18 Months = Nursery!

Our little Ella Grace turned 18 months on Friday and that meant that today....

She got to go to Nursery!!

For those that might not be familiar with the LDS church, we meet every Sunday for 3 hours.  Yes, 3 hours!  AND we are terribly unfortunate to be stuck at a permanent 1:30-4:30 block.  So rough.  These poor tired, nap-less babies.  You combine that exhaustion with a 3 hour block of time, old enough to talk/tantrum/scream, etc., and it can be a long, painful 3 hours.  BUT, once you turn 18 months, you can go to Nursery where they have singing time, play time, snack time, etc.  Happy kids.  Even happier parents!  Yeah!!!  The blessed day has arrived!

What can I say about my little 1.5yr old bugaboo?  Well, for starters, the girl LOVES her "lovey".  This handmade blanket given to her by a family friend at her birth.  She won't go anywhere without it and definitely won't go to sleep with out it.  NONE of my kids have ever gotten attached to a blanket, even though I know many others do.  But she is definitely my blanket baby!

She also happens to love her left thumb!  It's in her mouth a good majority of the time!

If you notice the bruise under her eye, its because she biffed it on her first day in Nursery and hit her eye against a chair.  Nice!  

She also refuses to pose for pictures, so most of the pictures I get, aren't necessarily of her face :)

Oh, how I love this little caboose.  She's not saying much yet.  She pretty much only says "mama" (which doesn't necessarily mean me.  It simply means she wants something.  And she's trying to get your attention - ANYONE'S attention.  And she'll keep squawking until she gets it!) and uh-oh.  She's a good sleeper.  She goes down by 7 most nights and will sleep until 7/7:30 most mornings.  She also takes a good 2-3 hour nap every afternoon.  Oh, how I love nap time! LOVES being outside and loves trying to keep up with all her siblings.  She also does this cute little thing that Dave started where you say "kisses" and she sticks her face forward to kiss you.  So sweet.

Love you, baby girl!!! To the moon..... and back!

I Jumped Out of an Airplane.... Yes I Did!

Tanner practicing his future skydive!

Jay and Lacey passing the time....

Practicing their skydiving formations :)

Suited up and ready to go!

Kat and Gwyddon.... my partners in crime!

Our Chariot awaits....

Time to go!

Lift off!

Higher and higher

And higher still.... can you see it in the clouds?

This is right about the time they opened the door of the plane and I totally started freaking out!

See those "dirty spots" in the clouds?  Those are the first glimpses of the parachutes falling down to earth.

And just in time because, as you can see, a storm was looming....

Home, sweet home!

My fan club :)

We did it!

Okay.... so here's the story behind this crazy adventure.... Several months ago, my friend Kat (pictured here) said that for her husband's birthday, she wanted to get a bunch of people together and go skydiving.  Hmmmm..... it's something I have kind of always wanted to do, but scared silly to think of actually doing it.  And the opportunity has never really presented itself.  Once, I was convinced it was in fact totally safe (I'm less risky than I was 4 kids ago :)), I decided to jump on board.  A bunch of other people said they would do it too and we were excited for a big group skydive!  But alas, I was the one and only person who ended up following through.  After some thorough research (on the part of my friend Kat, who used to be in the Air Force), she settled on this place, DelMarVa, about 1 1/2 - 2 hrs away because it has a bigger plane (so more people can go up at once AND it can go a lot higher up) which basically means you get a longer free fall.  I wasn't sure that was really what I wanted!  But she convinced me that if this was going to be a "one time only" thing, we should do it right!  So, I agreed and the three of us drove all the way out there in early June..... only to sit around all day waiting for the winds to die down, before we headed back home.  Our schedules finally aligned to give it another go today.  And this time, we brought along our fan club:  Lacey and Tanner and my two nieces Becky and Jacque.  

Bottom line:  It was scary.  I had major anxiety. But what an experience!  Very fun and I'm so glad I did it!  My kids have decided they have a very cool mom, after all :)

Lacey Day!

Riley with her flower, Tanner with his shark and Lacey bug with her flamingo, of course!

Years ago, it was decided (by Dave) that we should celebrate "Lacey Day" on July 22nd, Lacey's half-birthday.  Because her birthday is in the dead of Winter, Dave thought it would be fun to have a day of celebration during the summer.  It was a bit tricky today since we were both working, but I sang to her this morning and served her breakfast on the "golden plate."  Then she had a fun afternoon with her grandparents and friends.  She got to pick what to have for dinner (spaghetti and meatballs) and I brought her home balloons.  She also requested going to Chick-fil-A for a Cookies and Cream milkshake, so off we went to get milkshakes after dinner.  And, because it was "Family Fun Night", we got the kids character balloons as well.   Lacey, of course, requested her favorite animal..... a flamingo.

Happy Lacey Day to my 7 1/2 yr old!!

My 2 Dolphins!

We just got home from our last swim meet of the season.

Saturday night, we had an end-of-season banquet and the kids got medals!

Lacey showing off her medal to her former Basketball Coach, Coach Patrick

Getting ready to swim Free for the last time

Go, Tan, Go!

Lacey getting ready to swim Free for the last time.

And I just realized Ella and I are photo-bombing this shot :)

The 5 swimmers from our court

The 5 swimmers with a couple extra siblings.

At this end-of-season meet, they gave each kid that won their heet a beach ball with their name on it and Tanner was thrilled to get one!

I put the kids in swim lessons a few times over the years, but haven't put Lacey in lessons for at least two years and at least a year for T.  And this was the very first time they did swim team.  My goal in doing this was to provide structure and routine to our summer days, spend more time at the pool/outside, get some good exercise and for the kids to become stronger swimmers.  Success!

When Tanner swam the 25 Free at his first meet on June 14th, his time was 1:39:27.  He ended the season with a PR time of 46.40.  His 25 Back time on June 14th was 2:25:31.  Tonight, his time was 1:01:68.  In fact, based on time trials, Tanner was Most Improved in his gender/age group for the season.  Yeah, Tan!

As for Lacey, her first swim meet times were:  25 Free: 50.75, 25 Back: 1:11:30, 25 Fly: 1:02:87 and was DQ'd in Breast.

By the end of the season, her PR times were:  25 Free:  36:91, 25 Back:  39.xx, 25 Fly:  N/A (never swam again in a meet), 25 Breast:  41.76.

Go Dophins!

Anchors Away!

 I just completed one of the biggest Service Projects I have ever done.  And it feels good.  Good that I did it.  Good that it's over.

In the past, our Stake has put on a Summer Day Camp for all the Primary kids ages 8-11.  The kids love it and look forward to it every year.  After last year, it was decided that the Stake is no longer going to do the Day Camp and it will be substituted by encouraging all the boys to go to a week-long Cub Scout/Boy Scout Camp.

But what about the girls????  As a mother of three girls, I completely felt like the girls were getting the shaft and I was determined to do something for the them.  I was called to be Primary President in January.  I had 4 kids ages 12 months - barely 7.  And working.  What an undertaking.  But I agreed to it and when I agree to something, I'm all in.  So, with that, I decided I was going to put together a Primary Day camp myself for the girls ages 8-11.  Thankfully, the three members of our Presidency were on board and were a HUGE help.  I contacted leaders in the Stake.  I contacted leaders in other wards and branches.  We made flyers, organized menus, activities, rotations, etc.  So, so much time and work.  But, slowly but surely, it all came together....

We did Archery

We even had a Marine instruct the girls on Marksmanship!

We made hair accessories and hemp bracelets. 

All in all, we had 5 Wards/branches participate with a total of 20 girls. 

Our theme for the day was "Anchors Away" revolving around Elder Uchtdorf's talk "A Firmly Set Anchor."

I had several parents come up to me and tell me how appreciative they were that we did this.  And how excited their girls were when they found out they were having something for "them" after all.

The hours and hours of time I have spent on this in the months and weeks leading up to this event aside, I ended up missing my kids last swim meet.  And missing T "rocking" (in Dave's words) the backstroke, getting his PR for the season.  All to do an activity that didn't even involve my kids.

At times I wondered what I'd gotten myself into.  And wondered if it would be worth it.  

But for these 20 girls.... it was.

Dreading This Day

Tanner lost his first tooth on Tuesday (July 15th).

I'm so sad.  So, so, sad.

I didn't feel this way with Lacey.  I was happy for her!  We were both so excited!  She couldn't wait to go to school and tell all her friends.  I couldn't wait to hear all about it when she came home!  Having the tooth fairy come, all of it was just so fun and exciting!

But.... once the first tooth came out, they all started popping out so quickly.  And then the "big teeth" started coming in.  And just like that.... she was older.  She LOOKED so much older! Even seemed to act older.  

Maybe it's because he's my only boy.  Maybe it's because he has the cutest little baby tooth grin on the face of the planet.  Maybe it's because his "little boy" personality makes me laugh a hundred times a day.  But, for months now, I have been studying his cute little face, knowing this day is coming..... and dreading it.  I guess maybe because it's more symbolic than anything.... growing up.  But on Tuesday morning, when his first tooth fell out, I hugged him and held back the tears.  And begged him not to grow up.  And he responded like he always does, "I can't help it!  Heavenly Father made me that way!"  

All these feelings for a lost tooth..... Dramatic, I know.  But also, the absolute genuine truth.

Cry Me a River

Back in May (On May 9th to be exact!), after racking my brain for what I should give Dave for his birthday, I stumbled across the fact that Justin Timberlake was coming to concert in July.  Dave wasn't a die hard JT fan that I knew of, but because I thought he'd put on a good show and because I couldn't think of anything else, I decided to go ahead and purchase two tickets.  Well, two months flew by and on Monday night, we headed out to see JT!

Well, tickets were expensive, so I ended up buying two tickets up in the "nosebleeds" with a "side view."  Even at that, they were $100 a pop.  But, from the map on the computer, it appeared that at least they were above the stage, so I figured even though we'd be high up, at least we'd be on "his" side of the arena.

Well, we got to our seats and started laughing..... Yup, they weren't kidding about a "side view."  We looked directly BEHIND the stage.  We had a great view of all kinds of stage equipment, but that was about the only thing we had a great view of.  By straining our necks a bit to the right, we could see the stage.  That's what $100 gets you these days.

BUT.... a STROKE OF LUCK!  Right before the concert started, this guy came over to where we were sitting and asked us to come out in the hallway.  We followed.  He then handed us these two tickets sitting in the first section of the lower concourse and told us to enjoy the show.  Can you believe it?????  Yes, that happened!

Between the fact that our phone cameras aren't great to begin with and the lighting was absolutely horrible for pictures, we didn't get any good pictures of the concert.

But, it was awesome.

Thanks, JT for the comped upgrade.  It made for a great memory and a super fun show!

Way to bring the sexy back ;)

OOOOOOO What a game!

Half the fun of having visitors is that you end up having a "stay cation" by default!  On Friday night, the crew (Lindsay, Kevin, Parker, Reagan, Cousin John, Dave and Tanner) headed to the O's vs Yankees game.  Parker is a die-hard Yankees fan, thus the reason for going to this game.

But of course the Strom boys were rooting for the O's!

After 9 long innings, the game was..... tied.  So, it went into extra innings.  Thankfully, the O's pulled through in the 10th inning and won!  But then there was traffic and not being able to get in the right lane to get on the highway and such, so it took FOREVER to get home.  What should have been 20 minutes, took over an hour.  T got home at Midnight and had to be AT his swim meet by 7:45am the next morning.  But he was a trooper.... got up without complaining and even got a PR in Freestyle!

Go O's!!