Swimming Together

 Anna and Todd have made a lot of progress in their swim lessons.

Todd still needs a pool noodle for support, and Anna still gets nervous about being in the deep end . . .

. . . but they've both become a lot more comfortable in the water, and learned to enjoy swimming (at least on warm days).

This afternoon, Todd even invited Anna to take his hand and make an extra trip to the deep end and back.

She accepted, and they cheerfully ventured there and back again.  Swimming is more fun when you do it with people you love.

Our Berry Patch Harvest

Anna and I have really enjoyed . . .

. . . harvesting berries from our little berry patch lately.

Our raspberry plants are off to a slow start (I hear that the rainy summer hasn't been great for them) . . .

. . . but we got a nice little crop of blueberries (which you have to cover with netting so the birds don't eat them before you do).

We've also had fun harvesting little alpine strawberries.  They're much smaller than regular strawberries, but they're also a lot easier to grow.  And they're really tasty.

Berries make me happy. :)

Trying New Things

Sometimes it's just fun to try new things . . .

. . . like indoor tennis . . .

. . . tater tot shepherd's pie . . .

. . . high heels (which we didn't purchase) . . .

. . . and a bunch of different kinds of root beer.  Our friends the Andersons are coming into town soon, and Mike Anderson asked if we knew of any local root beers that he might want to stock up on.  Phillip went to a couple stores and bought six brands of root beer, a birch beer, and two ginger brews, so we could try them all.  Some were yummy, some were just OK, and a few were really weird.  Phillip and I hated the bubble-gum-flavored root beer, but our kids loved it.  To each their own.

Birthday Brouhaha

 It's my birthday today . . .

. . . and the first activity on my birthday agenda was piecing together a cool puzzle my mom gave me.  It's the word puzzle we had a lot of fun doing in California a few weeks ago.

After the kids and I finished putting it together, they asked me to take pictures of their favorite words . . .

. . . like "brouhaha" . . .

. . . "gobbledygook" . . .

. . . and "scuttlebutt!"

Then the kids took the puzzle apart and started doing it again.  It's just that fun. :)

Our New Yamaha Isn't a Motorcycle

 A few of our friends came over today . . .

. . . to help us move . . .

. . . a new piano into our living room.  A friend's parents were selling their Yamaha for a really great price, and when Daniel and Phillip went to try it out, they fell in love with its responsive keys and resonant sound.  Our old piano is getting close to retirement age, so we decided to invest in this newer one that should last us for many years to come.

After placing the Yamaha in its new location, Phillip and our very strong friends moved our old piano in front of the fireplace, where it will wait for us to find it a new home.

Patriotic Cookies

 Independence Day fell on a rainy Sunday this year, so rather than going out to do something patriotic, Anna and I decided to make some cookies.

We tried to at least make the cookies a little patriotic by adding food coloring to the dough, but instead of achieving red and dark blue, we got light blue and brown (I guess we should have skipped the cocoa).

At least the sprinkles helped.

Fluffernutter says the cookies turned out delicious, and that's what really matters.

Just for fun, I wrapped a bit of blue dough inside some chocolate dough, so it looked the same as all the other "red" cookies.  Todd won the prize for finding the blue-centered cookie at dessert time.  Even when the prize is just a coin, it's still fun to win. :)

Daniel's First Temple Trip

It was rainy in Massachusetts this morning, but that's OK . . .

. . . because we were planning to get wet at the temple anyway!

Our temple is finally back open for proxy baptisms!  Daniel has been old enough to attend the temple since January, but due to COVID restrictions this was the first time he has actually been able to go inside.  I loved being able to share that sacred experience with him.