Father's Day 2011

We had a fun day celebrating our Dad this year. Sawyer ran into our room bright and early and, as usual, he ran to Daddy's side of the bed and asked to make waffles. I got up and told him it was Father's Day and that I was making breakfast with him this morning he started to cry. Eventually I coaxed him down the stairs and, although I had planned on making breakfast burritos, we had to start off making waffles so Sawyer would be happy! So we had a big ole' breakfast of yummy breakfast burritos and waffles! After breakfast he opened his cards and presents. Mom and Dad sent him a #1 Dad tie that he wore proudly to church that afternoon. The kids made him beautiful cards. Sawyer drew a picture of his daddy and a waffle (with the help of me!) and we got him some nice barbecue utensils which he used that evening for his dinner. After church I started making dinner. The kids wanted to help but I didn't have anything for them to do so I had them set the table and they took their job VERY seriously! It was adorable to listen to them talking back and forth and running in and out with things to put on the table. We were eating outside on our patio so I gave them the tablecloth and they laid it out all by themselves. They also got out the fabric napkins and napkin rings and set those up all by themselves. They were pretty proud of themselves!
After dinner we went into the backyard for a game of croquet. It was a fun day of celebrating our great Daddy! We love him so much!

Apparently it is a pretty big deal

We had heard about the Quechee Balloon Festival being held on Father's Day weekend every year but as the event came closer we could tell it was a big thing. On Wednesday at the library story time they read hot air balloon books and did a hot air balloon craft and as we were leaving everyone was saying, "See you at the festival!" Then on Friday at the gym the gym ladies were all telling the kids, "Maybe we'll see you at the balloon festival!" So we knew we had to go. On Friday we found out that the fee you paid gets you in the entire weekend instead of just one day so we decided to head there Friday night to check it out. They have fair food set up everywhere and lots of craft booths that we walked around. The weather was apparently not balloon appropriate because they ended up not flying that night but we had fun walking around and seeing what it was all about. The kids went on a train ride and then we let them choose one treat and they chose kettle corn (which was not even close to as yummy as Tucson kettle corn!) so it was a fun evening.

That night when we got home and got the kids to bed I was asking Ryan what his plan was. They launch the balloons at 6am and 6pm and I told him if we don't make a plan to get up early then we won't. (Ryan's not a big "planner".) So I went to bed thinking we weren't going to do it. At 5:45 Ryan woke me up and asked me if I wanted to and luckily I had fallen asleep on the couch the night before so I was well rested and we got the kids up and headed over to the festival. Sawyer thought it was the weirdest thing that I was actually going into his bedroom to wake him up instead of the other way around like it is every other day. We got there right around 6 and spread our our blanket and waited. There was some fog and they kept watching the weather and raffling off tickets for the remaining spots in the balloons and finally a little after 7 they were ready to launch. It was awesome seeing all those balloons in the field blowing up at the same time. And then as each one launched up in the air and the people were waving down below the kids were excited to see each one of them go. They loved seeing the designs on each of the balloons and their favorite one was one with a smiley face that we found out was called "Gone Batty" or something because the face was actually a bat. It was an amazing sight and we were glad we got up so early to enjoy it!

After the balloons were in the air we headed over to the food tent for a yummy breakfast buffet and we happened to meet some friends there which was fun. Then we enjoyed the rest of the festival. They had dogs doing frisbee tricks, sky divers jumping out of a plane and landing in the field while we watched, lots of craft booths and a fun children's area with games and blow ups to play on. The kids loved all of it!

While we were sitting on the grass waiting for the sky divers they made an announcement that they were setting up a balloon that people could go up in on a little tethered balloon rides for a fairly reasonable price (especially compared to the cost of an actual balloon ride). I asked Ryan if he wanted to take Kate up in the balloon and as we were discussing it Kate was BEGGING to go! We were told that you can't hold kids while up in the air so because Sawyer couldn't see over the basket we didn't think it was worth it for him to go and when we told him he was okay with it. So they went and bought their tickets and waited in line until it was their turn. The people said the balloon was going about 80 or 90 feet in the air. Afterwards Kate ran over to me with a big smile on her face and said the top of her head was really hot from the fire. I was so glad she got to experience it! The bonus was as they were blowing it up we realized it was their favorite smiley face balloon from that morning that they were going to go up in!

After spending almost 7 hours at the festival we headed home for family nap time and then headed over to a friend's house. They just moved to Quechee and they live on top of the ski hill and had a good view of the balloons. We BBQed and got to talk and play with friends and then we saw the balloons up in the sky. It was a fun night!

So now we have experienced the Quechee Balloon Festival and we found out that it is actually a pretty big deal. It was so fun and now we know what to expect for next year! Anyone want to visit for Father's Day weekend?

Firsts for Kate

This morning Kate went to her first swim team practice and I could tell she was nervous. Excited, but nervous. When we pulled in she told me she was scared and I did my best to reassure her and told her that mommy gets scared of new things too. When we got there she wanted me close to her the entire time and when it was time to start she wouldn't let me go and she kind of started to cry. The coaches were great and it only took about 5 minutes when they had coaxed her over and I was able to go watch from a safe distance. She looked so cute using little fins and a kickboard and she did awesome. Afterwards I asked her what her favorite part was and she said, "Everything!!" So it looks like we will be doing swim team this summer!

Ryan had the day off today and in the afternoon, while Sawyer was taking a nap, he took the training wheels off Kate's bike and they headed out to the paved road (Down the street from us because our driveway and road is gravel) After about a half hour she came back in with a big smile on her face and asked if I wanted to see her ride her bike! Sawyer had woken up from his nap by then so we all headed over to the elementary school parking lot and did a little bike riding before dinner. Kate did awesome and only fell a few times (usually while trying to stop/dismount) and she didn't cry a single time. She was so brave and would run to me with a big smile on her face every time she would do a lap around the parking lot.

Sawyer is a good little bike rider too, although he has done most of his riding on our gravel driveway where you never go fast enough to need to stop...you usually get stuck on a rock and have to get off and move it and start riding again. At one point he was headed right towards me going pretty fast with this really scared look on his face and making those "help me, MOM!" whines! I had to help him stop and after that he had a little tutorial on how to use his brakes.

Our first harvest

The kids squealed in delight one morning when we went to water our garden and they found a red strawberry. They checked it every day until Ryan decided it was time to harvest. We all went out together, Sawyer did the honors of the actual picking, and then we took it inside, quartered it and all enjoyed the yumminess of our harvest!

I wish I was at Disney World

This week I helped a friend sew this cute little dress (I didn't get a picture because she had to finish it at home on her own) and a Minnie onesie for her little one year old girl. Needless to say I am a little jealous. LOVE Disney!

So proud of Kate!

On Sunday I got a call from someone in Primary telling me Kate had a talk that day. We had missed 2 weeks of Primary because we had stake conference and then it was Memorial Day so we weren't told beforehand. I was wondering if that was a good thing or a bad thing...she didn't have to stress and worry about it all week but she also didn't have a week to mentally prepare herself. We sat down together and wrote out a talk. She wanted to write it all by herself. When we got to Primary and it was her turn, I took her hand and lead her up to the podium and with a slight prompt from me (but without much hesitation) she read the entire thing herself! It says: "Faith in Jesus Christ leads us to love him, trust him, and keep his commandments. The first Article of Faith says...(We believe in God the Eternal Father and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost). I know Jesus lives and died for our sins. I know he is there for me when I am sad or scared. Jesus wants us to help others. This morning my little brother got hurt and I went to get his blanket to make him feel better. I know Jesus wants us to love others and keep His commandments."

She read the entire thing herself and even had the 1st Article of Faith memorized so she said that without any help too. I was so proud of her courage! Ryan was sitting in the back listening and he said he really couldn't hear her (even when we were practicing at home she was REALLY quiet so I knew that would happen!) but even if no one heard, we were still very proud.



Also, today was the kid's last day of swimming lessons for this session and I was planning on not doing lessons through the summer. The kids both did awesome. Sawyer follows all the directions like a champ and is great at going under the water. He loves swimming out to Daddy by pushing off the step underwater and gliding towards him all by himself. His back float definitely needs some work, his legs are always going crazy! But he has lots of time. Kate is such a good swimmer! She advanced in everything her class had her do. Today after class her teacher, Dan, asked her to come with him because he wanted to see if she could do something. He took her over to the big pool (25 m) and stood her on the edge and then he got in a distance from her and asked her to jump in and swim to her. She does this all the time, but as she did it and got close to him, he started walking backwards and encouraging her to keep swimming. When they got halfway down the pool, Ryan and I had to stand up to see her and we were both laughing thinking about what she must be thinking in her head....none of us knew what Dan was wanting her to do until she started doing it! We cheered her on and she made it all the way to the end by herself!!!! On the way down she passed an elderly water aerobics class and all the ladies were clapping and cheering for her after she was done. Dan said that because she can swim the entire length of the pool she can join the swim team they have there and we are going to look into it.

After we were done swimming and we were changing in the locker room I told Kate I was so proud of her, not only for being so good at swimming but also for being a good rule follower and listening to her teacher in class. She really is the best little girl and I am so glad she is mine!

The Hope of America

Months ago I was asked at church by one of the missionaries from the Joseph Smith Memorial if I wanted my kids to participate in a celebration of veterans in June. I thought it sounded like fun so we signed up and took home a CD with 12 songs we were supposed to learn. We listened to the CD every now and then but, I have to be honest, the words to the songs were hard to learn even for me! I didn't have much faith Kate would be able to learn them. But she knew parts of most of them and we showed up that afternoon looking very patriotic in our red, white and blue. They held a practice for a few hours before where they taught the kids hand signals to go with the songs and then it was time to perform. There was also a band there and they honored one veteran from the area and did some other things. The kids were well behaved through the whole 90 minute program, sitting up on the stands in the sun. And it was cute to see them doing the little actions! Overall it was a gorgeous night just be outside and the whole performance was a great reminder of the sacrifice so many men and women have made and are making in the military! God Bless America!