mel, Anna), company, house cleaning, three vampire books, swimming lessons, pudding and pirate parties at Becky's). Here are just some of the random shots from the last month. I've haven't posted for a while--I usually opt for sleep or reading these days. I'm almost done with the last vampire book, and I'm sure Great Expectations, which I have to reread before school begins, won't be quite the same draw.

Sunbathing at Grandma's with cousins
Our cool dude with his new shades!
This is one of the many reasons I love Mel. He is a great dad. He and Anna slept out in the tent the other night, and it was Mel's idea! He didn't think they would make it all night, but they did. Of course they had stocked up on treats and Anna had that darn plug!
We went to the inside parade today. All the floats from Days of '47 Parade are on exhibit at the Expo Center right behind our neighborhood. The air-conditioned Expo Center sure beats the hot pavement and three hours of misery! Anna's favorite was Noah's Ark.

Annie after her dance concert with her flowers.

We Love Company from Canada

Mel's two sisters and their families came from Canada for the Fourth of July. They found out last year how much fun fireworks were, so they came again. All fireworks are illegal in Canada, so the boys (including the dads) had too much fun with the "Cul-de-Sac of Fire II." ( My parents have the Cul-de-Sac of Fire I every year.) I sort of missed out on the Fourth because I got strep for the second time, but everyone else had fun. The rest of the week was a blast. The week was our summer vacation as well, and Annie got to do all her favorite things: Park City Slides, Thanksgiving Point Farm, Kangaroo Zoo, The Bird Restaurant (The Mayan), swimming in the yard, and a Fourth of July water balloon fight ( I wasn't sad to miss that one). We sure love having the family here, and they are always welcome! Here are a few highlights.

Anna and her cousin--the only Canada cousin close to her age!
Kangaroo Zoo
The Canadians LOVE Cafe Rio!
All the girl cousins on the Oppermann side. Tessa (16) even stayed here with us an extra two weeks. She just left, and we miss her! The kids loved having her here. Thys walked around hollering for her every day!
Park City Roller Coaster (Anna, Tessa, and Mel in the back)
Mel took the willing ones on a one-day trip to Moab. It was a long day and very hot, but they had a blast. The sane ones (the ones with little kids and sense) stayed home and went to the farm.
The Mayan--Mel's nephew, niece, and brother-in-law

Finally Finished

So in one of my first blogs I showed the table I was refinishing. That was back in October. Well, I'm proud to say that at the beginning of the summer I finally finished the last two chairs. After doing the first two chairs in December, I had little motivation for the last two--until I was getting company and people from the ward for bookclub. Then I decided it would look nice if I had all the same colored chairs. I don't think I'll ever repaint spindle chairs again!


I also showed an unfinished sandbox a while back. Mel doesn't take anywhere near as long as I do to finish a project, and this sandbox has been done for months, but I just wanted to show how cute it turned out!