We've been ELFED!

The other day Sam emailed me this hilarious video he made at work.  We all laughed so hard I decided to try it too.  I wish we could fit our whole family, but the max is 5 people.  So here is my video...  Oh and you might want to scroll to the bottom of the page and pause the music player.  Enjoy our awesome dance moves!

Here is Sam's video.  It's pretty funny because he used an old family photo and the heads are floating!

A week of Swimming lessons with Kirsty Ferrell!

The week after the Oceanside trip, I stayed in Glendora.  My parents were able to sign my kids up for swimming lessons with Kirsty Ferrell!  She was on the BYU swim team and has been swimming for many years!  She is awesome!  My kids have never really had any formal swimming instruction so this was great.  They each had private lessons for 5 days.  Savannah and Wyatt learned proper technique for several strokes and learned how to dive.  The first couple of days there were a lot of belly flops, but by day five, they were doing great!  Caitlin learned the free style and breath strokes and practiced diving from her knees. She wasn't ready to dive standing up, maybe next year.  Kirsty said swimming came very naturally for Caitlin.  Brielle... sigh... was a whole other story.  

Brielle is a fearless girl.  I haven't really seen her afraid of anything.  She will go on roller coasters, pick up or squish any insect or bug she sees.  She has seen all the Harry Potter movies, parts ( that I will allow) of Lord of the Rings, even I don't like those Orcs!  The first day of swimming lessons took us all by surprise.  Brielle was terrified!  Kirsty did the standard things of introducing Brielle to the water, which included dunking her under water.  Brielle was screaming and crying and yelling at Kirsty.  Day two,  she refused to go near the water.  She did not get an ice cream that day after lessons and she was perfectly fine with it.  Day three she did get in the pool, but there was a lot of screaming, crying, yelling, and scratching poor Kirsty.  I felt so bad!  Kirsty kept telling Brielle not to scratch her because it was hurting her sunburn.  Day four Kirsty wanted to get Brielle to use the kick board.  It was so funny ( I'm sorry) to watch Brielle scream for dear life as she floated on a kick board!  Would she ever learn to swim?

Day Five Goal:  To swim across pool with kick board and to put face into water.  Did she do it?  You'll just have to find out!

Brielle seriously contemplating the tasks she needs to accomplish!

 Ok this isn't so bad, I can do this!

 Here we go!  I'm doing it!

Kirsty is talking to Brielle about putting her face in the water.

She did it!!!

 Not too happy about trying something new!

Next Kirsty wanted Brielle to push off the edge and then she would catch her.  This is how she reacted...

She did NOT want to do it, so I got in to help her.

Brielle did everything we wanted her to do!  The first few days were rough, but the last day was great!

Shot from my iPhone from the Steimle's pool.

Oceanside Family Beach Trip July 15 - 17, 2010

I LOVE the few days we spend in Oceanside each year!  It is my favorite vacation we take.  We eat so much good food and the kids love to play at the beach.  The first night we went out for fish n chips and then the other two nights we have family made meals.  The days begin with waffles, fresh strawberries, and whip cream.  Then we spend the rest of the day either at the beach or at the pool.  The kids had fun playing in the sand and boogie boarding!  

I love these pictures of my Mom's "Shrek" toes!  It's a Shrek color and all of the girls and I painted our toes this color!

Sam enjoying the sun!

Brielle loved getting her picture taken with this piece of seaweed.  She wore it around her neck for quite a while like it was her feather boa.

 I had to sneak a picture of Savannah.

 Sam playing with Brielle.

I love the drippy sand castles!

This totally looks like Caitlin is wearing thigh highs!

 Grandpa giving the o' thumbs up!

The ladies on the beach.

Sam and Wyatt catching some waves together!  I'm really happy Sam had a good time because he couldn't stay more than two days with us!

These three pictures are of my cousin Jimmy's wife, Carly, and daughter Navee Rae!  She just turned one and is so adorable!  I just had to get some shots of her.

And here is my cousin Chris with his wife, Brandy, and their son Conner.  Conner is two now and this was his first trip to the beach!