the Oettli Family: July 2012

We love summer! Here are our pictures from the month of July:

Coleman loves fruit. He also loves to carry heavy things and show off his guns. He recently said, "I don't want my growing up years to end. When they are over that means no more snuggling, no more sittting on laps, no being carried and no piggyback rides!" How tender is that? I could almost cry right now thinking about Coleman's growing up years being over! But, he also very determined to accomplish what the older kids do, right now he really wants to climb to the top of the rock wall at the pool like Bud and Rosie.

Here we are on the 4th of July. Coleman had no problem flipping the bird with his dad, but Bud wouldn't do it. "I'm the Deacon's Quorum President," he said. I don't think he will ever give us problems as he grows up! We had a fun time with cousins and Grammy and Grandpa watching the fireworks.

Here is a picture of Coleman after he got his finger slammed in the door by Rosie. She is sometimes not nice to him! Coleman loved the garden so much this summer. Unfortunately, only part of the garden was successful. Our tomatoes were the best ever; so big and delicious. The corn, pumpkins and beets were a disaster. Next is a picture of Coleman holding the one little-tiny beet we grew. In so many of these pictures Coleman is not wearing a shirt. Remember how he dislikes "S" words; shirt, shoes, silverware, singing and seatbelts. He's a little bit crazy!

Cooling off!

We had lots of outing with cousins this summer. We loved going to Thanksgiving Point Children's Garden. It's strange that Bud doesn't always go with us now that he is a teenager and hangs out with his friends more. He golfs with friends at least twice a week and hangs out other times. Rosie still loves to go because she is obsessed with her cousin Julia!

Rosie loves to wear my high heels and says, "These heels make my calves look fabulous!"

Here we are at the zoo with our cousins. This time Bud came with us! All the moms love it when Bud and Rosie are around because they help with the younger kids. Coleman got lost when we were at the polar bear exhibit. He gets lost often, unfortunately.

It's so fun to have two holidays in July here in Utah. For the 24th we spent the evening with our B. cousins having a b-bque and lighting fireworks. Coleman is again shirt-less in these pictures!

We love to be outside playing sports. In the summer we play baseball and can't wait for our putting green to grow so we can putt. Coleman left behind the booger wall at Grammy and Grandpa's house, but started something equally gross at our new house-- the pee rock! He always goes to the bathroom on the same rock in the backyard. He picked a rock with holes in it and so it fills up and stinks. Yuck!

I love summer so much! I love having the kids home with me and I love the hot weather. We had such a wonderful summer swimming and golfing and spending lots of time with each other; I was so sad when summer was over all too soon!

We had the time of our lives golfing this summer; we went almost everyday. We loved the par 3 golf course, it is perfect for the kids. Bud and Rosie got dropped off a lot to play by themselves. Coleman played with them a few times without me, and twice carried his own clubs! Rosie loves to put her clubs on a cart and wheel them around the course. She has a golf hat with places to put tees and she has a cute magnetic ball marker that clips to her hat. Coleman's clubs are too small for the pull cart, so I carry them for him.

Bud is getting to be a good player. In addition to playing at the par 3 course, he plays 18 holes with his friends several times a week. He is getting so tall that Jono got him new wedges and he will need new irons and a driver for next summer. His best score at the par 3 this summer was 29. He has birdied every hole. He is very tan, except his feet are very white from wearing golf shoes!

Rosie actually got worse at golf as the summer wore on. Her swing needs a lot of help! Jono is trying to help her, but she is discouraged and sometimes wants to quit, unfortunately. Coleman loves to golf and got much better this summer. He can tell you his best score on every hole; he has pared 1,3,4,5,6, and 7. Once he got two pars in two days and was so proud. Another time he got a par when we were with Jono and Jono opened his wallet and handed Coleman a $100 bill. Coleman went crazy with delight! His best score of the summer was 43. No matter where he is on the hole, he always says before his swing, "This is for birdie." or "This is for par." or "This is for double bogey." It's hilarious. Once he hit his second shot on the green on hole 6, right in front of the junior golfers taking a chipping lesson on hole 7. He confidently two putted while the all the kids watched. The golf pro yelled out to him, "Was that a par?" Coleman casually yelled back without hesitating, "Bogey." Later, the pro told me, "All of my juniors are obsessed with how good your little son is!" Coleman has also memorized the yardage for each of the holes from both sets of tees.

Many days we also went back in the evenings to play with Jono, after he got home from work. I wrote in an earlier post how Jono and I would challenge the kids to a match-play tournament. We mostly beat them, and the kids were thrilled whenever they beat us! Many nights Grandpa joined us. Sometimes we were the only ones on the course. Once we hit down one when a group of men were having drinks on the patio. Rosie was the only one to hit the green and the drinking men went crazy cheering her on!

The kids all played in golf tournaments this summer. Rosie took 3rd place in her first tournament and 2nd place in the Cottonwood Club tournament. Coleman was so excited that he was finally old enough to play this summer. It was all he talked about in the weeks before his first tournament! It was not exactly what he was expecting when his first round took 3 hours in the hot sun for only 9 holes of golf! He also took second place in the club tourney. Bud was also in for a shock. This year he played 18 holes against older boys who could hit the ball so far. Just like the others, he took second place at the club.

We also loved to swim. The pool was only crowded on holidays, so it was like our own pool. The kids loved to climb the rock wall, especially Rosie. She was determined to reach the time on all three panels. The kids could not believe how fun it was to order from the snack bar. Rosie and Coleman especially enjoyed this. Bud loved the onion rings the best. Rosie ordered scones and Slim Jim beef jerky sticks. Coleman loved french fries and ring pops. We also swam a lot with our cousins.

Coleman is such a daredevil child and not afraid of anything; except drowning and bees. Both of these fears came true this summer. He got stung by a bee for the first time ever walking to the swimming pool one day. He was fine a few minutes later, but it really scared him. Then, he had to get pulled out of the pool by a life guard a week later, after trying to swim acoss the pool. I could see he was in trouble and went to get him. The life guard jumped in and helped him to the side. Coleman was really scared, but got back into the water a little later on. Coleman became a much better and more confident swimmer by the end of the summer, but still hasn't swam all the way across the pool by himself.

Jono qualified again for the State Amateur Golf Tournament this summer. It was held at the Salt Lake Country Club, which was very special and exciting. I went with him to play in his practice round, and it is a beautiful course! Jono didn't play his best in the tournament, but really enjoyed himself. He was quoted in the newspaper and golf magazine for saying, "Fastest greens I've ever played!" Many family members and friends came to watch him play. The food was fabulous and I was obsessed with the ice sculpture on the buffet table. It was an amazing experience!