Happy Birthday Preston!

Preston had a very special day on Saturday. He has been asking about his birthday for about 6 months and it finally arrived! He was a five boy!(as he puts it) In the morning, we let him open a couple of presents. He was so excited about these new movies from Grandma Crockett. He had a primary activity in the morning then his birthday party at one.



This was Preston's first birthday party with friends. The spiderman theme was his idea. He loves all things superhero right now.



The kids bounced around for awhile, then we played some games.



When it was time for cake, Preston knew exactly what to do. I pulled out some candles I had in the pantry and put five on the cake. Preston blew and blew. Finally they were all out, but then one lit back up. He blew it out and it lit up again. He was giggling so hard he could hardly pucker enough to blow. I didn't know I even had any trick candles so it was a great little suprise.



Grandma and Grandpa Nielson and Great Grandma and Grandpa Crockett came for cake and ice cream. Preston opened his other presents from them and us. I watched him open a present, remark on how cool it was, then grab for the next one almost immediately. I was reminded of his second Christmas. The year that he understood how to open a present. He opened one and got so excited that he wouldn't even touch the others. Wow, how things change in a few years!



To tire him out completely, we went to the zoo in the afternoon. A lot of the animals were sleeping. When Paige saw the black bear, she called out to it- "Puppy!" She reminded me of Boo from Monsters Inc. Even though Boo calls Sully "kitty". Preston's favorite animal was the Giraffe. I liked the white alligator. After the kids were hot and tired, we headed home. Preston just wanted to play with his toys. What were we thinking for taking him away from them? He played a little while and zonked right out in bed. He kept saying "I can't believe I'm five years old! I can't believe it!"

Goes on smoothly & wipes off easily

So it says on the tube of creamy Desitin. The "goes on smoothly" is surely what enticed Paige to continue slathering her arms and legs with it. The "wipes off easily" part is a lie. Why would a cream that is meant to protect against "wetness" come off easily? I had to give her a bath and the bath water filled up with a nice white film that still wouldn't rinse off. Her carpet has a huge white spot that just gets whiter when I scrub it. What to do with my inquisitive two-year-old. I guess I'll have to follow that advice that you can't get mad at them for stealing a cookie when you put the cookie jar right in front of them. Time to lock up all creams, lotions, soap, toothpaste or anything that comes in a tube or a pump.

Preston's logic

So, I was laying down with Preston the other night at bedtime. We were reading a scripture story and had the following conversation.

Preston: "Mommy, can Jesus see us?"
Me: "Yes"
Preston: "All of us? But there are so many of us"
Me: "He can still see all of us. He has special abilities"
Preston: "Does he just have HUGE EYES?"

Yeah, that is the logic of my cute almost 5 year old. He makes me laugh every day.

Clinic at Rockport

Our clinic was great on Saturday. We were so pleased with the turn out. We had 36 people total with families. There were 18 people that rode sky skis. Four of them had never been on one before. We had 4 boats thanks to High Adventure Power Sports lending us two boats.




We made t-shirts that say utah hydrofoiling on the front and No Wake Needed on the back. They looked great. Greg was on the lake from 6:30 am until 8:30 pm. That was one long day. I spent a lot of the time on the beach with the kids. I still got two rides in. The last one of the night was my best ride yet. I'm starting to get a ton of air when I jump at the wake. I've even landed a few of them.




Greg has finally gotten his technique down and just flies over the wake when he does wake rolls. This is probably the highest shot I have of him. We probably need to back off and get some things done around the house. This was Greg's 21st time out this season.

Paige's baby book is finally done!

Finally, just nine months AFTER the 18 month old point. I had so much fun putting Paige's book together. I wanted to keep it simple because I just don't have the time to design every page as I have in other books. Plus, I wanted the focus to be on her story and pictures, not on the scrapbooking itself. I designed this simple background and used it for every page. I can't wait to see the final book. Just a couple weeks until I have it in my hands.

To those who say you don't take as many pictures of your second child, I disagree. It was so nice having a child that couldn't move those first few months that I took a ton. Her book ended up being 103 pages long. It only took me one month to create the actual book in photoshop because I already had her pictures organized by months. I also kept a typed journal that I wrote in monthly as she grew. So glad I did that or I wouldn't have remembered near the detail that is in the book.



One of the spreads from Paigey's book.

Come Join Us at Rockport August 9th

We are holding a hydrofoiling clinic at Rockport on August 9th. The clinic will run from 8:30 to noon. Lunch is on your own. Then we'll free ride the rest of the afternoon for anyone that wants to stick around. This is our first time doing something like this. We want to spread the addiction of this sport to everyone we can. If you haven't tried it, come on up.

We started the utahhydrofoiling.com website that we will post events to. We also have a yahoo group for foilers to interact with each other. We are having so much fun with this.

24th of July

I spent the 24th of July lazing around for most of the morning while Greg went skiing with some guys from the group. In the afternoon, we went over to the Summer's house for swimming and dinner. Paige loved the pool. She splashed all over with Daddy.

While Greg visited with them for awhile, I headed for the Cul-de-sac O Fire with Preston. Cindy and Greg put on a great party with their neighbors. There were so many people there. Preston fun running around with his cousin- especially Logan whom he idolizes.



This was the first year I kept Preston up for fire works. I was a little worried about the noise, but he did fine with his hands over his ears the whole time. I enjoyed taking pictures of the fireworks and got some pretty cool ones. It was quite a show with music and all.