MOVIES

Here are some silly movies of the boys.  The first one is of Thomas swimming in Lake Erie. The second one is at a Reggae night and the boys were showing us their groove thing.  They are still the same old boys.  Just with buzzed heads and a little more attitude. 

NEW

We are trying a lot of new things these days.  Some more memorable then others.  But, all new none the less. 
Here is a picture of the boys trying their first artichokes. 
Thomas loved them.  Lewis loved the ranch dressing he chose to dip them in. 

Kirtland Temple

I already mentioned how much we loved visiting the temple on a day where we were celebrating our freedoms.  We are so grateful for the ability to practice and live our religious beliefs each day because of the sacrifices that so many before us made.  It was perfect to see those sacrifices and to learn more about their stories.  It almost felt like we were paying them tribute.  Doing something for them in return even if it is just learning about their lives and being grateful.  
Now as we read through our church history their stories have so much more meaning to us then ever before.  We now have a mental image and can picture the stories as we read about them.  Not to mention a desire to understand. 
I expected to feel the spirit more on the tour.  It was hard when the tour guide didn't have the spirit in the words that they conveyed to us.  But, after we watched a short film introducing us to the temple, the screen raised and the temple slowly came into view as the hymn The Spirit of God played in the background.  The spirit was present.  It couldn't be denied.  It was pure and peaceful.  Something I wont forget.  

Lovely Love

Big D and I haven't always had the time or resources to go on many dates.
We were either doing school work or doing school work most nights and so now that we have our evenings free we have decided to date again.
This week was my choice.  Waldameer Park.
Neither of us had been to an amusement park since our senior years at Lagoon.  It brought us back to our younger more youthful days.  We rode on the 6th best wooden roller coaster in the world.  We held hands.  We laughed together.  We screamed till our throats were sore.  We kissed on the Ferris Wheel.  We lost our stomachs on the Rocket.  Then stopped for dinner at 5 guys.  It was so much fun and just what we needed.

Weekend Trip/Presque Isle

We spent this last weekend down at Presque Isle.  It is a peninsula, with sandy beaches all the way around, in Lake Erie.  The boys were in heaven all day long.  Even if there were some annoying rules that we didn't understand.  It was a totally FUN, RELAXING, and  EASY GOING day spent at the beach. 
 

We played in the sand.  Built sand castles.  Turtles.  Pirate ships.  Thomas kept calling everyone his matey.  He was always in charge and was great and telling what to do and what not to do. We even buried each other.  I tired to make Daniel into a mermaid... but you can't really tell in the picture.  Lewis hated being buried, but spent most of his time throwing sand on his head with his shovel anyway.  

We ate lots of good food.

We swam and swam and swam.  Thomas learned to "swim" this last week and was in heaven.  He goes underwater and kicks his little feet and paddles his hands and everything.  It is legit.  He is so proud and only wants to go swimming now.  He asks me every 10 seconds when we get to go to the pool again.

Weekend Trip/Camping

We went camping as a family for the first time.
It was so BEAUTIFUL.
We saw a family of skunks as we were driving in.  I have heard plenty of times about a camping experience involving a skunk named Luis.  It made us a little nervous.  But, we had no problems.
Thomas played and played and played with his friends.  Soccer.  Frisbee.  Chasing bats with flashlights.  Swinging on the tire swing.  Building rock bridges.
Lewis played right along with all of the other big kids.  He played so hard and got so tired that he actually just decided to leave us and head to the tent to go to bed.  To bad when he got inside the tent he couldn't calm down enough to sleep, and was the last one to fall asleep.
Big D took care of setting up and taking down.  You know the manly stuff.
I made tinfoil dinners.  My first attempt and they turned out pretty good.  Even if everyone made fun of me for saying "tin-din" 
It was SO hot and we could hardly sleep because of it.  That has never happened before.  We usually can't sleep because it is too cold.
We enjoyed a great patriotic program put on by the scouts.
Blueberry pancakes, bacon and eggs for breakfast.
Our first camping trip was a success.  We all had so much fun that we came home and slept the afternoon away in our lovely air conditioned home. 

Independence Day

I love holidays and I love the 4th of July.  The warmth.  The parades.  The fireworks.  The food.  The company.  This holiday never disappoints and this year proved to be no different.
We woke up and bright and early and went to the Millcreek parade.  We parked on Idaho Ave.  A huge cannon went off.  Nobody stood to salute the flag.  We were shocked as well.  There was an airplane flying overhead.  Everyone was so so nice and kept bringing our boys candy because they were a little more timid.  I think we got more candy than anyone.  We saw clowns.  A camel.  Thomas liked the gymnasts and has been wearing gloves and doing cartwheels ever since.  Then it started to pour huge raindrops and so we decided to get out of there.  We still got soaked. 
We headed to Kirtland.  Had a yummy lunch.  Went to the temple.   Took a tour.  It was beautiful.  The green doors were my favorite part.  Daniel has been reading everything about the temple that he can get his hands on since we left.  There is so much history to learn.  It was a really good activity to do on a Holiday where we celebrate our freedom as a country.  The early latter day saints did so much for us to enjoy our religious freedoms today.  I feel grateful for their sacrifices. 
We then had a BBQ with our good friends the Sparhawks.  We haven't seen Andrew in a long time and we really haven't ever met Rachel.  They were great hosts and all of the food was so yummy.  Even if our boys were hot and tired by this time, we really were having fun!  We went on the hunt for fireworks and only came home with sparklers.  Which was enough to scare Lewis and enough to make Thomas sad that he couldn't see a real firework show. 

 

Feeling Lucky

After a sweaty night of soccer in the backyard the boys decided they needed a haircut to cool themselves off.  And a haircut they got.  Even though I was really sad to see Thomas's curly locks and Lewis's white hair go.  Now I have three bald lucky heads I can rub.  Man I am feeling lucky!
Nothing says summer more than a night on the deck buzzing heads.  Lewis was so mad that we had to bribe him with chocolate milk, he even had it in the tub.  Thomas's hair was too thick and sweaty to get the clippers through.  This humidity people does weird weird things to our hair I tell ya.  Seriously I woke up yesterday with a style that made us laugh all day long.  Every time Daniel looked at me he busted out laughing because it was just that good.  He even sang a song about it.  I am tempted to buzz my own head... too bad I wanted to grow my hair out.  

BEFORE: 

DURING:

AFTER:

Weekend Trip/Niagara Falls

Weekend Trip # 2 took us up to Niagara Falls. 
AMAZING.  We had no idea what to expect, but were pleasantly surprised. 
It was hot and we forgot our stroller.  Seriously.  There were a lot of people there.  Too many people.
BUT, the falls were so pretty. 
It was so fun to just drive and talk.
To see new things.  To feel so excited about everything that was new.
Thomas said his very favorite part of the trip was eating lunch in the back of the car.  Next time we might just stay home if that is all it takes to please him.