Happy Birthday Hunny!

One of the funny things about Jeff is he doesn't really care for cake so in the past he has had a watermelon cake... and so that's what we did again.  It also works well since we still had left over cake from Clark's birthday that the kids could help finish off too ;).  

I think it's funny that the candles go on top of the watermelon, but I think that's just the way Jeff likes it (getting to poke holes into the watermelon and all) :).  

Oh, and one of the best gifts for Jeff is letting him light his own candles!

Make a wish :)

We love Daddy and it was a nice time to celebrate his birthday!  He works so hard for our family and takes such good care of us.  He loves cars and trucks - Ford specifically, watching sports, and playing with his kids!  He has crazy fun dreams, like owning a buffalo ranch, but it keeps our life exciting!  Happy Birthday Hunny!

Happy Birthday Dog!

Clark turned 3 on June 22nd!  I can't believe it's been 3 years already since he joined our family!  He's such a fun boy and growing and doing more and more all of the time!  Nathan and Tiffany and kids came over for the birthday and it was so nice to be able to share the day with family too!  We spent the day hanging out, talking, watching TV, swimming, playing, and eating ;)

Here are the boys bonding over the TV :).  

Clark on Uncle Nathan

The big birthday boy... ready for presents!

A new ball :)

Swimming toys

All of the presents :).  

Watching the candles get lit

Make a wish

Enjoying the birthday cake and ice cream

Aunt Tiffany bribing Lorna's love with ice cream :)

Cousins!

More Cousins!

Clark still loves balls, cars, and trains.  He can almost ride a scooter and likes to run and play with the big kids outside!  Clark loves animals and can do most of their sounds.  He can count to 10 (with a little help) and loves to "read" books!  He has also rediscovered his love for the water!  He is quite the little swimmer :).  He loves his Mommy and Daddy and all of his brothers and sisters, especially Lorna!  He is a great little boy and gives great hugs and kisses!  Happy Birthday big dog, we love you!

Swim Lessons

One of the great things about where we live is the large amount of members!  There is a family in the other ward that has teenage girls that teach swim lessons in their backyard pool.  The price is better than anything around and with the small class sizes it's more like private lessons than a whole class.  

Clark had a hard time with swim lessons the first couple of days.  I was nervous that he had a fear of the water and that this was going to be a very long two week!  Well, after talking to Clark and having Jeff talk to Clark and saying prayers to help Clark I figured out that Clark didn't like leaving Mommy, not that he was scared of the water.  After this realization I was able to get him used to the idea of a teacher and going to class and from the third lesson on we had no issues - thank goodness!  Clark really did well and feels very comfortable in the water.  He even jumped off the diving board.  We had a swim party after the lessons ended and Clark had one of his teachers help him and he kept jumping off the diving board... it was too cute!  

Getting ready to jump off the side

Total action shot ;)

This is a picture of a make up swim day where both girls are in the water together.  It's really hard to tell who is who, and they are both in blue too... bad planning on my part.  Mhari also did really well in swim lessons.  She is swimming on her own now, with out a floaty and just keeps getting better and better.  I know she is still little and is not a strong swimmer, but it's nice to know that she can swim ;).  Sandra also did well and worked on learning strokes and diving.  Such fun!

This is Sandra - I can only tell because of the goggles ;)

The boys also did well.  They worked on more strokes and racing and diving.  

Here is Talmage

and Grant.  Grant was always so fast off the board it was hard to get a good shot of him!

It was a great couple of weeks and we are all a little tanner!  Clark got so used to swimming that the first day after swim lessons he wanted to get on his swim suit and go swimming again.  I was grateful for the weekend off of swimming, but we were back at our pool on Monday to enjoy the water again!

P.S.  Lorna did not get to do swim lessons, but that child sure thinks she knows how to swim.  It's totally adorable and frightening all at the same time!  She could go under the water every time, get rescued and still go back for more!  What a silly water baby!  

Happy Father's Day!

OK, so there are times that I get so annoyed at myself.  I helped the kids make this awesome huge banner for Jeff for Father's Day... everything was great.  It was a fun surprise and we even left it up for the week.  I took several photos of it to remember.  Jeff cleaned it up Saturday before company came over and I didn't think much of it... until I went to retrieve the photos of it... 

Let's just say that I only have half of the banner :(.  It had all of the kids and I with our arms out connected together and it said "Happy Father's Day!  We Love You This Much!"  I am really bummed because Grant made his shirt look really awesome, he's got some good drawing skills!  He has a Perry the platypus shirt and he made Perry on the banner too.  Oh well,  I guess I'll do better the next time we do a fun project.  Sorry Hunny.

The kids also came up with a skit for Jeff.  They had fun practicing all week.  The kids each said an Indian name and then Grant told a story about a squirrel that helped stop a raging forest fire.  The sound didn't work well when I videoed the kids so that's another bummer.  They did a good job trying to do something fun for Jeff!

Happy Father's Day Hunny!  We love you!!!!

June already!

Sandra and Mhari took a tennis class at the beginning of the month.  Well, that was one of those no photo included sort of things :(.  During tennis there is toddler time at the gym and Lorna and Clark have had a blast!  Lorna figured out how to ride this little rocking horse, and she LOVED it :).  Such a cutie!

Clark loved it too, but was willing to share so that was nice :)

We get wildlife outside in our yard pretty frequently.  This is the kids enjoying watching a jack rabbit!  It is hopping above Sandra and Grant's heads in this picture.

Lorna just keeps growing and learning and doing!  Here she is learning how to climb the chair.  She enjoyed practicing it over and over.  Such a silly girl!

So proud of herself!