Summer's End

I can't believe summer is almost over (with the heat we're still having you wouldn't know it)! I guess I should explain the lack of posts over the past couple months. Things have been a little busy around our house! After our vacation at the end of June I came home to a new and exciting and slightly overwhelming church calling...Primary President (gulp). My first thoughts when the Bishop called me in were...Isn't this a calling for grown ups?...Wait, I don't have a big house and a mini van!...and are you sure I'm the person you meant to call? (even the Bishop was double checking his notes to make sure this was right). But after I got over the initial shock and organized myself a little I was actually pretty excited about it. I've always loved children and I know this is what I'm supposed to be doing right now. The kids are a lot of fun and they are so eager to learn about the gospel. Tressa LOVES having me in primary every week. I've caught her pretending to be primary president a few times at home. One time she was even playing primary with a girl she met on the Burger King playground, who I'm sure was not a member, but she was just going along with it anyway...it was so cute. So, basically a lot of my blogging time has been spent preparing sharing time lessons, getting my presidency organized, etc., etc. But things are slowly getting easier and faster now that me and my counselors are a little more organized and have some experience under our belts.

Jason has been a busy boy too! He spent most of June and July in an intensive study course preparing for his final FAA exam. He had to quit his job to do it because the schedule was so intense. Mind you, the exam he was preparing for was quite intense too....involving an oral exam with an FAA official who can ask you whatever he/she wants to (out of a bank of oodles of questions) and can grill you as long as they please (Jason had heard horror stories of people who had 8 or 9 hour orals, luckily his was "only" about 3) followed by a flight with the official which is like a driving test (in the air), but again the length of the flight, the number of maneuvers, and the questions he/she asks you during the flight is all up to the examiner. It's a miracle that anyone can pass that test! I'm so proud of him for doing it! He passed the exam at the end of July and is now a flight instructor at Riverside Flight Center.....which means he is building hours quickly and actually being paid to fly...woohoo! He is loving it. Once he has 800 to 1000 flight hours he can start applying for the airlines. It really is wonderful to have a light at the end of the tunnel. Way to go sweetie! It is all going to be SO worth it in the end.

Of course we managed to sneak in some fun things this summer too! Here's are some highlights from July and August.

Softball

Jason played on a softball team this summer with a friend from school. The kids loved going to the games and running the bases afterward.





They are his biggest fans! (I kinda like him too.)





Blue Bell Creamery Tour

We toured the Blue Bell Creamery with some friends from the ward for a playgroup activity and sampled the yummy ice cream afterward. The kids had a blast.

Mmmmmm....ice cream.



Friend, Melissa with her youngest (of 5!), Luke. I love this picture. His shirt pretty much sums up how he's feeling right now!



The boys.



The girls.



Friend, Heather with her two youngest (of 4, soon to be 5!), Landon and Mason. They were such good sports about wearing their little hats!



The Berzas twins.



Those Turner kids have always been so sweet to my kids. Here's Claire lovin' on Corbin.



Best Buds sharing a second (or maybe third) scoop of ice cream.



Corbin trying to wipe his own face...so independent these days.



"I scream for ice cream!" (Actually she just smiled and wore this cute little hat, but that doesn't quite have the same ring to it.)



Swimming Pool

Cannonball!!!



Teaming up on Daddy...get him guys!



They LOVE swimming! (If only Tressa had done swimming lessons at the end of summer...when she's used to the water and actually enjoys it...I'll have to remember that for next year.)











Water Playground

Running...



jumping...



splashing...



catching...




smiling...



getting soakin' wet...



and just having fun!




We spent many a day at the water playground this summer. It was a great way for the kids to cool off.

Ducky Pond

There's a duck pond across the street from our apartment that the kids love to go to. There are always tons of ducks and geese at the pond and they aren't shy about waddling right up to you if you've got food. I think they might be the best fed ducks in town, but if we go too long without seeing them Tressa will let me know..."Those duckies must be getting really hungry!" We go there so often that we can even recognize some of the ducks and we know which ones swim together, etc. We really should name them and call them our pets!







A Visit from each Grandma!

My Mom is a teacher and Jason's Mom is a school nurse, so they both made it out to see us this summer before they had to go back to work. We LOVE it when Grandma comes! The kids love spending time with Grandma and Jason and I love the break!

Grandma Jennings



Grandma Briggs



We love you both and miss you already!

Zoo

We got a family membership to the zoo this year so we've been taking advantage of it (when the weather's not too unbearable). Here are some photos from our most recent trip to the zoo with the Laceys (I have three friends named Lacey) and their kids.

Tressa and Corbin feeding the birds.



Jack feeding the birds. Look at Corbin's face in the background. Hee hee! Not looking too sure about being close to animals with claws, beaks and wings.



Lacey & Riley.



My little monkey.



The rest of the gang on the train.



And for those of you that made it through this unbearably long make up post...you will be among the first to know my exciting news....I am pregnant! We just told our families yesterday, so it's officially okay to let everyone else know now. I'll post more about this later, but I'm due on March 15th. So now you know why my tummy has been sticking out a little more than usual and why I didn't get in the pool at the party last Friday...if you saw me in my swimsuit there would have been no hiding the fact that a baby's on the way...or you might have just wondered what the heck I'd been eating lately!