Swimming with the Sting Rays

This summer Ethan took his first swim lessons and was very excited about it. He has a fear of a lot of things, and water has been one of them. Ever since he was little he would freak out if a drop rolled down his face when I rinsed his hair off in the tub. The ironic thing is he has always loved to “go swimming” at the fun pools, but he would just sit in the shallow end and splash around, never getting his head wet. I was so excited when I asked him if he wanted to do swim lessons and he actually said, “Yes!” I am so proud of him for facing his fear and being willing to try it. He had a great teacher and was able to go under really quickly. I am hoping to put him in swim lessons during the school year as well, so he doesn’t forget what he learned and so that he feels comfortable with it next summer. His class was called the “Sting Rays”.

4th of July 2011

The 4th of July started with an early rise for the balloon fest. Unfortunately it was too windy for the balloons to go up, but the boys had fun seeing the new Darth Vader balloon. They even had people dressed up in costumes from Star Wars, very cool. Bryan was there on Friday morning and got some of these shots of the balloons in the air.

After the balloon fest we went to the Scout’s 4th of July fundraiser breakfast at our church. Bryan’s dad was in town staying with us, so he came with us for all of our 4th of July festivities. After breakfast we went to the Freedom Festival parade in Provo. What’s great is that we are so close to everything we didn’t have to worry about parking and walked to everything. I only took a few pictures. Here are the missionaries, the Star Wars float, and Scoobie Doo. :)

After the parade and a little break, we went up to my sister Jamie’s house for a BBQ. We also celebrated my grandparent’s 60th anniversary. 

 After the family BBQ we ended our 4th of July celebration watching fireworks at our neighbor and friend’s house. It was a fun-packed day.

 

Niven Family Reunion 2011

This year’s reunion was in Layton, Utah, at a Stake Center. It was a carnival theme and each family was in charge of a booth. Some of the booths were: dart throwing at balloons, balancing a spoon around chairs, a photo booth, a drawing sketch booth, a Nerf gun booth trying to knock over plastic cups, bowling, musical chairs, a rubber band gun range, face painting, and for our booth we had a Lego building contest out of Mater and McQueen. I think that was all of them... The kids had a lot of fun. They also had some relay races for the kids, which I will have to post some of those videos because it was hilarious watching Austin and Carolyn, and then Austin and Liberty do some of the relay races; everyone sped passed them and they were moseying along at turtle speed, it’s so cute.

Austin getting his picture drawn by the amazing artist Elise Black (Bryan’s Aunt) who draws for the Friend magazine. She did 60-second sketches.

Grandma Niven’s spoon race booth.

The boys got their faces painted by Bryan’s cousin, Shawna.

Bowling Fun

Getting Ready to Race

Pie tasting contest, yum!!!!!

The carnival fun ended with the traditional family bartering, where each
family brings things to trade and barter for.

My camera didn’t do very well in the cultural hall, and my editing made it worse :) At the end of the reunion there was a surprise celebration for Grandpa and Grandma Niven’s 60th anniversary. Bryan’s Aunts had set up a display behind the stage curtains of Grandma Niven’s wedding dress, a remake of their cake, some pictures and a guest sign in book. They were very surprised and it was really sweet.

It was a successful reunion and my boys loved every minute of it! Thanks Liz for all your hard work!

Ethan without Training Wheels

We took off Ethan’s training wheels in June and Bryan spent about two days helping him learn to ride a bike and Ethan learned very quickly. Here’s a video of his first day trying, followed by another day on his own.