Wait Until You See This!

 Friday afternoon we headed over to Paradise Valley Country Club for our second spring swim meet. Miss B. begged to wear her team suit that one of the little girls gave her last summer.  I caved this time because at our last swim meet she made us all crazy with her constant whining. I figured if anything, she could get wet during warm ups of at least stick her feet in the water between races.  Well apparently SHE WANTED TO SWIM! We kinda laughed thinking there is no way she would really get in and swim a race, after all, she has never really swam across the entire pool during a practice. She begged and pleaded so Jeremy and I said "why not."  We warned the boys that they needed to be ready and willing to jump in after her if she only got half way across the pool.  They agreed and the fun began.  

Brody was so excited that 3 year old Miss B. was going to swim her first race.

This girl could hardly contain her excitement.  She was ready to swim.  

The first race was breaststroke.  Apparently Miss B. missed the memo on that because after she jumped into the water, she swam BUTTERFLY!  Not only did she swim butterfly, but she swam the entire length of the pool without stopping to hang on the lane line.  

She was like a little inchworm swimming across the pool.  He little bum was so stinkin cute popping up just like her swim teachers have taught her. I could just hear Miss Carolyn her swim teacher saying, "Bottom Up!" "Get Your Bottom Up."

As you can see, I was sooooooo excited for my little lady.  Obnoxious I know!

After she got out of the pool, Jeremy was there to get her.  She won a third place ribbon and you would have thought she won Olympic gold!  Hilarious!

Are you kidding me?!?! DANG CUTE!

The second race Miss B. swam was really butterfly, which by now she was a pro at! She got first place in this race, but not really.  Here's what happened.  She jumped in with the rest of the girls in her heat. 

The other girls in the heat butterflied across the pool and got out.  Miss B. kept right on going and when she was about half way across the pool, they started the next heat of girls.  Because of this, Miss B. thought she smoked all the girls she was racing against because she was way ahead of them. In reality, she was just behind and the next heat was catching up to her. It was AWESOME!

Did I mention that Brody swam in the meet too? Here he is showing off his breaststroke.  It's really probably his worst stroke but he still likes swimming it and is improving each time he swims.

Brody is an amazing backstroker.  He  glides across the water when he's on his back.

Proud 10 year old swimmer.

Case swam tonight and did great too. That's a mighty big breath Case-Man!

There is a reason we call this boy, "First Place Case."  He is competitive and has the drive to WIN!

Let's not forget Ledger.  This boy is just funny.  He is becoming quite a good little swimmer too.  If he could get the dive down he would be even better!:)

Happy little man!

I have to say that tonight will be a night we will continue to look back on and laugh about.  Watching the boys get so excited for their baby sister tonight was priceless.  Watching Miss B. giggle with excitement over finally getting to race....THE BEST!!

State Capitol

 On Friday, I was able to attend the fourth grade field trip with Brody to the State Capitol.  I was so excited to go being that there were only 3 parents who were chosen.  Lucky me!  Brody and I had a great time together talking on the bus.  I learned that he too has a little fear of riding on the freeway without a seat belt in a huge metal yellow rectangle. 

 One of the downfalls of being one of three parents attending a field trip is that you are responsible for a large group of kids.  Here are the 9 kids in our group.  There were a couple that were a handful but for the most part....we survived.

 We stayed close to this cute group of boys since cousin Drew was part of this group.

 When we arrived at the capitol, we walked around Wesley Bolin Plaza looking at all the monuments.  I had never been here before and can I just say, it was AMAZING!  The monuments are unbelievable and I learned so much.  We were given an assignment to write down as many monuments as we could along with 2 facts about each.  The only problem was, we were only given 30 minutes.  Being that there are 29 monuments, we ditched the assignment and just looked at all the monuments we could in the short amount of time. Brody of course loved this WWII monument since his great grandpa has a purple heart just like the one shown.  

 I can't remember what this monument was all about but I have to tell you the craziest story.  As I was taking a picture of the kids next to this, the boy on the far left, walked away from the monument..  I literally turned my back for half a second when I hear a loud crash.  I looked back to see an IPad on the ground cracked to all heck.  I panicked.  I looked at this boy, who had been having trouble all morning and asked, "What happened?" He was speechless.  Apparently a woman who was touring the monuments asked this boy if he could take a picture of her and her mother with her BRAND NEW IPAD.  She explained to him that she just got it and wasn't even sure how to take a picture with it.  As he picked the IPAD up off the bench, it flew open and onto the ground.  Of course it shattered.  I did not know what to say.  This wasn't my kid.  The IPAD was shattered.  I panicked.  If this were one of my own kiddos,I may have offered to pay for the damages.  However, I was at a loss.  She was calm about the whole situation but I  felt terrible.  What a mess!

After touring Wesley Bolin Plaza, we ate lunch on the grass (with the orange jumpsuit inmates who were on gardening duty) and then headed over to the Capitol for a guided tour.  Our tour guide was AWESOME and I learned a TON!  This field trip was very informational.  I had a great time learning about our state but mostly, I loved spending the day with Brody.  He is a great kid and I am one lucky mama!

Being 8 Is GREAT!

 After several emotional and exhausting weeks, Case was baptized today by his home teacher Pete Reis.  He was so excited for this day as were Jeremy and I.  There were so many funny and not so funny things that happened today so bear with me as I try to record all the details.

Mr. Fashion guy was a little nervous about wearing the white jumper today.  I think he looks adorable! 

 We love you Case and are so proud of you!

 Proud great grandparents.

 Although Jeremy was not able to baptize Case (because he is not a member), he did sit up front with him during the opening part of the baptism and was there to help with changing and getting ready before and after. We were thrilled that Case wanted our friend and neighbor Pete to baptize him.

Proud, anxious, nervous, and exhausted parents.

A couple things I wanted to mention about the baptism.  Ledger gave the opening prayer today and did a super job.  My favorite line in his prayer, "Please bless that Case will feel the Holy Ghost after he gets DUNKED." You could hear quiet laughter throughout the room after he said that. Case requested that all the boys in attendance sing, "A Young Man Prepared." It was so cute seeing them all up there singing.  Brody was going to play, "I Am A Child Of God" today, however about 30 minutes before we were walking out the door, he grabbed the barrel of my extremely hot curling iron and burned the heck out of his hand. Our sweet neighbor Madi ended up playing instead.  I gave a talk on the Holy Ghost.  I really tried to relate it to Case and his love for sports however, I was not as prepared as I should have been and it didn't come across how I was hoping.  Lesson learned! Jeremy gave the closing prayer and did a great job.  He is good at touching on all the important things.  Not sure why he doesn't get nervous up there like I do! It was a great day for Case and our family.  I have to say, it has been an emotional and exhausting few weeks getting ready for this day.  There have been days when the spirit in our home has been overwhelming strong and other days where is has been eerily absent.  My hope is that through it all, Case was able to feel the spirit and learn about the important covenants he made today and that he will always remember them.

 After the baptism, we headed over to Sugar's house for dinner and swimming.

 I seriously had so much fun getting ready for this dinner.  I wish however, that I would have done better at getting pictures of it all.  Jeremy made huge pictures of Case to put around the house.  They looked so cute and I didn't get one picture! Miss Ashley, if you are reading this, please remind me in 2 years to hire you to take pictures during the baptism and dinner! A huge thanks to cousin Sarah for the pinwheel fan idea.  It was cute seeing a picture of Case each year for the last 8 years.

 No Felstead party would be complete without a candy station.  Case chose Gummy Bears, Kit Kat, Twix, Flavored Tootsie Rolls, Hot Tamales, Ring Pops, and Giant Pixie Stix.

Since the focus of the party was Case, I had framed pictures of him EVERYWHERE!

His name looked so cute hanging over Sugar's fireplace. Of course there were "8's" all over since its great to be 8!

My mom had sugar cookies shaped like "8's" made for dessert.  There was also chocolate chip cookies, snicker doodles, carrot cake, and a special request of homemade banana and chocolate pie from Sugar.  We could have just skipped dinner and had dessert and nothing else!

Sarah, Nicole and Grandma Fran

Aunt Michel and Blake

The kids swam all afternoon.  So grateful to Giles and Stradlings for coming for dinner.  

 Nate, Case, Jefferson, Jackson, Anna, Brody and Ledger

Case is lucky to have so many friends and family that love and support him.  I hope this will always be a day he remembers. A huge thanks to my mom for all her help and for letting us crash her house once again! Love you mom!

Today's The Day!

This cute kid is getting baptized today.  It has been an emotional and exciting few weeks.  We are proud of the boy and his decision. Stay tuned for details of the big day!

8 Great Days: Day 6

Tonight Case received a journal for his "8 great days of baptism." I pulled out my first journal and read to him what I had written about my baptism day. He giggled as did I about the things I had chosen to write about. I explained to him the importance of keeping a record of the good and bad times in his life. I told him how I turn to my journal often to express my thought, both happy and sad. He was eager to write about today but it was late and he needed to get to bed. I hope tomorrow he will wake up and get some thoughts written down. I hope he grows to love writing in his journal like I do!

8 Great Days: Day 5

We never know which direction life will take us. If we follow the teachings of our Savior Jesus Christ, we will be able to return to our Father In Heaven again. By choosing to be baptized, Case is taking the first step necessary to return to our Father In Heaven

This girl is growing up!

About 2 months ago, this little girl learned to write her name. Now, we find her name written all over the place.  She is really interested right now in learning how to spell and do math.  She loves to spell

B-R-O-C-C-O-L-I,  MOM and DAD.  She loves to practice counting and more then anything, she loves to color and draw.  She would color all day if I let her.  The other day she colored this picture and then said to me, "Mom, can you take a picture of me holding my picture and then send it to Cyndi?"It was hilarious!  This girl is so fun to be around because she says the funniest things.  Every sentence of her's right now ends with "right?" Most the time, "right" doesn't belong at the end of her sentence but it sounds so funny when she does it.  Miss B. and I have so much fun together during the day when the boys are gone.  We sing in the car together and talk about funny stuff.  I still can't believe this cute little lady is mine.  She is the best!

8 Great Days: Day 4

Tonight Case received a hymn book as part of his "8 Great Days". We talked with him about the importance of music and how listening to good music will help him to feel the spirit. We discussed all the wonderful things we have been taught about the Savior through the primary songs he has learned over the years. I hope that as he grows older he will always remember the power of good music.

8 Great Days: Day 3

The Holy Ghost is like a warm blanket because he will comfort you when you need to make hard decisions in your life

8 Great Days: Day 2

Today, Case got "The 3 bears" gift to help remind him about the baptismal covenants he is about to make. We gave him gummy BEARS to remind him that after he gets baptized, he will BEAR witness to His name (D&C 18:21-25). The Teddy Grahams were a reminder to BEAR one anothers burdens (Mosiah 18:8). The BERRY gum was a reminder to Always BEAR your testimony.

This is what we do every other Friday night during the spring

The boys are doing swim team right now which means every other Friday night we have swim meets on the other side of the world! I love spring swim because there are not many kids that swim in the spring and the swim meets are not blazing hot!  They are about an hour long and all kids are usually happy by the end. This week the boys swam freestyle, breaststroke and backstroke.

Ledger has learned that he can look around while he swims to see how he is doing compared to the other kids.  It's hilarious! 

The real reason we are doing spring swim is because we talked Brody out of doing baseball this year.  It was just getting too competitive and aggressive for him.  He wanted to do swim team and we were thrilled.  He is a great little swimmer and loves doing it.  WIN WIN!!

Brody's best stroke is backstroke.  Oddly enough that was Jeremy's best stroke when he was a kid.

I had to laugh the other day when Case told us that his least favorite sport is swimming.  This is the kid who medaled every meet last summer and won high point swimmer for all of the 7 year old boys in the country club league.  He said it's not fast and aggressive enough for him.  

Swimming may not be his favorite sport but he is dang good at it and I hope he will stick with it for a few more years!