Daddy Camping

Brek and Joe missed the "Father and Sons" campout with all the guys from church, and unfortunately for Joe, Brek heard about it. But Joe told Brek that they would go camping together. But then summer ended, and Joe realized that although we do own sleeping bags, we don't own a tent. They ended up compromising by sleeping in Brek's room together. Joe slept on Brek's bed and Brek slept on his trampoline.

Brek was thrilled and Joe fulfilled his commitment. :)

Brek is already asking when they can go Daddy Camping again.

August

So August happened. When I wait so long to blog, I know I miss out on the details. And I wasn't so good at taking pictures. The highlights/memorable moments would be: I went to Girls Camp. We swam at the pool. We enjoyed our garden. Joe had a birthday. School started. Brek got sick. Summer vacation ended. Ok, those last 2 weren't highlights per se, but they were big events that happened.

The 2 pictures I took:

This is Brek on the way to the ER on Joe's birthday. He woke up with over a 104 degree temperature. By the time we arrived the children's tylenol had kicked in so the doctor on call didn't have much to say about him. We were home several hours later. It ended up being Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease (which he contracted by swallowing pool water). He only got the sores in his mouth, which I guess was pretty lucky compared to some of the other stories I have heard. It took us over a week to get him eating again, which wasn't fun. Joe started making him malt-o-meal "shakes" (and Brek still asks for them). It was definitely an adventure.

I didn't get this picture rotated, but this is Brek holding the biggest watermelon from our garden. We got 3 or 4 about this size, but sadly none of them were fully ripe. We eventually had to pull them when it got below freezing. It was a really great summer for our garden. We planted 2 varieties of tomatoes, zucchini, yellow squash, and then the watermelon.

Hair Cuts

After our trip, we decided it was finally time to cut Brek's hair. I am always sad to see it go, but this hair cut was partially needed because we couldn't get sand out of it. (His cousin Anna dumped a bucket full of sand on his head on his birthday because they got in a little disagreement; something involving sand castles.) Brek is not really a fan of hair cuts, so Joe made an agreement with him that Brek could cut off Daddy's hair if Daddy could cut his off. And, with all those curls, it really was easiest to shave it all off instead of doing a trim. (It actually made it less painful for Brek, so it ended up being a good thing all around.)

So here they are. I'm honestly not a fan of either one of them with hair this short. I called Brek my "chemo baby" for weeks. And it's not like Joe needs anything to add to the visual perception of his health. But like always, hair grows back.

Biggs Family Reunion 2014 - "I've Got Your Back"

We were able to attend our Biggs Family Reunion this year. We don't make it every year, so it's nice when it works with our schedule. This was also the time we had this summer to be with my parents and brothers, so we really put a focus on being with family.

We basically spent all of our time at the pond; all Brek wanted to do was swim and be in the boats. It worked for us, tho it did limit our social time with others. But the boy was happy, and that's always good. 

Checking things out with Anna

It didn't take long to convince Daddy to take Brek out in the boat.

Brek, waiting for Joe to bring the boat around

I love this picture!

All the while I sat here and observed:

But eventually they talked me into coming out too:

Which was all fun and great until it was time to get out:

Long story short - Brek sank the boat.

Long story long - When we got to the "dock" I lifted Brek up to get him out of the boat and onto the platform, and instead of planting his feet, he sort of freaked out and kicked the platform, which sent the boat back out into the water, and tilted to the left. So I reached over to the right, trying to grab the edge again, and still holding Brek up (trying to get the bigger boys standing there to help, which didn't happen), and the boat tilted all the way over to the right. I was up to my waist in water, holding a freaking out toddler, and then Joe went down too. 

Unfortunately, the phone and camera were in our pockets. Fortunately, thanks to rice, they are working again. And fortunately again, we had a professional photographer at the reunion, and she was able to take the above picture. Unfortunately again, the only closed toed shoes and pants that Joe and I brought with us were now soaked. But all in all, good story to tell, right?

Thankfully again to the photographer, we have all these other pictures from the reunion. (I only downloaded the ones of us 3, but seriously she took hundreds of pictures over the 3 days we were all there.) 

Another big hit during the reunion was the bubbles.

Joe, apparently, gets very serious when he's making bubbles:

Back at the pond:

Hanging out with my dad

I love this picture of my big brother David

 And of course, it wouldn't be a reunion without a big family photo

Brek's highlight from the reunion was the swing rope into the water. He was the youngest kid to give it a try. We of course don't have any pictures of the 4 or 5 times he tried. He did great (except for the fact that he wouldn't let go of the rope, so either Joe or I had to stand in the water and grab him off the rope so he wouldn't hit the rocks. Little bit of a power struggle over that one.)

Joe's favorite part was tbd.

I loved the talent show. Brek got to get up with almost all of the little (and big) girls and sing "Let it Go" from Frozen. And my Uncle Marte and Aunt Diana sang a song and it was one of the most spiritual experiences I have had in a long time.

Springville Splash Pad

The highlight of summer was our trip to Utah to see both Jensen and Biggs families. We were able to visit our old ward in Provo and our old ward in South Jordan, where Brek was born. We hadn't been back there since he was a baby, so it was fun to drop in and show how much he had grown. We were also able to attend a missionary farewell of one of Joe's former students. Many other former students were there as well, so it was fun to see so many kids. While up in South Jordan we walked around the Oquirrh Mountain Temple where Brek was sealed to us. 

We shopped at Ikea and I did some clothes shopping, along with lunch at Zupas and double date dinner at Cafe Rio with Joe's brother Dan and his wife Michelle. 

One day we met up with Michelle and her kids at the Splash Pad in Springville. Apparently it's the only part of our trip with Jensen family that we took pictures of, so enjoy: 

 

If you've never been there, they have these bronze statues of kids playing along this splash pad river sort of thing. Both Joe and I kept losing Brek because we thought he was one of the statues.