Who you calling bald?

That's right.  You can no longer say that Strider is bald.  He finally has a little lock of hair.

 Okay, so he still looks mostly bald, but I loved the little curl that formed while he was taking a bath. We definitely won't be needing a haircut anytime soon.

A day at the water park

For the past few years we have bought season passes to Lagoon.  We loved having passes because we never felt rushed to ride every ride while we were there.  We could take things at our own pace.  This year, being that we had a new little guy join our family, we decided to go with something a little more local and baby friendly.  We bought the Pass of all Passes that got us Blaze football games, Real soccer games, Salt Lake Grizzlies hockey games, and races at the Miller Sports Park.  We took advantage of the Real and Blaze games but the real reason for buying the passes was for Raging Waters (Seven Peaks).  The boys have really enjoyed spending time at the water park, especially when Collin and Sydney, along with Natalie and Jay, would join us.  We would arrive by 10am and stay until it started to get busy around 1pm.  A few short hours were always good enough for us.  The lines were short, the pools were empty, there was plenty of grass space to spread out on, and the best part was street parking so we didn't have to pay to park.

Today, Larry and I decided to take the boys to Raging Waters one last time before school starts.  When I told Dresden and Logan our plans, Dresden asked if Collin and Sydney were going.  I explained to him that we thought it would be nice to spend time together as a family.  Dresden was not happy with the decision on not inviting the cousins and he stormed off yelling, "Thanks for making my life miserable!".  Friends have quickly become more important to him than Mom and Dad...how hurtful.  Despite not having the cousins with us today we all managed to have a good time.

Fun on the rope.

Me doing a little diving

Dresden and I going down the drop off slide

The boys in the wave pool

I couldn't leave my little guy out of the picture fest.  When we got home he was dead tired but so happy to see us.  I have recently taken the swing out of the living room and replaced it with the saucer, which Strider loves.

He also tried a new food today, peas.  Let's just say he isn't a fan of peas.

So, that is our day.  Oh, there was one more event...The Salt Lake County Mayor speaks to our Community Council annually and tonight was the night he was scheduled to attend our meeting. There's nothing like arriving late with three kids in tow and then having to take a seat up with the rest of the Council. It's a good thing my position is a volunteer position and I can't get fired from it.  After the meeting I shook Mayor Corroon's hand and apologized for being late.    

 

Week 24

 It has been a very busy week for my little guy.

Strider discovered his feet awhile ago but he has now discovered he can bring his foot right to his mouth.  Yes, he enjoys sucking on his toes...you would too, if you could.

He can now sit by himself.  I can't tell you how much happier he is now that he can sit. 

Today was the first of many messes...

I was doing the dishes and he wanted to be closer so I moved him to the counter.  I knew the bag of Cheerios was sitting close to Strider but I just didn't think he would be able to reach it.  He maneuvered himself enough in his chair to reach the bag and proceeded to dumb every last Cheerio out.  He thought it was a pretty fun activity.  Okay, he just loved the sound the bag made, but it did make him very happy.  Dresden was in the kitchen with me and we were both having a good laugh at Strider's antics.  Logan heard us so he came running up from downstairs.  He hadn't had a bowl of cereal yet and was planning on eating Cheerios.  You should have seen Logan's face when he saw all the Cheerios dumped out on the counter.  Let's just say he wasn't very amused.  Poor kid had to scoop the Cheerios off the counter so he could have his morning cereal.

I sure love this little boy and the joy he brings to our family.

Little Fish

I grew up swimming, all summer long.  I don't think I ever took formal swimming lessons, swimming just came naturally to me.  So, I just assumed that my boys would take to the water just like I did.  Well, I was terribly wrong.  The first problem, I didn't have them at the pool everyday.  How could they learn to swim when they only occasionally went swimming?  Still, as they got older I just thought they would catch on.  They could do a really sad doggy paddle but it just wasn't going to cut it.  I finally got them into swim lessons.  I had no idea where to start them so they started in the level 2 class.  Once they were in the water they were instantly moved up to a level 3.  So, there they were on day one, listening to Coach Chris teach them the basics of a free-style swim.   After a short lesson they were instantly better and more confident swimming.  Both boys did an awesome job of listening and practicing what they had learned.

At the end of the first lesson Chris told them that they would be going off the diving boards the next day.  By the time we got out to the car Dresden was in a panic.  He was genuinely terrified.  He told me over and over, "I'm going to drown and die, and it's going to be all your fault!"  I couldn't understand his fear until he told me, with tears in his eyes, "Coach hasn't even taught us how to come back up out of the water."  I tried explaining to Dresden that he will come back up out of the water but he just couldn't understand.  All he could think of was that he would sink to the bottom of the pool.  I explained that his coach would be right there and if it made him feel better I would wear my swimming suit and sit right next to the pool to jump in if he started sinking.  That wasn't good enough.  The poor kid worried and stressed about this the entire day and all night.  When I was putting him to bed he said the same things, that he was going to die.  My heart was breaking.  As we talked he finally calmed down enough to understood that his Coach would be in the water, under the diving board, and that he would be right there to catch him.  This finally put peace to Dresden's mind and he stopped worrying so much about jumping off the diving board.  The next day, Chris taught the boys some basics about jumping into the pool,holding your breath, and swimming back to the top of the water.  I was so glad that he taught the boys this before they went to the diving boards.  I'm sure Dresden was full of anxiety when he jumped off the diving board but he jumped, resurfaced, and swam to the side of the pool.  He didn't sink and die!  Thank goodness.  Both boys jumped and jumped until Chris finally told them to get their towels.

Swim lessons ended today and I am so glad to see how much the boys have improved.  All they want to do now is go swimming, which we have done a number of times.  Can you guess where we will be tomorrow???  Yep, my little fish will be at the pool!

The boys heading to the diving boards

Dresden jumping in

We're still working on not plugging the nose

Logan jumping off the high dive

Nice form!

Champs

There aren't many activities that Larry and I do together.  We enjoy going out with friends but the only thing that he and I have ever really done together, consistently, is play softball.  One of the first times I met Larry he was playing in a softball game.  Soon after, I would occasionally play with him, not sure if it was a singles ward team or what.  I was very aware of the girls that didn't like me playing on the team but I still had fun playing and going to Pizza Hut afterwords.  For the past 11 years Larry and I have played at least Spring or Fall softball, if not both, with the Deseret News.  I think there may have been a one year gap but we have always looked forward to playing ball. This year was no different.  We had many canceled games due to rain but we finally got the season going and we came away the Champions.