Sunday, July 18, 2004

Misha celebrated her 3rd birthday on the 9th.  Actually since Chris had a University of Phoenix meeting on the 9th, we did our celebrating on Thursday night.  Chris took off a couple of hours early and we headed to Boulder to play miniature golf.  It was pretty hot and by the time we were finished I think we were all wilting a bit.  We decided to go to Olive Garden for dinner.  Speaking of Olive Garden...Amy really likes going to restaurants for dinner.  One night she was asking if we could go for dinner at Kindergarten.  Took me a couple seconds to figure that she really wanted to go to Olive Garden.

If golf and dinner weren’t enough, we then headed down to Pearl Street where they have a street fountain that is cached in Amy’s memory.  She was anxious to go and run through the water and subsequently did so, getting very wet.  Misha was much more cautious and only got a tiny bit wet...but she had a pretty fun day.

We invited friends over for cake on Sunday night; all but Krauses were out of town.  We still had fun.

The girls have continued to enjoy play group throughout the summer.  We changed it a bit from our normal routine.  Instead of having one person in charge of planning it and providing snacks, we have a list of parks that we go to and everybody brings their own snacks.  The kids still get to play together and get a lot of different options for treats.

Both girls have been enrolled in swimming lessons this summer.  They are now in their second session and have two more weeks left.  Amy had progressed enough in her skills that I put her in a more advanced class.  She was actually able to swim a bit on her own.  Misha continued to progress in her class as well, though both girls will likely be at the same level for their next class.  I told Amy that she could take either a dance or a gymnastics class after swimming lessons were over.  I think she’ll opt for dance while Misha will go for gymnastics.

Amy’s best friend, Audrey, has been on vacation with her family for two weeks now and will be gone for another week still.  Amy certainly misses her and their afternoon play dates.  A couple of weeks ago, Audrey invited Amy to her birthday party at the “Build-a-Bear” store in the Flat Irons Mall.  They all got to pick out a bear, name it, stuff it, fluff it, and select some clothes.  Amy thought it was a fantastic idea and now wants to have her birthday there too.

We had concrete poured in our back yard about a month ago.  It is wonderful.  We have a pathway from the back patio around to the side of the house and the entrance to the garage.  We also had them pour a pad next to the garage where Chris parks his trailer. 

Chris labored long and hard over the fence and finished installing it about three weeks ago.  He was crunched for time and stayed up with his head lamp on his head to finish the project before he left for Arizona.  Once the posts were in, Amy, Misha, and I were able to assemble the next portion which closed in our yard quite nicely.  We have been waiting on getting some rock.  You wouldn’t think that rock would be back ordered-there should be plenty of it-but we have been waiting for it for at least two weeks now.  We are anxious to get it in because after rocks comes sod.  Then the major back yard projects will be finished and our Saturdays won’t always be dedicated to time in the yard.  I have had to weed the back yard twice, which is no easy nor quick task.

Chris flew back to Arizona at the end of June for a week to work on a project for the American Express account.  While there, his laptop crashed and he had to order a new hard drive.  He wasn’t able to get as much done as he had hoped, but was able to make a good start into the project by the end of the week.

Dallin, my younger brother, was called to serve as a bishop last Sunday.  My parents drove down to Utah again so that my father could ordain Dallin a high priest.  We weren’t able to go though, and I certainly miss those opportunities to spend time with my family.

We went camping this weekend with some friends from the ward.  I think about seven others family joined us.  We were the second family to arrive, and when we did, it was kind of misting and wet.  Once Chris got the tent up, it really started to pour.  We considered pulling the tent down, packing up and heading home.  Chris, Misha, and I hung out in the back of the van while Amy played in the Payne’s huge tent.