The Last Lesson

We enrolled Ty in swim lessons through our community rec enter this summer. He had his last lesson on Saturday, and I had Adam get some pictures since we never took the camera to any of his other lessons.

He LOVES to swim!

Ty and his teacher

Going down the slide

All done!

Softball

Adam and I played on a co-ed softball team this summer with a bunch of people who work for Kaiser. It was a total blast! I haven't played softball in many, many years, and it was exciting for me to discover that I still love it as an adult as much as I did as a kid!

Adam and I played first and second base, and it was fun to be able to talk, laugh, and make plays on the infield together. Our team was actually pretty good--we ended up second in the league in regular season play and third during the tournament. I am so glad we did this together. It was a great way to strengthen our marriage by doing something that we both enjoy!

The Wedding (Picture Overload!)

The reason we went to Utah was because Adam's brother, Spencer, got married. I did my best to sort through the pictures, but there were just so many!

Here's 13 of the 15 Marchant grandkids at the Salt Lake Temple. I guess that was the best we could do amidst all the chaos going on!

Our niece, Sara, is such a good helper ;)

Our little family at the temple

Spence and Michelle--such beautiful people!

They had their wedding luncheon at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. I actually ran into one of my very favorite college professors there, a man named Brother Lambert who was my American Lit teacher the semester I was in Nauvoo. I honestly didn't think I would ever see him again in this life, so it was such a happy surprise! He and his wife happened to be working in the building, so he told me where to go find his wife, too (another teacher of mine In Nauvoo). It was so great to see them both!

At the luncheon, Adam and his brothers sang a couple of songs. The Marchant brothers music is legendary!

On the way to the reception. It was a LONG day, especially for the little guys, going from the temple to the luncheon to the reception. They did pretty darn well. And thanks again Mom and Dad for taking them from the reception when they finally melted down!

My three favorite guys!

All the second generation Marchant boys

Despite the glare, I think this is such a cute picture of Ty Guy!

Our family. Ignore the fact that I look like a pregnant hunchback.

Ty and Grandpa Marchant

The Marchant Men: Greg, Adam, Dwight, Spencer, Bryan, Russ, and Sean

Their GQ Pose. What a great looking group, huh?

More Utah

While we were in Utah, I was able to meet up with these fun friends:

Ali and Kami, roommates of mine from my freshman year at BYU. Whenever I am around them, they make me feel like I'm 18 years old again! They are so much fun!

I wasn't the only one having fun, though. Ty and McKay love to play in Grammie and Tooge's backyard. They have a small basketball court...

And a great stream to play in!

Since they were soaking themselves, I just stripped them down and let them go at it!

The best part was all the fruit trees they have in their yard! Ty and Toogie went out every morning and picked apricots for us, and McKay loved eating peaches right off the tree!

Maybe someday we'll have a great yard, too! :)

Kaiser House Idol

We returned yesterday from a week-long trip to Utah. The boys and I spent Monday through Wednesday with my family, and after Adam flew in on Wednesday night, we spent the rest of the week in Salt Lake. With so much to do and so little time, it was a JAM PACKED week. We didn't sleep very much, but we had a blast.

We kicked off the week on Monday night by bringing back a family tradition: Kaiser House Idol. This began when I was 19 years old. We did it each spring for four years in a row, and then the tradition was discontinued. It was great to have KHI #5 after going 3 1/2 years without it! Basically, each member of the family is given some sort of a topic or theme, and we write a song about it. Then we all get together and perform our songs for each other. My siblings are incredibly talented and creative, and it always ends up being a total riot! This year was no exception.

My 17-year old brother, Zach, is always the MC

My brother-in-law, DJ, pulled out some wicked dance moves!

DJ and Ash in their rockin' costumes!

My older brother, Josh, sang us a righteous gospel song...

...about horror movies!

And my dad sang to us about dirty jobs!

Fun for everyone!

My topic this year was extreme sports, and I wrote my lyrics to the tune of All I Ask of You from Phantom of the Opera. No costume for me this year, though, and no photos. Adam wrote a great song about old-school video games, and since he wasn't there in person to participate, he posted it on YouTube. Unfortunately, he deleted it as soon as the competition was over! :) It was so awesome; he made it into the final three this year. But alas, Zach took home his first KHI trophy as the season 5 winner. And yes, my mom really had a trophy made and got his name engraved on it and everything!

SO SO SO fun! This is one of my favorite Kaiser family traditions!

Looking forward to a vacation

The past month has been intense. This kitchen renovation has sucked FAR more time, effort and money than we had originally planned on. The good news is that it's coming together. After four long weeks, I have finally finished the cabinets (YAY!), although several of the doors still have not been re-hung. Yesterday, Adam and a friend installed the countertops. It was a fourteen hour job, and they have not been grouted or sealed yet. We are also without a kitchen sink. I'm currently having a bit of a meltdown about leaving my house in this condition while I skip town, but there's not much I can do about it. It will be waiting for me when I return.

I will leave you with a few pictures of the boys from a recent visit to our community pool. Despite all the hard work we've been doing, we have found ourselves here having fun quite a bit this summer. Though I am not a swimmer, both of my boys are little fish. They LOVE the water, and have no fear at all--which frankly makes me a bit nervous!

Because I have no news of my own to share...

...I will steal some from my dad! A couple of weeks ago, he had the honor of being selected to ride with the Navy's Blue Angels. He was nominated by Chief Kevin Reid, who is a Navy recruiter, for the work he has done as BYU's pre-med and pre-dental academic advisor. I didn't realize what a rare honor this is until I read some of the articles printed in Utah's newspapers. Apparently you have a greater chance of being hit by lightning than riding in one of these things! I've posted the links to the news articles below. Pretty proud of him!

Deseret News

Salt Lake Tribune

Daily Universe