Cousins!

Alright- get ready for a large, fun filled post!

Spencer and Jenna were so excited to have some cousins come and visit. Tanner and Christopher were able to tag along with Uncle Mike on his business trip. It was a week of fun!

There was a softball party at our house one night with Jenna's team and the boys got really wet both from filling the water balloons and from the water fight itself. It seemed they were rather outnumbered!

I had them tag along and help pick some beans from a friends large garden- perhaps not their favorite part of the trip. But it was nice to have a few extra hands to make it go quickly.

We spent one afternoon at the beach. It was a beautiful day to be there.

We checked out a water skiing show. It was like figure skating on water skis with all of the moves they did- hard to show that in a photo though.





We also went to the Bakken Museum here. It was a free day and they had some fun activities going. There was the electricity activities. They had fun creating charges and then using them as Ben Franklin did. Here is what he used as an alarm when storms were in the area.

Jenna absorbing some of the static charge.

They shared a charge in this circle.

This is a unit that used magnets to remove metal out of eyes. It looks a little scary to me!

Then they enjoyed being challenged to catch some ping pong balls from one of the youth inventions.




But I think the hands down favorite was boating. There were lots of smiles and fun!

Here are the before shots.
We must have a slow leak somewhere because one of the sides (the right one) was a little goofy.

This is one of my favorites even though it isn't in focus.

The goggles came on after the first ride. It was a little hard to see without them!

This is another favorite! They were so cute!

Too bad the fishing wasn't too successful. I think all we did was feed the tiny ones that were in the lake. It is hard to find a lake that is good for boating and fishing.

Some of my favorite moments not recorded by photos included:

• listening to them all laugh
• listening to them laugh at Spencer while playing Snorta- no, "me-haw" is not the sound a donkey makes.
• watching how well they all got alon
• At bedtime: no, not because they were quiet but because of their bedtime habits. They all read their scriptures and said their prayers without being told. They enjoyed quietly chatting - but not for too long because they tended to be tired.
  

Thanks for coming Tanner and Christopher, it was wonderful having you.

Black Belt Promotion

In May, all of the hard work of attending karate paid off for Spencer and he finally earned his black belt. He is very excited and proud that he made it and has plans to continue and someday become an instructor. (That is great if it means I won't have to pay for more lessons.) But that is a few years down the line. Here are a few photos from the belt promotion.

One of these days we will figure out how to take good shots with the weird lighting at the hotel where they do the black belt promotions but until then...

It's official. He has his name on his belt now.

A photo of all of those that received their black belts.

And here are a few videos from that day.

It can be hard to figure out who is sparring when they are wearing their gear.
Spencer was able to recognize himself quickly by one of his first moves- a flying backfist. Apparently he may be the only one to use it. He begins on the right hand side.

Here he is doing his bow staff form.