Swim Students

This summer's swimming lessons started out nightmarish. It took a lot for me to get the kids mentally and physically there (yes, picking Claire up and throwing her in the pool screaming everyday, the entire half hour for the first week). Dallin was afraid and had a hard time getting in the water, but Claire was pure drama. She had a "barf bush" where she would run after each swimming attempt to "throw up". She never did.

No go with me to a week and a half later... Claire jumps up in the morning and puts her swimsuit on, SO excited to go swimming. She LOVES to swim under water now. She climbs across the wall and then swims back to the steps over, and over again. Dallin is just as thrilled. He swims the width of the pool, dives for rings, runs and cannonballs into the water and no longer needs his Spiderman floaties.

What changed them you ask? It was their great swim teacher. Kristen is a cute young woman in our ward who happens to be an amazing swimmer. She was so patient, sweet and calm with my kids and eventually her patience payed off. The last day of lessons, she even presented each of them with a certificate of completion and bag full of goodies. I have already booked her again for next year.

Goodbye drama, goodbye floaties and happy swimming!

Lemonade Livelihood

Dallin has a mile-long wish list of things he wants to buy (Legos in particular), so I told him that he needs to get a job. This comment conjured up all sorts of little boy ideas. The final choice was a lemonade stand, and Dallin has been anxious all summer to see this idea come to life.

He got together with his Lowe buddies, made some signs, told the moms what kind of lemonade to make, and stood on our busy corner waving signs and yelling for customers.

My friend, Krissy and I sat with them to simply ensure their safety (or so we thought). Many times cars would drive by and there were no kids to be found. It was just me and Krissy, sitting on the corner surrounded by lemonade. Oh, what I would give to know what those drivers were thinking. We were considering making a sign for us that said "please support our love of Nordstrom", but we knew full well that wouldn't fly.

When the kids actually braved the heat, sat on the corner and waved their signs, they were blessed with many customers and each made a little over $3 when all was said and done.

Dallin has more entrepreneurial ideas, so stay tuned for the next great business venture... after all, a boy needs his Lego's.

Spaghetti Spencer

So there are a few funny things about this spaghetti scenario:
1- my two other children are not the best eaters and I finally have a piggy pig (he will honestly eat anything and lots of it)!
2- I have always had this pet peeve of people making noises while they eat (see Dad, it's come back to haunt me :)).
3- watch the video below and listen to Dallin's blog suggestion... apparently this blog is a regular part of our thought process in life:

Oh yeah, it was that good!

Comic Con

Here is how our little family ended up at the Comic Con:

I received a phone call from Pete on Thursday afternoon asking me if I wanted to spend the rest of the day in San Diego as a family. There is never any hesitation on my part when it comes to family escapes. He then proceeded to tell me that he scored Comic Con passes on eBay (they have been sold out for quite some time and Peter has been dying to go). My excitement for our family vacation diminished a little after finding out the reason for our escape (hey, I'm not gonna lie). He then asked me to find a hotel to stay in (okay, my excitement is back... I LOVE HOTELS). We quickly found our favorite San Diego hotel, got a great deal, packed up ALL of the stuff that is required for a simple one night stay and headed down to SD.
We unloaded our load in the room, put on our cool Comic Con lanyards and walked to
the convention center. I have to admit that it was quite amazing, overwhelming, crowded, and cool all wrapped up into one. Claire, however, exclaimed in the middle of it all
"This place is a little scary, Dad". Although it may not have been the Waldron girls' cup of tea, it was worth every penny to see Peter and Dallin so stoked. At every turn there was some kind of super hero, some type of cool merchandise, some wild video montage... and then there was me, pushing what appeared to be the only stroller in the whole convention center (which was 4 football fields in length). It was definitely an experience. Dallin thoroughly enjoyed posing for pictures with some of his
favorite characters...Catwoman and Batmanmembers of the Super Hero SquadSnake EyesStorm Trooper and Boba FettBionicle something (sorry Comic Con lovers)

more Storm Trooper love

Spiderman

We visited the Comic Con on Thursday and Friday and finished off our spontaneous 24 hours with some fun family exercise and swimming at the hotel.

Afterwords, we hopped into the car with our wet swimsuits on, drove home and slept really well that night.

Clairvoyant Contest

Okay, so my dad (Papa) had a great idea for anyone who wishes to participate. Please scroll down and look at the picture from the previous post (Photo Perfection). We both want you to guess what you think is going through Claire's mind in the photo... the winner of the contest will receive a beautiful picture drawn by Claire herself.

Good luck reading her mind!

Photo Perfection

I LOVE THIS PHOTO.

It perfectly portrays Dallin's personality
(happy, loving, sensitive and inclusive).

It also perfectly portrays Claire's personality
(spunky, silly, feisty, and fun).

Love it. Love them.

Father Fete

Happy Birthday to the man who fills our days with belly-laughter, hope, imagination, smiles, flubber-bubbers, and all-around happiness!

Girl Glamping

At the end of June, I was fortunate enough to go up to Big Bear and attend a portion of our wards girl's camp. I loosely call it "camp" because everyone stayed in a 7000 square foot home in the woods... we were glamping, not camping.
I was asked to speak at the Tuesday night fireside on "avoiding the kryptonite", and I really enjoyed preparing and presenting it. It was also great hanging out with the girls, playing games (particularly ghosts in the graveyard... perfect, big scary house),

going on the alpine slides,

watching relay races,

hosting "Camper Idol", eating yummy food, going running in the morning, staying up late chatting with the other leaders, watching cute skits, participating in the "who's pregnant" skit (it's not me),

playing pool,

listening to the testimonies, having my husband come up for a night, listening to his fireside,

and having a moment to get away. Maybe I can convince someone so I can go again next year?!

Family Fourth

We had a wonderful Fourth of July as a family. We slept in, had a fun family breakfast and then headed out to Orange County. This is the direction we tend to go every year and our first stop is always at a fireworks stand (they don't sell fireworks in our town).

It is the one time I see Pete genuinely giddy. They say diamonds are a girls best friend... fireworks are Petes. We literally have enough celebration ammo to last until the next 4th of July.

It was then time for the beach! As we drove down the Pacific Coast Highway, we were amazed at the number of people crammed onto each beach. People were literally sitting under their beach umbrellas on the sidewalk. It was in that moment that we were so grateful for our little "secret" beach. We were hoping not many people were on "our" beach and thankfully it was perfect... enough people to feel like a party, and yet we literally had the ocean and sand to ourselves.

The kids loved catching sand crabs,

playing in the waves,

throwing the soccer ball,

hanging out under the beach umbrella,

and digging in the sand.

Spencer took a nice beach nap

and we all really enjoyed ourselves (although Spencer is still weirded out by the sand).

After a fun family day at the beach, we ate dinner and then headed home... we were all exhausted. The kids fell asleep in the car while Peter and I watched all the firework shows in the sky on the drive home. No family fireworks or traditional BBQ today, but a fun and happy 4th of July for us none-the-less! How grateful we are for this beautiful country and the freedoms we have to enjoy it. Happy Independence Day!