The Niven Clan

Cousin Summer Fun

My oldest sister, Gina, and her family came to visit at the end of the July at the same time Tara’s kids were here visiting. So my parents had all of their grandkids (all 12 of them), over one day and snapped this picture. This is actually from my sister Lisa’s phone, but I think Gina got a picture as well......Did you Gina? I need a copy! :) We also went to the pool while Gavin and Bailey were here.

Jessica's Bridal Shower

Bryan’s sister, Jessica, is getting married August 26, 2011, to Peter Ehlen. We are very happy for them and hope they enjoy this exciting time in their life. My sister, Jamie, let me have a bridal shower for Jessica at her home. I think it turned out pretty fun. For her colors she is using bright summer colors, so I tried to use them in the decorations. Her Aunt had a beautiful and yummy cake made and we also played a few games. My mom gave me some ideas from a shower she went to, as well as my best friend, Kim’s, mom. She had a great list of questions to quiz Jessica on. First we put these little pink clothes pins on the guests as they arrived. They weren’t supposed to use the word marriage or wedding. If anyone was caught using those words, they could get their pin taken away. The person with the most pins at the end won a price. Jessica‘s Aunt Stacey won that one! We also did a game where you write Jessica’s name vertically with space in between, and then Peter’s name on the other side. I had to use his middle and last initial to match up with Jessica. Then the object of the game was to see how many words you could think of that started with “J” for example, and ended with “P”. Kim had a friend there that was I think in med school, and she had all kinds of crazy words and won that one! The last game was to see how “well” Jessica knew Peter. I had asked Peter ahead of time a list of questions. Jessica drew a name of one of the guests there and then a candy bar. If she got it right she got to keep it, but if she got it wrong the person whose name she drew got to keep the candy bar. Here are some pictures from the shower....

Congratulations Jessica! We are so happy for you!

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. :)