Summer Craziness

You know, I think I need a vacation from Summer! Holy cow! We have been soooo busy this Summer with swimming lessons, day camp, visits from friends, yard sale, ward activities (Michael is the activities director), Dollywood, water parks, and everyday life on top of it all. We have been having a blast but it is definitely exhausting. I guess I am way overdue for an update so this post will basically cover our Summer...so far.

Gavin was blessed to enjoyed swimming lessons for 2 weeks in June. He is surely going to be our little fish and take after daddy. Michael is determined to have one of his boys on the swim team to follow in daddy's footsteps. I don't know, but I am pretty sure Gavin will be the man.

I have to say I was extremely excited when I recieved an email from a great friend letting me know that he and his family were going to be staying a night in Greenville on their way to the beach. I have not seen him in 10 years and it was wonderful to get to spend the morning with Kurt and his sweet wife along with thier beautiful children. They live just outside of Atlanta, less than 2 hours from here, so we will make sure that another 10 years does not go by before we hang out again :)

We also took a quick 2 day vacation to Dollywood. It has become a yearly tradition in our home and we enjoy it more and more every year.

Those are just a few of our many activities in the last month. I am sure we will have many more before the Summer is over. The boys have completed the Summer reading program at the Library and each got a ticket to a Greenville Drive baseball game. That will be coming up in a few weeks.

Another thing....I cannot believe that Tanner starts Kindergarten in a month from today. He is very anxious to get back to school and meet some new friends. He is our sweet, happy, friendly boy and we know that he is going to love every day he is at school. His Kindergarten teacher has been coming to our house once a week for the past 5 weeks and doing activities with him to get him ready for Kindergarten. The school district provides this program and it is wonderful! Next week he gets to go take a tour of the school, his classroom, the Kindergarten playground, and they give him a backpack.

Well, that is it for now. Hopefully I will remember to post again before our journey west. In a month and a half we will be.......here:

(That would be Payson Lakes)

And on September 4th at 5:00 we will be here:

That's right, BYU against Washington and I will be there! I am soooooo excited!!

We really are looking forward to our road trip to Utah. The last time I was there Gavin was 3 months old and he is now 2 and 1/2. The last time Michael and Grandma June were there I was only 13 weeks pregnant with Gavin. Wow, that was a looooonnnngggg time ago!! Anyway, we are looking forward to it and cannot wait to see what the rest of Summer has in store for us.

Almost a Month??

I cannot believe that Tanner has been out of school for almost a month! The Summer is surely going to fly by. My little man will be in Kindergarten before I know it :)

We have been doing a few fun things this month, not many, as you can tell by my lack of posting. Tanner started summer camp last week and he is having a ball. He went to the baseball game, he learned folk dancing, and yesterday he went for ice cream. On Monday he gets to go to the zoo and have a picnic at the park. I think these 8 weeks are going to wear him out :)

We also checked out the new waterpark in the area. Very fun! So much fun I forget to get out the camera :) We have been going to the library, which I feel is only fun for Mom, and we have also been going to our friends house to swim. We got a new swimming pool but we have yet to put it up. We better get going on that before the summer is over and we don't get to use it.

We were able to spend last Saturday with a friend of mine from high school who happens to live 2 hours from us. He and his family were headed to the beach and they stopped in Greenville for the night. It was wonderful to catch up and take them around our great city.

Oh, and in the middle of it all Grandma June turned 86! We shared her favorite meal with her, got her an Edible Arrangements fruit basket (she has always wanted one) and we had planned on taking her to the BBQ festival but those plans fell through. I hope she had a great day :)

We will be heading to Tennessee in a few weeks, oh wow, it is less than a few weeks..we are going to Dollywood again. We could never get enough of Dollywood and have decided that we have to go at least once a year. We are also counting down the days, or months, until we hop in the car and DRIVE to Utah. Michael promised me a few days in Nauvoo to get me to oblige..lol..at least my little boys can just aim out the car door if they have to go potty..LOL..we don't even have to stop!! Just kidding :)

Well, I will definitely be posting next week because my absolute favorite holiday is coming up in a week. I love the 4th of July! I could watch parades, fireworks, fighter jets, and celebrate our nations freedoms every day of the year :)

OK, one picture...the time has come to potty train the monkey! He looks so old in this picture!

Memorial Day Weekend in Pictures

The Scottish Festival:

Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, 7th in line for the throne :)

The wonderful Scottish Day's Parade on Main Street:

Tanner and a few of the hundreds on Bagpipers...I am not sure they knew to smile..lol:

Mass Bands:

The Highland Games:

Decorating Grandpa Grover's grave:

Celebrating the lives and service of three great men...PRICELESS!!

Miles Allen Grover: World War II

Miland Marcel Keele: World War II

Steven Blaine Tanner: United States Army

We are very blessed to be related to these 3 wonderful men and celebrate their lives this past weekend.

What a Difference 9 Months Make!

It also helps when there are amazing teachers and wonderful friends to guide you.
Tanner "graduated" from 4K yesterday and it was bittersweet. He has grown and changed so much this school year and we are definitely going to miss the people who made that happen.

This is the first day of school and last day of school:

Tanner's class had a program and awards ceremony yesterday and the kids were so excited to perform for their families. This is his class singing Tony Chestnut..the funniest song ever!!

Tanner has made some great friends this year...

His teachers are two women who deserve so much thanks and praise!! His speech teacher has also contributed tremendously to the change in our little man. Thank goodness for those dedicated to teaching our children!

Mrs. Bratton & Mrs. Brock:

Tanner, we are very proud of you for recieving the "Best Reader" award and for your sweet attitude about life. You are a gem! Next year, on to bigger and better things...KINDERGARTEN!

Riverdance!

I had the wonderful opportunity to go see Riverdance last weekend with a great friend. Oh my, it was fantastic!! Here is a clip of the finale..not the whole thing mind you. And believe me, it is a million times better in person. (You will have to pause my music to view it :)

"T-ball Rocks, Mom!!"

First of all, I cannot believe that Tanner only has 4 more days of school. He has grown up so much in the last 9 months and we are going to miss his school, but more on that next week :)

Tanner has been going to t-ball camp and he loves it. After 3 weeks of learning the ropes, they started playing games this week. It really melts a moms heart to see this:

They look so tiny sitting on that bench!! Tanner is the one on the far left. And I have to say that I did not believe my sister when she told me that watching t-ball is hilarious..well, she was right! Those little kids are adorable and they run in every other direction except for the right one. It is also cute to watch the team in the outfield when all the kids go running for the ball no matter where they are on the field...lol

This is Tanner heading for the outfield:

And Tanner running after a ball...everyone else beat him too it and he was a little mad..lol:

We have had such a great time watching Tanner learn new things and find new interests!

Take Me Out to "some" Ballgames!

We have never been a baseball family. We do not follow the sport, we don't watch games on TV, and until recently we were leading Tanner in the direction of any sport except baseball. lol

Well, our little man has taken us by surprise and fallen in love with T-ball. Hitting that ball off the T is a thrill for him.

This past week we had the opportunity to go to a softball game and cheer on "Grandpa Tom" and his team. Brother Quake is in our ward and Tanner has fallen in love with both him and his wife, in fact, all three boys have. They are now known as Grandpa Tom and Grandma Jeanine. They are so sweet and kind and we just love them!

Tanner and Grandpa Tom after the game:

The boys finding their belly buttons while the other team was batting..lol:

Later that week I took Tanner and one of his friends Samuel to a Greenville Drive game. Those boys had such a great time!

A few pics of the silly boys:

We really enjoyed ourselves and who knows, maybe we will catch a few more ball games this Summer!