Flip! Owwwwww!

Saturday we went to Greenfield Pool as a family. Since Dana was there, I had a chance to try out what my kids do every single morning, bright and early for practice. Swimming and Diving. I've had lots of time to sit and watch Emma and Eli as they do their stuff. I knew Emma was a good swimmer. But man! All that practice pays off.

I never learned to swim "the right way" as a kid and now whenever I get a chance, I practice. I've talked to a few moms about how we'd love a swim team for grown-ups. I could wear my mom suit and show everyone the hilarious attached bottoms inside the skirt.

So anyway- I started out swimming freestyle. I struggled to get my head to the side enough so I didn't breathe in water. In my defense, a rubberband would have been very helpful. I did a rather pathetic job on my first lap and decided to try again. At the end of the lap, feeling a little more capable (and quite tired), Emma came to join me. She offered to race me in backstroke. She gave me the basic instructions and we were off. I threw aside good-mom etiquette and tried to beat her fair and square. When I got to the end of the lane I came up to see her big smile beaming at me. I would like to say she let me down easy, but I guess she hasn't learned good-kid etiquette yet. I heard a lot of "Oh my gosh mom- you can barely breathe and you did like 3 laps! I do like 13 and I never breathe that hard!" She was sooo right. I need to get some practice. One more reason I need a pool someday. In case 4 months of 100+ temps isn't enough.

Here is Emma warming up for swim team at 7:15am.
My little pro. I'm jealous of my 9 year old- I'll admit it.

Next, we dripped our way to the diving board. Did I mention I never learned to dive either? Let's just say in my family sports was towards the bottom of the priority list. I'm pretty sure I would've been even more terrified than I am now. I tried out what Eli was taught to do. Bend down, arms over ears pointed at the water and fall head down. When I felt a little decent at that, I wanted to try the flip. It looks so easy and effortless for so many of those kids. Emma tried too. We both backflopped a couple times before we called it quits until another day.

This is what we saw ALOT of from Eli at the beginning of dive team.

Realizing he needed more practice and help than he was going to get from the teenage lifeguard-coaches at dive team, I began thinking of pools with diving boards. Luckily, I didn't have to think too long. My sweet cousin-in-law, Letta, volunteered herself to give him instruction. I'm not sure she knew what she was in for because Eli can be somewhat difficult and is not afraid to express his feelings and frustration to anyone. Even more so when he's shivering cold. But she was so wonderful. She turned the dive above, into the dive below.

On the first day when he was crying and panicked to jump off I wasn't sure I was going to see anything like this. Made my heart jump for joy everytime. I can't say he really likes diving but he did it, he stuck with it and that's all that counts.

I am so glad that I got to try out what they've spent so much time on. It was an eye-opening experience for me. I definetly admire these little people. Mine and all the kids there. They work so hard!

My "big" kids teach me so much constantly. How rewarding as a mom to watch your kids grow and turn into the people they will become.

We Should Be Doing Flashcards

The kids LOVE the sports action feature on my camara. It started out with little actions and now little skits. And there are many more. We're making great use of time over here passing the summer hours away!

Ahhhhh Vacation

Well here we are- back in the desert. I do truly love our home and area, but I have to admit to feeling pretty heartsick when we left the beach to come back. Four days just didn't seem long enough. But I am sooooo grateful we got to go. And don't worry I basically took a play-by-play of the whole thing with my deluxe camera. Over 300 pictures to be more specific. I'm so used to my old camera having 22 pictures and therefore being extremely choosey about what I take pictures of, that this was definetly a new experience for me. And super fun, I have to say. It's been really hard to pick which ones to post and I probably have too many but hey it's the beach! Photography heaven right?

DAY 1- We checked into our hotel in the afternoon and could hardly hold the kids back from running out the door to get to the beach.

Luckily we didn't have too far to go.
Let the fun begin!

Holly loves and looks up to Emma so much.

This one kinda turned out flourescent and I have no idea why...but it looks pretty and like Hawaii water.

Huge highlight of that day was finally meeting Sally's boyfriend. What a great guy. Are they so cute or what?
Extra fun when the cousins arrived.

We checked out the campsite and had dinner. We had 2 hotel rooms and 1 campsite and rotated between them. So we got smores AND clean showers. Nice.DAY 2- Some more family came- Uncle Steve and his family, Aunt Nancee and much of her family. So the kids had cousins and 2nd cousins to play with and were so excited when Uncle Jeff finally got there.

This picture is basically what I saw Emma doing 80% of the time. Looking for crabs and any other sea creatures she could get her hands on.

Tay taught everyone a game called "Ninja" she learned at Girls Camp. That was a big hit!

That night Dana, Miranda, and I were in charge of dinner. Inspired by CubScout camp, we made foil dinners. They were so easy and turned out really well. Someone had heard about putting Reeses inside smores rather than Hersheys so mom bought some. Soooo good.

DAY 3- We heard there were tide pools nearby so we checked it out. It was overcast most of that day, so it was a great time to do it. It was so beautiful and probably my favorite part. We also heard there was a cave at the end of a trail we were on. It was awesome and such a bonus surprise! Later we went to a beach that was great for little kids because it didn't have waves. Sadie finally ventured into the water a bit. Jeffy rented a kayak and the sun came out! Yeah!

This is the tunnel leading to the cave- from inside the cave.

Pretty colors.

Pretty baby.

Me and the girls in the cave.

Emma takes after her dad.

Even better than the beach: Family time.

Mom and Tay. My mom worked so hard to make everything run smoothly. She is one of a kind.

Auntie Randa and Sadie. My siblings all really play with and love their nieces and nephews. And they are definetly loved back.

Jeff didn't really like his picture taken so I had to take it on the sly.

Sadie sleeping sandy, dirty, and super sweet at the hotel.

That night I got to camp with my sisters (we missed you Amy) and mom and talk until late around the campfire. That was such a treat. I feel so blessed to be part of my awesome family.

Day 4- Packing everything up and heading home. For me, the trip could not have been any better. Since it was our first time there we had a few little glitches but I'm hoping we go there at least one more time and we'll have everything figured out. And maybe have a couple more days.

Goodbye beach!

Til next time.

Say Cheese!

I've had fun trying out my camera today. Here are my favorite pictures from today of 4 of my favorite people- and the most accessible subjects.


I couldn't decide between Sadie's pictures. I really like both. I am LOVIN' it! :)

P.S. I'm showing off the camera's skills not my own. I'm just the button pusher.