Just some stuff

I hope everyone had a fun Fourth of July. I think it is Nate's favorite holiday. He and Felix had so much fun doing their fireworks. THe grand finally was pretty good. But it is an expensive hobby. Might as well put a ton of $1.oo bills in the middle of the street and light them on fire. Of course they don't have the same effect as actually blowing stuff up. But the end result is the same: you just burned up a lot of money! Oh well, once a year is tolerable. There are worse hobbies to lose money on. (I have a large closet full of scrapbook supplies. I haven't had time to scrapbook in 6 years! Why do I keep buying it?) ANyway, I spent the night handing out sparklers, ground flowers and helicopters to little kids and hoping no on got burned or set fireworks off underneath the gas tanks of the parked cars. Everyone seemed to have a good time.

Update on Hazel: Things are going better and I am getting more sleep. Not to say that I feel completely rested every morning. But Some sleep is much better than only an hour. We tried sleeping Hazel in her carseat, the vibrating bouncy chair, we bought a swing and tried that, the floor, my bed, the guest bed, outside, driving in the car, in the snugli, and in my arms. None seemed to work more than once. But then we figured out that she has reflux, so we got a prescription for that, and gas, so I bought some gas relief drops. She also seemed to be constantly hungry so I am supplementing with a different formula. After that I've found that she is happier and can sleep in the guest bed and the bouncy chair and we are both happy and get more sleep. The more I thought about it, I remembered that Toby was kind of the same way when he was born. He would just cry every night for about 2 hours. Then it went away at about 3 months. Hopefully she will get better by then. But for now I am feeling better about stuff. She still isn't as easy as Aspen was. But Hazel is a doll and I can't imagine life without her. I know that she was supposed to be a part of our family.

Now that life with a newborn is getting a little better, I can start to think about getting a few things accomplished. I am going to start running again. I am beginning today. And I am going to try and actually make a real dinner every night again. I think that is plenty for starters. If I am feeling ambitious, I may finish Hazel's nursery. But we'll see how things go.

Happy Fourth of July everyone. We hope you all have fun blowing things up today!! 

Everyone has to have an Independence Day t-shirt! 

Hazel's Baby Blessing

Today we blessed Hazel at church. Mike and Mindy, Jen and Felix, and Ron and Andrea Bostick (friends from Taylor) and a few other priesthood holders came to the blessing. Nate gave Hazel a wonderful blessing. I wrote down what I could remember. She slept through the whole thing. Which is probably a good thing. We missed all our family. But since ya'll couldn't be here, we are posting pictures.

Hazel again. I couldn't decide on just one photo. So there are 3 to choose from. 

Hazel in her blessing dress. 

Hazel is wearing the dress that Great Grandma made when I was born. I wore this dress, (as well as some of my cousins and sisters), Aspen wore this dress and so did Karolina and Amalia. It has quite the history. But it is beautiful. 

Hazel was a little tired, so she wasn't very happy. 

Mike, Nate, Felix, and Ron participated in Hazel's blessing. 

Homemade Blackberry Chocolate Chunk Ice Cream

This was the last weekend for picking blackberries here in Texas. Nate and Felix took the boys to pick some to make ice cream. Nate got an ice cream maker for Father's Day and a Ben and Jerry's Recipe book. So they tried it out today, again. (I think it will be a regular Sunday tradition.) Needless to say. It was really good. There isn't much left.

Nate and Felix took the boys to Sweetberry Farms to pick blackberries. 

Toby picked a few berries too. 

Isaac picked a lot of blackberries! I wonder if he ate just as many? 

Pflugerville Piranhas

Aspen had a swim meet on Saturday. She has been working hard for the last 3 months. She goes to practice everyday, and there on meets on the weekends. She has to be there at 6 am. I am impressed that she gets up and goes without complaining. She has improved a lot while on the team. On Saturday she won her heat for the 50 freestyle. Her coaches let her swim the 50 instead of the 25 because she finally learned how to do flipturns! Next week is the divisionals meet which she is qualified to participate in. I know she'll do well. Go Aspen!!

Aspen was fastest in her heat for the 50 freestyle! 

Aspen is swimming the butterfly. I don't even know how to swim the butterfly. 

Aspen starting off the block at her meet on Saturday.