The whole reason we left Colorado after taking the sacrament instead of staying the whole day was because Pierscen started his first swimming lessons the next day.
Guess who forgot his first day of lessons? Yup! This mom. Didn't even occur to me until way later that day. I was fairly panicked and worried that they wouldn't let him participate since he missed the first day. Silly mama. Everything was fine.
Pierscen had a really great first few days. He loved his teacher and loved to show off. However, my biggest concern with him was whether or not he would put his face in the water. At best, he put his chin in to blow bubbles, but I was already expecting him to need to repeat because he couldn't go under. But time would tell...
Day one Pierscen made a really fun hot air balloon. It was a quick, easy craft that he was really proud of. Devry spotted a roadrunner out the window. I did have a picture to include, but you can't see the roadrunner very well. We get really excited to see roadrunners. They are really cool birds.
Pierscen continued working hard to earn money. This was a great day because he earned a whole dollar in one sitting. That's a lot of work! I'm very proud of how much he has been doing.
These pictures make me giggle. Devry was supposed to take a nap, which obviously she didn't. But it just made me smile because she had her fingers crossed like she had been trying to fool me all along.
Now this in incredible. These pictures of the grass and garden were taken a week after we got back. Look how much everything has grown. The zucchini plant alone is ginormous!
In other big news, Devry had her first day of nursery! And she kind of hated it. Okay that's a little bit of a harsh word, but it was difficult. The only guaranteed nap she takes in the day is in the morning, typically 10-12. That's exactly when nursery is. She likes playing with the toys and getting snacks and everything, but she does not like being left. (Writing this now three months later, things aren't much better. When we first walk in she starts to hyperventilate and then bursts into tears. The teachers usually insist that we leave and she does calm down. But she goes through cycles where she remembers how sad she is, starts crying, then they scoop her up, hand her a doll, and she often passes out. I really don't know what the best answer is. I feel like all we are doing is traumatizing her. Some weeks we can stay with her, but I'm not sure that's the answer either.)
She was more than happy to take pictures after nursery because she was free!
Snapped these during Pierscen's swim lessons one day. I'm not sure I've ever made her so girly. And it was ADORABLE!
Pierscen's desire to earn more money kept up because he set his sights on a bag of these Starburst minis. They are really good. It took me a while to figure out what he was asking for. He kept saying the pink treats that are square that we had on our trip. ?!? Once I realized what he wanted then I realized it was a pretty perfect description, actually. :)
The last day of Pierscen's lessons arrived. In between his first and last day, we went swimming with Ryan many times. Ryan really worked with him and overnight Pierscen went from being terrified of putting his head under the water, to happily diving in and doing all sorts of tricks. It was incredible! With that, I had no concern with Pierscen passing this first level. The last day had a few minutes of lesson, and then it was just play time. He did great! I have videos from this and the pool with Ryan in another post to come.
Pierscen's pal Lydia was also taking lessons at the same time and they had a blast. Pierscen passed everything with flying colors. So proud of this little fish!
One of Ryan's favorite things to do is play volleyball. He plays at the church every Thursday night. I think volleyball is fun, but I'm not very good at it. Ryan and I went in the backyard and started bumping the ball around. Just when I was starting to feel I bit more confident, I reached for a ball that was flying by wide on my left side. It hit just right, or just wrong, on my ring finger. I screamed and immediately yanked my ring off, which was already starting to get tight. I've jammed it before and we didn't get the ring off in time and I was really worried I was going to have to cut it off. Because I got it off, it didn't look as nasty, but boy did it hurt!
I think my arms look worse though. They bruise so bad when I play!
I don't know if I've ever mentioned it before, but this girl LOVES toothpaste and brushing her teeth. She doesn't care if the toothpaste is spicy or not. She wants it anyway. I've finally gotten her some fluoride free stuff because no matter how we tried to hide the regular toothpaste, she would find it anyway! Glad she likes keeping her teeth clean though.
Another view of the grass and garden. On that massive zucchini plant!
The end of June marked the expiration of our Wyoming plates. This was actually super heartbreaking for me. Removing the plate was like removing Wyoming from our lives. I know that sounds weird, but I really didn't want to change the plates! Pierscen and Ryan switched it out and then Pierscen asked if he could keep it and sleep with it right above his head so that he could always remember Wyoming. For days we sat together and held the plate and talked about our favorite memories. Super precious. And heartbreaking.
One day I read an article about home decorating and read that your rug should be big enough to touch the existing furniture to avoid the "floating rug" look. Our existing rug was definitely a floating rug. Way too small for the are. And I was ready for a change anyway. My mom suggested that I take my time and shop around. I had several online that I likes, but man, rugs are expensive. Then I noticed one of those traveling rug tents that pop up in parking lots like Walmart. I've never stopped at one because usually the rugs you can see from the road are giant tigers, or sports teams, or wolves howling at the moon. But I decided I would try it out. Doesn't hurt to look. Ryan and Pierscen were swimming, so I took Devry and we went to see what we could find. The rugs under the tent, not hanging on the racks, were actually really pretty. And I found EXACTLY what I wanted. I did not call Ryan. I did not call my mom. I just MADE A DECISION!!! I bought two of them on the spot - both of them for $150. I was hoping that Ryan would still be gone so I could just carry them in and set them up to surprise him, but he was already home. He helped me unload and I was very pleased that he really liked them. (Quite frankly, I don't think I would have cared too much even if he didn't, because I was very proud of myself and I loved them! Okay, that's not totally true. I would have been quite bummed if he didn't like them, but it was a huge bonus that he did. Win!)
We finally found a great solution for our food storage: the Harry Potter closet!
For Father's Day I made another lemon meringue pie. I meringue turned out much better than my last attempt. Delicious. :)
We hung our second picture - a painting my Grandpa did of the Zion National Park area. I love it so much. Zions is my favorite. And I think the reading nook is the perfect spot.
I want to make a reading bench under the window. I've seen some DIY things for it, and I totally think I could pull it off. :)
Good weather, hoses and water tables make for lots of fun.
Pierscen discovered the lamp that my friend Chrissy made me as a going away present in Wyoming. He loves using it to read his scriptures and make fun light shows in the closet.
Devry had her 18 month check up where though technically she grew, it was just barely and her percentages dropped. She's back to about 2% for weight and height. For my own sake, I don't mind having small kids, but why are my kiddos so small? Dev eats! She loves food! The doc is not worried, so I need to not stress about it. But seriously, she's still not even 20 lbs.
June just must have been a great day for making progress. After almost 10 years of marriage, I finally hung up some pictures of our wedding. GO ME!!!
One awesome thing that happened in June was that some of our friends from Casper moved to ABQ! Woot! Woot! They leave on the east side of town, but still, we are in the same city! And I used to teach their daughter piano. Heidi, the mom asked if I might be willing to come watch their little boy so they could go see Newsies. I happily obliged. When they got home I determined that I needed to take myself on a date. Newsies is one of my very favorite shows. Ryan was happy to let me go. It was AMAZING! The broadway version had a few changes, but they were good. A few new songs, a couple that were left out, and extended dancing scenes. It was worth every penny. Thanks Ryan!
Another project: This was our work table that has been there since we moved in. With almost all the painting done, it was time to clean it off and put the table away. It was a daunting task, but I did it!
That area looks mighty empty now. I've found a few sideboards that would look incredible... but alas... money does not just appear when I want it.
More fun at the pool: Rocket launch! I have a great video of this in the next post.
Post swimming running through the sprinklers. Can't tell you how much I love that we have grass and sprinklers to run through!
Spotted a roadrunner in our neighborhood. This is cause for immediately slamming on the breaks and watching until it is out of sight.
Pool baby: She loves this glasses. They were left in the lost and found. Every time we went she put them on. One day the guard told us to just take them. I wanted to, but didn't, because hey! What if the owner came back for them? The then said he is supposed to get rid of the lost and found stuff and the end of each week, but they hadn't, mostly because kids play with the stuff that gets left behind. These had been there for about three weeks. We still left without them that day, but Ryan brought them home the next day. Ha. She loves them!
I got myself some new shoes because I have taken up running. This is kind of a big deal considering I have asthma and have avoiding running for most of my life - with the exception of a few 5k's. But it's something I want to work at. I tried on lots of different kinds, but I am a girl of habit. I love my Sauconys! The last pair I bought was what, 5 years ago? I love these shoes.
Love our little helper!
This post took forever. DONE!
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