Swimming Lessons

Brandon and Kenyon took swimming lessons at Bally's in June and half of July. They did a great job and are now swimming quite well. Brandon is in level five and Kenyon is in level three. I am very proud of how far they have come in their swimming abilities. They both love to swim and really looked forward to lessons every week. Next year we will have to put Shaylee in swimming lessons. She was very good about not being able to swim this year. She took it all in stride.

Rockaway Beach

Last weekend on July 12-14 our family went and stayed at a friends Beach house on Rockaway Beach. Since I went to the American Idol concert on Friday night, we didn't leave for the beach until Saturday morning. Rockaway Beach is about twenty minutes north of Tillamook. So, of course our first stop on our trip was to go to the Tillamook cheese factory so we could eat the yummy cheese samples and have an icecream cone. When we pulled into the parking lot of the Tillamook cheese factory, Shaylee excitedly says from the back, "Mommy I see a fowm!" I could not understand her, so we're all taking different guesses about what she is trying to say- a foam? NO! a fan? NO etc... Finally I say you mean a farm? She says, "Yes!" We think she means the cows across the street, but that is still not what she is pointing at. Finally we realize it is the Chamber of Commerce building that is in the same parking lot as the cheese factory and is shaped like a barn! The whole conversation was so funny! She was so excited when we FINALLY figured out what she meant.

Next we dropped our stuff off at the beach house. It was a cute little three bedroom, two bath home decorated with all kinds of beachy things, mainly seahorses. It was so cute and so fun! We were a little nervous about our little ones (Jaron and Shay) breaking the breakable nick nacks that were everywhere, but they were very good and we were able to leave the house intact!

We then went to the beach. It was a really nice beach, but it was very windy and the sand kept blowing in the kids eyes. I had to keep Jaron's face hidden because it was really scarey to him. The other kids did okay with the blowing sand for awhile, but then they started getting it in their eyes and we had to pack up and head for home! We did get our kite up in the air and it flew really well.

On Sunday we went to the little branch in Rockaway beach and really enjoyed their church services. Then we headed out to Cape Meares and we kept on driving until we found this little town called Oceanside. We fell in love with it! It was so cute and it had the neatest beach. We found out later that it has some kind of tunnel you can go through. We will be going back to explore it a little more.

We left on Monday morning early so Pete could get to work and I could get the boys to swimming. It was such a fun trip and we owe it all to Pete's friend and his wife. Thanks Dave and Tacy Hannel for the use of your darling beach house!

American Idol!

On Friday night, I went out with some of my friends to the American Idol concert. It was so much fun! It was a crazy busy day for me, so I started the concert with a headache and as the music progressed it g0t worse and worse, but it was worth the pain to hear all the people I loved so much this season. It was one of my favorite seasons.

Each Idol, starting with ten came out and sang three songs. They did a couple of group numbers and then David Archeleta and David Cook sang a few more songs than the rest. My favorites were Michael Johns, Brooke White, David Archeleta and David Cook. David Cook was not my favorite Idol, but he was a very good performer. David Archeleta did such a great job. He is such a little cutie and what a voice!







It was such a fun night. I enjoyed every moment of it, headache and all!

Vancouver Lake

Yesterday we went to Vancouver Lake with our friends the Lacher's. We had so much fun! Pete and I went there a couple of times when we first moved here, but we never brought our swim suits. So, when Rebecca asked me if I wanted to go take the kids swimming there, I thought it would be a fun outing. We got there about 10:45 and stayed until 2:15. It was such a blast. The kids had so much fun. We had a picnic lunch and the kids swam and swam and swam. It was a great day.

Finally! He braves the stairs!

Jaron has finally gotten brave enough to climb up the stairs on his own! Most of my kids are climbing the stairs as soon as they get really good at crawling, around eight or nine months. Jaron has only ever gone up one stair. He has been crawling since he was eight months old, I thought he would never get brave enough to attempt the stairs, but last week he finally did it! He was very proud of himself when he got to the top.

Happy Fourth of July!

On the Fourth of July, we decided to have a BBQ with some of our friends. We invited the Crofts and a new family in our ward, the Karren's over to have a cook out. We ate and visited and enjoyed getting to know our new friends. Then the Karren's went home, to put their baby in bed, and the Crofts and us went over to the Perkin's for fireworks.

The fireworks were a lot of fun until the teenage boys across the street started lighting them when they weren't upright. Jaron and I almost got taken out by one firework and then the house next to the Perkin's almost caught on fire! We decided it was time to leave and put our children in bed.

Once we got home, Brandon and Kenyon slept out in the tent with Pete in the backyard. Pete thought it would be fun for them to see the fireworks while they were laying in the tent so he didn't put the top on. Well, it decided to rain in the middle of the night, so they came in at 6:30 soaking wet! Oops! Like I tell Pete, memories are priceless and the boys will remember this forever! They can't wait to do it again!

What a Day!

I am exhausted! I had quite the day yesterday. I have two of my very good friends who are moving right now at the exact same time. One of them, Heather is moving to Utah this weekend. My other friend, Amy is moving to a bigger home still in our ward. Since I have a houseful of young children I can't really go over and help pack or clean, but I can watch their kids so they can pack kid free. So, I told both of them that I would watch their kids yesterday morning. With my kids and theirs I had eleven kids here! It was crazy! I made them stay in the back yard until Jaron woke up from his nap. When he woke up we packed up all the kids on bikes, scooters, and the two one year olds in the wagon and headed to the park. I was constantly counting heads one, two, three.... eleven!

After being at the park for an hour we headed home. The kids were tired, so I turned on Nick Jr. and they watched a show until Amy came to get her kids at noon. Heather was supposed to get her kids at noon, too, but she called me at noon and told me she was at the hospital with her husband! What?!?! Yep to make matters even harder for Heather her husband went to the hospital with chest pains! He's okay. After an entire day and night in the hospital, they have decided that he has gurd, really bad heart burn! Anyway back to my day yesterday, so I fed Heathers kids (seven kids for lunch equals CRAZY) and then her other friend Loni came and got them for the afternoon.

My day did not end when all the extra kids went home. I was now going to make dinner for three different families. Heather's family, a new family in our ward who just had a baby and my own family. Meat loaf, home made bread, rice, and salad! It took all afternoon. When I finished it was time for my family to eat their yummy dinner. We had corn on the cob instead of salad and when we were done eating, I had corn and rice all over my floor! What a mess!

Pete bathed the kids and got them ready for bed while I tackled my kitchen. One hour and forty five minutes later, Phew! I was ready for scriptures and prayer.

All I can say is What a Day! It just made me grateful that I don't have eleven kids and I don't have to make that huge of a dinner every day! Tonight I get to eat at the Spaghetti Factory for a farewell dinner for Heather. No cooking for me! YEA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Add five more kids (including two one year olds) and you have all the kids I watched for three hours yesterday!

Goodbye Wilson's we will miss you!