Surgery, Doctor Check-ups, and Summer Fun

Yesterday Nathan went in for surgery to have tubes put in his ears for the third time. I sure hope this was the last time, even though the procedure is really fast and simple. He was totally himself again within an hour of the surgery. He had fluid behind one ear drum which prevented him from hearing much out of that ear. He was very brave and didn't cry at all. The highlight of his morning was watching Nemo and Dory swim around in the waiting room fish tank.

Today Lydia and Karalee had their annual check-ups. They are both tall and skinny. I didn't think Karalee was very light for her age, but she is 40th percentile--Lydia is less than that, which I figured. Karalee weighs 26 lbs and Lydia weighs 36 lbs. They are healthy and were so happy to not have to get shots today.

In June is was awesome to go to Oregon and see my sister Letia be sealed to Paul in the Portland Temple. I am so happy for them...so pleased with Letia's choice to serve a mission and then to be sealed to a great guy--how awesome that families are forever. I love to see my parents, their spouses, grandparents, siblings, neices and nephews, and aunts and uncles. Just about all of them live in the Portland/Oregon City area. I love to visit the Northwest and breath in the clean air and admire the beautiful forests.

While we were there we also got to go to the beach--Pacific City. My mom is a realtor and has a bunch of lots for sale there. The developer has a beautiful beach house there that he lets my mom and friends and family stay in. We celebrated Ben's 32nd birthday there at the beach. The kids enjoyed helping him blow out his candles. The day we got there was beautiful. Ben and Karalee hiked up a huge sand dune. The rest of us just played and took some pictures. The next morning we decided to spend some more time on the beach and the weather was awful. We did get to see some cool tide pools with crabs, anenames, star fish, and the like. The kids were extremely miserable on the way back to the car with the cold wind blowing wet sand around and the rain pouring down. We took a couple pictures of them (I've included them here) just to remember what a great time they had that morning.

Shortly after we returned home, our friends from our first BYU student ward, the Baker's, came and visited us from Canada. It's hard to put into words how nice it was to see them again and catch up on things.

Nathan's birthday was a few weeks ago. He's now 4. I can't believe how time flies! I am very thankful for my sweet boy. He loves his sisters a ton and it shows. He does whatever Lydia tells him to (just about) and he loves to run through the house screaming and laughing with Karalee. He loves going on scout hikes with his dad (who is a scout leader for the 11-year-olds). One thing I really like about Nathan is how he gives huge knock-me-over hugs and when he accidently hurts me he says sorry about 10 times and gives me many kisses.

For his birthday he got a bike and helmet as well as clothes and some other fun toys. He loved his Thomas the Tank Engine cake that his mommy spent all morning making. I'm not a great cake decorator--okay so I'm terrible at it, so I let the kids help.

For the fourth of July we went across the street to the Hattingh's for a BBQ and fireworks. There was yummy food, brilliant fireworks, and Lydia and Nathan's favorite--the kids' jeep that they got to drive around. We are blessed to have wonderful neighbors. If/when we move I'll miss our neighbors and nearby friends a ton!

We have had a lot of fun riding bikes at the park that Ben pushed the city about. It's great to have a park so close, even though they haven't put the swings or gazebo in, half the grass is brown, and the play structure leaves much to be desired. It's a great place to ride bikes.

Lydia finished her music class. We got some pictures of her last day of class which families were able to attend. It's amazing how much both of us learned. I highly recommend Art City Music Academy--they offer classes from 6 months to like 18 years, I think. They have a Springville location as well as Orem and American Fork.

For those of you who live far away from us and haven't seen our home. I have put some of those pictures on here. I guess it might be good advertising, too. Our home is for sale, but we haven't had many lookers, yet.

One reason we're selling is so we can go to the Amazon and get "fishin' with a mission" up and running. This program is sponsored by Adventure Giving and Big Amazon Fish. We would love for anyone who is able to donate to Adventure Giving to help impoverished people around the world. Go to http://www.adventuregiving.org/ or if you want to go on a trip to have fun and help people in the Amazon go to http://www.bigamazonfish.com/ Tell all your friends and family.

That's enough plugs for our business. We are looking forward to August when we will go to New Mexico for the Nolte Family Reunion. It will be so exciting to be in the great outdoors with Ben's parents, siblings, cousins, and aunts and uncles again. They are all so fun, talented, down-to-earth, funny, and genuinely kind. I am extremely blessed to have such wonderful in-laws.