Prayers Needed

I am putting a request out there for prayers. My sister in law Jenina had her water break earlier this week. She is only 33 weeks today and they are keeping her in the hospital until her baby girl Adelyn is born. They are trying to get her to next Friday so we are asking everyone to keep her and baby Adelyn in your prayers that she will get here safely and as healthy as can be for such a young baby. Check out Williams Highlights on my blog list to read more about whats going on. Thanks everyone.

Swim Lessons

The girls took swim lessons this year for two months. The both had private lessons for a while in an effort to get them some swimming skills quickly since we have the pool in the backyard now. Well the skills didn't come as quickly as I had hoped but it definitely picked up toward the end. Rachel was very picky about her teacher and would only work for certain teachers. Others she would cry for or just say no and not do anything. The last session of classes I put them together with one teacher and she did well. He got her comfortable with the water again and she started doing her work again.

This is their teacher Mr. Jeff, as they called him. Livy had him the whole time except for the first two weeks and this is who they had together at the end. He did really well with them and we are sad that he won't be there as a teacher any more when we get back from NY.

Working on super glides. Kickers, scoopers, fun jumps, Sammy starfish, monkey crawls and super glides. These were all terms they used at this place during swim lessons. The girls make their barbies do this stuff in the tub.

Livy was doing good the whole time but not moving forward much until we finally got her to put her face in the water a few weeks ago. Since then she started swimming more underwater and by herself a little. I am afraid she will lose it quickly since she hasn't practiced much in NY. We went three times a week so we didn't do much else besides go to the lake for the summer so far.

Rachel jumping in without crying!

Livy and her "doggles."

By the end Livy never wanted to get out of the pool. She loved it. Rachel did it but wasn't thrilled. She did enjoy herself a few times each class though. I'm so proud of you girls for doing something you were scared to do. Watching you learn and progress is so awesome to see.

Pebbles Party

Pebbles turned 5 years old on July 23rd. We had a little birthday party for her with some cousins and friends so we could all just hang out. We missed Katelyn and Blake because they have some allergies to dogs. All the kids seem to enjoy Pebbles, when she is not barking too loud, and she loves having them all around. 

We had some cupcakes and birthday hats and sang Happy Birthday to Pebbles. Everyone got to have a candle in their cupcake for Pebbles birthday! Tisha brought over some balloons that the kids played with on the floor and the rest of the time they all just ran around with Pebbles or played in the toy room.

Pebbles was barking at us while we all sang to her!

Enjoying her cupcake!

We played pin the tail on the doggy. Rachel was lifting the headband and peeking!

Opening her birthday presents. We were two presents short for each kid to be able to open one for her so we had to quickly improvise and wrap a cheese stick and a pile of turkey in pieces of construction paper so everyone had something to open. After they all ran around with Pebbles and tried to feed her treats. She loved her bone from Halli, Peyton, and Lexie and carried around all over the place. 

Ashton, Colt, and Jaden didn't make the picture. Savannah is in the back trying to hide from Pebbles barking.

Thanks for helping us celebrate Pebbles 5th birthday everyone! We had lots of fun with you all! Pebbles loves seeing each one of you!

Baby JJ

I'm a little late on this post but still wanted to have it up here. Our new nephew Jaden James Williams (aka JJ) was born on July 12th at 9:36 p.m. He weighed in at an even 9 lbs. and was 19.25 inches long. I got to go visit them in the hospital and it was so nice to sit and hold this sweet little guy. Kinda made me want another one already. Crazy, I know, but look how sweet he is!

The happy Williams Family of 6!

Mr. JJ is a good baby I hear and things are finally calming down around their house. They had injury after injury and lots of doctor appointments in their family and a weekend back at the hospital for JJ for jaundice. Now they finally get to relax a bit and enjoy this guy. Congrats guys on your little man! Welcome JJ! We are all so happy you are here cutie!

Lost Livy

Today Livy decided to do a little exploring without anyone else. She scared me a lot, even though at first I didn't know she was missing. We are in New York at my parents house now and my dad had Rachel and Colt in the hot tub, my mom had Danny on the swings and I was getting Colt's bath ready. Livy had been in the living room watching tv and playing on  Hannah's Nintendo DS for the past half hour. I had asked her a few times if she wanted to go in the hot tub with Rachel and Grandpa but she said no. And there is a block party going on up the block a ways, but not in front of our house. Well, as I am getting out Colt's pajamas out I hear the dj at the block party say "Olivia, Jessica." The dj is loud so I can hear it in our house. I think, oh that's weird that's our names. Then the next thing he says is "Will the mother of Olivia please come up here." I run to check on Livy and she is not on the couch anymore. Panic. I bust out the door and run up the block and once they see me running that way they start walking to me with Livy. She had went out the front door to see what all the noise was out there. She wandered over there and people brought her to the dj booth. Luckily from the time I realized she was missing to the time she was found was really short because I might have had a heart attack. It took me a long time for my heart to stop beating like crazy and to get over the anxiety. But I am glad to report that Livy is fine and it didn't phase her at all. Unfortunately that means it didn't scare her and she might try something like that again. Sweet little Livy. She sure frazzled me for the whole night and I feel terrible that she even got out there. Bad mom for sure. But I really had just seen her on the couch two minutes before that. Just wanted to remind myself what a precious little girl she is and how much I love her. I love you Livy and your sweet, curious, and wandering personality! So grateful to our Heavenly Father for how he watches over us and that this was such a small scare.

Just to Remember for a Laugh

We tried to take the girls to a little fair with some rides the other day. The first time we drove over there it wasn't opened yet and they talked about it for the next few hours and asked constantly when could we go and talked about the rides. So when we finally went we thought they would actually ride the rides and have so much fun. Negative. They refused to go on any rides except for the carousel. Eric was mad because he bought a bunch of tickets to begin with so he told the girls that they were wasting his time and his money. So after we got home he said "You guys waist my money" to which Livy replied happily "Yup!" and Rachel added, "And we waste your time too!" It was quite funny considering they said it excitedly like it was a good thing.

The girls love watching the Buddies movies about the 5 dogs that do stuff together. She has a bunch of stuffed animal dogs that she takes everywhere and she has started talking like the dogs in the movies which is really cute. Today she said to them "This is my totally favorite movie dudes." As she lined them up to watch Toy Story with her. She says dude a lot now which is just funny.

Rachel likes to play with her small princess dolls or her barbies all the time now. They are always naked and she calls them her kids. She is continually saying, "My kids are dirty, they need to take a bath' or "Can you get my kids out of the tub." And of course they need towels and everything else. She told me that they live in Zarahemla. I guess she is actually listening a little during scripture time!

I asked Livy if she was getting a stuffy nose again and she said "No, I'm not achewing anymore."

When tasting something she doesn't like Livy says "Ugh, this taste like yuck." Just yuck, not yucky, it sounds funny coming out like that.

Rachel getting tired in the car the other day said "Mom, my eyes are running out of energy."

Livy about her foggy goggles, "My doggles are all froggy." Almost a new language she has there!

Livy going to the bathroom, "I did some tinkles so the poopy has something to drink. They were thirsty."

Rachel at the store picking out a toy for getting her hair cut, she was very scared to get it done so some bribery was in order, of course picked out a $30 toy. I told her she could pick a $5 toy and that $30 was too much money. "Well, that's not my problem." Sassy pants, but she still makes me laugh.

A few nights later Rachel was still talking about the white puppy she wanted. Livy was trying to explain it to her Grandma and said "She can't get the white pup, it cost too many pennies. It is 24 pennies. We can only spend 4 pennies." Pretty close!

Rachel's interpretation on some words.
Handle: Can you handle me that toy please.
Soaking wet: I have to change this shirt it is soaked in wet.
Instead of last night it is called yester-night.

The girls see a dime on the floor. Livy says "Look a quarter." Rachel tries to correct her "It's not a quarter, it's a fickel (nickel)."

Livy is obsessed with her stuffed puppies. She always has them on leashes or tied to jump ropes and hangs them or ties them all up somewhere. She calls it hooking them. So the other day she says, "This guy needs to go hook. He needs to go hooking with is mom and dad." If they only knew what they were saying some times!

Rachel wants to marry her Uncle Richie. Today she saw Erin's wedding ring and Erin was telling her about how Rich gave it to her and she got all quite. Then tonight she said, "Richie is a liar. He said he would marry me and he married Erin." Poor kid had her heart broken for the first time!  

Our Backyard Changes

In April we made a few changes in the backyard. We moved the fence back 20 feet which gave us a much bigger yard. It's hard to see the old fence line but it used to be just behind the pool,

We also had a sun bench added to the pool. And new plaster done.

Finished product. It is a big shallow area which is perfect for the kids. They love playing on it and it makes a great spot to sit with Colt and cool off.

Here's the finished backyard. I love it. We put a trampoline back there too which doesn't get as much use as I would like but that' because of the heat. In the fall I think they will spend a lot more time out there.