Update

Don’t you just love summer? It’s going way too quickly though, that’s my only complaint with summer. We just had a great visit from Jamie and Brett (Brennan’s mom and brother) a few weeks ago. We loved having them and are so grateful they were able to come stay with us.

Brennan is busy with work and golf, but still manages to help me out so much. He’s been working with Anna on tennis. He frequently takes one or two of them to hit golf balls. He loves those times he gets with them one on one or in small groups like that. He loves his kids. Last weekend he played in a Stake Tennis Tournament. He is so much fun to watch and even though he hasn’t played forever (he’s afraid it will mess up his golf swing) he took second place in the advanced division. We love Brennan.

I am really enjoying my flowers. I, like always, planted them really late, but got great discounts. Anyway, some haven’t done so well, but most of them are looking great and I just love driving up to our house when there’s a cheerful, colorful host of flowers to greet me. A few weeks ago I ran a 5K and it was a lot of fun. I am such a slow, slow runner which I didn’t worry about at all for the Wasatch Back, my goal was to pretty much not collapse and die. So for the 5k I didn’t really know what to shoot for. My friend, Alesa, did it with me and she is a lot faster than me so I was on my own and decided I was going to try and beat 45 minutes. That’s really not fast, I know, but I told you I run like 15 minute miles so it was a good goal. Well, I did ran it in 39:41. Woo hoo. Good times.

Anna hosted a little tea party this week. She’s working really hard to finish up her “Faith In God” which is like the Gospel in Action we did when we were in primary. It’s basically a little booklet of goals/activities they work on when they turn 8 until they turn 12. Anyway, she invited her little girl cousins and some neighbor girls over to entertain them and also taught them about the Word of Wisdom. It was darling, she did such a great job and loves attending to these little ones. They all dressed up and can you believe we didn’t take one picture? Grrrr. Anyway, she’s been such a great helper to all summer and has really grown up in so many ways. She’s been reading her scriptures everyday and Brennan and I have both noticed such a difference. She’s a great example for all of us. We love Anna.

Abby really floored me while driving home from one of her play rehearsals she said, “Mom, I know you don’t like it when we say this, but the guy who plays Luntha (sp?) is HOT.” “Whoa, Abby!” “Well, he is, he’s the one who picks me up in Uncle Tom’s Cabin scene and he’s just such… such a MA-AN.” This child has some serious potential to be a major boy crazed teenager. She and her best friend, Paige, celebrated their 3rd anniversary the other night. Somehow they remembered that the first time they played together was the day after Paige’s brother was born. They decided to celebrate with a late night and spent days planning and preparing for their special evening. They made a scrapbook, carefully selected a movie (they wanted one with a friendship theme), selected and made a treat, and made many lists. Happy Anniversary Abby and Paige! We love Abigail.

Nate has basically moved in with our neighbors. They recently got an air hockey table and he LOVES it. He will also play catch with anyone he can talk into playing with him. He’s kind of obsessed with sports, he’s always recording random sporting events and “Sports Center” on our dvr. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised by this given who his father is, but still I guess I just thought I’d have a few more years before total and complete obsession set in. Every morning he tries to get Joshy to cuddle with him on the couch and is really sad that Joshy has lost interest in cuddling. He’s not going to give up on it though. We love Nathan.

Ben is the busiest little 4 year old I’ve ever known. He’s constantly on the move, he goes back and forth between our house and the neighbors all day long. If they’re gone he wants to know which of his other friends he can call. He’s a funny contradiction because as social as he is at times and as much as he loves to be on the go, when he’s done he’s done. He’ll have a friend over and after about 45 minutes he asks me when his friend is leaving. Or when we’re out somewhere really fun like a park or a party he’ll ask when we’re going home. He’s such a funny, unpredictable boy. You should have seen his smile last night when for Family Home Evening we took turns telling what we love about each family member. When we were talking about him I thought his face might explode with pure joy. We love Benjamin.

Squashy stays busy doing things like getting into the fireplace or lapping up water on the ground. Yes, I stopped to take a picture before grabbing him. I promise he’d had plenty of water, evidently it’s just more fun this way.

So you can see he’s got a lot to do. He keeps all of us smiling. He has this deep laugh that just kills me. He loves showing off by standing up and letting go of whatever he used to pull himself up with. He is very, very loved and is very patient about being mauled with love all day long. We love Joshua.

Happy, happy summer!