A Few Achievements

The boys (and us) have been busy these past few weeks. One of our goals after we got down here was to get Owen to ride his bike without training wheels. He always said he was too little and not ready. But Jared took his training wheels off one Saturday and they walked over to the park and he taught him how to ride his bike. He picked it up pretty fast. Within an hour he was riding all over. He still needs to practice on turning, stopping and starting, but he is doing fabulous!! We are so proud of him!!!

The boys this past week took swimming lessons. They were very excited! They went every day for 45 minutes. They loved every minute in the water. Owen was ready and picked up on it very fast. He loves swimming underwater, especially with goggles on. Aidan, he was just there to be in the water. He did stick his face in the water but didn't really like to float. It's OK, he'll be excited to do it next year. Swimming lessons took quite a toll on their little bodies, but they survived and were willing to go everyday, despite raw toes that we had to wrap every day in bandaids and first aid tape. On Friday, I took them to the dollar store and they both picked out goggles to buy (we won a $5 cash Discover card in the cereal box and HAD to spend it!). I didn't think Aidan would like the goggles, but he's worn them every since he got them and wanted to wear them to bed. After the dollar store, we went to Wal-Mart and they insisted on wearing them. They looked so funny with their goggles on and got many laughs and comments. They were having a ball AND they were good in the store :-D

Aidan has had a major break through in potty training. It was time to get diapers again, but I really didn't want to so I asked him if he was ready to go potty in the toilet and he said yes. So we jumped immediately on the potty training wagon. Lots of pull-ups, stickers, candy and rewards later, we (he and I) are doing well for one week of potty training. It's at least lasted one week. My last attempts lasted not more than one and a half days. We still have a ways to go, but we are both positive and Aidan is still excited. We now have to move up another level this week with #2. Except we will be leaving home, I hope we don't regress. I guess we'll find out. I'm so proud of him, he's doing so well and I'm proud of me because I am taking this sanely!

This last picture is of our house that we live in right now. Many of my family members and friends haven't seen it, so here it is. I don't have picts of the inside, but if you're really interested in the backyard and inside, I'll take more. It's working very well for us.

We're excited to travel up north this weekend to visit our "vacation home," family and friends. Owen's birthday is also this week, so we'll be celebrating that also.

I hope that your 4th of July is a great weekend for you and your family and that you take the time to think of all that we have been given. I can't help but think that even though things are tough during these times, we are still greatly blessed to live in such a great country with great freedoms. I am grateful every day for all of the blessings we have been given and the privilege we have of knowing the true gospel in our lives, especially due to the sacrifice of those who lived before us.

Have a wonderful weekend...we love you!!