Vacation to Salt Lake Day 1

For our family vacation this year we went to Salt Lake. When we first started planning our trip we got a few looks that said "are you serious?" It turned out to be a fabulous vacation. Emma even asked if we can go there again next year. We stayed in the Little America Hotel in downtown Salt Lake. The best part of the hotel was the swimming pool. We spent a lot of our down time swimming. By the end of our trip Emma had discovered how much fun it is to put your head under water. She was swimming like a fish and having a fantastic time. Nathan liked being in the water as well. Our room in the hotel was quite spacaious which made our stay very pleasant.

We spent four days in Salt Lake acting like tourists. We tried to plan things that we had never done or hadn't done in a long time. On the first day, Tuesday, August 19th, the kids and I picked Dave up at work. We started by going to the Sweet's Candy Factory. Nathan kept trying to take off his mandatory hat, but the tour guide kept him busy by giving him candy. Let me just say that jelly beans without the hard coating are delicious and fresh chocolate coated raspberry sticks are mouth-watering. After the candy factory we ate dinner at the first ever KFC and then ended the day playing at Liberty Park.

Adoption Scrapbook Page

We are ALMOST approved for our third adoption. We actually thought we were all done until we found out about another document that we need. This is quite the process. My mom wanted me to post our scrapbook page so she can see it. Here you go, mom.

Swimming Lessons

We are almost finished with swimming lessons for the summer. Nathan and I took a parent-n-me swimming class in July. Nathan loves the water. He gets excited when I tell him I am going to put him under the water. He blows big bubbles. Mostly he loves to throw toys in the water and "swim" after them.

Emma is taking swimming lessons right now. She has two more days. Emma ended up with the same teacher that Nathan had. Emma does a great job with her kicks and loves going to swimming lessons. She gets nervous about putting her head under water and hasn't done it willingly yet. I just want her to have a positive experience in the water and I think we have done that. Emma is excited for the last day of lessons because I told her I would take her and her friends that are taking lessons with her out for a snowcone afterwards. Emma is always up for a treat. Her favorite snowcone is "Shrek" flavored which is a fancy word for lime.

Happy Birthday, Dave!

Dave's birthday fell on a Saturday this year. It was great to have him home all day for his birthday. Dave received his big birthday gift in July when he bought himself a new BBQ grill. Ironically, I had been planning on buying him a grill for his birthday. He loves his new grill and has had lots of opportunities to use it. Because he already had his gift we tried to make his day special with smaller things. We went miniature golfing and bumper boat riding as a family. Then we went out to dinner. The next day I made Dave's favorite meal, clam chowder. I think he felt loved.