More swimming lessons.....

Alright, since Jeff showed me how to get the pictures from the camera to the computer, this blog has been updated much more often. Hope all of the grandparents are enjoying the pictures (and the rest of the family too!). This was swimming lesson #5. Miss Sarah has voted Sydnie the "most improved" student of the week. There was a little crying for the diving board and slide without a floaty today, but we got through it with minimal tears and no hysterics. Below is the proof.


Peyton's turn off the diving board.

Sydnie needed a little "help" from Sarah, but she jumped off and made it to the side of the pool by herself.

This is Peyton's splash, coming off the slide. I wasn't quick enough for her.

This is Sarah trying to convince Sydnie to come down the slide without a floaty (she was able to use one during yesterdays lesson). You can see her little head at the top just above the rock. There were tears and some pleading, but as you can see in the next picture she finally came down. I'm still not sure if Peyton gave her a little "help"....

Sarah let Sydnie come down and catch her arm, but once again, she swam to the side after. Ahhh, so much progress this week!

Fun at the pool

Ok, so we've decided we have been in swimming suits and in the pool more in the past 3 months than we ever have been in the past 8 years combined. We pretty much live at the pool most days. The girls are in swimming lessons and the first one went well. Then on Wednesday I was banished from the pool area because of Sydnie's hysterics. It was so bad that I emailed the swim instructor later to see if we were going to be kicked out (much to my husband's horror might I add). Miss Sarah was great and reassured me that Sydnie was not the worst she has had and that we would all make it through. On Thursday Syd did much better! There was still a little whimpering, but no screaming and crying. So, we are making progress!!!

Here are some pictures from our day at the pool with the Collins. They are one of my favorite families we've met here in AZ.

I don't have many pictures of Peyton because she doesn't stay in the same place for long. She has places to go and people to meet.

This is Sydnie practicing her diving skills. There is a toy on the bottom of the pool she is trying to retrieve. And yes, she is completely under water. I never thought I'd see this happen!

Coming up for air.

Sitting on the bottom of the pool.

Practicing swimming.

Sisters racing. Peyton wins every time. :-)

Peyton in the fountains. Isn't she cute!!

Ring around the fountains.....

Sarah, Peyton and Megan playing in the fountains.

Megan and Matthew playing in the fountains.

Sarah wondering where the water went????

Sarah, Peyton, Mandy, Matthew and Megan splashing around.

Sydnie sharing fish crackers with Sarah and Emily. They are too cute.

Matthew playing in the fountains.

Swimming lessons

The girls second swimming lesson. Peyton towers over all the other kids. She is double the age of most of them. She is so proud that she was the only one that didn't cry out of the whole group.




Waiting for their turn.

Peyton and Jacob watching Sydnie practicing her BIG kicks.

More kicking for Sydnie with Miss Sarah.

Peyton getting instructions on how to lift her face out of the water when she needs a breath.

No pictures, please!!! Ok, it was really more like, DON'T take MY PICTURE!!!

She was trying to talk her way out of her next turn which was to go under water and pick up rings off the lower steps.

This was after the "under water" turn. She wasn't very happy after that one.

Peyton was the bravest in the class. She couldn't wait to jump off the diving board. She was the only one at this lesson that did it. However, Miss Sarah promises by the end of the 2 weeks of lessons all of the kids will be jumping off. We'll see if she's right about my little Sydnie. :-) Miss Sarah may have met her match.

Look out below, here she comes!!! Maybe we'll work on her form at the next lesson. :-)

The worst part was the poor class of kids after ours. Four of the five kids from our class were crying after the last exercise and the new class was a little terrified about what was about to happen to them. Ahhh, the joys of parenting! Sydnie is trying to convince me that she really doesn't need swimming lessons. I'm trying to convince her that she does and we'll be going back on Wednesday. I guess we'll see who wins this battle in a couple of days.

Silly summer fun.....

We love to play dress up. Here Sydnie is mixing and matching part of a Tinker Bell outfit with an old dance costume. We also got her hair cut the day before. It used to be down to her shoulder blades. She wants to grow her bangs out, don't they look lovely, right in her eyes.

Sisters playing nicely in the princess tent. I had to capture the nice moment so I can refer back to it when they aren't being so cute. :-)

Peyton also got a hair cut. Can you see all of her new freckles? I think she adds some each day at the pool.

Cheese!!!!!!!!

This is Sydnie's chalk art work. This is a picture of Jeff.

This is her picture of me. She is turning into quite the little artist!

Summer Pool Activity

Our ward Primary activity for the summer. The kids had so much fun at this gigantic pool. We saw friends from church and school.

Here is Sydnie waiting for the water to spout up.


Peyton waiting in the long line for snow cones! Yummy!!

Sydnie's friends Emily and Sarah, they are so tired.

Some of our other friends, the Higgins boys and Jothan.

Sydnie and Elyse eating snow cones.

Vegas in May

We traveled to Las Vegas in May. We went to our very first Pow Wow. It was fun, but the girls didn't last very long. But we got some treats and saw the parade. It was a little windy, but a lot of fun.
Sydnie and mom snuggling because she thought she was freezing.

The best blue sno cone ever! Thanks Grandpa Michael.

Sydnie decided this was the chief.

We had to have a picture of the lovely pink shawl.

Peyton's model airplane. She loved gluing it together and painting it.

Peyton insisted I put a picture of this beautiful blue dragon fly on the blog. The color doesn't come through very well in the picture, but it was a bright blue and it kept hanging out with us one day at the pool.

Peyton has grown fins and gills this year. She has given up the floaties and become fearless! I think she must have jumped off the back wall of the pool a gazillion times this trip! Look out below!

My little fish!

More fearless jumping into the deep end.

And here is my guppy. Sydnie usually stays right on the stairs and plays. This time she put on Chloe's swim shirt and she was off. She finally decided the middle of the pool wasn't so bad. Of course getting the shirt off was a little tricky.

So brave!

Playing with daddy.