Swimming Lessons

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Aaron took swimming lessons this past summer.

His class included his cousin Lily.

It was so much fun for him.

I wish I had any photos of them together.

freestyle stroke

 

The only time I got to take photos was at the make up lesson when Aaron had the lesson with another cousin Sophie. Here is Sophie. She is a good little swimmer.

I wish I had a photo of Lily as well. Maybe next year.

freestyle stroke

not sure what stroke this is

back stroke

breast stroke

I was so proud of Aaron.

I have never seen him so confident in the water as I did at the couple of lessons I was allowed to sit in on. He was excited about swimming and he was fine being in the water without a life jacket.

He was proud of himself as well.

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We Thank Thee, O God, For A Prophet

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 With it being General Conference weekend, this posting seems appropriate.

Conference was so amazing. Just what I needed to hear over and over.

"You future is as bright as your faith."

~ President Thomas S. Monson

Back in July, Robert and Teresa and Zach were getting ready to move away for law school, so Robert and Teresa were asked to speak in their ward before they moved. They day they spoke, our family all went to hear them speak and there was a very special visitor in their sacrament meeting that day.

President and Sister Monson were there for the blessing of their great grandson that day.

After it was over, we all went out to try to catch a glimpse of President Monson before he drove away.

He was still on the sidewalk and we were all blessed to be able to shake his hand.

His body guards kept trying to get him continue on to the car and President Monson kept telling them that its okay and they have time. He had somewhere else to be, but he was willing to take the time to shake everyone's hand who was outside and wanted to shake his hand. He even asked if that was everyone once everyone had a chance.

This is the best photo I got of Aaron with President Monson, but it took some tries.

I sent Aaron over by him several times to get a photo, too bad Aaron was a little shy even around the Prophet. Even when I was taking this photo, I tried to get Aaron to go stand on the other side of President Monson, but he just wanted to stand next to Joe for the photo. Oh well. :) Another nephew of mine is in the top right corner.

I can't complain. He got to shake the Prophet's hand at least two times while I tried to get a good photo.

The photos below have nieces and nephews of mine in the photos and also some people that I don't know.

First attempt.

With another nephew of mine shaking his hand.

Second attempt.

Third attempt.

Nieces and nephews of mine with President Monson.

These are all nieces and nephews of mine.

It was so neat to be able to meet the Prophet and shake his hand.

He was so loving and kind to stay and take the time to meet us all.

We sure love him.

I know that he truly is a special witness of Jesus Christ and God's Prophet here on earth.

"We thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet,
To guide us in these latter days;
We thank Thee for sending the Gospel
To lighten our minds with its rays;
We thank Thee for every blessing
Bestowed by Thy bounteous hand;
We feel it a pleasure to serve Thee,
And love to obey Thy command.

When dark clouds of trouble hang o’er us
And threaten our peace to destroy,
There is hope smiling brightly before us,
And we know that deliv’rance is nigh;
We doubt not the Lord, nor His goodness,
We’ve proved Him in days that are past;
The wicked who fight against Zion,
Will surely be smitten at last.

We’ll sing of His goodness and mercy,
We’ll praise Him by day and by night,
Rejoice in His glorious Gospel,
And bask in its lifegiving light;
Thus on to eternal perfection
The honest and faithful will go,
While they who reject this glad message,
Shall never such happiness know."

~ LDS Hymn Book 

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Random July ~ 2012

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 "I'm a farmer," said Aaron.

 

 Putting the flag out for the day.

Not sure how much protection that umbrella would offer in a rain storm.

Beautiful sunsets.

Aaron's new alligator stuffed animal.

Of course he buckles him so he is safe.

 Lisa's baby Charles, he was asleep like this. So funny and cute.

At Costco with John and Tawnie, had to get a photo of John sitting on the Crush display wearing a Crush shirt.

Sadly, this beautiful butterfly was on the concrete dying.

God's beautiful creations amaze me.

Aaron and I have been obsessed with zucchini this summer.

He is helping me saute it here.

He wasn't that excited about it at first, but once I read to him what zucchini's nutritional benefits are, he was happy to try it and he loves it now. What a kid! Usually I can get him to try anything by telling him how it will help his body. He's so sweet.

 

Zucchini bread and zucchini read to saute.

Aaron loves making and drinking smoothies as well.

 Lillie Pearl and Aaron coloring together.

She is such a sweet little cousin to Aaron.

She is very thoughtful.

Beautiful boy and beautiful bird.

This is Sadie and Nick's bird.

Aaron holding baby Charles John.

Aaron loves babies so much.

I hope he gets some baby brothers and sisters someday.

He prays for it every night.

At the funeral of my cousin's little boy.

Aaron started throwing up during the 5 hour drive up there, then during the funeral as well.

He was so lethargic and was like this throughout the whole day.

Poor little boy. He looks so precious, so I had to post these even if they are from June instead of July.

We had a potluck gathering at Wheeler Farm with some extended family in July.

It was good to see family and catch up a bit.

Lily and Aaron helping me make peanut butter and jam sandwiches.

Aaron and baby Charles John again.

Aaron put his clothes on backwards. I was laughing so hard.

Wrapping paper head.

I donated blood again in July.

Everyone should make an appointment and go donate blood.

This is your reminder. :)

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Here are a few videos from a couple of things from July.

I watched them again and I say the exact same thing in a couple of them... I guess I felt strongly about it. :) Turn your sound down if you don't want to listen to my strange sounding video voice.

It was the primary summer party.

These two are hilarious to me.

This is one of those things that glows in the dark and when he showed me this trick, I was seriously dying laughing. I had to video it. He is so funny.

This last photo was taken when we were visiting Richard at the future site for Pizza Pie Cafe here in town. He was cutting copper pipe and let Aaron cut a couple of pieces to use.

Pizza Pie Cafe opened a few weeks ago now. We went lots of times this summer to help get the restaurant ready to open. We helped to paint and clean. Richard and John R. are the main partners of the establishment and a few of us family members invested in it as well. It is exciting and it is doing really well. Richard and John's families put in a lot of work this past summer getting it ready, it was neat going over and helping out so that it could open as soon as possible. We sure hope it is a screaming success. So far, so good.

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Cabin Fun

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Could he be more handsome?

Nope.

I'm still trying to catch up on July's goings on.

I hope to catch up on August and September soon.

Wow, catching up is tough.

John, Jack, and Sam to our left.

Tawnie, John John, Emily, Thomas, and Leah to our right.

At Smith and Morehouse Reservior

Aaron baiting his own hook. Wow.

Aaron, John, Jack, Sam

 

from all views of the lake

Aaron and Jack

Us

 

Aaron's cheesy smile...

Aaron's silly smile, its his favorite silly face lately.

Us

 

John fishing

John with fish

Beautiful Emily fishing in a beautiful setting

 

Aaron showing off his awesome rock that he found.

 

Us

 

John and Tawnie's family

 

Us

 

Look at this awesome nest on top of this tall pole.

So neat.

 

Aaron, Jack, Sam

Fishing in the river.

I think everyone who tried actually caught a fish.

I wish I had snapped a photo quickly enough to have a

photo of Aaron with his fish. But it flopped back into the river.

 

The fish caught and cooked.

 

 The rocks in the sunset lit water.

 

 The river at sunset.

 

Back to the river for swimming and fun.

The kids had fun playing in this area that was like a little pool.

 

 The rest of us had fun building this dam.

Carrying the heavy rocks in the river current was tough, but fun.

 

Searching for rocks that are shaped like a heart is one of my favorite

things to do when surrounded by a lot of rocks.

 

 Its like a clown car, but a four wheeler instead.

How many can fit on it?

Robert and Teresa and Zach came up for one of the days and nights.

It was fun to have them there with us.

Aaron and Jack

Aaron and Leah

Sam, Zach, Aaron, Jack, Thomas

 

Leah setting up here chair next to Mom.

Aaron, Jack, John, Leah

While we sat on the deck watching the beautiful mountains and birds,

I caught some great photos of some hummingbirds and a few other

kinds of birds. They were quite amazing and beautiful.

 

We also had fun watching the chipmunks coming up on the deck

to eat the bird seed. John sat there patiently waiting for a chipmunk

to eat out of his hand.

 

 How cute is this?

 

 John and Tawnie's family with the beautiful view behind.

Thanks for the FUN times John and Tawnie.

We love the cabin with your family.

 

Back again for swimming in the river.

Aaron was nervous because of the depth and the current.

He finally agreed to go with Emily, but he put on two life jackets. :)

Teresa, Tawnie, John, Thomas, Robert, Sam, John

They were creating rock towers.

 

How summery is this?

 

BIG smile.

Us

 He LOVES driving the four wheeler.

 

I took this photo while Aaron was driving.

I really really really love it.

 

The End

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