Bear Lake 2013

 Dan relaxing in the shade at Bear Lake.

 All my kiddos eating breakfast before our day at the lake.

 Rachel built a grand sandcastle when we were at the lake.

We went on a hike to Bloomington Lake.  When we went around the corner, there was a moose standing in a pond eating grass.  Thankfully, the moose didn't care about us.  And I zoomed in for this picture.  I didn't actually get that close to the moose.

 On the hike.

 Alex on the hike.

 Dan and Sam on our hike to Bloomington Lake.

Caleb was really tired on the drive home.

We made a quick trip to Bear Lake this week.  We stayed two nights, and only had one full day at the Lake.  We spent several hours at Bear Lake just playing in the water and sand.  Then we went on a hike to Bloomington Lake.  It was a fun, short hike.  We saw a moose on our hike.  Thankfully it didn't care about us.  We topped off the day with yummy shakes.  We came home tired.

We moved

So much has happened since I last wrote.
On Mother's Day weekend we moved to our new house in Riverton.  I feel so incredibly blessed to have a newer, larger home to raise a family in.  That being said, the new house has come with a mountain of projects.  It was a short sale.  The entire first day we spent loading up a truck and trailer to go to the dump with all of the stuff that got left behind by renters.  We then spent two weeks painting the house.  We used about 30 gallons of paint.  I would like to say that I will never ever paint again.  But there's still a few rooms downstairs left to paint, and a lot of touch ups left.   Dan installed a new hardwood floor in the family room.  He still has one room left to do.  The yard has been a big project too.
There's also a money pit in the backyard.  Oh wait, that's really called a swimming pool.  We fenced it and have put a lot of time and money into getting it up and running. I am just starting to enjoy it.  Today I did swimming lessons with my kids during Sam's nap time instead of driving them to lessons like I do every summer.  Rachel swims well enough to take the lifeguard test when she gets a little older.  Caleb swims well too.  Swimming lessons for him is mostly telling him what strokes to do.  Anna swims well underwater and the breaststroke.  She needs a little work on the front and backstroke.  I got Alex to put his face in the water today for the first time.   The pool is covered and the gate is kept locked.
My kids are totally loving that we now live on a dead end.  Alex has learned to ride his bike without training wheels.  Before bed tonight Caleb realized that he hadn't been on his bike today.  He promptly went out to ride because he has to get one ride a day in at least, he says.

One reason I really love summer is that there's no homework.  I also love spending time with my kids.  They are all so different but so special to me.
Moving to a new ward has been a big adjustment for me.  I loved my old ward.  I feel lonely.  I doubt they will give us callings.  This ward is small and they haven't done a single calling in the month that we've lived here.  Some good has come of it.  All of the kids are in nice primary classes.  Rachel is adjusting to YW.  The ward members seem friendly enough.  Our old bishop was friendly and greeted everyone every week.  I'm sure our new bishop is nice but I wonder how long it will take him to ever say hello.

The Underdog

For months, Caleb begged me to sign him up for basketball.  I signed him up in 3rd grade, and he didn't even get to touch the ball at all during some games.  He's not very agressive.  It didn't bother him.  He just ran along with the other kids and had a fun time.  Well, I gave in and signed him up for Spring basketball.  He is on a 5th/6th grade team.  He is in 5th grade, and one of the younger kids in his grade.  He thinks its great even though he plays less than the other kids, and he goes entire games without touching the ball.  Yesterday was a little different.
At the beginning of the game, the teams were pretty even.  But by the second quarter, Caleb's team was losing by a lot.  Just after halftime, they started having trouble with the scoreboard.  So, they could no longer even put the score up. 
When there was three minutes left in the game, Caleb's coach put him back in the game.  I was kind of surprised.  Caleb had not even touched the ball during the game to that point.  Then someone fouled Caleb.  I'm not sure if he even had the ball.  The referee put him at the free-throw line.  His first shot was an air ball.  For the next free-thrown the ref moved him up a few feet.  And he made it!!  After the free throw, someone passed Caleb the ball, and he attempted a shot.  He was fouled again.  Once again, he got to the free-throw line.  Well, actually 4 feet in front of the free throw line.    He made another shot!!  He missed the next one.  But the awesome thing was that the other team was cheering him on and giving him high fives.  So was his team.  My little underdog made two shots!  And I almost cried. 
The kindness shown by the refs and the other team was amazing!  Caleb was on cloud nine all day yesterday.  And he's still talking about it today.
If you have an "underdog" child you'll understand why this was a great day.