piano lessons

It's pretty amazing when a woman in your ward teaches piano lessons!  And when she only charges $10 per 30 minute lesson, you jump for joy!  Seriously, she is amazing, and I feel like the service she is doing for all these kids in our ward is commendable. Sister Duff was Brooke's sunbeam teacher, which is when Brooke fell in love with her.  She is patient, kind, and always made Brooke feel special.  At the end of May, I was emailing with her about a YW thing, and she randomly asked if I wanted Brooke to start piano lessons.  I figured she would start when she was 6 or 7, but Sister Duff explained that she started out calling them "piano games", and that she had several other students who were 5.  I wasn't sure how Brooke would feel about it, but when I casually mentioned it, she literally ran around the house screaming with excitement.  That made the decision easy :).The first lesson was adorable and I could tell that Brooke was very comfortable throughout the whole thing.  Sister Duff's style is very low pressure and high encouragement, which is great for an early learner.

The whole experience has been so enjoyable.  Sister Duff doesn't have any grandkids yet, but half of her living room houses all sorts of toys for the siblings of her piano students.  Colby has a blast, all while Brooke has her lesson and I can sit and watch the whole thing.  After each lesson, she allows the students to pick a small toy from her box, as well as a treat.  She even lets Colby pick a treat :)

I'm excited to see Brooke continue to grow and develop her skills!

pool days

When it's blazing hot outside, we hang out at the pool!  This summer seemed especially hot, but we had so many fun pool days with the Arlington gang.  And Danielle is nice enough to capture the best moments :)

I wanted to love this picture when it arrived in my email, but I was super critical of myself.  I hadn't announced my pregnancy yet and I just thought I looked fat.  But now this picture means a ton to me because it documents the baby that was growing inside me, and captures my matchiness with Brooke.

Brooke loves baby Camden :)

I'm so glad that our friends would make the drive over to swim with us each week.  It really made the summer that much more fun!

best daddy

What better day to honor Kevin than on Father's Day?  These kids love and adore their Daddy, and I love the special relationship he has with each of them. He is patient and kind with them, which is so refreshing when I am struggling with patience.  He will always let them help and assist in any task he is doing.  When they want someone to play with, he will make time for them. And he has the sweetest conversations with our kids as he lies next to them at night.

I love watching Kevin in his role as Daddy, and I am grateful that Brooke and Colby will never doubt their Daddy's intense love and appreciation for his littles.

swim lessons

We signed Brooke up for another round of swim lessons at the Natatorium.  She started out at level 3, and the first lesson was amazing.  She basically had one-on-one instruction, and was really making progress.  The next few days were really frustrating for me because she was with two other kids (and one instructor), so she wasn't getting the swim time and the coach wasn't pushing her.  We had been swimming at home, so I knew what she was capable of, and she wasn't performing at her lessons.

I finally went and said something to the director, so she sent someone over to work with her for probably 10 minutes of the 30 minute lesson, and again, she made progress.  This continued until the end of the lessons, but I wasn't as impressed with the coaches as I was last year.

She did gain confidence by the end of the two week lesson period, so I was happy about that.  She was swimming all over our pool by the end of the summer, so I'm excited to see where she's at next summer.

Shoutout to Colby who was a champ at sitting in the spectator section every morning for 30 minutes...

He just needs snacks and he is a happy camper :)

5 year old pics

I love these annual pictures, but I made the executive decision that we may officially be done with the balloon part of it! Each balloon costs $5 because of the amount of helium needed to inflate them, and then there's the issue of transporting them to the picture spot.  But look at that face...

I love my little people so much, and I adore this picture of them together.

Danielle always does a beautiful job with the pictures, and since she always get one of me with the kids, I made sure my outfit coordinated :)

five years old

How can it be that my little girl is 5 years old already?  Time is really flying, but this is such a fun age. She was so excited about her presents when she came down the stairs.  The hard part was waiting all day to open them, haha! 

I had planned a special date, just the two of us, to the American Girl store and cafe.  We were both super excited, and it was cute to see her wander around the store in awe.

When it was time for our lunch reservation, we headed upstairs and were seated.  They have highchairs for dolls, which made the whole experience extra special.

The food presentation was adorable, but her favorite part was probably the orange sparkly drink. 

At the table, they had a little box with conversation cards.  I was able to chat with my little girl about all sorts of topics, and really just live in the moment.  We really should do one-on-one dates more often.  I love our "girl team", as Brooke calls it.

We wandered around the shop after lunch and Brooke picked out a new outfit for her Bitty Baby.  She also had some birthday money, so she picked out a new brush for her doll, along with a pink baby wipe container.

That afternoon, we headed to Hawaiian Falls. We didn't want Colby to miss out on the birthday celebration!

Saturday was her birthday party, which was a ton of fun!  Brooke loves to plan parties, and her birthday party was no exception. A few months earlier, Brooke was invited to a friend's backyard birthday party. They had an inflatable water slide, which was a huge hit.  We decided to do the same, and found a fun slide with dolphins on top :). It totally ruined our lawn in the backyard, but it was SO fun for the kids. The bright colored lanterns and balloons helped set the tone for my happy girl's big day...

Kevin was the all-time slide monitor, which was amazing!  A few of the kids needed frequent reminders to follow the slide rules, so Kevin made sure they all complied. Tracy later made a comment that Kevin is the most patient person she has ever met, haha.  

After the kids played for a bit, they made their way to the table for donuts, muffins, and fruit.  I stuck the candles in a donut stack for Brooke, and we sang to the birthday girl.  The candles wouldn't stay lit because of the breeze, so I finally gave up and told her to pretend to blow out the candles.  

This was the face she made, haha!

Cousins!!

Papa and Grandma...

All the little friends...

Brooke was completely spoiled with gifts, but she didn't complain about it.

When the party was over, we headed out to lunch with the family at Jake's.  Colby was Uncle Jeff's buddy :). We enjoyed a yummy meal together, then headed home to rest and relax after a busy morning.

We had the water slide until Sunday, which meant that the kids had more time to play that afternoon! Colby definitely had more fun since it wasn't as crowded as it was with all the friends. Brooks and Morgan Taggart came over to play, and we stayed out there for a few more hours while Kevin figured out the best way to drain all that water!

As we went to bed that night, I asked Brooke if she enjoyed her day.  She said something along the lines of having the best day EVER, so I'd call it a success :)