Carter's First Day of School

Today was finally Carter's first day of school. It seems like his school started later than a lot of the others - especially the year round schools. Carter has been very anxious to start. We bought his school supplies weeks ago and he has literally been counting down the days.

He had a good day today and immediately told me that they had Jack from Jack and the Beanstalk come and visit them because he lost his beans and needed help finding them. He is also very excited that Friday is pizza day for lunch and has already memorized his lunch number so that he doesn't "miss out" on pizza day. He also told me that it should be an even more exciting day than today because he would get to do math, art, music, and centers tomorrow. It was hard to feel sad at all this morning when I dropped him off because he was SO excited to finally be in school.

Take me out to the ballgame... and the Natural History and Science Museum

For some end of the summer fun we went to the Rockies baseball game on Saturday. It was "Rockies Rookies" night so the kids got to make a loop around the baseball field before the game started. The stadium is pretty large, so it was fun to get close and personal. Afterwards, the boys were extremely excited to meet the mascot Dinger the Dinosaur (first and last time- that line was nuts!). We then enjoyed the game with some hot dogs and peanuts. McKay especially loves the seventh inning stretch and sings as loud as he can. It was a fun way to spend our last Saturday evening before school gets started.


Previously, I also took the boys the the Natural History and Science museum. It was a cool museum and we all enjoyed ourselves there. That is one of the things that I really enjoy about Denver, there are so many museums and cool things to do pretty close to us. I am just beginning to learn about all of the fun places to take the boys.

Are you sure?!

This past Sunday I was sustained as our Ward Young Women President. To say the least, this is a very overwhelming calling for me. I have never served in the YW organization before and my only YW experience is my own. I couldn't help but wondering if the bishop was really sure about this. I know how things work in the Relief Society, but not the Young Women's. Once the bishop assured me that he was positive, I knew that I needed to accept. Last night was the first mutual night and I did survive. I do not even know any of the girls and none of them even knew who I was - I heard the teenage honesty of, "I wondered, 'who is that?' when you stood on Sunday." I guess it is just going to take some time for me to get organized and get to know all of the girls. Any advice out there from past or present YW leaders on what you found works well, activities you have liked, or balancing time with a very busy husband???

Ward Family Campout

Last weekend we headed to a beautiful area in the Colorado mountains for a little family campout with the ward. It has been a long time since we have camped together as a family. In fact, McKay has not been since he was a baby. We headed up last Friday after work only to move into a very heavy rainstorm. In my opinion, camping and rain don't mix. We ended up making a little pit stop to Wendy's so we would not have to roast our hot dogs in the rain. By the time we got to the campout it was just perfect because the rain had just stopped. The turnout at the camp was small, but those of us who were there had a great time and the rain even decided to stay away. The boys both slept well through the night, after I repositioned them in their sleeping bags several times.


In the morning we enjoyed some delicious breakfast burritos and pancakes. Afterwards we had some fun relay competitions with the other ward in the next campsite over. Lamont and I even participated in a couple of relays and a tug-of-war. The boys had a blast and are still talking about how much fun the campout was and wondering when we can go again. I guess we may have to hit the mountains one more time before the cool fall weather comes.

Swimming Lessons

Carter just finished a session of swimming lessons last week. It was four days a week for three weeks in lessons. This was great because Carter was able to have the consistency that he needed to really learn to start swimming. I noticed great improvements that he made over the course of three weeks. He was so proud when the session ended and he was advanced to the next level.




*McKay cannot do swimming lessons until he is three. He definitely has a fear of the water. There was a baby pool next to the big one where he was able to "play in" while Carter was in lessons. Actually, I was doing good just to get him to step all the way into the pool. So, I guess his lesson this summer was to overcome the fear of the water. I am not sure if he advanced to the next level, however. Oh well, there's always next summer!

Summer Fun!

We have done a lot of fun things this summer. But, now that we are finished with all of our trips, we are enjoying the summer here at home. We have spent a lot of time at neighboring parks with friends, several even have a splashpark. It took McKay a little while to warm up to running in the water, but now it is the perfect activity for a hot summer day. We also joined the summer reading programs at the library and Barnes and Noble. Carter received a free book from each and the boys also received various prizes. We always look forward to the summer reading program.


Recently my parents were in town to help us put in a sprinkler system (more to come on the backyard project later) and we took the boys bowling. They are still talking about this outing and both LOVED it! The smallest bowling shoes were a little too big for McKay, but he didn't seem to care and insisted upon wearing them anyway. It was so fun to watch the boys get such a kick out of bowling. I guess that is something that we will need to do again soon.