It's finished!

As many of you know, Luke has been working on his very first painting. I am so proud of him... look how great it turned out! And it is no small feat either. The actual size is 18x24. It is beautiful and I can't wait to have a fireplace to hang it over. We are going to try to see how to make prints if anyone is interested...

For my sister

For the last couple of weeks, my nephews, Dylan and Tucker have been staying with us. They are definitely missing their mom and I am sure she is missing them! So, I thought I would post a couple of pictures of them slip and slidin' in the mountains! They love to slip and slide, but they don't last very long being Arizona boys. In fact, a couple of years ago when they ran through the sprinklers here, they did so with their rain coats on!

Announcing Mr. and Mrs. Ervin

Brandon and Julie Marie Ervin

Yep, that's right! My younger brother married a Julie. Hmmm. Luke and I maintain the originality! I am so happy for these two, though! I have never seen a couple quite so in la-la land on their wedding day. They are truly in love and will have such a great life together. And I love Julie. She is such a sweet heart and is so fun to be around. She is a great addition to our family.

And the best part of the day is that all of my family was in the temple together for the first time. It was possible for our wedding, but Brandon was still on a mission and so we missed him. I keep telling my mom that she is a rarity. Not only does it not happen very often that all of your kids can go to the temple, but all of them did, together on the same day. I hope we get to back to the temple as a family soon to do service. It was such a great experience to look around and see all of my brothers and sisters and their spouses.

The sealer that married Brandon and Julie had some great advice and some wonderful things to say to this new young couple. I think the piece I took with me was that it was the duty and responsibilty of the wife to always honor and support her husband in all that he does. It may be a new calling, a new job, a move across the country, or something really crazy. But no matter what, the wife needs to support him in his life and be there for him. What powerful words! I will remember this wedding forever!

Swim Lessons

Julia and I took Noah and Hayden to swimming lessons the last couple of weeks! It has been so fun to see them play and enjoy the water. And this is what is so fun about having cousins that are the same age as Noah! I am so excited to see the little relationships that he will have with the two cousins that were born the summer he was.

So, I've had a couple of people ask if Noah really learned to swim in some sarcastic manner... No. Of course, we are born with then instinct to swim, we'd been doing it for nine months! But the teacher just taught us mommies good ways to get the kids used to the water, the motions to paddle and kick and that it was okay if our faces (and sometimes our whole head) in the water. Noah is not ready for the Olympic Swim Team, but he may be someday if we go to swim lessons every summer!

We had a great time and a big thanks to Julia who came to pick me up, in Park City, at 4 bucks a gallon, so we could do swim lessons together. Check out Julia's blog for the great story on the Dora Diaper Debacle.

Summer Fun

We have been having a great summer. That is partly because we have been staying so busy and going lots of (close) places. Twice a week, my mom watches Taytum and Brock and Noah and I tag along wherever they may be going. This week, we went to Wasatch Mtn. State Park for a picnic and to feed the ducks. Noah loves being outside and it is so fun to watch him play and enjoy being with his cousins. This day, he got a little too tired and took his first outdoors nap. What a cutie!