Middle end of July

Middle of July we actually took a little break from traveling and did the usual summer stuff. . . . swim, swim, swim.

Sofie had swim lesson's that have just turned her into a little fish. She has become such a better swimmer this year. Here she is waiting in line to go off the diving board for the first time.

I can't believe she went of with out a little shove.

So Spencer found this little baby bird in our back yard while the kids were playing in the sprinklers. It was soaking wet and couldn't fly so Sofie had so much fun holding it and petting it. I well expected to wake up in the morning and find it in the yard killed over but nope it wasn't anywhere to be found, hopefully it dried off and flew away instead of dead in the neighbors yard.


Luke in his summer swim attire. These little floaties are so hideous but so awesome for swimming!

Cutie!

What he likes even more than swimming is playing in the sand/ mud!

Oh . . .Surprise!

I just had to get a picture of this little chef. Seriously he has an obsession lately with cooking. I was doing some stuff on the computer when I realized the erie silence that accompanies the phrase "What is Luke doing" when I found this happy little rat or should I say ratatouille!

One other thing he loves besides cooking right now is "bootz". Unfortunately his boots are now 2 sizes too small so I found him in his P.J.'s wearing Sofie's boots around just besides himself he was so happy to have "bootz" on.

Well the summer fun staying at home only lasted a few weeks and it has been "on the road again since then." This trip to Utah to see Susie come home from her LDS Mission (1 1/2 yrs in Germany) we hit 200k miles in our Honda!

A building company in Utah has replicated the "Up" house. They got special permission from Disney and it is decorated and everything like the movie! So we took Grandma and checked it out!

Cousin's gone wild! These two girls came up stairs just giggling so hard, they just thought they were so funny thinking this idea up!

And here we are awaiting the arrival of Susie from Germany. . . .

. . . . and waiting. I asked them to make a "I'm sick of waiting face", and apparently Shelley makes the same face when she is sick of waiting as she does when she is on the toilet. . . hahah

Luke got so sick of waiting he laid down on the floor. . . we waited for a long time!

And just as everyone was about to leave for a restroom break she popped through the doors when no one had a camera ready. Isn't that how it always happens?

Here is the welcoming crew, and the sad Sister Swendsen. She was so sad to leave Germany! At least that's what she told us. I am hoping it's not because she didn't want to come home.

When she left we lived a plane ride away. Now we live a 4 hr. drive away. We are excited to get more Susie in our lives.

So we got back in the car and went straight to Crestted Butte Colorado where we met up with some friends from Oklahoma. Spencer went out one morning to check out a mountain bike race going on and found this big surprise. A Bear!

Who's this little stow away?

The dog cracks me up!

While we were there it was announced the night before the race that Lance Armstrong was in town and was going to race!!! We actually saw Lance Armstrong mountain bike race in real life! Seriously was way better than I thought it would be seeing him in real life!

ummm hu. Almost as nice as seeing Spencer in spandex :)

Just kept snapping the camera. It's like I couldn't stop. There were many more I am not even posting! I didn't even know I liked Lance that much!

Oh shoot how did this picture of me getting off my bike get in here? hahahahah. . . I wish

Those legs actually belong to this lady, Rebecca Rousch. Best Female mountain biker in the world (at least she won the world solo cup). She signed my flip flop, even though she was slightly disgusted to do it.

Us and the Phillips. What a fun weekend!