Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Swimming Lessons

Swimming lessons are a little stressful around our house.... First of all, I inadvertantly instilled an intense fear of drowning into my children (way to be too over-protective, Mom!) Second, the Wayne Pool is an outdoor pool which is only open in the summer and is only warm enough to be enjoyable maybe 5 days of the year. Swimming lessons are in the morning and it's FREEZING!! And, third, we have a hard time getting to the pool everyday for 2 weeks during the summer. We are just too busy with me working out-of-town and all of the farming Wes has to do. So swimming lessons aren't our favorite thing. But we are trying...


Kurtis really showed improvements this year--

Swimming underwater! (This is impressive considering he hates putting his face in the water.)

Backfloating...


Diving for rings!


It's funny... when we were on vacation in North Carolina, we had to literally drag Katie out of the ocean everyday! She loved it!

But at the swimming pool in Bicknell, forget it!! We have to practically push her in! Not sure what that's about, but we are hoping she gets over it.

She's all smiles as long as she's close to the edge
Look, her whole head is wet... Yay!!


Definately not comfortable, but not kicking and screaming either... so an improvement!

In the end, Kurtis passed off Level 2... Way to go, bud!
And Katie's passed off Level 1 and is happy to be finished with another year.

Friday, October 15, 2010

JULY 2010

~ 4th of July ~

Since the 4th of July fell on Sunday this year, we got to celebrate all weekend!! Torrey had their celebration on Saturday July 3rd. This celebration is fun because it still has the small-town atmosphere... the parade, flea market and games at the park are simple but meaningful and less crowded than Richfield. Plus we get to see tonz of friends and family!


Katie, Kurtis, Wes and cousin, Kolt-- we've got our sacks and we're ready to catch candy!!


Katie & I waiting for the parade to start


Kurtis is just the right height to be dad's arm-rest!


We watched the parade with Wes's cousin, Jed & his wife Kaycee.
Kurtis and his 2nd cuz, Kolt.


Always plenty of interesting entries in the Torrey parade ;)


Eating mini pies from The Pie Wagon is one of the best parts of this celebration


Yummm!


Amen!!




Ahhh... tender! (We can't sit right next to each other cuz Wes hates the sun and I love it!)


Katie smiled at Smokey the Bear...

... And got a special treat!


The highlight of Kurtis's weekend... he got his picture taken with one of the guys from Nitro Circus!


After the parade, we head to the Torrey Park for games, lunch and socializing


The games are awesome! They still have the good 'ol games that kids love!


Picking out prizes!















~ The Evening of the 3rd~
The Crane's invited us over for a bonfire and fireworks. We had a blast!! They put on quite the firework display and the bonfire was huge! We were gonna let the kids roast marshmallows, but it was so hot we couldn't get that close!



Sam, Brooke & Lisa... the funnest girls in town!


Thank goodness Jordan got the hose... those flames are gettin' pretty high


















~The 4th in Richfield~ (July 5, 2010)

It really wouldn't be the 4th without chillin' at the station with the fam! This tradition has been around longer than me & it's about the only time the Nowers family gets together.


Katie, J.J. & Kurt... Grandma made cute little candy sacks for the kids this year!


Cute kiddos!


Yay! We get to see our cousins!


Katie is excited to see the John Deere tractors
... cuz she never gets to see those! (haha)


My family!!! (Minus Dad... guess he doesn't want to spend his morning off at the station, too.)


My beautiful niece, Shannon, marching with the drill team




My siblings and I.
We didn't even plan to dress in matching clothes... guess good taste is genetic!


This one's for Elder Robbie Hicks who is serving a mission in Africa! We miss you and are very proud of you, Rob!!


The craziest tradition of all... THE FISH GRAB!!! This has become the main event at the Richfield City Park on the 4th of July! The kids (and parents) wait for close to an hour in the hot sun for a chance at grabbing a trout with their bare hands. It seems like everyone in Richfield gathers in a small corner of the park. It takes no less security then that of a rock concert to keep the kids out of the make-shift ponds when the fish arrive! Finally, they give the go-ahead to jump in... it's PURE CHAOS!!


Katie's trying to find a fish amidst the chaos ... she was so mad she couldn't catch one!


Kurtis caught a fish.. Yay!!! (I think...)