Swim Lessons

The kids had Swim Lessons while they were off track

at the Clearfield Aquatic Center.   We've taken

them there before and probably will continue.

We like it there and the instructors are so 

nice and great at teaching.  It was Owen's first

time for lessons and he did not skip a beat.

He was so excited and got right in the water ready

to play and swim.  Riley and Paige were in the same

level class.  Sierra finally moved up from last time.

She made huge progress and maybe by next time 

lessons can swim by her self in deep water. 

Owen did smack his head during the second

week of lessons and then got water up his

nose.  It was a bad day for him.  Unfortunately

after that he did not want to go under the water

and blow bubbles.  So he just did the back float

with his teacher.  The first week Brandon was 

passing by between jobs and stopped for a few 

minutes to see the kids.  When Owen saw Brandon

he said, "Look Daddy I can go under the water

with no goggles".  He then plopped himself

under the water and stayed there for a good 5-10 

seconds and came up smiling.  It was so funny

and unexpected! 

Owen hates water in his ears and never lays back

in the bath tub at home fore me to wash his hair.

He would rather I just dump water over his head

so at lessons he was hesitant to lay his head back

but by the end of the two weeks he was doing

much better. 

Riley has gotten more brave and will jump off the

diving board and the edge of the pool. 

She is still hesitant of diving and can't quite

get her head to go before her feet in a dive. 

Paige is still pretty fearless and is getting better

at the back stroke and all those other fancy

ways to swim. 

Grandma Gardner came a couple of times to watch

during her lunch hour.  She just walked across the

field from work to see them.  The kids loved that. 

New Ear Rings for Sisters

Paige has asked months before to get her ears pierced

and I said okay but she got to scared so we never

went to pierce them.  Then she came to me again

and said she was ready to try again.  And of course

Sierra wanted to pierce hers to.  I thought oh well

better get it all over with in one trip rather then coming

back in a year to pierce Sierra's.  

Paige and Sierra were scared but they acted so brave.

They held still and were so excited! 

Paige said she wanted Sierra to go first but we told

her that she is older and had to go first.  She said, 

"okay" and climbed up in the chair.  

This is right after the girls got them pierced.  I'm sure

their ears were still on fire but they were to happy

to even notice.  

They were so excited to show their friends

at church the next day.  I figured having them pierce

their ears together would be good so they could 

remind each other to keep their ears clean

and take care of them . 

Daddy Daughter Camp Out

Brandon took the girls to the Stake Daddy

Daughter Camp Out.

They roster Marshmallows and ate

hot dogs.  The girls look forward to

camping with their Dad for the night.  Unfortunately

they had to hurry home in the morning because

Paige and Sierra had a soccer game. 

Triple Date

Brandon and I went out to dinner with my sister and brother

and their spouse.  We went to Tucanos in Salt Lake. 

One of my favorite restaurants.   My brother came down

from Idaho to hang out before he started another

busy semester of school.  

 Mikel, Brandon, Michael, Skyla, Kristie & Kami

11 YEARS

Brandon and I have been married now for 

11 years.  Time goes by so quickly and I 

can't believe I've known my sweet heart for

so long.  

Brandon wanted to mix it up a bit with what

we did for our anniversary.  This would not have

been my first choice of fun but it turned out okay.

We had lunch at one of our memorable

places.  The Spaghetti Factory in trolly square.

We took our time after shopping and just waking 

around before we headed to American Fork were

we went up the canyon to find the Hot Springs.

We got there later then we should have because

of not being able to find the right turn off.

So we started our hike around 6:00.

The hike was easy and fun.  We got a chance

to talk and be together.  

However the hike takes 45 minutes of continually

walking and we took our sweet time and got up

there later then we wanted to.  Right before

the hot springs Brandon decided to walk off the trail

to check out the waters temperature while I

stayed on the trial waiting for him.  Right before

he got back to me I heard what we know as

a Rattle snake.  I had never heard one before

but new that's what it had to be.  I looked

down on the edge of the trail 2 feet from where

I was standing and sure enough  there was a 

Rattle Snake.  Defensive and ready to strike. 

It wasn't very big but later Brandon and I found

out that the smaller ones are more dangerous because

they can't control how much venom to use and 

you could come away from the bite with too 

much venom in you to survive past a half hour. 

And the hike back to the car was at least 45 

minutes.  So I backed away and Brandon tried

killing it with rocks.  I was a little freaked to go any

further on the trail and I was not about ready to

walk off the trail thinking that their could

be more snakes.  Ahhh I hate snakes. 

But we had come all that way and we

wanted to see the springs.  So we got brave

and carried on.  By then the sun was going down.

Even more creepy.  We got into the hot springs 

when it was dark. 

The water around Brandon is like a hot tub.

So nice!  But a little creepy to get in. 

There were other people there which actually

was more comforting.  Being in a hot spring 

so far up the mountain with snakes around and

slimy rocks to sit on was a little nerve racking.

It took a while before I could actually enjoy

myself.  The water was green from all the

sulfur.  

The stars were beautiful.  But it was late, like

almost 10:00 and we still had the hike back

down and we hadn't even set up our tent yet.

So we headed back to the cars and yes I took

the lead with Brandon behind holding rocks

in case we saw anymore snakes.  Thank

goodness for our head lamps.  It was so

pitch black up there.  We saw these young

boys on the way back hiking up using only

the light from their cell phones.  Wow, way

to be prepared.  I could not believe that

even after we got back to the cars groups 

of people were just heading up there.

I guess that is a happening place!

After we woke and cleaned up camp we were

 heading out when we saw smoke.  We got closer 

to realize it was a Search and Rescue trailer on fire.  

They said they were going to be doing a training

exercise.  I guess it did not go their way! 

Looks like they need to work on the training part

again!  

We still had time before we had to head back

so we went to Provo Beach Resort to walk around

the stores.  We watched the Flo Rider for a bit

and Brandon got the crazy idea to try it.   

We had our suits in the car and I thought

what the heck lets do something crazy! 

I'm a pretty adventurous person so I was up for it.

However it is so much harder then it looks. 

Nothing like wake or snow boarding which I'm use 

to but this is so different.  But fun!  And yes you wipe

out hard and it's pretty funny! 

So you start with holding the rope wile

someone pushes you off. 

Then you try to get your balance.  Key word here

is TRY! 

Then let go of the rope.   Okay I think my longest 

time up was no more then 20 seconds.  Seriously

hard.  My last ride before the time ran out

I thought okay I've already smacked my head and 

been dragged up the wave so I'm going to 

just tear it up.  So I was very aggressive and that

is when I did my best.  You really have to just

go for it.  And get low.  Which I did not.  So my

falls always looked so bad.   

I love my fun, sweet Husband!

I love that we can do these kinds of things together

and have so much fun!  

Say Good Bye to Summer

All of Brandon's family accept his sister who

lives out of state had one last Hoo Rah 

at the cabin to close this hot summer for

labor day weekend.

We drove up there Friday afternoon and stayed

until Monday.  Riley helped Grandma

make breakfast Friday morning. 

Then we headed out to North Beach.

We set up by our friends the Veigels. 

Paige was the first that day to try out Grandpa's

new kid skis.  

Sierra was a little more nervous because the skis

are bigger then the other ones she is use to.  But

she got right up and had fun. 

The girls had some giggles and screams in 

this double tube.  Paige even tried standing up

and with no hands.  We weren't even going that

fast anyway!  

When it was Owen's turn he just giggled the entire

time.  

The next day after church we sat around the cabin

being lazy and enjoying ourselves.  But Brandon

can only handle laziness for so long.  He got 

ansie and took us on a family walk. 

Owen loved the hike and was full of energy. 

He like the independence of walking by him self

on the trail. 

It's nice now that we have grass at the cabin.  We

played games like, Red Light Green light

Red Rover, Limbo, Kick Ball

and we tried Missionary tag.   The little kids were

so funny to watch. 

On Monday the men got to work.  Owen and Tate

helped pick up rocks and pull weeds.  They were

so cute to watch.  They stayed out there with their

dads for at least an hour helping.