First Journal Entry

This week has been a great week. With the boys off of school for the summer I have set things for them that they need to accomplish in a day. Each day Ryan is suppose to read at least 5 pages of a chapter book a day and Danny is to read at least 1 book a day. If they complete these each week at the end of the week they are to do something special. If they go above and beyond what they are asked on reading then they could earn a "surprise reward".  They have been doing really good at this. We are going to be starting week 3 of the reading this week. They love it. I also try to read to them each day a chapter from the book that I am reading them called The Magicians Nephew by C.S. Lewis. They love listening to the story and I love that time reading to them.
With me being almost 8 months pregnant I am very tired in the mornings and mid day but as the time goes into the evening I feel better. Tuesday night we decided that we would go use Jamie's brother, Kirk's pool in the evening to cool off and allow the boys to practice swimming. We didn't leave there til 8:30 and on our drive home Jamie and I got talking that this summer that Ryan needed to learn how to ride a bike without training wheels. His bike was getting very worn for the wear and he was growing out of it. So we decided that for their surprise reward we would go to the store right then and go buy them both new bikes. They were very excited and I think that they felt very big. Once they picked out their bikes we bought them and went home they were able to dream that night about their new bikes. The next day while I went shopping with my sister in law Shauna and my mother in law Linda for fabric for this sweet little girl in my belly, Jamie took Ryan and Danny out in the heat to teach an eager Ryan how to ride his bike with no training wheels. Jamie got video of Ryan only a few rides into trying. It seems he has caught on pretty fast.

Thursday Jamie was able to go and do video at a Rally for Pro-Life that was in front of an abortion clinic. I am so grateful that we can be apart of these important causes. I was hoping to be able to go but with it being around 105-107 degrees that day and that it was in the middle of the day outside I stayed home with my boys. 

Friday Jamie made some awesome food for dinner out on the grill. Dinner in something that is hard for me to make somedays. It usually requires a lot of standing and cooking for an hour or more and that sometimes makes me feel sick or weak. So when I do cook I usually cook sitting on a stool. On friday though Jamie got some awesome meat at the meat counter at the store and we had Kabobs and asparagus and stuffed jalapeño peppers. 

Ryan and Danny are 2 kinds of swimmers. Ryan has almost no fear in the pool, he is wiling to try things. Danny is very timid and doesn't feel very secure even with us holding him in the pool, he would rather stay in the part of the pool where he can stand. When we do hold him in the pool he is holding on for dear life. Saturday morning the boys got to have their first swim lesson with Marc Johnson (their cousin's husband). They did really good and I think that they will progress this summer and become better swimmers.

 Saturday evening we decided after dinner to take a drive out to the Gilbert Temple that they are building and look at it and take a few pictures of it and then head to Costco. After the temple we got to Costco but it was already closed so we were headed home and after we got the on the freeway we decided that this would be a good time for the boys to get a present for their little sister when she was born. We turned the car around and went to the San Tan Mall in Gilbert where we took them to Build-a-bear workshop where they got to build a bear for their little sister to welcome her into the world when she gets here. They had so much fun and the workers there were so great to make the experience a memorable one. They got to name the bear and Ryan came up with the first name Cozy cause it would be a soft, warm, gentle bear for his little sister. Danny decided that the middle name needed to be Bear. So now they have Cozzy Bear waiting to welcome the little princess when she gets here on her "birthday".