Water Park and Ballpark!

This summer has been a transitional summer--most of the activities we've done for years my kiddos have started growing out of. And by that I mean the FREE activities. We've left behind the spray park, carousel, and summer movies they've already seen. Now they want to go to the water park, amusement parks, game parks---pretty much any park that costs over $5 a person to get into. :-)

Luckily, because of Cooper's swimming lessons we had a BOGO coupon for the water park.  We've been having really hot temperatures lately, so it seemed like a fun idea. We paid our fee, found a night spot with chairs under an umbrella and played for 4 hours in the lazy river, the water slide, the fountain. There was one damper on the day, however. I got sunburned. IN. THE. SHADE. THE SHADE?! Otherwise it was a really fun day. We finished the library summer reading program and one of the prizes was a free pass to the water park, so it looks like we'll be going back one more time before school starts. This time I'll apply sunscreen wherever I sit!  Here's some pics:

This week we also attended our yearly Chukars game. Unfortunately, they were not having a good game, but we still enjoyed being there and eating cotton candy, chili cheese fries, churros, and ice cream! Cooper giggled over and over about the little snippets of shows the announcer would play at certain times during the game. For instance, when the pitcher from the other team was taking a long time to throw a pitch (he was trying to get the runner on first out who was leading off base) they played someone saying, "Butt scratcher! Get your butt scratchers heeeeere!" Cooper almost wet his pants laughing. Ah, 10-year old boys humor. 😁

Our summer is winding down quickly. Amelia and I have girls camp this week, then only one more week before school registration, shopping, teacher workdays, and end-of-summer activities ramp up! I'll also know (hopefully) in the next few days about our home. Where did this summer go?!

4th of July and Utah Trip!

Our last month has been pretty busy. In fact, our whole SUMMER hasn't been very restful. Instead of lazy days we've had jam-packed ones. Here's a few things we've been doing:

We visited Katie, David, and Linus in Utah and had a fabulous time swimming in her pool:

Hung out with Linus at every possible moment:

We also braved triple-digit temps and went to the Hogle Zoo. Cooper tried to stop the big black ball right at the entrance. He succeeded, but had a wet shirt and shorts for the next fifteen minutes. 'Cuz that's how long it takes for your clothes to dry in that heat. :-)

We saw the giraffes:

And the elephants:

And sea lions, seals, bears, tigers, lions, monkeys, and a whole lot more! We even found cool bridges to cross:

We also had our 4th of July parade. As always, we had a ward breakfast first then sat to watch the parade:

And of course the rodeo! I'm so happy my kiddos love going as much as I do. Well, at least Amelia does. 

Cooper is still taking swimming and guitar lessons, Amelia is doing violin lessons and summer ballet. Girls camp is next, then we start prepping for another school year again!

In case you're not on Facebook, I was pre-approved for a home loan a little over a week ago. I'd planned on looking for a home over the next few months and take my time. Weeellllllllllll, exactly one week later I'm under contract for a townhome half a mile from the school I teach at. I'm still not completely sure how it happened.......hopefully I'll close on August 11 and we'll be moved in and settled before my first teacher workday on the 16th. Then the craziness of the eclipse on the 21st. Then the first day of school on the 23rd.  Sometime after that I may come to grips with the situation. Updates to come!

Birthday Parties and Ballet Recitals

A few weeks ago we had Cooper's birthday party AND Amelia's final ballet recital. Amelia was absolutely amazing! She had a short solo and nailed it! She is so much steadier on her pointe shoes and has improved so much over the last year and a half.
After this year's Nutcracker, she'll start having solos in that ballet also. I can't believe how fast she's growing up and I'm soooo proud of her!

We finally had Cooper's birthday party. It was so crazy with school ending and all the field trips, concerts, etc., we agreed to wait until school was finished. Cooper chose to go to I Jump in Idaho Falls and invited his two friends who have as much energy as he does: 

Amelia also asked a friend to come along:

Now, Amelia IS short, but her friend is also very TALL--taller than me by a few inches. Amelia is wearing her orchestra shirt they got to go compete in Lagoon in May. I don't know if I mentioned it, but her orchestra earned 1st place! She was really excited.

That's it for now. We have swimming lessons, summer ballet, vacations, and girls' camp coming up--summer will be over before we know it!

Memorial Day Weekend 2017

This year we had a low-key weekend. We were all exhausted from the end-of-the-year activities and craziness of completing a school year. We slept in, then went to Freeman Park in Idaho Falls to see the 1,000 flags. It's always such a staggering sight:

Cooper is hiding a 20 oz. 7-UP behind his back. I normally only let him have the 8 oz. cans, so he was thrilled to have a huge one. And yes, he drank the WHOLE THING.

Aren't they just the cutest kids in the world? We still have a lot of activities this week. Amelia will have her final recital for ballet--she has 3 dances this year--and Cooper's birthday party, Yes, it's late. :-)

LAST DAY OF SCHOOL!!

We had our last day of school today! Cooper is officially a 5th grader and in MIDDLE SCHOOL, Amelia is an 8th grader and in junior high, and I'm a second year teacher. Whew. The hardest of those accomplishments was MINE. I'm happy to have my first year finished. I have so much work still to do, but I won't be as confused or overwhelmed next year. I hope.
Here's some pics:

The last few days of school we had a bunch of field trips. It was fun to have Cooper there with me. I will miss him next year!

   

                                 

As always, we begin and end out year with dinner at Pizza Pie Cafe:

   

 

    

On to a busy, fun-filled summer!

Final Recital and Wax Museum

With the school year ending, we are having all the "final" activities of the year.

Yesterday we went to Amelia's final spring recital for her lessons. Her final orchestra concert was last week, before she went to Lagoon for a festival. Which, by the way, she had a fabulous time and I'll get pictures from her to post. Or you can look at her blog: whatameliathinks.blogspot.com

Anyway, here's a video of her performance:

"Mom! Stop embarrassing me!" At least I didn't get out of my seat, walk around to the front, and crouch down to take a picture like other parents. :-)

She did so well! Afterward they had cookies and veggies as refreshment. Both my kids loaded up their plates and came back to where I was standing. I looked at Amelia's plate and said (a tad sarcastically), "Where's the vegetables?" She smiled a sweet, brace-filled smile and replied, "Still in the bowl."

Sigh. We'll work on nutrition this summer.

Cooper also had his wax museum at school. The wax museum is where they choose a person from Idaho history, write a short presentation, dress like them, and deliver it as  a wax figure. The rest of the time they have to stay still. That's asking a lot of 10 year olds! Here's a few pictures and video from Cooper's fabulous presentation:

This week is the LAST WEEK OF SCHOOL! I wish I could say we have a relaxing summer, but far from it. We're trying to squeeze in a quick vacation somewhere--Cooper has a free pass to all national parks until August. Suggestions? :-)

Cooper's Choice

Cooper is getting ready to register for middle school next year. First, let's just take a moment and let me be a touch sad my little guy will be in MIDDLE SCHOOL in the fall.

Okay, we were going over his electives and trying to decide what he wanted to do. Amelia went with orchestra and has loved every second. Cooper wasn't too excited about orchestra, even though Amelia tried to talk him into it. Band didn't really excite him, either. Nor did choir. So finally I told him had to choose something.  He took a moment, then a huge smile bloomed on his face. He said, "Mom, I'm going to play the guitar!" Whaaaaaat?!

After I got over my shock, I went to work making my little man's dream come true. I tried to find guitar lessons in our town and figured if I couldn't I could use that to try and get Cooper to go with his second choice. But, lo and behold, I found someone who taught private guitar lessons, in town, for not much money, AND he had just had a cancellation that happened to be on the one night we aren't booked. With no reason not to, I signed him up.

On the day of his first lesson, Cooper strapped his brand new six-string on his back and strutted into his first lesson. He's been enthralled ever since. Here's a few pictures:

I wish you could see the head bob that goes with this.

Watch out world--the next Jon Bon Jovi is in training!

Of course, we still have to find him an elective. Guitars aren't used in band until junior high.  Sigh. Rock on, Coop!