A Family of Swimmers

Here is my group of swimmers. Aren't they beautiful? After trying to learn swimming myself, I am so impressed with this bunch. Spencer just turned five and can swim better than me.

I guess I may have mistitled this post, but here is the portion of my family that swims!

Plus Evan. (he swims too).

Babysitting Woes

Is it okay if I laugh my head off at what happened to Taneal? I should be ever so grateful and oh, so compassionate. But it is one of the funniest things EVER!

Did I mention I am doing the Summer of Seals? We have a wonderful lady that is the coach of my children's swim team. She opens the pool each morning at 5:30 for the parents of the swim team swimmers to come do laps. So, I have being seizing the opportunity and swimming. Evan has been occasionally going with me. It is great. Maybe not the 5:30am part, but the swimming.

I admit I am a sucker for babies crying. They cry, I give in. Toddlers cry, no problem. But babies? Yah. Gavin still sleeps with me. I know, I know. I've already lectured myself. And Gavin also crawls. So, if I'm not in bed and he wakes up, that could be disastrous. Solution? I wake Taneal up as I am leaving and she crawls in my bed and sleeps with Gavin.

This morning didn't go so well. Gavin woke up crying. Taneal tried to take care of him and it didn't work. She just doesn't have the right equipment. She can't nurse him. And that was what he wanted. She tried many things (no, she didn't try nursing him) but to no avail. Finally she decided to give him a bath. And for some reason she decided to climb in the bath with him.

So there they are in the bath together. When suddenly, Gavin pooped.

I can't even imagine how fast Taneal exited that bath tub. He is still nursing a lot, so the poop wasn't contained. It was ALL OVER THE PLACE!

Poor Taneal. Great story for me. Glad it wasn't me.

She is a super star baby sitter. Oh, how I love that girl.

And what is even funnier, is she took a picture of the tub full of poop. I didn't dare post that picture because it was quite disgusting. Glad she was able to laugh about it. I think she just wanted proof of what really happened.

Swim Team Pictures - Taneal

Not all of us have a trained eye like a mother of her own children. I can make that claim. I can tell you which child is mine in a line up of 200 children all wearing a team swim suit, cap and goggles. I'm pretty good. Want to know my secret? Buy them a different swim cap. And if they don't wear that swim cap, suddenly they blend in with all the other swimmers and I find myself taking pictures of and cheering for the wrong child.

Taneal is in the dark blue swim cap with the white writing. She didn't wear her normal swim cap because she has been complaining that it is too tight. During her first swim it actually came off into the water. So she wore a borrowed one but warned me first. Whew!

She is in the middle lane here.

And finishing up. Can ya tell she finished first in her heat? Yah, me neither. But she did. She is an awesome swimmer.

Swim Pictures - Camie

Camie is an awesome swimmer. She has dedication, endurance, and fun. She likes to swim. She isn't as passionate about it as Taneal, but she does well. I love that she continues to swim even though she isn't competitive. I guess that is what I like about swim team so much. You can be competitive and try to be the fastest swimmer, like Taneal, or you can be like Camie and just enjoy the sport. Camie's goal is to beat her own time and she is content with that. She consistently improves. And with improvement the coach gives CiCi Pizza coupons. We will be eating out a lot this month because my swimmers are earning lots of coupons!

Camie getting ready to dive.

What a beautiful dive she has. I can't do that.

Look at that form!

Reach and pull.

Another awesome dive picture. Camie is the first diver in the green cap. I told you my secret about the cap, right?

Camie doing the breast stroke. I think all the swimmers look so funny doing this stroke. Each time they come up for breaths they look like a fish. And they all form their mouth the same way. You would think that mouth form was part of the instrucvtions for doing the breaststroke.

And the final touch.

Traveling

I got this really cool app for my phone that allows me to blog from my phone. The cool part is I don't have to be sitting at my computer, i can be sitting anywhere, including in my car, and I can blog. The uncool part is that I will have a lot of typos. What I really like about this is that I can blog on our trip. I scheduled many blog posts, but I am going to add to it things we are doing or funny things that will happen along the way.

We are traveling to Utah. We have a lot of friends and family that live there. We moved back to the state I was raised in a little more than five years ago and I have loved it. Seven of my eight siblings live in the same state along with my parents. One of Evan's brothers live in the same town as us and even attend the same ward/church, so I feel like I live very close to a lot of family. It is wonderful.

Evan isn't so sold. Most of his family is in Utah. And we do miss them and I really wish my children knew their cousins better. There are only about 50 cousins on that side of the family. That's a lot of cousins and aunts and uncles that we don't know very well. We finally gave in and are traveling to visit them. And we are very excited. Not so excited about the 24 hour drive with six kids, one a baby.

So here is the whole point to this blog. My kids don't remember ever seeing mountains. My last three kids were born in a mountainless state. We were driving through some somewhat rolling hills with a few shadows and Taneal exclaimed, "are this mountains?!?!"

I quickly grabbed my phone and took a picture to show what she was asking were mountains.



She has no idea.

I can't wait until she sees Utah mountains.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Tea Party with the Cousins

Know what I love about my children? The ability they have to take a normal mun drum day and turn it into sensational fun.

Last week we had our cousins from a different state come visit. It is 24 hours to drive. Pretty far. They also have 10 children. I thought I was a busy mom. I thought I did a lot of laundry. Yah, she has me beat on pretty much everything. And I am so good with that.

I also am not much of a planner. I plan to do nothing and life fills the rest up. Schedules just make me crazy and cause too much stress. So I try to keep things simple. I find when I get too busy I am not as nice of a mom as I want to be. Simplification equals better mom.

This is the mother of 10 children. Doesn't she totally look like she has 10 kids? No wonder she can handle that many children. She still knows how to have fun and laugh and be silly. I think when we take life too serious all the time, we can't really enjoy it.

When Camie realized she was going to miss a tea party with her friends from church because we were going to a baseball game, she was sad. So we decided to have our own little tea party. We put the older girls to work, the younger-older girls to work, and Gerb (my sister-in-law) and I really went to work busy in important conversation updating each other on the happenings of the last few years.

The three oldest were the servers and then each younger/older child too a younger child and paired up and dressed up for the very special tea party.

This is . . . well, I was going to tell you their names, but their mom uses different names for their blog names and I can't remember their blog names.

But arent' they cute? This is Cowgirl with Nathan.

Camie and Gavin

Hubba and his sister

Nathan

The whole crew. That's a whole lot of children between just two moms. And 5 are missing!

Danielle

Hubba having so much fun with the tea party. He was pretty much hooked on Spencer's Leapster.

My beautiful Camie.

Spencer

Check out the pinkie.

And finally Gavin. Before you judge, have six children and then go ahead. I never would have put cheerios in the window seal and let my baby eat from it before I had this many children. But my saying is this: Children always make you eat your words.

At least I check the window seal for dead bugs before I put the cheerios in it!

Fathers

I was blessed to be born into a family with five brothers and two sisters. My mom and dad are very devoted to one another. In fact, my mom is often a little too devoted. She calls my dad "lover". Yah, I know. It's gross. They set a wonderful example for me of dependence, respect, faithfulness, independence, devotion, and faith. My mom still has her "honey do" list and after retirement my dad gladly admits that he won't completely retire to become my mom's gardener. They take trips together but also take trips separate. My mom takes trips with her sister and my dad with his brother. But all of us know how much they love each other and we have never questioned that. It was a wonderful gift they gave to all of us children.

Being this is Father's Day, I am going to brag a little on my dad.

My dad is my hero.  He stood by my side all through High School when it was so tough. He was always on the other end of the phone encouraging me through the heart breaks of college (not always boy heart breaks, but life heart breaks), through the disastrous tests, and loved me regardless of my choices.

I remember a summer I returned home from college for the summer. My mom and I got upset with each other. And upset would be an understatement. Even looking back I didn't do anything wrong (right? teenagers never do), but I sure reacted. I wasn't going home and that was that. And  I don't think my mom wanted me there either. Of course I didn't have anywhere else to go because it was the summer between semesters. So what does a 19 year-old girl do? One that is pretty sheltered? Now I can look at the situation and see how utterly devastating that choice could had been if my dad had not intercepted. He came looking for me. I will always remember his words, though not exact, were something to the effect of: "I found a place for you to stay until you leave for school. I don't know if what your mom did was right or wrong, but she is my wife and I stand beside her. I love you very much but I have to put your mom first."

He loved me so much and really did take care of me. But he also stood by his wife. I don't know if he agreed with what she did or not. Of course he agreed with me because I was right. But he didn't tell me that. He just expressed his love to me and his love of his wife. And he put her first because that is what a husband does. He loves his wife no matter. What a great lesson he taught me.

Another story of what a great dad I have happened after I graduated from High School and was leaving for college. I chose a school that was 1200 miles from home. Can't imagine why a teenager would want to spread her wings and fly. I was ready to leave home. The school I chose was at one end of Idaho near the Wyoming border. My grandparents lived at the other end of Idaho near the Oregon border. We drove to Idaho through Salt Lake and had a few days before school started. Naturally we would head to my grandparents and then head to school. But this is the part that makes my dad so wonderful. He knew how excited I was to see my new apartment and see the college town. So he took me to school, we dropped off my stuff, looked around for a few hours, and then jumped back in the car and headed to my grandparents who lived at the opposite side of the state. We visited my grandparents for a few days and then we drove BACK to Rexburg and he dropped me off for good. He went way out of his way to make me happy. He really didnt' need to do that. But that act of love has carried me so many times. I know my dad loves me so much that he would do just about anything for me.

I could keep going on about my dad. But for the sake of time and I have church meetings in the morning and I am teaching sharing time and then having a birthday dinner for my brother-in-law and then packing. Plus my baby still isn't sleeping through the night. And neither is my husband. I really should get to bed so I can be nice tomorrow. Oh, how I wish I had more time becuase the more I think about this the more examples I have!

My dad exemplifies everything a father should be. He takes time for each one of his eight children. Or maybe just me. But I have seen him spending time with the others so I know it isn't just me. He taught me to drive. He taught me to work.He taught me the value of education and not "burning any bridges" (the only reason I took three semesters of calculus in college is so I wouldn't burn any bridges). He taught me to love the Savior. He made mistakes but then made it right. And I will never forget the example he set for me. He taught me so much. And he is still calling me, checking up on me to make sure I'm doing okay.

There is a statement that was issued from my church. It describes the role of parents and of fathers and mothers. It is something I refer to often because it brings life back to reality. When I get overwhelmed with being a wife and a parent, I reread The Proclamation. I hope to commit this to memory one day because it is so wonderful. I want to share part of it with you:

"Husband and wife have a solemn responsibility to love and care for each other and for their children. "Children are an heritage of the Lord" (Psalms 127:3). Parents have a sacred duty to rear their children in love and righteousness, to provide for their physical and spiritual needs, to teach them to love and serve one another, to observe the commandments of God and to be law-abiding citizens wherever they live. Husbands and wives—mothers and fathers—will be held accountable before God for the discharge of these obligations.

"The family is ordained of God. Marriage between man and woman is essential to His eternal plan. Children are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony, and to be reared by a father and a mother who honor marital vows with complete fidelity. Happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities. By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children. In these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners. Disability, death, or other circumstances may necessitate individual adaptation. Extended families should lend support when needed."

My dad exemplifies what a prophet of God declared. And he did it well before this statement came out. He told me a story that one year when I was little, he was stationed in the Artic away from his family. He decided to use his extra time studying what the prophets said about families out of the Ensign magazine. He studied how he could be a better dad and a better husband. And I think the reason he is the type person he is comes from his desire to be a better person, to treat other the way the Savior would want him to.

Thank you dad for being the person that you are, for loving me, for teaching me so much, and for always trying.

Happy Father's Day, Dad. I love you.