Ethan's New Fishing Pole

Ethan wanted to go fishing and he had a fishing elective for cub scouts and Grandpa Oman wanted to go fishing, so we combined them all. Grandpa took Ethan to the "side of the road somewhere" and they cut a reed to make a fishing pole. Then they went to Grandpa's house and made a hook from a paper clip. They then made a fishing pole "that didn't cost any money at all!" And Grandpa took Ethan fishing....but Ethan didn't catch anything. Grandpa caught 2 little blue gills which he promptly let go, much to Ethan's dismay. But they had a lot of fun!

Family Pictures

I got the disk with our family pictures on it and they are great. Our photographer did a great job. Since she knows us, she was able to capture personalities as well as cute smiles (and sometimes weird looks). They were fun to look at, now we just have to figure out which one we like the best and get it for our wall.

Here are just a few of the picture she gave us on the disk:

Best Librarian

We have the best librarian at Ethan's elementary school. Her name is Mrs. Roberts and she does a great job. Ethan LOVES to read and she is the person who tries to keep him supplied with reading material during the school year (which isn't an easy job when a kid reads as much as Ethan does). They have summer library hours at the school on Tuesdays from 9-11 a.m. and we go each week. The first week Mrs. Roberts was so excited to see Ethan because she had ordered some books just for Ethan knowing that he loved this particular series. He read all 4 books the first day. The next week she had another series that she bought thinking Ethan would like them...he did, but read all 4 books the first day. This week we went and she had another book for him to read but she had just bought it and hadn't had a chance to get it scanned into the computer or covered with plastic. So she asked for our address and brought the book over after summer library hours were finished. What a great librarian! Ethan was so excited to see her at our house because he knew she was there just for him.

I am so grateful for good people and good examples in the lives of my kids. We live in a great neighborhood and a great community!

Miss Independent

We went to the pool today and they have a big slide that Courtney loves to go down. She has to wear a life jacket and they have a sign that says that "Riders with life jackets must go with adult." Today I noticed that there were kids going down the slide with life jackets on who weren't with an adult. So we went up the slide and asked the life guard if that was allowed and she said it was (I guess she hadn't read the sign she was sitting next to). So Ethan went down first, I followed second and Courtney went last. I waited at the bottom to catch her and she had the biggest smile on her face. She didn't have any problems so Ethan and I spent the next 45 minutes watching her go up the stairs and down the big slide. She was in little girl heaven! I still caught her at the bottom in case she was tired, but she could have gotten herself to the side without a problem.

She is growing up so fast!

Courtney's Writing

Courtney has been practicing her writing and loving the freedom of expression it gives her. Following are notes she brought to Bryan and me today and then one she wrote to herself. See if you can discover what word she figured out how to spell today. Not bad for a 4 year old.


(Translation: "Mom u r a cat" and "Courtney u r a cat Pack" and "Dad u r a cat")

Lowe's

Ethan needed to build something, use a hammer and identify tools for one of his cub scout requirements so we took him to the You Can Build It! day at Lowe's. They have one at Home Depot too which we have been to a few times, but it's only once per month and Lowe's has it twice per month so we wanted to check it out. Also, they were building a monster truck and Ethan was excited...oh, and they gave out not only an apron, but safety goggle too. The goggles were what pretty much sealed the deal!

Anyway, we went from camping straight to Lowe's and it was crowded. But we got our kits and the kids began building. They both had a lot of fun but later said they like Home Depot better. But it was fun anyway!

Pine Valley Camp

We went camping in Pine Valley on Friday. It's only about 30 miles, or so, from our house and it is much cooler in the hot summer. We made reservations a few months ago and were excited for it. They have been making improvement to the area and we stayed in a new campground they just finished. It was right by a lake and gave us a great opportunity to explore.

After we set up camp we went exploring down by the lake. A lot of people were fishing and we could see fish jumping but never saw anyone actually catch one. There was a stream leaving the lake and the kids played in it for a while. When we returned to camp it was time to build a fire and get ready for dinner. Bryan taught Ethan how to build a fire and Ethan was really nervous to begin with. He was terrified that the match would burn him, but once he lit the fire and got it going he was hooked and kept asking if he could build another one (what is it with boys and fire?!?). Ethan planned our dinner of hotdogs, chips, rootbeer and s'mores and then he cooked it for us.

When dinner was finished the kids and Bryan went on another exploration trip while I sat in the peace and quiet and read. It was great. That's what I remember from when I was a kid...sitting in the quiet outdoors reading a book and enjoying life. When they returned we played baseball. Ethan finally got his swing and was doing well. Then it was Courtney's turn and Ethan played catcher. She hit some nice ones. We had a few deer that were our audience and stayed for quite a while watching us.

Then we popped our popcorn, finished cleaning up camp and went to bed where Courtney talked and talked and talked while we told her to be quiet and be quiet and be quiet. Finally we all fell asleep and slept pretty well. The kids were a bit cold, but they didn't stay awake because of it.

The next morning we woke up and had cereal for breakfast, cleaned up camp and went exploring down some roads we hadn't been on before. Then we drove back to St. George. It was a fun campout!