Summer in Full Swing

We are now in the middle of summer and so much has been happening, I have not had time to keep the blog updated.  I will start back in June when Taylor graduated from High School.  We were so lucky that Grandma and Grandpa Terry came to see him graduate.  He was the proud recipient of an honors diploma.  He also received the award for the best vocational student for the work he did in his college engineering program.  He is so modest, he did not even tell us that he was getting this award so we missed the award ceremony.  Fail for Taylor for not telling us and fail to the school for not keeping us in the loop, especially since they can't beat down our door fast enough if our kid is in trouble.

After graduation it is has been a whirlwind of 50 mile backpacking hikes and high adventures for that boy.  In the midst of all that activity he managed to turn in his mission paperwork and he has finally received his call.

Sao Paulo West, Brazil!  He will be leaving for the Provo MTC on 5 Nov 2014, so we will still have him around for a while.  I am super excited that we will finally be going to Brazil.  I know the mission is not about me, but still, both Taylor and I are glad his call is not to Kansas.

Isaac and Nick are on the swim team again this summer.  Isaac has moved up to the older group and he is learning to swim all the strokes.  He is competing in the free, back and breast.  Still working on a legal fly.  I am proud of him for moving up from the Jr section to the full competition section.  Nick is in the Jr section and is practicing the free and back.  He had a major breakthrough last week when he swam the free the whole length of the pool unassisted.  This week he is hoping to do the same with the back.

In other news, it has been a long time coming but Isaac is now riding his bike!!!!! Hooray! No more dragging his heavy butt in the bike trailer.  He is still wobbly and not ready for a family bike ride on a busy street but this is major progress.  

Our family has also been running some races.  Tom, Taylor and I have been doing a 10K series.  If you complete 6 of the the 10 sponsored 10Ks throughout the year then you get a sweatshirt.  We will be doing our 5th in 2 weeks.  At the one we we did a month ago it was a night race/glow race and there was a 5K component so we signed the kids up.  They managed to finish and even won second place in their age categories.  They got some really cool glowing medals that they hung prominently in their rooms.

Summer is so much fun we love wading in the creek catching crawdads, sitting on the deck at night watching fireflies and going to King's Island to make ourselves sick on the roller coasters.  I hope everyone is enjoying your summer as well!