Preparing to Go Back to School

This past week was crazy at our house. Between family and getting stuff ready, we didn't have a lot of free time. Brax went back to the eye doctor for his annual check up. His eyes have pretty much stayed the same. His prescription is still +6 in both eyes. He's quite far sided. He still has the lazy eyes and the glasses help keep it under control. He is getting some cool new glasses and he's way excited about them. I'll post a picture when he gets them. He also finished another 2 weeks of swimming lessons. He did such an amazing job. He jumped off the diving board and swam four laps during the week. I am so proud of him. The teacher worried he was a little too young and recommended he take level 4 again. He has a few places he needs to improve. He did such a great job and we are both so proud of him.

Cowley Family Trip to Hurricane

August 10th-12th was the annual trip down to Hurricane for my mom, youngest sister, sister-in-law, and nieces and nephew. The Saturday before my other sister, Cara, had her baby and was unable to come. Shanelle had been here all week because we're looking for a job for her down here. If we can find her one, she'll move in with us. That's what we did on Monday and Tuesday.

Wednesday is when the rest of the family came. We went to see the Little Mermaid at Tuacahn Ampitheater. The kids sat through it and had a great time. We had frozen strawberry lemonade and popcorn. We had seats on the right front side of the theater. I was on the outside aisle and sat right by where the seagull did a lot of stuff. We were on the 5th row back. It was so much fun and I'm glad we went.

Shanelle, my mom, Luke, Kennedy, Braxten, Jacey, Katie

Thursday we took it easy. We were all exhausted from the night before and the kids got up early. We lounged around and watched a movie, The Last Song. Brax had swim lessons so we waited until they were over. My mom and I swam laps. After that and lunch we went into St. George and went shopping for school clothes and other things. It was fun to spend the day together. That evening we got pizza and went to the Hurricane City Splash Pad. It's one of our new favorite places. We played there for a couple hours. Around 8:45 we decided we were done. Branden volunteered to take the kids home so the adults went to YUMZ for frozen yogurt. After that we took Shanelle back to the house. Katie, my mom, and myself went to Wal-Mart to pick up a few things. We had a good laugh on the way there due to a driving incident.

Shoe Carnival

Old Navy

Our Monkey Man

Friday we got up and headed to Sand Hollow. We got there about 9 am. We went swimming, cliff jumping, and playing in the sand. The kids even jumped a little. We took them across to the center island. My mom and Katie jumped for the first time. Shanelle had jumped on Monday night when we went out for Family Home Evening. We saw some fish while we were jumping too. Brax jumped off the higher cliff for the first time as well. It was only half as high as the adults were jumping. It wore us all out. Some look like lobsters, some just can't move. We got back to the house about 1 pm. I made lunch, orange chicken. Katie and my mom went to Costco. After that they all got ready to go and headed home. I crashed on the couch after that. I'm so glad they all came down. Shanelle is coming down again next week. It's nice to have her around. It's always nice to see family!

Anderson Family Campout 2011

Every year the Anderson's camp out at Fish Lake in one of the camping sites. This year we decided to go all week. We left our house Sunday, July 24th and headed to Venice. We spent some time with my family and did some work on our other house. After that on Monday afternoon we headed to Fish Lake. We got a single site this year, but everyone joined together in the one big one. We stayed up there Monday through Sunday, but I did head down Wednesday with most of the women for a shower and to help my sister with job applications. We got rained on a lot while we were there. I think we only had two days that it didn't rain. The only one missing from the Anderson clan this year was my brother-in-law Terry. It was nice to have pretty much everyone together again. It's been a while since that happened. A lot of Branden's other relatives came up for the weekend. It's always nice to get away from cell phones, computers, and televisions for a while. We had time to visit, play games, and enjoy nature. I tried to go for a walk every day when possible. Brax had an accident on Thursday night. He was riding his cousin's bike and crashed somehow hitting his chin on the handle bars. His bottom two teeth came up through his tongue. He said when he would drink things the liquid would go all the way through his hole. It was bloody and gross, but is already healed and you'd never know by looking at it. I'm very glad we went and were able to spend time with so many wonderful family members. Being home is also exciting, I'm ready to get back in the swing of things. Two weeks from today school starts!

He looks so cute on his cousin's pink bike.

I couldn't get him to smile.


Branden and our niece, Brinley.


Braxten's tongue after the accident.

Playing horse shoes, we won one game.

Branden and three of his brother playing Pinochle.

Brax thought he was cold so he had his coat and my vest.

Swim Lessons and Splash Pad

This year I decided to sign Brax up for swim lessons at the Hurricane City Pool. He did pretty well and had a great time. He even passed level 3 and just started level 4 today. He is our little fish. He is getting more daring in the deep end, but still is a little scared. I didn't take a lot of pictures though because I signed him up for noon lessons so I could swim laps. He does better when I'm not watching. I did end up with pneumonia and a sinus infection so I didn't swim on the final day. I snapped a few.

For a ward Relief Society activity we had a family picnic at the new Hurricane Splash Pad. It was fun to get to see everyone and have Braxy play at the splash pad for the first time. We were there for 2.5 hours and it was hard getting him to go home. The splash pad is right next to the community center and they also have a couple playgrounds. It's a lot of fun. I can't wait to take him down there again.

Every 24th of July the wards in our stake have a float in the parade that the kids get to ride on. This year I was in charge of getting the candy. I got quite a bit, but it worked. We had more than enough. I didn't feel real great so I rode in the back of the truck while some of the other leaders walked. We had fun, but I'm glad it's over.

Sand Hollow Boating Trip

Last weekend our friends, the Buells, invited us out to Sand Hollow on their boat. I was a little nervous due to the fact that I have some major motion sickness issues, but thought it sounded fun and wanted to try it out anyway. They are a fun family and we love doing things with them. They came and got us Saturday morning at approx. 9 am. We went out to Sand Hollow and off we went. I did take an anti-nausea pill before we lift and sprayed us all with sunscreen. When we got out there we did some swimming while they got the knee board ready for their son. We hadn't been out yet this year so Brax was once again nervous about swimming with his life jacket. Brandon B. tied him to a rope and lowered him down into the water to ease his fear and it really helped. After that their boy went knee boarding and then Abbie. Branden decided to try it and did pretty well for a first timer. Brax was flipping out that his dad was out there though. He kept crying and saying get my dad back in the boat. I'm not quite sure why that was though. I'd finally decided to try until Brax started crying. Who knows? After that Brandon B. went out on the knee board for a little. Brax really wanted to fish after that so everyone got the poles out and baited them with worms. I was starting to get a little sick to my stomach so I jumped in the water and swam/treaded while they fished for an hour and a half. Brax ended up catching 7 fish and I think the Buell children caught 6 as well. They were all having a good time. We then drove in closer to the center island. Abbie and I took the three kids into shore and I took them to our favorite cliff jumping spot. We did some rock climbing to get our way across to the cliff. Their son and I jumped while Abbie and her daughter, as well as Brax watched and jumped off some rocks. We swam back to the boat after a while and then all they guys except Brax swam out and went jumping. It started to get windy so we all got back in the boat and headed back to shore. It was a lot of fun and I'm sure glad we went. I didn't reapply sunscreen though so my face is fried. For some reason, everyone else was okay. Thanks again Buells for a wonderful day on the water.

Proud little man!
The best shot I got!

Fourth of July Weekend

For the 4th of July weekend we decided to head up and see family. We had a lot of things going on. We were throwing a baby shower for my sister and Branden's cousin got married. We were able to hit all the wedding ceremonies and Cara's baby shower went really well. We were able to visit with family and friends that we hadn't seen in a while. The baby shower was an open house and we had a lot of food. It was good to see people and have them come and go as they pleased. Branden's whole family ended up being there for the wedding festivities and so it was nice to spend time with everyone again. It doesn't happen that often. They had a great fireworks show after the family dinner and that was awesome! Of course you can't go a weekend at the Andersons without playing games either so we did a little bit of that too. I've learned I need to take more photos though. I have very few pictures of everything that we did.

My gorgeous sisters!

All the food at the baby shower!Playing games at the Anderson's.

Sunday was our relax day and then Monday was the 4th. Monday morning we were able to go to the Richfield parade with the Andersons and Arnells. We had fun watching the parade, although this year it was more of a driving advertisement. We normally go to my grandma Spencer's for lunch, but she didn't hold it this year so we went to Cara's apartment instead. We hadn't seen it yet. We then went to our friend's house and visited with them for a while. After that we hit our parent's house to say goodbye to everyone and headed home. We were exhausted because the Cowley cousins had a sleep over and didn't go to bed until about 4 am. I was barely able to get up that morning. We made it home in time to make dinner and for Brax and I to watch the Hurricane fireworks. I must say that I do prefer Hurricane's fireworks display to Richfield's. They did start the hill on fire above the water and power company buildings, but put it out quickly. We are blessed to have such wonderful families and friends.

Rhett and Branden
Can't wait for the parade to start!
Whose kid is that climbing on the sign anyway?

They look much better in person!

Father's Day

Father's Day was a fun one for Brax this year. Branden just wanted money so he can save up for a pistol. Brax is like his mom though and wanted to pick daddy out a present. I had $10 off at JC Penney so I went in to get Branden some shorts that were $9.99 on sale. Brax found some shorts and an Angry Birds shirt he just had to get his dad. Brax was so excited to have Branden open the present he bought him. Branden ended up putting the shirt on Brax, but oh what a proud son we had that day. He sure loves his dad.