Happy Birthday Kevin

With the turmoil surrounding Kevin's health and job situation, we didn't do too much to celebrate Kevin's birthday. We were able to got out for a nice dinner however, thanks to a gift card we'd held onto for some time. Kevin did get a new shirt for his birthday and he did wear it that night for all to see. In case the photo is not large enough to see, the saying on it says; "My wife says I only have two faults; I don't listen and something else." Nice to see that Kevin is keeping his traditions of wearing tee shirts with funny sayings on them.

Pineview Reservoir

Pineview Reservoir is a nearby reservoir that Rob and Ivanna decided to visit for a quick weekend when they purchased their trailer and motorhome and they invited us along for some fun. They invited Ivanna's brother, Noah, who has a camper, boat and a little girl about 10 years old that Liam and Trace got to hang out with a bit. My parents decided to come up for Saturday day and we played on the beach with them while we waited for Rob and Ivanna to arrive. Saturday morning, Noah took the boat out and we got to play around in the water a little. Trace and Noah's daughter had a couple of swimming races where they jumped off the front of the boat and swam around to the back. Trace won every time! Liam was content to sit on the boat with a blanket, holding a fishing pole with no bait.

Summer and Levi

My Dad has a cousin from his Mom's side that he likes to connect with and who used to live in Utah for a time named "Cousin Rhonda". Throughout the years, we always liked to catch up with her and her family. She has a daughter that is a few years older than me named Jennifer and she now lives here in Utah in the Sandy area. She's a Facebook friend of mine and at one of Adam's races, her and her husband, Brad showed up to watch. We got to catch up a bit and discovered that she had a 10 year old boy and I had an 8 year old boy. Her son's name is Levi and last year, she invited us to come to her house, she has a pool in her backyard! It even has a hot tub in one section. So nice!
One day, Jennifer reached out to me and asked if I had any daycare plans for after school got out. I had registered him to attend a local rec center "summer program" but I wasn't very excited about the prospect of high school kids watching my and 13 other kids at the same time. She said that she was taking a break from school and work for the summer to hang out with and watch Levi. She asked if I wanted to have her watch Trace too. What?! How exciting! She agreed to watch him for the same price as the rec center, I just couldn't be happier. As the summer began, Trace and Levi discovered they were the very best of friends, even referred to themselves as long-lost brothers! Jennifer did so many fun things for the two boys during the summer! They went to the library, the movies, read books, did computer math games, made yummy treats, attended the big military air show and of course, swam in the pool almost every day! As Trace would arrive home each day and tell me about the fun they had, I'd be jealous of all the fun I missed out on while I was at work! They even got season passes to the local water slide park and went there once a week. So incredibly fun! There were even a few days that Levi was out of town or spending the day with his father or brother and Jennifer took Trace a couple times and just hung out with him all day! One time they made cookies, they went to breakfast and she even took him bowling one time! I felt so lucky have her take such good care of him while I had to go to work. She's truly been a huge blessing in our lives, especially at a time when Kevin isn't able to do his job and in need of someone to watch Trace while he attends physical therapy and doctor appointments. I'm going to be so sad when the summer is over and the boys have to both go back to school! Play-dates will have to be made!

See ya, Second Grade!

As they say, that's a wrap! Trace had a successful 2nd grade school year. His teacher, Ms. Martin was helpful and seemed genuinely interested in his success. He's excited for the adventures of this summer, but really enjoyed making friends and learning new things in 2nd grade. On the 3rd grade!

Wesley Nichols and Trace

Trace and Matthew Palmer

Trace and Kaleb Kresser

Trace and Reid Williams

Trace and Ms. Courtney Martin

Laps for Logan

Trace has a friend named Wesley that happens to live just up the street from us with his family. His older brother, Logan, is in the primary class that Kevin and I team teach. He has Type 2 Diabetes and has a pump linked to a mobile phone to monitor his levels. After one too many close calls and the monitor not working like it should, they decided the best thing to do would be to get a dog for Logan that can actually smell low blood sugar! Amazing that a dog can even do that! Anyway, they looked into it and the dogs are quite expensive, upwards of $5,000. They decided the best way to afford the dog was to have a fundraiser for him. They held it at a local school and called it "Laps for Logan". The participants asked for donations based on number of laps they completed around the school and parking lot. Trace ended up running/walking about 16 laps, I managed about 10 and Kevin (recently recovered from surgery) ended up doing about 5, which was 5 too many. They came up with a really cute tee shirt design and after all was said and done, they raised enough for the dog and even some food and supplies. Congratulations Logan! Later, in early August, he was able to choose and bring his new dog home! The puppy is a black lab and Logan ended up naming the puppy "Vader". So cute I thought! The family consists of; Scott (Dad) Cally (Mom) Logan, Wesley, Annabelle, and baby Bentley. Now they also have the golden retriever Chloe and the new lab puppy Vader.