Caught UP!!

According to my picture files, I am officially caught up!  After 35 posts in the last week!  Don't tell me that's not impressive!  Now I do have a few more updates that are non-picture related...

So far, the biggest event of the year has been my niece, Alexis, being born.  My older sister, Jessie, became a Mom!!!  Alexis is such a cutie!!  But I still haven't gotten to hold her in my arms...but that will change in the near future!

Another update is that my sister, Jo, is going on a mission!!  We don't know where to yet, but we will find out soon.  I am hoping that she goes to France, and then me and my sisters can fly out to pick her up, and she can be our translator (because although I do occasionally speak french, I am well aware that it is terrible!).

Phoenix has been talking so much since Christmas.  His words still are not perfect, but I can communicate with him really well now (not everyone can).  He loves riding his tricycle, looking at toys in stores, going swimming, playing with trains and cars, and cuddling with his Mommy.  Last year it took him almost the whole summer to let anyone touch him in the pool.  So far this summer, he has made a lot of progress!  He always wears a life jacket, but now he swims with it by himself.  Last week Audrey came over and said "Mom!  Phoenix is doing that thing in the water where he moves but he doesn't go anywhere" (treading water lol), but now he is actually making horizontal progress!  I am hoping to have him swimming on his own by the end of the summer...we will see how that goes.

Audrey has made a few good friends in school and at church.  She is very talkative in school, and she recently got a note sent home because she was making farting noises in the library.  Another proud mommy moment!  But I seriously was laughing when she told me that.  She has been helping me out a lot with chores around the house, making her bed, wiping the table down, drying some dishes, and just picking things up.  That has been a huge help!!  She really enjoyed dancing last year, and we will continue to do that next year.  She is such a good little swimmer!  She really does improve almost instantly on what I tell her to do!  She is definitely one of my best students ever!  She is catching up with reading, and she is doing so well with that!

Travis has been working hard (as always), and this summer we have the most employees that we have ever had.  He still loves to go out and surf, and he really enjoys taking the kiddos fishing.  He is a Sunday School teacher for the youth in our church, and he really enjoys that calling.  He is currently watching Revenge.

I have been working on projects on and off these last few months, I have read a few books, watched a few more TV series, and I feel like for the first time since having kids, I am starting to get a schedule down.  Let's face it.  Babies really put a wrench in a lot of plans, so I have really enjoyed just having Audrey and Phoenix, who are both able to enjoy everything that we do, and they can actually help me out sometimes!

Our ward had a dance for the adults.  Dream. Come.  True.  Me and Travis learned some swing dance lifts and tricks  (via youtube), and it was so fun!  I am so glad I married a guy that is OK with dancing, and was totally game to learn some cool moves!  I am still holding out hope that sometime in the future we will be able to take ballroom dance lessons together.

Our plans for this summer are pretty low-key so far, this is Trav's busy time of the year, so doing anything (other than on Saturdays and Sundays) is a strain.