Cute New Do!

Lucy got her haircut on Monday evening. I didn't know if I was ever going to be able to get her to cut it, but I did! Lucy has always LOVED her long hair and claimed she was going to grow it out until it touched the floor. Every morning when we do her hair she throws a tantrum. Sometimes small, sometimes big, but there is always a fight of some measure. I've always threatened to cut it and she'd get very,very upset.

Here's the before and after shots. I love her little pose for the after shot. I think the little Scooby Doo band-aids on her elbow are cute, too. She never watches that show, but she had to have those band-aids for some reason.

Lucy's Learnin'

This week Lucy is taking swim lessons at the pool here on base. We opted for private lessons because they only cost a bit more. She absolutely LOVES swimming, but isn't too fond of lessons. When we were leaving yesterday she said, "Mom, don't ever sign me up for these again." I said, "Well, how are you going to learn how to swim?" She answered, "I already know how!" I guess coming up out of the water spitting and spewing after attempting to swim a few feet qualifies her as a swimmer.
Lucy also learned how to ride her bike without training wheels this week! Very exciting! Jason was so patient with her, running up and down the street while holding on to the back of her little bike. Finally, he told her he was going to let go and she started screaming, "No, Daddy! No!" but then she was great and she rode away. Last night she perfected her start and stop skills and she is good to go!
She's looking a little stressed in this picture. She was still in the beginning phase and was worried about Jason letting go.

This picture is Lucy during lunch. She still hasn't learned that vegetables are actually delicious.
She is also trying out new words and sayings lately. It can be quite hilarious at times. She uses the word 'exactly' in place of the word 'especially'. "I exactly want to do that, Mom."

Last week she came up to me and said, "I'm bored. I don't want to be at home. I think I'm really homesick."

My favorite thing she has been saying lately is something she heard me say a while back. Lucy had shut her bedroom door and wasn't letting Graham in. He was quite upset, so I said, "Oh...you broke his heart." Now, whenever she's mad at me, (won't give her a snack she wants, won't let her play at a friend's house, won't let her watch TV) she chimes in with, "You broke my heart, Mom!" I hear it at least once a day.

Memory Time

I saw this on a few of my friend's blogs and thought it looked like fun. Go on.....leave me a memory!

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.

The Hiding Place

I just finished reading my all-time favorite book for the 3rd time. I'm getting ready to host book club at my house at the end of the month and this is the book I choose. I LOVE IT!

If you haven't read this one yet......do it now! It's a true story of a woman and her family who lived in Holland during World War II. The author is actually the woman in the story. Each time I read it I'm amazed at the circumstances so many people were put in during that time. This family not only rose above their own trials, but helped others to rise with them. I'm inspired by their testimonies of Christ and how they not only believed in him and his mission, but lived Christlike lives. I tried to pick a favorite quote, but there's too many.

Read it......you'll love it!

Livin' in America

We had a great 4th of July weekend! It was packed with some serious partying......family style.

We got up Friday morning and went to the Lemoore Ward breakfast. The kids and I were gone for quite a while, so it was nice chatting with our friends again. We had some good food and played some games. Graham enjoyed the bubbles.....both blowing them and eating them.
After breakfast it was time to go home and make some brownies to take to the big party at the Haight's house. What a fabulous time we had there! So many people and so much fun! Lucy has become our little water baby. She stayed in the pool the entire time. Graham wandered around and was lucky enough to be given a monster brownie from one of our friends in the ward. YUM!
We spent the whole afternoon there just hanging out and enjoying the company. Thanks to the Haights for throwing such a rockin' party!
Around 6:00 we made our way to Hanford High School to stake out a spot for the fireworks. We met up with our good friends, the Gilbert family, as well as our buddies from the ward. The weather was great all day....not too hot (weird for Lemoore). We enjoyed just being out with friends and watching the kids play and dance.

When the fireworks started, Lucy was in heaven! She absolutely loved them! She loved that there was music playing, too. At one point, during LeAnn Rimes singing "God Bless America", Lucy came up to me with tear filled eyes and said, "I'm so sad because I'm so happy!" What a sweet moment for her.

Graham on the other hand did NOT like them at all. He spent the whole time hugging Jason and wouldn't look up. Jason was covering his ear and when he'd slowly try to move his hand, Graham would aggressively grab it and put it back over his ear. Not a firework fan. My favorite part was belting out some "Comin' to America" Neil Diamond style.

Needless to say we were a very tired bunch by the end of the day, but we had a wonderful 4th.

Our weekend didn't end there, though. On Thursday, we had rented canoes with our neighbors and went to the Kings River to do some floatin' around. Saturday we packed lunches and made a whole morning of it. So much fun! We had our rough patches when Lucy kept begging to get out and swim over and over again and Graham to be free of the boat, but overall it was great. Lucy got her swim time in at the end and Graham threw rocks into the river until it was time to go.

We finished the night and Independence Day festivities off with a barbecue and some S'mores in the backyard with our new little firepit (regularly $60, but on sale for $20).

What a weekend!!

Let Freedom Ring

At the beginning of June we were lucky enough to be able to attend a "fly in" for our neighbor. He, along with many other pilots were coming home after being deployed for over 5 months. It was quite emotional seeing the long awaited jets fly over us in formation. So many families were waiting there for their loved ones.
I couldn't help but think of our own farewell and happy reunion after Jason will deploy. We don't know when he is leaving for sure, but probably the beginning of next year. Being in the military and especially living here on base, I am surrounded by women who are parenting solo while their man is gone. They are great examples to me and hopefully I'll be able to thrive as well as they do. In all honesty, I'm hoping to just survive!

Our Trip to Utah

Wow.....what a trip it was! We did a good job of filling almost every moment with something fun! I'll give you some of the highlights of our time there.

My sister, Heidi, and her family live just a few blocks from Grandma and Grandpa's house, so Lucy had a ball with her cousins, Abby and Ollie. We spent one day riding the Frontrunner train down to the Gateway Mall in Salt Lake City and let the kids play in the fountains there. Grandma watched Graham at home so I wouldn't have to chase him around the train. Kalleen and her bunch joined us for a great time. We had lunch at the Food Court and finished the day off with a special treat from Dairy Queen on the way home. We spent our Sunday evenings at the outdoor amphitheater at Layton Park. The city plans "Concerts in the Park" for every week during the summer. Our first Sunday there, two of my siblings and their spouses performed. The kids run around and play on the grass while we enjoy the concert. It's something I look forward to every year.

This trip we spent a lot of time in my parent's fabulous backyard. There are trees for shade and a tree house that Grandpa built a few years ago. We borrowed a fire pit one night and roasted marshmallows. Good times.

We were able to see the Wright and Perry families a few times during our trip. Always a bonus! We spent one of our days at the Wright's pool and then back at their house for lunch. Very fun. My cousin, Camille, and her family joined us, too!
Luckily we were also home during the Hickman Family Reunion at Pineview Reservoir. It was so much fun seeing so many cousins and relatives that we haven't visited with in years. We raced in some kayaks, played 500 in the water, and ate a lot of good food. Lucy, Abby, and Oliver played in the lake all day long.

We spent one day at the Roy Aquatic Center with Jason's sisters, Shellie and Jamie, and Jamie's 4 kids. We haven't seen them much, but Lucy and all the girls warmed right up to each other and had a fabulous time.
We also went for a visit to see Great Grandma Ray. Lucy and Graham had a great time in her little apartment. We always enjoy visiting with her and she's always so happy to see us.

On one of the evenings right before we came home, we got a babysitter for the kids and made our way back to the Gateway for dinner at Happy Sumo. I LOVED the food! It was seriously so good!
I asked Lucy what her favorite part of the trip was, she said, "I like LOTS of parts! Maybe playing with Abby and Ollie, going to the Gunnell's (Heidi's neighbor), and playing video games."

Here's another one of my favorite memories lists:

• Playing Sound Off with the fam and seeing the competitive side in everyone come out with vengeance.

• Abby, Oliver, and Lucy asking everyday if they can have a "sleepover".

• Lunch with Kalleen, Lichelle, and Tanna in Salt Lake. These guys are some of my closest friends and the conversations are always fun. I miss them all so much!

• Our night in Logan with the Grunigs. We had takeout from Cafe Rio (one of my favorites). They were nice enough to watch my kids during the triathlon and took them to the Nibley city parade.

• Our evening treat runs. We had snowies, Jake's Over the Top, Sonic........the list could go on and on. Needless to say, I had some extra poundage to take home with me.

• Being able to go to my friend, Brooke's wedding. She looked so happy and I'm glad I was able to attend her sealing.
  

• Soaping Beth and Jason's car with Blaine and Josh.

• Watching George and Graham dance their hearts out.
  

• Dad, Heidi, and Jason Herman's birthday dinner on our last night there. Lots of pie and cake. What a great way to finish off the trip.

We had such a fabulous time. It was very, very hard to say good bye. We've been home 6 days and Lucy still comes up to me and says, "I'm still kinda sad we had to leave, Mom." Well, I'm still kinda sad we had to leave, too. I sure wish we lived closer. We missed our Daddy too much to stay away too much longer. Now if we could only talk him into another trip in August.

Triathlon

Well, let's just say that I finished the race and I wasn't last! (For some reason, for the couple weeks prior to the triathlon, I kept dreaming and picturing myself coming across the finish line dead last by like 2 hours).

My brother, Blaine, and I arrived at Hyrum Reservoir around 6:30 to get set up for the race. As I was getting my bike in place and setting up my transition stuff, I realized that there was only like a total of 60 people doing the Olympic distance and they all looked a whole lot more hard core than me. We're talking expensive bikes, sweet looking wetsuits, they were all definitely looking the part. I wasn't feeling too competitive at this point........just scared of being left in the dust.

The Olympic racers started at 8:00. The reservoir was really high this year so it was a deep water start (meaning that we were up to our chests in the water before they shoot the gun for us to start). After they shot the gun for us to start, I started swimming and it felt like everyone was passing me left and right. In a matter of seconds, my heart started pounding and I was getting really dizzy. I think I was just nervous and having a bit of an anxiety attack. I couldn't get into a groove and all I could think about was that I had a good 30 minutes more to swim and I couldn't catch my breath. So, I decided to go on my back and take a few deep breaths and get a hold of myself for a second. It worked and I was able to get into my zone for the rest of the mile swim.

The transition to bike wasn't bad. The bike route got a little lonely on the second loop. All of the sprint distance people go around once and the Olympic does it twice. I wasn't seeing people, so I starting having my "you are dead last" worries, but I kept on going. By the time I was done, my body was sooooooo ready to be off that bike!

The run didn't as good as I hoped. I was very slow by this point. I found out at the end of the race there were only 4 women in my age division that did the Olympic and only 20 women total. So, as you can imagine, everyone is very spread out over that long distance. I spent most of the race by myself, so there wasn't a bunch of people there pushing you on or helping you feel part of something bigger. Does that make sense?
This is me just after finishing. Cute, huh? I'm not real happy with my time, but oh well. There were even a handful of people that finished after me, so that was good. If (a big fat if) I decide to do an Olympic again, there's some things I would do differently training wise and I would invest in some better equipment.

It was fun having family there to cheer us on. Thanks everyone that came and helped me feel like I'd really accomplished something, even if it was slower than I had hoped for. Thanks to the Grunigs for watching my kiddos while I raced!

Sweet Times in San Diego

We were lucky enough to spend about 4 days in San Diego with the Wright family. They drove from Salt Lake and met us there. After lots and lots of phone calls, we were able to book all our nights at the Coronado Island Navy Lodge. It's a fantastic hotel that is right on the beach.We got there Saturday evening and the kids played a little at the park there at the beach. Sunday morning Jared made us find a church to attend (just kidding, Jared!). After sacrament meeting we drove to the beautiful San Diego temple and got some great pictures. Lucy kept asking to go inside and could not be convinced that she wasn't allowed. She finally asked, "Why can't we just sneak in?" You'll see she's wearing her lovely pink cowboy boots. She could not be swayed away from them.The next day we attempted a morning at the beach, but it was pretty cold. We only lasted an hour or so and then we headed back to the park closer to the hotel. That's where we spent the majority of our time. It was great being able to just relax and watch the kids play. Kalleen and I sneaked away for a shopping trip at the outlets nearby. It was nice spending time just us.Tuesday we went to Sea World! What a day! It was full of fish and fun with just a splash of tears. Graham couldn't understand why we had to wait in line to do the little rides. He screamed the whole time we waited. He did enjoy meeting Bert and Ernie, though. The kids loved seeing Shamu and Lucy has decided she wants to be a whale trainer when she grows up. On the way back to the hotel she asked me , "Will they teach me how to be a whale trainer in kindergarten?" We explained that she would have to go to a special school to learn how after high school. She then asked , "How will I know where to go?" We told her that we'd help her find it. She surprised us with the next question, "Well , what if you die?" Some of my favorite moments from the trip:
-Playing games with the older kids in the field across from the hotel as we attempted to get Graham and Kate asleep first.
-Our talent show in the dark in the aforementioned field.
-Hanging out and talking outside our hotel room after the kids finally all fell asleep.
-Eating out at the creamery and letting the kids have their own kid table.
-Watching the kids eat their cotton candy as we waited for a show to start at Sea World.
-Listening to the little conversations that Lydia and Lucy would have.
-Our super stressful, but kind of funny attempts to get the dang dolphins to come by us so we could feed and pet them.
-Graham yelling super hard at the mini kite we were flying at the beach.
-Jason calling Jared "Bishop" after we decided to do church on Sunday.
-Lucy calling Lydia "Olydia". We have a little girl in our ward named Olivia.
We always have such a great time with the Wrights! We're so glad we were able to go and that the hotel situation worked out. Thanks for sharing such a fun time with us!