Summer is coming to a close?!

Today I looked at the calendar and realized that in two days, I'll be flipping the page to August. What?! That means school is coming. That means there are only 3 more weeks of summer. That means Randy goes back to work. That means our lives will shift back into real schedule. For a moment, I was sad. I love summertime because we spend so much time together. We go on a million adventures, which most days I love. :) There are days when I drag my feet heading out the door, but in the end, we always have a blast. So instead of being sad and moping around because summer will end in 3 weeks, I'm going to show you all the fun that we've had. Most of you follow our other blog, so you have seen the adventures. I'll try to choose new pictures, but there might be a few repeats!

So here it is, our summer in a nutshell. Well, there are way too many pictures to fit in a nutshell. In no particular order....

Scheels 

Seth loved the zoo.

Nielsen's Grove park in Orem

Sandhill Cranes at Wildlife Refuge in Idaho.

Yellowstone

Tetons

Peppermint Place

Heritage Park in Cedar Hills

Seth's First Birthday!

Ensign Peak

Goblin Valley

Willow Heights Trail

Little Wild Horse Canyon

Capitol Reef

Dino Quarry

Gateway Fountain & Children's Museum

Mark's 7th Birthday!

Seth at the doctor--his first sucker!

Living Planet Aquarium with some friends!

Provo Splash Pad

Golden Spike National Historic Site

Sprial Jetty--do you like Mark trying to
 sneak in the picture? Dax hates that!

Trips to the Lehi Pool

Jordanelle State Park

Fairy Forest

Bees Game

Fossil Butte

Junior Ranger Programs EVERYWHERE!

Fort Bridger

Swinging Bridge American Fork Canyon

Riding the ponies at Frontier Camp

Days of 47 Rodeo

Boating on Utah Lake

Lots of tee ball and baseball games.

Hours and hours of playing outside.
Seth is partial to the dirt.

Thiokol Rocket display

Ogden Union Station

Ogden Nature Center

Ott Planetarium

Too many adventures for Dax.

What do you do with 1 kid?

My mom with Mark & Dax and their cousin, Abby.

My mom is an awesome grandma. She asked me earlier this summer if Mark and Dax could come and stay with her for a few days all by themselves. Just a little mini vacation for them at grandma's house. Of course I agreed, and off they went yesterday to grandma's. So then I sat here and stared at Seth and wondered what I used to do with just one child. It's hard to remember those days of just having Mark around. I remember crying the first few weeks when Randy went back to work because I wasn't going and what was I going to do with myself all day. But Mark and I made it.

So Seth is going to be getting a lot of attention from mom and dad for the next few days, if we can remember how to give 100% of our attention to a child. We're so used to dividing our attention. I think Seth will have the hardest time without his brothers to play with, but I'm hoping he'll learn a few new things like how to say some words and not throw a fit if you don't get your way. I'm also planning on getting some things done around the house that I never do because I am chasing three boys around--a little scrapbooking, some organizing of closets, and maybe I'll even take a nap when Seth does.

My mom threw Mark and Dax their own little birthday parties!

My dad and mom took us out to eat on Seth's birthday!

Grandma & Grandpa with all their grandkids, except Raymond who was just born.
Seth is not happy!

Side Note: After I wrote this post, I thought about how Randy's mom was an awesome grandma, too. She always made the grandkids feel special and she made sure to spend time with each one of them. I remember very few times when she wasn't playing cards with one of the grandkids. My boys never knew Grandma Ockey, but they will someday. I'm grateful for Grandma Ockey and how she raised my husband and all she taught me in the few years that I knew her.

Boating

Getting ready for his first ride!

On Saturday, Randy's sister and family took us out on their boat at Utah Lake. Mark has been begging to go tubing. I have to confess that I never believed that he would actually get on the tube. Last year, Mark and Dax went on the boat, but they wouldn't get out into the water. But this year, Mark said he would ride on the tube with dad. I guess I shouldn't have doubted him since he has been so brave at swimming lessons.

Mark had a lot of fun! He rode the tube with dad, with Ty his cousin, and at the end, all by himself. He even changed tubes mid-ride and put his hand and leg in the water while riding. On Mark's last ride, he wanted to go alone, but since he is so light, the tube submarined and down he went into the lake. He came right back up, grabbed the tube, and Ty had already jumped in to help get him back on. I was sure that he would cry and say he wanted to get in the boat, but I was wrong again. Mark hopped on that tube and rode all alone. I am slowly learning not to doubt my kids. He can't wait to go tubing again!

Randy rode the tubes and did a little waterskiing, but Dax didn't want to do anything except drive the boat. He was a pretty good driver! I'm guessing he'll be out on the tubes next year. Seth was happy at first, but then pure exhaustion kicked in and he cried for the last half hour. He hated wearing the life jacket and just needed a nap. Other than the screaming, it was a great trip.

Seth is still happy. We've only been on the lake for a few minutes.

Mark and Dax both love riding in the boat.

Dax driving the boat.

Randy waterskiing!

Ty doing lots of fancy tricks. Mark just holding on for dear life.

Getting braver...let go of the handle to wave.

Going alone! Wow!

Now he's on a different tube...he was so adventurous.

I am putting a video on of Mark's first ride and his last ride. It is about 1 and 1/2 minutes long. Seth is crying through the second half--sorry.

Swimming Lessons

Dax loves this game--dance on the side until they
 call your name and then jump in!

Swimming lessons will end tomorrow and I am actually sad. For the last few years, swimming lessons have involved tears, sitting on the side, or dragging our feet over to the pool. But this year was different. For some reason, Mark and Dax have become much more comfortable in the water. They went down some big slides at the Lehi Pool which almost gave me a heart attack--not because the slides were scary but because they actually did it. Mark especially would have never considered something like that before. So swimming lessons have been amazing.

Mark and Dax are both jumping all the way into the water. They are starting to actually learn a few things about swimming, including floating on their back (even though Randy thinks that is the dumbest thing to learn). Today Mark actually pushed off the wall today and attempted to swim. I am so impressed with all the progress they have made this year. It makes me sad that I didn't sign them up for the next session, but there's always next year. We already have a few pool trips planned so that we can keep up that happy swimming attitude.

Mark floating.

That's Mark? What?

Mark swimming for the wall.

I just loved his face in this one.

Dax floating.

Dax only had one other person in his class and she is his cousin!

We LOVE swimming!

Mark's Birthday

I made Mark a flag waffle for his birthday.
It's upside down in this picture.

Mark is SO old. He turned seven this year and I can't believe that 7 years have gone by. I still vividly remember being in labor for so long with him and then being in so much pain after having him (Mark's birth was the hardest). I also remember sleeping on the floor in his room when he was 9 months old trying to help him fall asleep on his own. None of the other children have needed that. I also remember Mark falling and cutting his head on our back window and getting it glued back together again. I remember feeling like the worst mom ever, but Mark has had a staple in his head and stitches in his arm and lots of other injuries, so now it doesn't phase me too much. So much has happened in the last seven years...

Mark is a great reader. He loves to read books and often reads a chapter book a day because he gets so involved in the story. He is a good student and a quick learner. He loves to learn and I hope that Mark will always feel that way.

Mark is a devoted athlete. He loves to play baseball, basketball, and soccer. He is always doing one of them (usually baseball), either inside or outside. He knows all the Red Sox players and Jazz players.

Mark is a great helper. He always cleans up and he runs to grab me anything I ask him to grab. He watches Seth while I run to switch the laundry or go to the bathroom. He is working on being more patient with Dax, but they really are great friends. They lay in their beds laughing and giggling every night. I hope they will always be close.

Mark wanted Captain America's shield for his cake. I made two circle cakes and wondered what to do with the 2nd circle. My sister came up with writing Mark and making the A like the Avengers A to go with Captain America. We didn't do a big party, but he had a few friends over to play the day before and we had our 4th of July BBQ. Mark loved the fireworks this year. One more sign that he is growing up. I still remember the days of crying and covering his ears...they weren't too long ago.

Mark and his two best friends

Mark and his two best brothers

Opening presents

Flag from cake balls

Mark with his two cakes!

Blowing out the candles...kind of. The wind kept blowing them out,
so we had him pretend.

Family 4th of July Pic

Seth's 1st Birthday!

See his poor sick eyes...sad little guy on his birthday.

Seth is one! I can't believe that one year ago on July 8th Seth came home from Primary Children's Hospital. He is a healthy, vibrant one year old who walks around and gets into everything. You can't even tell that he had open heart surgery and two months later an angioplasty. The only sign is the scar across his back that only we see, and maybe a few people at the swimming pool.

Seth weighs 23 pounds. He is 30.5 inches long and his head is still in the 99%. I gave up and moved him to 18 month clothes even though he just hit 12 months. They are way easier to get over his head and fit him better, too. Seth loves to laugh when everyone else laughs. He wants to be in on the joke. Seth is always in my pots and pans and tupperware. It is constantly on the kitchen floor. Seth would much rather play with his brothers than his toys. He loves to eat. His favorite things are meatballs, carrots, grapes, strawberries, and graham crackers. He hates bananas and milk. I'm hoping that I can change his mind on the milk really soon.

Seth loves to dance and he likes to look at books on his own. Our doctor told us that Seth already knows how to get us riled up...he has that look in his eye. It's true. Whenever he is doing something naughty, Seth just smiles or make a face that says, "you know I'm super cute, right?" We constantly have people stop us and comment on his big brown eyes. I'm still not sure if they'll be a true brown, but they'll at least be hazel. His hair color is still up for grabs, too.

We invited all the family over for a big birthday party at the park. Seth was sick. He had been running a fever all day, so he wasn't very smiley. But he smashed his cake very well. Because Seth loves to spin wheels, I made him a wheel cake to smash. He seemed excited about it. Grandpa & Grandma Daniels also took Seth and Mark out for a birthday dinner. We ate in the kitchen--it was actually fun watching them prepare the food and watching the servers hustling in and out. We got some special treatment with free appetizers and a big birthday candelabra. It was a fun outing.

Wasn't too sure about the cake at first, but dad helped him taste it,
and then Seth realized it was worth eating.

Dax wanted to be right there with him the whole time!

There wasn't much left.

Getting sung to at the restaurant.

Mark helped blow out the candles.

Having a fun time!