Bacteria

We were driving in the car the other day and Adrienne asked me, "Do you have to pay for bacteria?" I could not think of what in the world she could be talking about... I asked her what she meant and she kept saying, "you know for the bacteria, do you have to bring money for it or what?" I was puzzled until she adamantly said "you know, at school, the bacteria!!!" It helped to have a little context and realized quickly that she was referring to the school cafeteria! I told her yes you do have to bring your own money and that the correct name for it is the cafeteria. I think that school lunch may have improved, but from what I remember from school lunch days, bacteria may not be too far off! (what do you think Uncle Joey, don't you eat the "Bacteria" food at your elementary school?:)

L-O-V-E

Adrienne had her first official dance recital last week. Her class performed a tap number to Natalie Cole's song L-O-V-E. She was adorable up there! Here are some pics from the dress rehearsal and the night of the recital...

Adrienne and her friend Avery had fun being in the same dance class all year long!

I love my roses, Thanks Dad (& mom)!

Somebody turned 3 today!

Little Coop is not so little anymore! I can't believe he's three! He excitedly told everyone he got his very own BIG bike for his birthday.

Tonight we went to Guapos, a Mexican restaurant, for dinner. The kids love getting rice and beans there and Cooper has always enjoyed watching people get sung to. I thought that he might get a little nervous and mentioned to Ryan that we should maybe warn him that they were coming, but Ryan said, "oh don't worry he'll be fine."

Feliz Cumpleaños and wearing a sombrero were a NO GO at first. He got really embarrassed and started crying. He did eventually warm up and posed for a few pictures!



On our way home I asked if he had a good birthday and with a big smile on his face he said "YES" I then asked if he liked being sung to and he said, with another big smile on his face, " I crying, I didn't yike it!"

Dad's day weekend...

We love you daddy

oh yes we do

when you're not with us we're blue

we love you daddy, we do

oh daddy we love you!

We had a nice and busy Father's Day weekend.... here are some pictures from our ward camp out and dad's day!

the kids had a blast camping, the parents, well, we love our children:) Notice our beautiful glowing faces:)nothing like camping in humidity, yuck!

Jumping off the diving board...

Adrienne's last day of swim class was today and she's gotten to be a little fish! Last year she wasn't a fan of putting her face and ears in the water and isn't hesitant a bit these days!

Short and sweet...

ABCs by Cooper

Wahoo!

Cooper had a play date with his buddy Mason today. As I pulled up to his house Cooper put both hands in the air and yelled with excitement, "Mason's house, WAHOO!"

As you can tell Cooper is all smiles hangin' out with Mason

(the popsicle was also a plus!)

WAHOO!

We passed...

Our week class came to an end today and Emily and I are now in possession of a little yellow laminated card! The card will allow us to rent a scull and go out on the water by ourselves. We plan on getting out on the water again soon!

Today one of the guys in our class flipped his scull and ended up in the water. I didn't see it happen, but realized someone had gone overboard when I saw our instructor zipping along in his little motor boat. I looked in the direction he was headed and saw an overturned scull with someone hanging on, but couldn't tell who it was. I scanned the water to figure out who had fallen in and couldn't see Emily. I kept thinking in my head, "please don't be Emily, please don't be Emily, please don't be Emily" and then I started thinking, "Oh no, I think Emily went over!" When I finally spotted her rowing I was so relieved she hadn't taken a swim!

Adrienne has begged every morning to come down and watch "Mommy row on the Potomac" so they came and watched the end of my class and took some pictures...

This week I got a few glimpses of the "zen of rowing" that our instructor Joe kept asking if we were finding. I'll need to get out there more before I'm sweeping across the water completely relaxed with the baby ducks splashing and the fish jumping, but I'm headed in the right direction:)

I'm a Sculler?

warm-up on the ergs, square your blades, don't fall in, starboard oar, go to the catch, port oar, bow, stern, don't tip the boat, feather your blades, go to the finish, don't put pressure on your oars, NEVER take your hands off the oars, bring your oars with your hands left over right, relax, find the zen of rowing, stroke, don't fall in, your oars resting on the water are your training wheels, the boat is your PFD... if you go over board hold onto your boat, it floats! weigh 'nuf

On Monday my friend Emily and I started a little adventure in the world of rowing... sculling to be specific!

We went through safety procedures, boating terms and practiced on the rowing machines, aka ergs. I was a little disappointed that we wouldn't be going on the water the first day. However, after hearing a lot of "if you do this... you'll end up in the water" during the instructions I started thinking, hmmm I want to go ON the water not IN the water! Monday we also went out and took a look at the single person scull we'd be rowing and I got NERVOUS! I thought I would be in something more like a canoe, something with some depth, to sit in. In a scull you're sitting right on top of the boat and it looked very tipsy to me!

Tuesday we were able to go out on the water in a quad. The quads are a lot bigger and felt quite stable. I was happy to have the chance to be on the water without falling in and hoped that I would be as successful on my own.

Success! Today I went out in a scull on the water by myself without incident! I took it slow and steady... my goal was pretty simple, DON'T TURN THE SCULL & END UP IN THE WATER!

My next goal? To look like this lady... :)

A week at the beach for the...

more pics to follow...