Summer, Summer, Summertime!

So it finally felt like summer had hit the Gonzales home this last week, even though temps are still below the 80s and even into the 60s. I think this has to do with our new pool. The kids love it!!!! The first day it was up it was in the 80s and Keagan and Zander first got it in around 10am had a quick break (very quick) for lunch and then swam all afternoon until 6 or so when dinner was ready.

I love summer! And, with this small kiddy pool in the backyard it reminds me of my childhood days with our semi-large pool (about 3x the size of this kiddy pool) in the backyard. We swam ALL the time and most days the neighborhood kids came over to enjoy it also. Ahh...those simple days. (course that's not what my parents are sayin'! haha)

Enjoy the pics.

Silly, Trix are for Kids.

So yesterday I'm at Lowe's picking up sand for our new pool I bought with birthday money and gift cards I got from the Ward side and my parents. We are all in the Jeep with 11 bags of sand and Keagan is trying to get out while I'm putting Sadie in. He's holding himself and doing his infamous "pee-pee" dance. "I've got to go to the bathroom."
"Can you just hold it? We're going home right now and you can go there."
"I've got to go really bad!" Said Keagan, as he jumped up and down more desperately.
"Keagan, you can hold it. Just hold it for a few minutes. Hurry, put on your seatbelt. The faster you get your seatbelt on the faster we get home."
"Okay, but I don't think this is a very good plan." Whispered Keagan.

The Good 'Ol Days

Sorry all. I forget sometimes that Rachel is too busy to blog. So many funny things have happened over the last month. Too many to recall, but here's one I was thinking of the other night.

I haven't been able to play hardly any softball this year. I really miss it. But, Monday night I got called in as an extra. It was soooooo much fun! However, I sucked it up bad! I played right field, which is highly unusual for me. Typically I play either third, short, left or left center field positions. Mostly left. Anyway, being somewhat out of practice and I arrived late so my warm up was really insufficient, I totally missed three hits (in a row) out to right field. I ran up on the ball to try and catch it - missed - and then had to run back to the fence to pick it up and throw it to second. By which time the single turned into a triple! stupid, stupid, stupid. I think I was the determining factor in the first inning's 6 of 7 total runs. I felt like such a smuck.

The next inning I was more on my regular game. I caught 2 fly balls and headed off 3 others holding them to a single base hit. It was the busiest right field game I've ever played!!

About mid game. I felt my arm being thrown out. Then slipped on the freshly rained on grass landing in an awkward position to pick up the error. This really hurt my leg and found myself having to limp it off and stretching to fix the strained muscle. What did all this equate to? I'm turning 35 on Saturday, feeling a little old, and trying to keep in the best shape I can.

I realized after that, there will come a day (actually foreseeable) that I will have to quit trying to play sports like I'm 20 something. What a crappy realization!

I Need IronMan 2 Money

So Ironman 2 came this last weekend and I was so pumped to go see it. But, I didn't have any spending money. So what do I do??? Nope, I didn't sell plasma or bodily fluids. I turned it into a family event and had a yard sale. The boys were so excited. They helped Rachel clean out unwanted toys from the toy room and find clothes that we didn't need anymore. Rachel and I put out all our baby furniture, then posted a ditty on KSL.

After all the gathering was done we made signs. This was a ton of fun for both boys. I made outline words and the boys colored them in with markers. We all had a great time.

The next morning Zander had his salesman hat on and headed up the sales department of this yard sale. He answered questions from the perusers and made change for the buyers as needed. He was so excited.

In all Zander earned enough money to pay for a new Yugio pack of cards and Rachel and I earned enough money to go on our date night. Go Team Gonzales!!

The following day Sunday we were able to teach Zander about tithing and how it is an important way for us to give thanks to God for the way provides for us, by giving 10% to his church. It helps build faith, pay for buildings, missionaries and other important things the church needs to keep running. I'm grateful for teaching moments like these. It helps strengthen my testimony of tithing and His living church.

Climbing...Climbing up.

Sadie is getting to be so big. She wants to be just like her brothers; act like them, pretend like them, and play like them. She thinks she is just as big. Nothing can stop her. Yesterday I stayed home from skiing. I know...I can't believe those words came out of my mouth either, but I did. I weeded the flower beds in our backyard and the rose bushes in Nancy's yard. This was a great stress relief for me.

Following this, I took out the ladder extended it all the way up and went to get the clippers to chop off a branch. The clippers were only a few feet away, but by the time I walked over to get them Sadie was half way up the ladder chasing her brother Zander! I stood close and watch as she went up the first time. I tried to get her down, but she held on super tight and screamed as I tried to explain that her time was up. I had Keagan go get the camera and filmed her climbing the ladder for the 4th time. There was no stopping her. She not only wanted to climb it, but she wanted to be on the top of the highest rung of this 12' extension ladder. Check out the footage.

Following in our ski tracks

I made it!

I made it to Guatemala. After a long ordeal of layovers and drivers that were MIA, we´re finally here. I´m sitting in an internet cafe listening to Lady Gaga. Love it. I´ll probably do more updating on the site I made for this trip. You can visit that at guatemala-mission.blogspot.com. I already have some great pictures. It´s beautiful here. We are in the city San Lucas Toliman, about 100 yards away from Lake Atitlan, which sits at the base of several volcanoes, Toliman and Atitlan to name a few.

It´s similar to Mexico here. Michael and I went to Puerto Vallarta a couple years ago and it´s very similar. The women wear ¨traditional¨dress and the men wear jeans. Kind of funny. Well I pay for the minute (although it´s only about $.50 for 30 minutes) and my friends are waiting, so I´m headed out. I´ll post more on the guatemala site, so watch for that and pictures!

Here is one picture my friend took of the front of our hotel. The ¨courtyard¨is much more impressive and will follow.

Later!