Ahhh relaxing....sort of.

A couple weeks ago we got a hammock. Since it's the "end of the season" i got an amazing deal on it. And we have truly enjoyed it. Sunday afternoons on the hammock reading is the only way to go. The boys think it's great too, only problem is, is that when you get all of us on there it's not so relaxing. One look at sam's face and you'll see.

Utah Yuck (aka Utah Lake)....

We went boating for the first time this year with Blake's Dad and brothers and sisters that were here. Because there were so many of us we could only do so many on the boat at a time. After all these years of being married into the boating family and a million other stories from others about utah lake.....i really wasn't sure i wanted to go boating there. Everyone says how shallow and dirty it is. I was not sure what to think. It was fun, although we could only stay for a little bit and i didn't actually get into the water. Being on the boat is always great! Blake went wakeboarding and got up for a bit. He's only done it a few times and really is still getting a feel for it so he was very happy that he got up a few times and even stayed up a few times.
The boys were able to get into the water by way of papa tossing them in. But they did enjoy cooling off and swimming around for a minute.

4th of July

If you look really, really, really close you can see ethan through the crowd. This was at our wards flag rasing ceremony on the morning of the 4th. Ethan was part of the color guard and got to actually help hook it to the rope and raise it up the pole. He loves being a cub scout.

For the 4th of July we did fireworks out in front of our house in the evening. The boys were very excited about it. Ryan called to invite granma and papa Young over to watch. Jazmine, our neighbor's granddaughter that spends lots of time here was pulling in the drive way of grandma's so she and grandma carol (scofield) came over and joined us. It was a BLAST! (hehe-that's for you dad).

Summer Sun

A couple of weeks ago AmyJo and I meet at the pool to let the kids go swimming. They had a blast. Ethan is learning to dive. As much as he is a fish in the water, diving isn't a strong point just yet, but it was sure fun to watch him try. He had fun. Sam felt pretty big being able to go to the deep end with the big kids and even jump off the diving board (even though he had to wear his life jacket to do it). And Ryan loves to be in the water. 3 fish and only sprinklers at our house so they are so happy to go swim when the opportunity comes along.

Ryan-ism (July 14)

So this last Saturday Blake was working on fixing a leak under the sink. On our way home from Idaho we thought we'd save time and just stop at home depot and get the part that we thought would fix the leak. Once we got home we realized it was the hose was too short so Blake went back to home depot. Once he got home he realized that it was the valve as well as the hose that needed to be replaced so back he went to home depot. After that you can imagine that going to and from home depot was getting a little redundant. (it would have been really fun if he would have been wearing his "department of redundancy department" t-shirt--i wonder if the girl at the customer service counter he was returning things to would have caught on). Anyway after a fourth and final trip to home depot as Blake was pulling in the driveway Ryan who was out back riding his bike came running in the house saying "daddy's home." (I've decided that Ryan has pretty good hearing or that the sound waves Blake's car makes really ring in his ears because he knows when Blake's coming sometimes before i do). Ryan was there at the door to greet Blake with a big hello and followed it with "daddy, what you doing?" Blake at this point in the sink repair process was understandably tired and answered "I'm a little annoyed." Ryan followed Blake over to the sink where Blake got down to do the fixing and Ryan sat there for a few seconds real quite like and said "daddy, i hear it too!" Ryan thought Blake had said something about a noise, not annoyed. I just sat and laughed. I think that was the thing that sort of made the afternoon of running back and forth not so bad for Blake, cause he did smile at that.

Walsberg fun

Nate and Anne and their family came to visit over the 4th of July week. Since they were here we had set aside the Saturday before the fourth to go up to Walsberg where my sister-in-law's family has a barn and a bunch of fun activities for everyone. The first on the list is the big, big, big slip-n-slide fun. All it takes is:

One large hill

2 huge pieces of plastic on the hill (the really thick kind of plastic that is used in the construction world to cover houses when they are working on them in the winter).

Sand bags, strategically placed, to stabilize the plastic

Place 3 or 4 or 5 hoses in various spots on the plastic

Mix it all together and you have yourself a rather large, very fun, adult size slip-n-slide.

When it was first set up most everyone joined in the fun. Ryan was having too much fun over in the play house and on the play set to come do the slip-n-slide. After most everyone was done however, he came over and would start at a lower spot on the hill and then slide down. As time went he got braver and braver and he ended up going from nearly the top of the hill with out any help. "all byself mom." He really enjoyed it.

Some of the other activities included: zipline (one over water and one over grass), rope swing, playset, horse shoes, tennis, paddle boats. Never a dull moment. So you can see by the following pictures of some of the activities that we did have loads of fun.

Soccer camp

Right when we got home from Canada, the boys had a soccer clinic/camp thing going. For the month of June, each Tuesday and Thursday morning for an hour and a half the boys played and learned different things about soccer. They both loved and are so excited for September when the games begin. Ryan and i would sit on the side lines with cold water and watch. Ryan liked it too. I got a good soccer mom tan too (aka: farmer tan).