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We are enjoying summer! It's been a HOT and flying by fast so far!

Caitlin learned how to ride her bike with no training wheels this month! She still needs help getting started but she has done great and is enjoying this new mode of transportation!

We went to "melody makers" at the Museum of Curiosity with some friends and had fun playing instruments and making ribbon wands and then playing inside the museum.

We have been swimming a lot. Caitlin is a great swimmer and never uses floaties any more. Nolan likes to use his floaties when he doesn't have a parent by him to keep up with the big kids, but has still proved he knows what to do if he finds himself without floaties in deep water (thank goodness) So all in all I feel good about our swim lessons and the progress we made this year! We love the pool and Maverick is fearless in the water as well! He crawls face first into the water in the shallow end.

In between the pool we also go to the splash pad which the kids love. Maverick hasn't discovered the "splash" part yet... he chills with the moms in the shade.

June 12 we had a fun ward party at the park: food, friends, playing and an outdoor movie.

Caitlin started going to cooking class at the Pleasant Grove Rec Center and loves it. Once a week for an hour and she goes with her friend London Barnes. They usually make two things and she is so happy to tell us how she made things and that she did it completely by herself.

June 16th A big group of Paul's friends all took their girls on a Daddy Daughter Date up to the Alpine Slides. The girls all had a blast being together and having their daddies. I took the boys to the Lego store while they were on their date and we had a lot of fun too!

June 18th Caitlin and I went to see the "Mary Poppins" play at the Scera outdoor theater wit some friends. It was a fun night. Caitlin is starting to understand the idea of characters and people playing a part and was asking all kind of questions about if that was the real Mary Poppins or not or who the kids were really and what were they really like. It's so interesting to see her little mind figure things out.

My parents came on the 18th and stayed for about a week. They went to a wedding, we celebrated Fathers Day and different things in between.

June 20th we went to the Strawberry Days Rodeo and had a blast. The kids loved watching all the animals and cowboys and at the end there was a dirt bike and 4 wheeler doing tricks, followed by fireworks. And of course we loved eating the strawberries and cream!

{Father's Day} was June 21st. I was lucky enough to get to celebrate it with the father of my children and my own father! Paul is the best dad that these kids could ask for, He knows exactly how to handle them and interact with them and they are completely obsessed with Daddy.


June 25-30 Stewart and Lorraine came into town for about 5 days with the race in the middle and we had fun with them.

June 25 We went up to the Gottfredson cabin for the day with some other extended family members. We fished, floated the river, made tie dye shirts, did the zip line, had burgers and made s'mores. That night we had a HUGE firework display by Paul, Stewart and Chris and it was awesome. Great day at the ranch.

June 27th we ran the American Fork Half Marathon! Runners were: Paul and I, Derk, Stewart and Lorraine, and also Jeff and Nan Lemmon. The Meads and Jenna and her dad ran the 5k. The race course was beautiful and set up really well. It started at Tibble Fork in the canyon and ended at American Fork High School. Paul got a Personal Record of 1:42 and did amazing. My goal was to finish in under 2 hours... I finished at 2:02 and had a little bit of a rough race. My headphones lost battery and stopped working at mile 2. So I had to listen to my music coming out of my front pouch (for everyone else to hear, but I knew I wouldn't be able to do it without any music) and it just wasn't the same. I started out really fast and by mile 10 I was spent. Between my music problems, the heat and feeling a little dehydrated I didn't quite have the gumption I would have wanted to push myself through the last 3 miles. Definitely room for improvement but still proud of myself for the accomplishment, especially since I've had other health issues that have impeded my training leading up to this. I was proud of our whole group for not only completing our races but a great performance from each individual.

After we had completed our race, the kids participated in the kid's 1/2 mile run, two loops around the track. They did great! They were super excited and took it very seriously. Caitlin did the whole thing by herself, never stopped and was happy as can be, She loved being cheered for and she was very proud of herself. Nolan started with the best of intentions but when the bell rung to start the race there was some jostling and he got pushed back a little and did not like it. Paul grabbed his hand and ran with him and he was happy to do that. He ran holding Paul's hand for the whole race but also never stopped and did great!

(also on) June 27th Paul competed in the Spartan Race. Yes, on the same day. Paul is a super-human. He had a 7 minute power nap then went up to to the 9 mile (up and down mountains) plus cross fit obstacles in the heat of the day. Lorraine and I were able to go watch him and he made every obstacle seem so easy. He's amazing.


Summer Club was the last week of June. Our neighbor puts this on every summer and we have loved it. This year she set it up as a week long thing instead of once a week throughout the summer and this year Nolan was old enough to go to! Each day was a different theme: Pirate Day, Superhero Day, Mighty Kingdom Day, Wild West Day, Profession Day. The kids (mostly Caitlin) liked dressing to the theme and they both made lots of fun projects and had a great time each day,