Utah Trip

More pics of the kids swimming on Saturday and the time we spent with Dad & Neva on FHE Sunday.

Utah Trip August 7th-16th

Jonah and I just recently returned from Utah (August 7th-16th) and had an amazing time! We were met at the airport by Uma, James and Jake (Jonah was ecstatic and rushed into their arms!). We spent that first night practicing karate in Uma's basement, watching movies, and reading the kids bedtime stories. The following day was Saturday. We spent some more time with Uma at the Layton Hills Mall shopping and wound up at Dad and Neva's home to go swimming in their community pool. I spent the night with Dad because I performed a piano solo in their ward the following day. Jonah went back with Uma and had another sleep over with his cousins (including Joshua this time). Mom was such a trooper!

Cute!

Since homeschooling Jonah, our boys have gotten a lot closer---this is just another example of it. Jonah tirelessly practicing his piano lesson with Asher always right there--playing along side him, watching him as an example of "how to be." Aren't kids the most amazing things ever? Just had to share how cute they are!

Another Harry Potter Finatic

Ok, Jonah has always been an avid reader...but Jase recently introduced him to his first Harry Potter book and he didn't set it down until it was finished. We had to help him with a few difficult words ("No Jone--it's Her-My-O-Nee, not Harmonious" :), but we're really proud of him for developing a love of reading and know it will take him far in life. He's currently on the 2nd book...Way to go Boy!

A Visit from Uma

My mom came out the last week of July to attend a wounds certification class held in Scottsdale, AZ. It was wonderful to have her all to ourselves for a whole week while she stayed at our place (even though I'm sure she didn't love the 2 hour daily commute!). Aside from her dutiful studying and late nights, she helped me de-mystify my new sewing machine (we almost got it set up without the help of a manual, however, I did break down and end up ordering one anyway), admired our waning garden (she was our original inspiration), took us out to dinner (yummy Macayo's!), cleaned Jase's car inside and out, and went swimming with us at the YMCA, AND she did all of this with an injured shoulder. Pretty amazing, isn't she?! Mom mom has never lacked energy, patience, or a willingness to serve. Her love for her family and grandkids always shines through. THANKS MOM for all that you are and for visiting us in Arizona!

1st Scout Hike

Jase and Jonah went hiking at our White Tank "Mountains" (I have to put quotes around that because I'm from Utah :) this last Saturday and had a blast. They all met at 6:30 a.m. to go because here it's already in the mid-80's by then! What troopers! Anyway, they had some daddy-son bonding time, saw scorpions blending into a branch, snakes, and a bunch of other creatures that would have freaked me out (glad I was home sleeping in with Ashybug!). Jonah is way excited about being a Cub Scout right now (Wolf, to be exact)--it's, frankly, adorable.

More Pics

Summer Swim Lessons

This summer the boys are taking lessons from Sandra Feno (again). I met her through the Surprise Homeschool Group. She's certified and teaches out of her backyard pool about 12 minutes away from us. Jonah is progressing very well learning the side stroke, back stroke, frog stroke, side breathing and diving while Asher enjoys swimming around the pool with his floaties, chasing after a floatie football, and knocking over "turtles" as he "monkey walks" around the pool. It's been really fun watching them learn and come to love being in the water. So cute!

Jase's 36th!

Well, you might wonder why I only have one picture of Jase's 36th birthday on our blog. As it turns out, I was actually having so much fun having him around for a whole weekend that I almost forgot to document! Crazy, I know. When I finally remembered, it was Saturday afternoon and the boys were pretending to be WWF fighters and throwing each other all over the family room. I tried to be a mere observer until Jase grabbed me and threw me onto the beanbag as well (after carefully setting down my camera first, good man!).
Anyway, we had a lot of fun. Jase and I actually went out two nights in a row---practically unheard of in our world---ate good food (some incredible Gyros hole-in-the-wall place that was a-m-zin' and had the yummiest grilled steak in the universe), saw "Wolverine" (actually not half-bad!), cleaned up our garden (ripped out all the corn that the ants nearly stole), and in general got to "hang out" together. On his birthday I made some super-yummy GFCF brownies, but we all devoured them before I could add candles or take a single picture! Oh well, there's always next year, right Hon? Anyway, "Happy Birthday"---you know we're crazy about you!

More Birthday Fun!

More Birthday Fun--take 3

Pic 1: Jonah giving me his best "I'm gonna kill you!" face while fighting with Daddy. Pic 2: Jonah and Ashy both made birthday cards for Jase using paint, handprints, and feathers. Pic 3: Daddy making amends with Ashy at the end of the fighting session after Ashy's ear got hit--ouch!

Good Times

Here Jonah is teaching his best friend, Logan, to play the piano too; Jonah showing his latest art creation...can you guess? That's right, a snake!; and Ashy got his face painted at Montessori Preschool by his hab worker, Claudia. When I went to pick him up that day, he and his fave girly friend, Abby (age 21/2, really cute!), both had faces painted and were giggling like mad! Just had to share :)

Piano Practice

So I caught Jonah just practicing his piano (without me having to ask, I might add :) and he looked so cute I just had to get a couple shots. Well, a "couple" shots turned into a full blown photo shoot with me moving him all over the house to capture the right light and finally ending up with the last picture you see here when he had had enough of my wanna-be-a-photographer moments :) Say, "cheese"!

Origami

I'm proud to say that Jonah (and Asher) both completed the summer reading program at our local Surprise Library. For this they earned several prizes...the last of which being a free book for each. For Asher, I ordered a book on roller coasters (lots of good lines!) and for Jonah I let him pick out his own. Surprisingly, he picked out an origami book and, once he received it, instantly began making all kinds of creatures :) In the top picture, he made me a tulip since he knows how obsessed I am about flowers (whether real or the paper variety!). He also made a fish, a bird, etc., etc.