Busy Busy Busy Summer!

I don't know WHAT has happened, some kind of time warp, because summer is half over!  Whaaaaa???? I remember when I was young that "old" people would always talk about how time moves so fast.  I never agreed--waiting for a trip to Tahoe or wherever seemed like it took F.O.R.E.V.E.R!!!  Minutes were like hours, days were like weeks.  Well, I guess I must really be old now, because for sure time is passing more quickly.  No way is Tyler almost 11????  He's practically moving out of the house.  So the gaps in my blog are not due to my negligence, it is just due to some cosmic forces making the earth rotate faster, passing time more quickly.  It cannot be that I am getting older.

Father's Day was great, we made dad a fun picture.

 Eric's sister, Hillary, came out for a visit for a couple weeks.  It was so fun.  We went to see the Parade of Homes, went out to eat, spent a lot of time together with all the cousins, etc.  One day we went up to Olympic Park in Park City.  They have a ton of fun stuff to do there--ziplines, ropes courses, alpine slide, etc.  They had different sizes of ropes courses.  The "small" one (only 15-20 feet off the ground) was enough for me.  Maggie did it and did awesome!  No fear, she attacked that thing.

 Tyler and Jacob did awesome too.  They had a blast doing it.  After this one we tried one of the 2 bigger ones.  Much higher and much more difficult--that wasn't a hit with me or the boys.  Of course Eric then decided to be the stud he is and did the HIGH HIGH one.  Nailed it.  But I don't have any pics of that, unfortunately.  I know lots of the other family member there took pics so send them to me!

 Here is a shot of all the Swenson cousins together....we make quite the nice little pyramid, huh?  Of course my little munchkins make up the sides!

 It was so fun with the cousins.

A few days ago Jacob got BAPTIZED!!!!  Hooray!  It was such a special day.  He was a little nervous, which was so cute.

 Is he a handsome kid or what?  And the best part is he is such a sweetie.  I guess he is making up for his years of screaming as a baby (yes, YEARS of screaming).  I almost sold him to the gypsies many times.  But he has grown into an awesome kid (I won't call him a young man because that would be admitting he's growing up--not allowed!).  Jacob is a boys boy, carries around jars of bugs, collects old bullet casings he finds out hiking, loves soccer, loves swimming, loves to play with his friends.  Jacob is always making cute things for other people.  He makes rubber band bracelets for me and grandma, he puts together little envelopes with candy and sweet notes in them and leaves them on my bed or in my bathroom.  He's just a fun kid to be around.  We love him so much and we are so proud of him.

 The baptism was amazing.  Tyler gave the talk on baptism and wrote it all by himself.  He did so good--great content, he made eye contact and talked slow.  Then my kids all sand "I am a Child of God" taking turns doing the verses as solos.  Oh my, it was a moment I wish I could capture in a jar and keep forever.  One of those moments where your heart just swells up inside of you and you think you could burst.  It was such a neat and special day.

Summer has been moving along in between all our many activities...lemonade stands for one!

 My mom is out for Jacob's baptism and we went on a ride up Current Creek.  It was BEAUTIFUL and my mom even enjoyed it!  I wasn't sure if she would.  We even got her to shoot our pistol--she's the next Annie Oakley.  We will turn that city slicker into an outdoors women yet.

In between all this fun stuff we've crammed more fun stuff.  Sprinklers, going to the pool, a girl's trip to Seattle,  and just tons of play time!  Looking forward to the second half--a trip to Yellowstone and Grandma Calder's are in store!  Stay tuned for more.