Hi

Hi it has been a long time since I posted. Not sure why. We have been up to plenty of things during that time to keep me busy.

We have decided to put grass in our backyard. Our yard is huge but it lacks much in the way of actual landscaping. Cameron had the idea and I thought he was crazy to levelout an area by shovel and pick axe. He has moved nearly a hundred wheel barrels of dirt to level out a 800 sq foot area around a patio we already had. I have helped a little bit. It hurts my back and I am a big whiner. I find that whenever I do help I feel very proud of the dirt I move though so maybe I should finish it off with him this weekend. We are hoping to have grass in soon! The level area has already helped our yard be more user friendly because now the kids actually have a place to kick the soccer ball back and forth to each other and just in time for soccer season.

We have been swimming. Our family has a pass to Cal State San Bernardino and we have used it regularly. Ali took swim lessons and really improved her strokes. She is looking pretty expert at swimming and has used her skills in lakes and the ocean. Ashling spent three weeks at my sister's house in Arizona with Stacey and Grandma. She swam every day there and learned to really do a free style stroke right although she thinks she can only swim with her goggles and panics when they are off.

Annika is by far the most amazing swimming story. She started out the summer clinging to me and not interested in doing anything by herself. I thought I would die from her choking me while holding on so tight. Now she is just about swimming. She can float on her back for 10 seconds which we call "princess pillow." She also can swim under water quite well. She does not come all the way up to take a breath but I think she will get that in the next couple weeks. She does swim right under the surface but she likes being under the water so much that she doesn't come up until she is to me or to the wall. She also learned to run and jump in the 10 foot pool and swim to the surface. She likes practicing diving and loves to be under the water. She blows bubbles and laughs about it. I am pretty impressed that she is swimming so well for a 2 1/2 year old.

I have spent a lot of time this summer running. I have really enjoyed it. When my mom was still here I went up Keller Peak Road each day and found a lot of trails and roads off of it. I really enjoyed running with my dog and just spending time in the mountains. I can't believe how lucky we are to live up here where it is so beautiful. After my mom left I have spent a lot of time running in our neighborhood which I feel is a big accomplishment. Our neighborhood is full of very steep hills and a lot of steep up and down. I have a loop that I run 5 or so laps around that makes about 3.8 miles. I just bought a new pair of running shoes and ran with them for the first time today. I hope to break a lot personal records in the next couple months.

Our dog has been sick since the beginning of July. I think she is finally healing but not quite enough to run. We thought she would die several times but somehow she pulled through. This has been very stressful for us especially trying to decide how much to spend on vet bills. Her only symptoms seemed to be a high fever and a lack of energy. We are pretty sure she ended up with a tick disease and now will be treating with tick medicine regularly. (We never found a tick but she could have got one and then it dropped off without us knowing.) I am really glad she seems to be getting better because she is a great dog and we would really miss her.

We went on a big vacation to Provo, Denver and Martin's Cove right after school got out. If I ever get pictures from Sue I will blog about that too but without pictures it isn't very much fun. It was a fun trip but it was too much in too short of a time and I don't know if I will ever try to pack that much into a vacation again.

Now I have made all the appointments to get the kids ready for back to school. They have new clothes, new backpacks, their teeth are cleaned, and Ali has new glasses. We are planning on one more camping trip and then it will be 4th grade for Ali and 1st grade for Ashling. I am looking forward to no more kindergarten!