Week with Chad and Britt

Chad and Britt and their boys came for a week this year.  We are always so glad when they come and had such fun while they were here.  Here a some of the highlights of the week:

We rented canoes and canoed around Oquirrh Lake.  

 Had a birthday celebration to celebrate our July birthdays and especially Chad's while he was here.  No celebration is complete without a piñata!

They were here over the 24th of July so we had a firework show in our cul-de-sac.

 The adults went on the Sundance zipline tour.  So so fun and beautiful scenery!

 We rode trax down to Temple Square with the kids.  

We went to the temple to do baptisms and confirmations for some family names that Chad has been working on.  We were able to do the ordinances for Grandma Wisniewski and Great Grandma Romnek along with some others.  It was a really special day!

Of course we spent a couple days on the lake!

 And had family pictures taken while everyone was together.  They turned out so cute!

Grammie bought backpacks and filled them with treats for all the grandkids.  It was a big hit!

 We sure love spending time together and are so glad Chad and Britt came to stay for a while!  Such a fun week together!

Swimming Lessons

I had all 4 of the kids do swimming lessons this year.  Keen and Liev were able to be in a beginner class together since neither have had too much experience.  It was every day for 2 weeks and they were so excited to get to swim every day!

Keen did pretty great for being just almost 3 years old.  Their teacher did a good job teaching them how to float on their backs and not be scared.  Keen loved being in the water and blowing bubbles and loved that his cousin Canyon was in their class too.

Liev is a little fish.  He's making up for lost time since he couldn't swim the first few years of his life with his tubes in.  He LOVED going under the water and showing me how far he could go.  And jumping off the diving board was the highlight of each day.

 Rhen also loves the water and has gotten to be a good little swimmer.  It's nice having them do lessons each summer and see that they are actually learning and progressing.  She was in class with JT Hammer and they always have a fun time together.  Rhen's claim to fame is that she can do a flip off the diving board.  Brave little soul!

 Rease has really gotten to be a good swimmer and is so confident in what she is learning.  She loved learning the backstroke this year and also diving off the side of the pool.  Her and Izzy Hammer with in a class together and these 4 older kids love being together!

Riding with Dad

The kids love riding with Dad in his car.  He lets them keep the windows open and get all windy inside!  Plus he always races and tries to beat mom and they think that is the best!

Muscle Man

Keen snagged my running headphones and showed off his muscles while he was at it.  This little Keen melts my heart!  Such a fun, wild, crazy, sweet boy!

Rhen year end report card

Rhen has loved kindergarten this year and is a great student!  She can't wait for 1st grade!

Rhen's Kindergarten class.

Rease year end report card

Rease is a great student and has a fun fun year in 2nd grade!

Rease's 2nd grade class.

Becker

Baby Beck no more. This one is growing up before our eyes and is such a fun, cute part of our family.  He is feeling the woes of being left behind by the other kids since he can't keep up with them.  He sits longingly from his stroller many times while his brothers and sisters run around like crazy apes.  One day buddy you'll join them and then it will be really wild!  For now we are happy to have this little one still somewhat small and cute!

Scout trip to Bloomington Lake

Josh is the 1st counselor in the Young Men's presidency so he works with the Teachers.  For their scout camp this year Josh got special permission to take them to Idaho to Bloomington Lake.  He said they had a great time and the boys loved it.  His advisor Dane Jackson kept a journal of their camp trip and I wanted to include that - it has all the details of their fun trip!

Brilliant Bobcat Award

Rease and Rhen both earned their Brilliant Bobcat awards this year at school.  They worked hard all year long and finished up just before school ended.  They work on so many different things throughout the year including picking up trash around the school, learning multiplication, learning how to tie their shoes, presenting a Great Brain report to the class, and many more things.  They had fun though and I am so proud of them for getting this award!

Stairs

Oh I can't believe we're here already.  It seems like he shouldn't be able to climb the stairs yet right?  I couldn't figure out where he went until I started calling for him and heard a noise at the top of the stairs.  Oh sweet boy!  You're too big!

Surprise Attack

This may look like a sweet, innocent little boy but little do you know what surprise is hiding underneath.

Yah.  Not so cute and innocent anymore.  Smelly and messy is more like it.

Beck's 1st Birthday

Happy Birthday to our Baby Beck!  We had a small get together with cake and ice cream and a carnival theme.  It was pretty simple and fun!  Beck was the man of the hour!

 Cake time.  I wondered how Beck would react to all the attention and his own cake.  As you can see by the pictures, he wasn't too thrilled at first.  After he got a hug from mommy he calmed down and got to work on the cake...slowly.  Like one finger at a time.  It honestly took about 20 minutes for him to finally get into his cake.  But he finally did and got good a messy!  What a funny, sensitive boy he is!  And as always, it ends with a bath in the sink!

 A few little presents for Beck including this darling superhero cape made by Aunt Hayley.  He is the hero of the day that's for sure!  We love him so much!

 Let me tell you a little bit about my Beck at this age:

1) Beck is and has always been a sensitive baby.  He gets his feelings hurt if you get after him.  He doesn't like to be around a lot of commotion or craziness (like our  house is most of the time.)  He does this thing where he passes out if he cries really hard.  It really scared me the first few times it happened, but now it's just the way he is and I have learned how to be calm about it.  The doc says it's something he'll grow out of.  But along with being sensitive, he is super sweet, smiley, and happy.  I can handle a little sensitivity around our house once in a while!

2) Beck has not started walking yet and really doesn't seem to care to learn either.  His siblings, especially his sisters, love to carry him around or get him whatever he needs.  He probably thinks he doesn't need to walk when everyone takes care of all his needs!  Someday buddy!  We're not in a hurry either!

3) As our 3rd boy Beck may seem like he falls in the shadow of his two older brothers.  And I admit they do take a lot of my attention lots of the time (because they're wild!!!) but I also love my time playing and snuggling with my baby.  He is super chill and doesn't make a lot of fuss about much of anything.  So when I need to just sit and relax, Beck is my guy.  He loves to sit on my lap and play with my phone if I ever let him hold it.  He has learned that when he pushes hard on the home button on my phone, Siri will talk to him.  He thinks it's hilarious.  Mostly Beck is such a great addition to our little family.  He is a calming force when we need it most!

1 year old stats from Dr. Erickson:

Weight: 22.71 lbs - 40%

Height: 31.3 inches - 83%

This is our family at this stage.  Happy Birthday Baby Beck!  We sure love you!

Face Painting

Josh's summer work party was super fun this year and the best part was getting faces painted!  The kids loved it and wanted to keep in on for days!  Such cute kiddos and a cute daddy!

Rease's Baptism

Rease got baptized this week and we are so proud of her and the decision she made.  She has been looking forward to this for months and was so excited when the day finally came.  She is such a good girl and has thought a lot about this day and asked lots of questions.  I am so proud to be her mom and know that she made this decision on her own.  She is a great example to her younger brothers and sister.  

Before the baptism in her white clothes.  She looks great!

We were asked to find a talk and a prayer for the baptism.  I asked Rease if she would like to choose who she wanted to do that.  Right away she knew that she wanted Grammie to do a talk and Uncle Greg to say the prayer.  She also asked Aunt Hayley to lead the music.  It was a perfect meeting.  And like all Losee gatherings there were lots of little kids running around so it was short and sweet.  But when it came time for the actual baptism, the younger kids were so reverent and knelt down in front of the font to watch.  They were all so interested in what was happening and there was such a sweet spirit for those few minutes.  

After the baptism and while Rease and I were getting her ready, the primary president passed around index cards for everyone that was there to write Rease a note.  It was so fun for her to read what everyone had to say and to remember who was there for her special day.  

 And on our way out we snapped a few pictures with Rease.  She looked so beautiful in her white dress.  

 I love how she smiles for everyone else, but when it's just me and her she pulls this silly face!

 Our family on Rease's baptism day.  We are so proud of you Rease!

Kindergarten Graduation

Rhen's class had an end of year program and little graduation.  They sang a bunch of songs and all had little speaking parts.  It was a cute little program and was fun to see so many things they had learned throughout the year.

 Rhen and Mrs. Richardson.  She has been a fun teacher for Rhen this year!

This is a note that Rhen wrote her teacher before school ended.  It is so darling and I love how she writes things just like they sound.  

 Rhen and her two best little buddies Jaxton and Casen.  They are also our neighbors so these three get to hang out a lot together!

 I love this picture of her in her graduation gown - so darling!

 This is the book she made for the end of school.  Such a fun wrap up of her year at school!