Broken Arm

We had the first "break" in our house this week. Liev has been a master at the stairs for months now - sliding down on his tummy as fast as he can go. Just recently he has decided that he is old enough to start walking down the stairs just like his sisters. I usually catch him in the act and turn him around before any major fall happens. But this week Josh and I both happened to not be watching and he tumbled from the top stair all the way to the bottom. Poor little guy was in shock I think. He cried for a little bit but then mostly just whimpered and wanted to cuddle with dad. It happened right before bedtime so after he was settled down, we put him to bed and then didn't think much else of it. It wasn't until 2 days later that I really started to notice that he was having trouble with his left arm. He couldn't fall without crying and then would take a long time to get up (and only pushed himself up using his right arm.) Also, whenever I'd pick him up by his arms or hands, he would cry. I decided to take him into the pediatrician for a quick look. This is Liev waiting for the doctor to come take a look. He seems happy enough - little did he know he had a long day ahead of him. After a quick look from the doctor he said he was pretty sure the arm was broken and sent us up to radiology for some x-rays. The x-rays were hard on Liev since I couldn't hold him (no x-rays for the pregnant lady!) and the x-ray techs had to hold his arm still. It took 2 ladies to hold him (while he screamed and cried) and 1 other lady to take the x-ray. After a series of x-rays we headed back down to the doctors office and he confirmed that the left wrist was broken. He put a soft cast on it for a couple days and it didn't seem to bother Liev. (Plus he looked so cute with it on!)After a few hours though he figured out how to get the ace wrap off and, from then until the hard cast was on, it was a battle between him and me to keep the thing on! He looks so proud that he figured out how to get it off on his own doesn't he?We were so happy to finally get the hard cast on. I opted for black (so it doesn't get dirty) and waterproof (to make it easier on mom during these hot, summer months of swimming and taking baths.) Such a cute boy with his cast on!The doctor said it was one of the "coolest" casts he's every put on because it is so tiny and also because it's black. Whatever it is, we are glad to have his little wrist taken care of!

Ice Cream

Grammie Beutler made ice cream cones for the kids.  I don't think anyone enjoyed it more than Liev did.  And he is so proud to be one of the big kids now and have his own ice cream cone!

Children's Museum with the Cousins

Chad and Britt spent some time with us this week and the kids had so much fun with their cousins.  One day we took them downtown to the new Children's Museum in the Church History Museum.  They had a blast playing together!

4th of July 2012

This year we spent the 4th of July in Daybreak.  Chad and Britt and the kids were down from Idaho and we loved spending time with them.  Dad recently got called to be the bishop in their new ward and they were putting on a children's parade and breakfast the morning of the 4th.  We gathered and spent a great day together!

 Rease and Rhen were very excited for the day and that they got to ride their bikes in the parade.

 All the kids decorated their own bikes and mom and dad pulled the babies in the wagon.

 The parade specatators.

 After the parade we had a fruit and muffin breakfast and then a candy hunt for the kids (candy at 9 in the morning?  Only on the 4th of July).

 We spent the rest of the morning at Grammie and Papa's playing in the water and soaking in the hot tub.

 We finished off our day at the BYU soccer game that night.  It was a perfect night and a fun game to watch.

 The game ended just in time for us to watch the fireworks from the Stadium of Fire.

Happy 4th to everyone!

On my own

Liev is now at the age where he wants to do things on his own. The latest thing - eating with and spoon and fork.

The pineapple wasn't too bad, but the yogurt sure makes a mess.

So cute and proud that he can do it all on his own!

Swimming Lessons

The girls took swimming lessons for a few weeks this summer. Last year I put Rease in lessons at our local pool and I didn't feel like she learned anything at all - I was disappointed that she couldn't swim especially after 4 weeks of lessons. So my neighbor recommended that my girls take lessons with her daughter at the same place she did last year. It's a family friend of hers and is taught at her home in her personal pool. We decided to give it a try and boy are we happy we did. The girls loved it and the lessons were excellent! They can actually swim now after 2 sessions of lessons! I took my camera one day and snapped a couple pictures of these girls in action.

So everyday it was a big decision which goggles they would wear for the day. There was a whole basketful so it always took a couple minutes for them to decide which ones they liked. I also started putting swim caps on them so that I didn't have to wash their hair every day. Lessons went for 2 weeks at a time so washing hair every day for 2 weeks started to get old. Plus wearing the swim caps helped keep their goggles on a lot better and they liked that.

Waiting for their class to start.
Their teachers are the grandkids of the lady who owns the house and they are high school/college swimmers so they really know their stuff. I was impressed with the way they taught the kids to swim - always keeping faces in the water while swimming and lifting their head to breathe only.

Rhen is a little fish. She was so excited to be in the water and was great at doing what they taught her. For the first session, her and Rease were in the same class then they were in separate classes for the last 2 weeks. It worked out really good because Rhen was in a 3 year old class the second time and they got a little bit more one on one attention and training. She did awesome.

Rease was amazing. She was one of the best in her class and was fearless in the water. She now says she never wants to go swimming without her life jacket. Now that it's all over the girls can jump off the diving board and swim to the other side of the pool (all on their own!), float on their backs, swim the breast stroke (who knows when they will use it, but it's impressive that they know it) side breathe, dive for rings and most importantly to me, they feel comfortable enough in the water to not be scared of swimming on their own.

Rhen and Liev had fun playing while we waited for Rease's class to get over and Rhen's to start. We had a great experience this year and will definitely go back next year for more!

On the Lake

Boating season has begun and we have taken advantage of the nice weather the past couple weeks. We took an early morning trip to Deer Creek one Saturday. Unfortunately I am a boat rider only this year due to my pregnant state, but we had a good (chilly) morning with the fam.

And Rhen is looking good in my glasses.
This week we had our annual office retreat/boating day. Kristina's parents have a molecule and everyone took their turn and had a blast - even our girls were brave enough for a ride!

We spent some time in the pool while the others were on the lake.

And the kids had a blast playing in the small river/mud.

And it looks like Liev decided to taste the mud - yummy!

We ended the day with pizza and soda. It was a fun day with the office staff and families!

Bowling

We spent Family Night bowling with everyone and had such a fun time. Us girls are no pros like Uncle Just and Uncle Garrett are but we still had fun and looked good while we were at it!

Beutler Family Reunion - Downata Hot Springs

Betsy put together our family reunion this year and we had such a fun time with everyone! We went to Downata hot springs in Idaho. I had never been but was pleasantly surprised at how much there was to do and how fun of a place it was. We each stayed in our own cabin, yurt, tepee or tent and gathered together for games, meals and fun. Here are a few highlights of the few days together.

A kid scavenger hunt. The older kids teamed up with the younger kids and they all had a blast hunting around the campground for everything on their list. My girls had so much fun being with the "big kids" and loved the time with their cousins.

Baby boy stayed with mama while the other kids were off playing.
Making hemp bracelets. Uncle Guy headed this one up and Josh made each of the girls a bracelet. This totally took me back - I remember doing this so much growing up!

Spent quality time playing in the dirt.

And spent a lot of time around the campfire. Aunt Dixie made us each a book of "camp songs" and we had fun singing around the fire. We also had journal reading time and everyone shared some funny journal entries from their younger years. All I can say about Aunt Dixie is "boy crazy!" We all had some good laughs!

The Beutler family all together. Not everyone was there but we were so happy to spend a few days with those that could make it!

Bike Helmet

I found this bike helmet for Rhen at a garage sale. She was so excited about it that she had to try it on right that second. Once it was on, she did not want to take it off. So she wore it the rest of the day - even to the grocery store. What a crazy kooky girl we have!

Our 5 year old Rease

Stats from Dr. Erickson

Height: 46.06 inches - 97%

Weight: 52.03 lbs - 95%

BMI: 17.2 - 89%

Skinny little thing

Does it seem weird that our 3 year old can fit into our 18 month old's clothes?

It was an accident that she put them on, but it seems so funny to me that they actually fit her! This is one area that she takes after her dad and not her mom - I was never this skinny as a kid!

Stuck

Rhen seems to find herself in these kind of predicaments quite often. I helped her out but not before I took a quick picture and got a good chuckle out of it!