Piano Lessons

The kids had piano lessons this past week after a break of a few weeks.  Courtney started with Ethan's teacher.  She has struggled for a while and wanted a change, so after her last recital we changed piano teachers for her.  It was close enough that she wanted to bike.

Ethan's lesson was first and he wanted me to drive him.  But Courtney wanted to be independent.  I had to go pick up Ethan so she told me I had to stay at least 2 blocks behind her so I wouldn't bother her.  It was too slow for me so I passed her and waited at the teacher's house.  It's only about 1/2 mile away so it wasn't a big deal.  After the lesson she was able to bike home on her own.  It's great!

Courtney loved her new teacher and her teacher was very impressed by how well she plays.  It think this will work out well for us.

Book Club

We read the book "Mustache Baby" for book club and it was hilarious!  It was about a baby that was born with a mustache and his family was nervous that his "good guy" mustache would change into a "bad guy" mustache.  It was a cute book and the girls loved reading it.

Then they made their own mustaches.  They were able to decide if they were going to be a good guy or a bad guy.

Here is Courtney's bad guy mustache:

And her good guy mustache:

Father's Day

Bryan had a good Father's Day, I think.  We made him breakfast and then he got to open presents.  Courtney bought him a trophy for the "Best Dad" and Ethan bought him a mess kit.

For dinner we made grilled chicken, wild rice and corn.

My parents and Uncle Don came over for cake, pie and ice cream after dinner.  Then we all sat around gabbing for a while until it was time for bed.

Bryan is a great dad!!!  We are so blessed to have him in our family!

Photos and Video

I downloaded some photos from Ethan's scout leaders and from Bryan's phone from when he was with them on Thursday through Saturday.  So here are the photos and videos.  Enjoy!

This is from day 1 and day 2 at Pine Valley:

This is when they were still happy on their long hike the first day.  I love the view!  Ethan is the one in front drinking from his camelback.

 A good group of boys:

 The second day they worked on merit badges and played games with their troop:

I already put on the photo of Ethan jumping off at Gunlock Reservoir.  That was day 3.

Day 4 was their Orderville hike that went through the narrows.  Bryan was able to go on this one and both Bryan and Ethan thought it was really cool.  Ethan was freezing most of the time though.  You will soon see why.

Here is the group that was still at camp after the first few days.  Some boys had to leave for vacations/etc.

 Here is Ethan sliding down a log on the hike.  He is giving the thumbs up!

There was a waterfall and Ethan just couldn't resist.  But it was really cold and he was freezing for the rest of the hike.  They walked in the water this deep for a lot of the Narrows part of the hike.

This is a video of the beginning of the Orderville hike:

They are getting near the water:

They were trying to stay dry, but no more:

Ethan repelling down to the waterfall:

Ethan getting wet in the waterfall:

Swimming along the trail:

The last full day of camp they went on a hike to the Overlook.  Here are some photos:

And no scout camp is complete without food.  They were working on their cooking merit badge (which is now required for an Eagle).

 

 You can't leave just a little bit of the oj in the bottom of the jug.  And you don't want to dirty another cup just to drink the last swallow.  This is only allowed at scout camp!

Ethan had a great time.  His only complaint was that they started so late each day.  Ethan and Bryan were up by 6:30 a.m., had their tent down, went on a hike, and the boys still weren't up.  But that's life.

Zion Hikes

Here are some photos Bryan sent me from the scout camp hikes on Thursday and Friday.

This is ethan getting his care package from home. He loved the Sprite.

Here he is during a break on a hike:

Here the boys are on observation point in Zion.

They are exhausted but had a great time on the hikes!!

Mani/pedi/hair conditioning

Friday night we had a girl night while the boys were at scout camp.  Courtney got a manicure, a pedicure, and then we deep conditioned her hair. She hated the hair stuff because it was a honey-egg mixture. But it worked great!!

Here she is soaking her feet:

She isn't happy with the hair stuff in. Can you tell?

But her hair is so soft and looks great now!

She wouldn't let me do a facial on her though. She didn't want the avocado-honey-oatmeal stuff near her. Crazy girl!!

Swim Meet

Today was the first swim meet of the season. Ethan was at scout camp so it was just Courtney. She was nervous and it was really windy so after warm ups she was really cold!  She kept shivering!!

Here she is warming up.

Her first event was the 25 meter backstroke. She wasn't happy about this one because she doesn't like the backstroke but she did great!

Here is the video of her backstroke:

Here is the video of her free style: