Fishing at Lake Lowell in Caldwell

Daekon fishing in Lake Lowell
Jolee caught the big one!!

Ashlyn's dance recital

Before the recital
Ashlyn and her dance teacher, Miss Ariella

Summer

Wow!! I can't believe it's been a month since I've posted anything on my blog. We've been having a very fun but busy summer. It seems like every time we turn around we are either going somewhere or else we have visitors(mainly family). Summer started with a bang by having swimming lessons and Ashlyn having her first dance recital and BOY did she do a really great job. We were very proud of her and I think she was pretty pleased with herself as well. She asked me earlier in the day if people were going to clap for her and I said yes they probably would. Well, you would've thought by watching her on stage that she was the only one up there. After the recital we left the next day for Idaho and spent some time visiting Tony's sister in Caldwell(she has boys the same age as my boys) and then we went to Rupert and Twin Falls to visit Sarah's family and Mom and Dad. Sorry we didn't make to Utah for most of the rest of you. We had a blast but it seemed like we were gone forever. 12 days!! We got home in time for Tony to go to work and for Brayden start cub scout camp. He enjoyed himself and I got to hang out with our troop for 1 of the days. During this time we also enjoyed the company of Tony's brother Dezi, and his son Phoenix(he was visiting from Minnesota), and Tony's parents; who we see several times a week anyway. We enjoy their company. After that we went to the beach and stayed in our friends' cabins on her beach property(it's about 1.5miles from the beach) in Long Beach, WA. We camped there for 3 nights and it was pretty cold with lots of wind. Aunt Carla, Allison and her 2 kids stayed with us. We had alot of fun but wished it would've been warmer. The day after we got home from the beach, Ashlyn had her very first friend birthday party. She turned 5. She said it was the "best day of her life" and "her luckiest day ever"!She had herself a dress up party and we had a parade, pinata, 3 tierd cake(chocolate of course), etc...It was fun!! Then we had Phoenix's party the next day(he's 5 too) and then on Sunday we had Daekons(he's 11). Oh yeah, on Saturday we had the pioneer picnic. Very fun!! Needless to say haven't had a dull moment around here!! We will be heading to Caldwell this Thursday for a short trip to visit Tony's sister and family again. Tony and Jolee will be singing a wonderful version of "How great thou art" in her ward on Sunday. We will also be going to Roaring Springs and going to the Caldwell Drive-in theater. I'll leave it at that for awhile and update you on all the happenings a little later on.

Feeding Spaz, the neighborhood squirrel.

Last day of school for 2007-2008 school year

Pic of Daekon with 2 of his friends from Classlink 5/6(Matthew and Jenny). Brayden is also there.
Daekon enjoying a swim.
Ashlyn floating on her back.
Brayden working on his side breathing.

This is a pic of the boys at the Balholms (Tony's aunt and uncle) and they played down in the creek and got all muddy.
Brayden is getting a math award from his math teacher. The Jr. Math Scholar award.
Brayden 1/2 classlink class and teacher Mrs. Rothacher.

Well the last day of school finished yesterday and it was party hardy all day long for the boys. For those of you who don't know, I do homeschool my kids part time but 2 days a week they attend River Homelink http://www.bgsd.k12.wa.us/riv/Index-RiverHL.html. This is a parent-partnered school for homeschooling families. They are an accredited school with certified teachers and they have upwards of 600 students grades K-12. Anyway, (if you have any questions, feel free to ask)yesterday was the last of class at homelink. They had lots of fun and are ready for a break from homeschool and homelink. They will however still be doing some school at home just to keep them from losing their brains. I can't believe Daekon will be in 6th grade next year, Brayden 3rd and Ashlyn will be starting Kindergarten. It is all very exciting but sad to see my little ones getting bigger. I am very proud of them and the hard work they put in when it comes to learning.

When they got home yesterday, I told the boys to do their jobs and Brayden said,"What? but it's summer break!"

They kids also started swimming lessons yesterday evening at the Camas pool. It was so cold outside. 55 degrees. Not exactly swimming weather but the pool was warm and they enjoyed themselves and got some great exercise. Today looks like it will be about the same type of weather. Can't wait for some sun and a little warmer would be nice.

We are looking forward to coming to visit various family members this summer and all the fun things that come with summer break.

Just so you know.........

"Just so you know Mom, I'm scared of scary things." Ashlyn (age4)

upside down

We went to the Portland Rose Festival last weekend and the boys had fun riding on all the upside down rides!!