Dear Family and Friends,

Our family pictures are done!  I have been staring at them all week trying to decide how to literally wallpaper our house with them as each one just makes me smile.  But since that is probably not a reality I just need to whittle down my choices a little.  So warning this is a HEAVY photo post cause really I am just in love with them.  They are helping me get closer to achieving my summer zen where constant talking and kid noises and needs don't drive me insane but make me smile instead.  I haven't reached there yet but am trying.

Allison had her dance recital this Saturday.  She really wanted curly hair for it, like a character in Ramona and Beesus.  So our neighbor showed us how to do her hair with tons of gel and rollers 24 hours in advance.  Reminded me of my Grandma having her hair done.  But it worked and she loved the results:

At Allison's recital, Spencer told me quite seriously that Allison needs to start eating more veggies so she can grow.  Look carefully at the videos and she is the tiny person surrounded by big kids!
Allison's Dance recital:




This week Jeremy and I started up Date night again.  Yeah!!  Temple and dinner out with Jason and Kelly fit the bill perfectly.  Eating delicious food, being able to go to the temple together and not in the wee hours of the night, and just being able to have conversations without any kids trying to join in was pure heaven.  Tough thing for me since school got out is that Spencer and often Allison stay up almost as late as we do.  It makes for less grown-up time and is a tough adjustment to make.  We hired a new respite worker named Ashlee who our kids have all decided will be great and I agree.  So back to our Saturday night schedule.

Allison and Robyn had swimming lessons all week.  This year we went to a family's pool that has these teen age kids teach the lessons.  Their lessons were 40 minutes each and were right after each other.  So we packed lunch every day and hung out in their yard for a few hours.  Allison just passed level 5 gasping and straining to do all the laps.  But as her teacher said although technically she can swim 50 yards of the 5 different strokes consecutively she is gasping and trembling to do so.  She is not ready to make the jump to level 6 where they swim 100 yards of each stroke.  So next year she will try again.  Robyn loved swimming and would cry every day because we weren't spending the day at the pool.  If she could she would live at the swimming pool.  Monday was our free day to spend the day at the pool.  Unfortunately it was the day of a huge wind storm.  So we spent the afternoon at the indoor pool by us.  Robyn had to be dragged from the water kicking and screaming with promises that she could run straight to the hot tub when we got home.  Taylor loved floating his legs in the water and lasted almost an hour which for him was huge.

Kids all started their summer cooking class this week as well as their library classes and for Spencer guitar as well.  This week really was summer full blast at our house.  And softball continues with Allison and then this week Robyn started t-ball.  So our days have been hopping and causing me to wonder if we really meant to commit to all these things.  But our kids are loving them.  And there are worse things then spending every Tuesday and Thursday during June at the park cheering on our girls.  Allison finally got walked to first base this week and was able to run all the bases during the game.  She was getting quite discouraged about not having made it to a base yet.  Robyn's t-ball is just a comic event of 5 year old proportions.  She is most excited about the treats and cheering and doesn't pay much attention to the rest.

Spencer started a new adventure this week by biking to the library 2 miles from our house by himself.  We drove the route, he made a map and called me when he got there and when he was leaving.  You could just see the excitement of freedom in his eyes.  The next day he took Allison with him.  They think they are so cool.  I just try not to think of the fact that for 30 minutes my children are on the roads somewhere without me watching them!

Taylor has started trying to feed himself again which is always a good sign.  He is even starting to bulk up a little.  When we can force him to walk he has a totally different posture now.  He looks like a cowboy who spent too much time on a horse.  He is really awkward at supporting himself and doesn't want to move at all.  He is going to start physical therapy next week which hopefully will help.

This week I finally went into an orthopedic doctor about my knee.  Its nice to know that I was right and it is runner's knee and that when my knee locks up there is no cartilage or anything in there, just muscle.  And he gave me some good ideas to improve it.   But I made it running this week without ibuprofen which is always a good sign.  Ragnar is this next weekend so I have been busy getting ready for that.  I feel like I am much better prepared this year for it plus I am doing it with all my friends which will be so fun.

My favorite quote of the week is Spencer telling me "I want to grow up, I just don't want to do all the stupid jobs that come along with growing up!".  It was probably a good thing I wasn't hearing what he was mumbling while he mowed the lawn and I drove away but I came home to a proud and sweaty Spencer and a mowed lawn.  Years of freedom from mowing in my future almost made me cry.

As promised, a lot more pictures to follow.  Love, Heather