Pool Time

Here is Little Freeman jumping off the rock all by himself!

Busting Out the Moves...

Nate's got the moves. When he hears music he busts out in a dance.

First Day of Soccer

Freeman and Dad practicing their kicks.

Monster!

The coach was running around as a "Monster" trying to get the kids ball so the kids had to kick the ball away from her. Freeman was doing a good job kicking, but then stopped as soon as she came up to him... he got away though!

When the coach is giving directions the kids are supposed to sit down on their ball. Here is Freeman listening intensely to Coach D.
FREEZE! Here is another move the kids do. When the coach says FREEZE, then they stop what they are doing and put their foot on the ball. Freeman is showing me what he learned.

The kids had to run down the cones, kicking the ball. Here is Freeman doing a great job kicking. I think he inherited Grandpa Pete's soccer talent.

In this drill, the kids had to try to kick the ball and knock down their cone.

Here is Freeman's friend Brooklyn, doing a few stretches.

Happy Labor Day

We had a serious game of Pool Volleyball. Here is one team with Kelly, Nick, and Freeman.

Here is Jordan and Gui ready to block!
Getting Ready to defend... Majid, Jordan, Eli, and Gui! Connor totally spiked the ball... Carson ready for back up!
Way to use your head! Freeman didn't quite catch the concept of using his arms, but his head worked just fine.

Freeman, Connor, and Carson

At the end of swimming everyone was lining up to jump into the pool. We had some good flips and great splashes! Here is Dad and Freeman getting ready to splash the crowd!

Little Freeman ready to jump to Miss Ruby!

Here is Katelyn striking a pose.

Laurie, Heather, Megan, and Ruby (and Nate & Katelyn)

We had so much fun with all our friends and family! It was great hanging out, and next time us girls will win in Catch Phrase!

Hanging Out

Here is Freeman pretending he is "Grandpa John." He likes to put sunglasses on his shirt and say he is Grandpa.
So, I'm working on weaning Nate off his binky, and I think he was having binkie withdrawls and this is what I caught him with... A little rubber duckie as a new binkie! This is one of Little Freeman's favorite things to do. So, dad decided to put Nate in the wagon and ran around the house. Nate loved it!!! He was giggling non-stop.

La Jolla Vacation

My grandmother rented a beach house in La Jolla for the summer and we were able to take a break from this Arizona heat and stay in Cali for a week and a half! We first met up with Freeman's mom Jolene, John, Nick and John's kids, Chris and Michael and had a blast. We went to the beach and bodyboarded and went snorkeling. The boys decided to go snorkeling one morning which I chickened out of... Why you ask? Well, because they heard of a great place where you can see some leopard SHARKS! If anyone knew me growing up, I have a great fear of sharks, and it took me a long time to not be afraid of lakes and swimming pools for the fear of hidden sharks in there... So the boys did their thing and saw some sharks, and fish and Nick even found some Dior Sunglasses that I got for a present. Thanks Nick!
Being in La Jolla, we were just down the street from the San Diego temple, so thanks to Nick again for babysitting at 6:30 in the morning we were able to go to a session at the temple. It was our first time in that temple and it was beautiful. The architecture was beautiful and I didn't know they had a Atrium on the top. It was so pretty and peaceful. Later that week we also took family pictures outside too.
We also went to Sea World and had so much fun! It was Freeman and the kids first time there and we loved it. Little Freeman is really into sharks, Shamu and Cookie Monster. (They have Sesame Street themes there) We learned a lot there and had a great time.
At the end of the week, our friends Megan and Kelly and their kids came out to visit with us. We had fun going to the beach, Science Museum, and hanging out. We saw some seals and went snorkeling too. (Hopefully no where near sharks...)
So now we are back at home and every morning Little Freeman asks if we can go to the beach. :(

La Jolla Vacation

Happy 5 Year Anniversary!!!!!!

Happy 5 year Anniversary Freeman! Can you believe that just five years ago, we became a family of two, and now we are a family of four? It's amazing how much we have grown and how strong we are. I remember 8 years ago, you took me to the Boise temple before I had to say my goodbyes to you before you went on your mission. That day you told me that if I wanted to, I could wait for you while on your mission. You left on your mission, and I wrote you almost every week... and you wrote almost every month... ;)

When you came home from your mission, I came out the next day... (Except the message didn't get to you that I was coming... so surprise! You had to come pick me up from the airport.) I remember you practically leaning out the car window you were so uncomfortable and nervous to be next to a girl alone. A month after you got home you moved down to Arizona, every weekend we would commute back and forth from Flagstaff to see each other. (Thank goodness gas was cheap back then...) After many, many, many months, you proposed, and we were married exactly 3 years after saying our goodbyes before your mission.

The day we were married, was the happiest day ever. It felt wonderful to know that we were living our lives the right way, and that we were going to be married in the temple. I wasn't just going to be married to you for "death do us part", I wanted to be married to you forever, for time and eternity. I wanted our future children to be sealed to us. I wanted to be happy and live wholesome lives.

So here we are 5 years later. I'm amazed how happy marriage can be and am truly happy and grateful that you are my husband, and how wonderful you are. I am amazed to see the blessings we have, just by being married in the temple and keeping our promises.

I love that you are my best friend, that we can be goofy and not care what the other one thinks, and just grow together. I love you Free. Happy Anniversary.

Getting So Big!!!

Nate likes to scoot himself across the tile.


Nate likes to chase Freeman down. Freeman was teasing Nate. Soon after Nate reached the dump truck, Freeman and the dump truck took off... with Nate following close behind...


Freeman decided to join Nate in his crib, and Daddy Freeman attacked the boys with tickles. I have never seen these kids laugh so hard.


Freeman is being quite the swimmer. Here is Freeman getting rings of the step. He can hold his breath and go under water.


This is one of Freeman's favorite things to do. He climbs onto dad's neck and they hold their breath and swim under water. Daddy Freeman has taught Little Freeman so much with swimming. They go almost every day. That is our special family time when Freeman comes home from work.

We put Nate on this car toy and surprisingly stayed on. He loves playing with all the little contraptions on this car and was so happy.






Time to share... So Nate always wants to play with what Freeman has and vice versa... Except Freeman is always able to take the toy away from Nate.


Nate is crawling around so Freeman is copying him.


Here is Nates little "Mission Impossible" move. Or is "Downward Dog" pose.


We are trying to wean Nate off his binkie and this particular night I hid one underneath his teddy bear (just in case I needed to find it during the night)... well as you can see he found it and fell asleep clutching it in his little hands.

Dedicated Thought

I was reading from a talk given by Thomas S. Monson from the Worldwide Leadership Training and was titled, "A Sanctuary from the World." There is someone very important in my life that I think this is important to hear, and maybe somehow will help reassess what's important.

"At times we may become bored or irritated with home and family and familiar surroundings. Such may seem less than glamorous, with a sense of sameness, and other places may sometimes seem more exciting. But when we have sampled much and have wandered far and have seen how fleeting and sometimes superficial a lot of the world is, our gratitude grows for the privilege of being part of something we can count on- home and family and the loyalty of loved ones. We come to know what it means to be bound together by duty, by respect, by belonging. We learn that nothing can fully take the place of the blessed relationship of family life."-Thomas S. Monson.

I know that my family may not share the same beliefs as me, but I want you to know that what the prophet counsels us in isn't just for the members of the church, it is for everyone. These teachings are for us all to learn and be strengthened by. This little paragraph in this talk hit home and I know that that is for me and my family to hear. I love my family member who this is dedicated to and I hope they will soon learn who they can count on.

What's with Scaring Me?

Okay, I don't know why but I keep getting spooked. I just downloaded new songs for our blog, and I like to just crank up the music and listen to it when I'm doing stuff. Anyway, the song Coldplay came on, and there is a extra voice in the song so I thought someone was in our computer room singing along. Anyway, click on Coldplay-Yellow from my Jukebox to listen to see what I'm talking about. Ha Ha.

The Return of the Special Smile

Here is Freeman at 1 year old. This is his famous "Special Smile." He has a great smile... but if you asked for his "Special Smile," this is what you got. Every now and then, we would ask and sometimes he would do it. Well, for my birthday, it was the return of the Special Smile!




2 Year old Freeman's special smile.

I wonder where he gets it from?

Nate's still working on his!

Sleeping Freeman

The many different sleeping positions of Freeman...

Freeman likes to tuck in his stuffed animals, so you can see his pile of toys that went, "Night Night" with him.
Freeman and his froggy legs...

Okay, this was funny... I was going in to check on Freeman, and he was tossing and turning and all of the sudden he got out of bed and stood up, and then bent over and his upper body rested on the bed. We have found him a few times like this, so I don't know if he starts to sleep walk, and just falls back into bed?
And of course, in the car... I don't know how he breathes like this...

Okay, funny/scary story. We put a gate up in Freeman's doorway so he won't keep getting out while he is trying to fall asleep. Well, with the start of Potty Training I was thinking that eventually he'll need to be able to go potty during the night and that maybe I should try to not keep the gate up. So we did our bedtime routine and I went to my room. I was talking on the phone to Freeman, and out of the corner of my eye I saw someone enter the room. Little Freeman had quietly come in and scared me to death. So, the gate went back up. No scaring mom when Dad's at work. We'll try again later.

Sleeping Nate

Funny Sleeping Moments of Nate...

Falling asleep after bouncing around like crazy on Exersaucer...

This is Nate's first time eating solid food! He was just so excited!

On our vacation in Palm Springs... "Time to Relax," was Nate's motto.

Bouncing Kids