Swimming Fun

Abby, Allie and Rachel all did swimming lessons this summer. It was so fun to watch them progress from being barely able to get their arms out of the water to actually swimming by the end of their two week session. I think that Rachel is ready for swim team next year. Abigail made great progress in her front crawl and Allie is a little fish in the water now. She loved it! 

Allie and London Stoker were in the same class together. I believe that it was first for both of them.

Allie jumped off the diving board once and that was enough for her.

It was kind of chilly out of the water.

Rachel had a very strong back stroke.

We never quite mastered the diving.

Abby loved jumping off the diving board.

Abby's goggles smashed her ears and pulled them forward. Too cute!

Eight is Great!

Abigail turned 8 on June 20, 2010. Here she is eating her breakfast in bed. Her birthday fell on a Sunday this year so we had to get her up early!

She got to open up a few presents before church and one present was a dress for her to wear to church.

Abigail got her very first scripture set with her name on it.

After church she could hardly wait to begin opening up more and more presents.

Here she is with all of her goodies surrounding her. Rachel said that it must be a lot easier to buy for them when the are young. Don't know what she was quite implying there. They just get more expensive when they get older!

Abigail got a frozen ice cream cake from Walmart this year. I ran out of time to make her my own. It was a yummy treat.

On Monday Abigail had a few friends over for a birthday party. We wanted to play in the water outside but the weather was a bit too cold to do that so we played lots of games.

True and Chezney were the only boys. Lucky!

We played the present game where you have to do silly things. The kids had fun with this as we whittled through the many layers of wrapping paper.

True and Chezney had to arm wrestle each other. It looks like True won but Chezney didn't give up without a fight.

Abby got lots of fun presents from her friends.

Abby and Alyssa are trying to pop the balloon.

So are True and Chezney. Nobody won so I gave them each a cry-baby piece of gum.

The kids had fun playing sharks and minnows.

What party would be complete without a few rounds of "Do you love your neighbor?"

What a blessing Abigail has been in our lives. It is so hard to think that she is already 8. It seems like yesterday when her little black and blue body was born (the cord was wrapped around her neck several times). She is such a sweetheart and so easy to please. She is a great friend to her sisters and a great help to me. I am excited for her to be baptized the end of this month. It is such an important step for us all to take to return to our Heavenly Father. We love you Abigail!

Leavitt Reunion in Manti, Utah

The week following the Palmer reunion we attended the Leavitt Reunion in Manti, Utah. We had such a great time and was very impressed with how organized it was. It was great to see Ann, Sophia and meet Madaline! There were lots of games to play and activities to participate in. Emma and Rachel are here wondering if they should attempt the stick pull or not.

Abby is trying to master the home-made bubble wand.

Hannah and Acoya doing the stick pull.

I love this picture of Alan and Glen. I guess holding your breath gives you more strength.

Issac loved the bubble wands.

That evening we had a wonderful flag presentation. There was a flag for every person that had served a mission and who is serving a mission. It was amazing to see how many flags there were. There were more people standing than sitting. This picture doesn't even capture all 69 of them!

Sophie was holding her daddy's flag since he couldn't attend.

They asked all who would like to serve a mission in the future and all the kids got up and grabbed a flag.

We sang "Armies of Helaman" while the kids and adults marched around. It gave me chills and about brought me to tears. It was very powerful and beautiful. Way to go Laurel & Melva - I think they are smiling from heaven at this sight!

Our hotel was clean but we quickly found out that not all hotels have a cartoon station or blow dryers.  Our was much better than Ann and Sophia's from what I understand. The big kids stayed in a tent the first night at a cousin's house and the little one's stayed with us. The kids had a blast jumping on the bed - something they can't do at home.

The next day was filled with all kinds of activities. The little kids went on a nature hunt while the older kids played games and built a water raft out of cardboard. Or should I say Leon and Alan built a cardboard raft with suggestions from Jonah, Melissa and Cannon. It looked like a canoe that Hiawatha would have used. They named their canoe Hagath #1. Here Leon and Alan are explaining the design before the big race.

 Unfortunately Hagath went down as soon as they stepped in the water.

Glen also tried his own version that didn't fair too well either. He had to hold it to keep it a float.

We also had fun taking a turn in a paddle boat.

 Acoya and Hannah were partners in a savenger hunt. They had trouble finding the caution sign.

Abigail and Allie played in the water with their cousins for a bit. 

Abby is holding a tadpole she had caught with her hands.

 Laura and Glen took a canoe ride and they tipped near the shore. The camera on Laura's lap went down with them and after 20 minutes of searching for it in the murky water Hannah came up with it. I wonder if it ever worked after that?

That evening we went to the Manti pageant. It was so beautiful. If we were to go again we would sit a little bit closer to see some faces. It took forever to get started and lasted quite a while but is was pretty cool. It took us forever to get back to the hotel a few miles down the road.  It was a long day.

Melissa had to had a picture with some Nephites!

What a great reunion! We are glad that they are not going to cancel them in the future! A big thank you to Aunt Linda and Uncle Keith's family for all their hard work! It is no easy task to entertain and feed that many people!