Going to Denver...Day 1

Last Wednesday we left for our trip to Denver, Logan and Great Basin National Park. It was going to be crazy!

I spent the morning cleaning the house, packing and keeping the kids occupied so they didn't ask me every 5 minutes "when are we leaving?!". After I finished teaching piano lessons I loaded the kids in the van and we were off to pick up Bryan.

We had a hotel reservation in Grand Junction, Colorado, so we only had to drive 6 hours. We left St. George around 3:15 and made good time to Grand Junction. We checked into the hotel and went to bed.

A little after midnight I woke up to Ethan screaming and crying. Bryan was trying to calm him down but he was in so much pain that he was just hysterical. Ethan had a really bad sore throat and his ear was hurting. So we logged onto the internet to try and find someplace to take him to a doctor. There isn't much in Grand Junction so I ended up getting dressed and taking him to the emergency room of a local hospital.

It was empty when we got to the ER so they took Ethan right back while I filled out paperwork. By the time I was finished they had already checked him out and taken a Rapid Strep Test. A few minutes later the doctor came in to tell me that Ethan did have a slightly red throat but that it didn't look like strep throat to him. They gave him a dose of Tylenol with Codine, for the pain, and gave me a prescription for a Z-Pack. The doctor wasn't sure what was wrong but he wanted to stop whatever it was. Then we left the hospital for the hotel.

Ethan is pretty funny on Tylenol with Codine! He was so happy to see Bryan and kept talking and hugging Courtney (who was asleep). It was funny but he finally settled in for a good nights rest.

Hair Cut!

Courtney had her annual haircut today. For some reason she has something against getting a haircut. But she decided that it was about time but made me promise that she wouldn't get bangs or have it cut short. I promised. She really wants to grow it out. My friend around the block has a salon in her house and we always go there. Courtney really likes my friend so she very happily jumped into the chair and got her trim. She played Ethan's DSi while she got her cut. It was a fun girls day at the salon.

She's a cutie!

Before:

Getting a shampoo:

This is her "please Mom, enough!" look:

Loose Tooth!

After years of watching everyone else lose their teeth and fretting that it would never happen to her. Courtney can now proudly tell everyone that she has a loose tooth!! I noticed yesterday that one of her front teeth looked a bit odd but I didn't say anything about it. This morning Ethan noticed the same thing and mentioned it to Courtney. It actually looks like her tooth is gone because it has moved forward and is kind of sticking straight out from the front of her gum (I hope that makes sense). She told us that it wasn't loose but I asked if I could check anyway. And it was really loose!!

She is so excited and can't wait for it to fall out.

Robot Camp

A few years ago we saw a newspaper article about a robot camp offered by the USU Extension Service in St. George. Ethan really wanted to do it but you have to be at least 9 years old. The man who teaches/runs the program for the Extension Service is in our ward so I asked him when Ethan would be allowed to do it. Finally, this year Ethan was old enough so we signed him up.

It was so much fun for Ethan!! They were split into partners Ethan was paired with the only girl and had a few conflicts. We need to teach him the phrase, "Yes dear." Anyway, he and his partner built a robot and learned how to program it so they could accomplish different tasks. He had a great time and really learned a lot.

The best part is that he can now check out the Lego Mindstorm kits from the Extension Service because he has taken the class. Yeah! Because those things are expensive!!

Swimming Lessons Again...

The kids just finished another session of swimming lessons, the last for the year. Courtney really improved on her swimming and passed off almost everything this time. Ethan did spectacular, just like last time. He passed everything off with style.

They are both little fishes and I love that we go to the pool every week and play as a family. It is a lot more fun now that they can swim on their own too because we can swim laps with them and play games without one of us having to hold on to Courtney all the time. We are still there for her to grab, but it makes it more fun to dive with her.

4th of July

We woke up and went on our traditional bike ride to Snow Canyon State Park. It isn't far from here so we loaded up the bikes (Courtney was on the tag-along with Bryan) and we rode up. It was uphill and a bit rough for Ethan but we made it to the sand dunes where the kids got to play. They ran races with Bryan and played in the sand. It was fun. The ride home was fast and easy because it was downhill!

We ate breakfast and then Bryan ran to work to get some things done. I took the kids to anti-gravity arena. It's a huge warehouse that they have filled with bounce houses and trampolines. It was so much fun but after an hour we were pretty tired.

After eating lunch and calling Bryan to tell him all about our fun, we had lunch and relaxed for a little while. It was a strange day because it was cloudy and wasn't as hot as you would expect.

At 3 p.m. we met Bryan at the St. George Pool and Hydro-tube for some swimming. Courtney went off the diving board a bunch of times and we all went down the tube. When we were waterlogged and tired, we went for ice cream!

That evening we had a BBQ and watched some firework specials on TV until it got dark enough to do sparklers. Then we all went to bed and listened to neighbors let off their own fireworks.

It was a good day!!

Swimming Lessons for Me!!

I never learned how to hold my breath underwater without holding my nose. I took swimming lessons as a kid but I always held my nose. The teacher told me that I wouldn't pass unless I could figure it out so I quit lessons. Bryan has tried to teach me but it just didn't work for long. I was just really scared.

Last year I asked the kid's swimming teacher if she would hold an adult lesson. She told me she would if I could get at least 3 students to take it. I had 5 people ready to take it but one-by-one they dropped out and she didn't offer the class. This year I tried and tried to get people, the teacher even offered it in her schedule, but no one signed up but me...until my parents decided to take it with me! They were life savers.

We started with bobs, holding our breath (which I finally, kind of, figured out), floating and then we moved on to strokes. I even learned to dive. We did so well that she only gave us 4 lessons (instead of 8) and refunded our money.

On the last day of lessons we got to show off and it was fun. My mom got smooth with her front crawl.

Diving (I didn't realize that I pull to one side):

After I dove in:

My parents and I (I'm the splash between them by the slide):

Me and Mom: