Summer Update...

What we've been up to lately:

Kirk has been busy painting and traveling for work - he was in Florida for a week and has to go to Colorado next week. His next show is coming up in September so he is busy trying to paint during any free time he has.

Also as the Ward Mission Leader it seems like we have a baptism every other Saturday lately.

Kirk's paintings are really turning out awesome. I think this is some of his best work so far.










Sometimes we just need to get away so a couple of weeks ago we ran up to Sedona with the kids and Noelle for the day.




















Holden has been trying to drive the scooter to work since his awesome 1972 car is not so awesome on gas! (AND IT TAKES PREMIUM!) Here are he and Austin Wheat messing around. Austin unfortunately had to wear my pink helmet.

Holden has been working very hard at the pool and on his artwork in what little spare time he has. He was asked by Kraig, the owner of Art One Gallery, to have a showing of his art work. Kraig usually has high school students show in the summer time to give them a unique opportunity that they would have a difficult time getting otherwise. The photos from the show are on a different camera but when we get them loaded I'll add one here.


We had a situation at the pools here where they had an outbreak of cryptosporidium which is a parasite that can make a person very sick. All the pools closed for a few days as a result. Holden was able to have a little break but quickly became busy with other projects. Brennan and Jordan were just plain bored without their pool schedules. So my friend Shannon Wheat suggested we take them to Disneyland for one day. I really had a hard time deciding to go - but I soon realized it would be the cheapest Disney trip we would ever do and it was only a couple of days so we went. The kids had fun and it was nice diversion for a few days until the pool schedule was back on. Here are some photos of the kids enjoying their time there.


The last photos show exhausted kids in the car on the way home from California. They slept a majority of the way home.

We were able to get on the rides super quickly because their friend Bennett has a leg brace on right now and has a fracture in his leg - We were off and on the rides so quickly we ended up with plenty of time during the middle of the day when the park was hot to run back to the hotel and relax. They ended up wanting to swim so I went out to the pool with them. They are so funny. They swam LAPS most of the time. It was an olympic sized pool with lanes marked on the bottom. I guess they really missed swim team because everyone of them would goof around a little in the water and then start swimming some laps. It kind of cracked me up. I never would have thought to do that when I was a kid.
Weirdly, I loved my time out at the pool almost as much as going to Disneyland. The weather was perfect that day and I don't get to sit at the pool and just relax very often. Even though we have a pool in the backyard, I am always feeling guilty like I should be in the house doing something or running errands, so it's hard to relax. A little bit of relaxation by the pool while in California felt like heaven.














There are also some photos at the beach. The first day we got there in the afternoon and ran over to Newport Beach for a while. It was a bit overcast and chilly for the majority of the afternoon - even raining at one point. WAY too cold for me to go in the Ocean, but the kids and Shannon braved the cold while I waited on the shore taking photos. I got some kind of cool photos of people's reflections in the sand and surf, so I perfectly content taking pictures while they were body surfing in the freezing water.




























We hope everyone else is having a great summer too!