Welcome Home Elder Dickinson!

My really cute little bro Bryan just got back from his mission in Argentina.  We are so happy to have him home.  He is such an awesome kid and we missed him so much while he was gone.  The first thing he said about my kids is that Chase had changed so much and Landon hadn't changed at a bit.  My kids made him a sign for the airport, but had a hard time writing the letters in paint so I quickly did it for him.  If you notice, in my hurry, I spelled "uncle" wrong.  I turned by big "L" into an "E" without even noticing until it was to late to fix.  My boys were so excited to see Bryan, it was really cute.  There were a lot of tears of joy!  Welcome home Bryan!!!

Strawberry Days Rodeo

My fam went to the Strawberry Days Rodeo this year and my kids loved it.  The strawberries and cream were amazing and the rodeo entertainment was great.  Although, I have to say that their favorite part was not the rodeo riding, it was the motocross stunts.  They loved to see those guys do their jumps and flips off of the ramp.  It was so much fun to hang out with everyone and it was just a great night.

Chase (awkward smile stage), Landon, and my nephew Caden

The whole gang: Mike (Lindsay's way cute boyfriend), Lindsay, Me

Papa Tom, Chase, Boop, Jac, Caden, and Landon

Indiana Jones

Chase is a huge Indiana Jones fan.  While Bryce and I were moving he watched the first movie, "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and has been obsessed ever since.  One night while we were watching TV and old Star Wars movie was on and he saw Harrison Ford.  He was so excited to see Indiana Jones on the TV, but was confused about the fact that he wasn't wearing his hat.  I tried to explain that it was the same guy, but a different character.  He just took it as another movie Indiana was in, but minus the hat.  The kid is so dang cute!

The bungee cord turned into his whip 

Akumal Mexico

Bryce's family has been going to Akumal on vacation for the last few years.  It's a small area just south of Cancun, but we all love it.  They usually rent a house on the beach for everyone to stay in, but this year Bryce and I went down early with John and Tara and Jake and Jamie.  We stayed in some condos along the beach and the view was amazing.  It was turtle season so you could see where the locals had marked off the turtle nest along the beach.  Every time we went snorkeling we were guaranteed to see sea turtles as well.  It was a nice short, cut short because of Bryce's work schedule, relaxing time with friends and later a day with family before we returned to real life.  I'm sure we will be returning for years to come.

The view from our condo, amazing.

Jake, Bryce, and John just coming in from snorkeling

John, Tara, Me, and Bryce

This is the little taco shop that we all love to eat at.  Not much to look at, but they have great tacos!

Bryce and I on our way back to the airport in John and Tarah's rental car.  We joked that it was the "economy" car from the movie "Just Married".  You can't tell from the picture just how small it is.

Victory at Hobble Creek

This will probably be the only time I will ever make a comment on this site, but I could not pass up the opportunity to talk trash to Josh.  Over the past two years Me and  little Wog have had a summer golf tournament to decide who the Haslem family champion is (no one else in my family plays).  This year we played 3 rounds at Hobble creek.  A second round 89 was enough to do Josh in and I repeated as champion.  Better luck next year Woggy.

Dinosaur Museum

My mom took my kids and I to the Dinosaur museum in Lehi.  It was amazing!  If any of you have a dino fan like I do with Chase I highly recommend it.  We also saw the 3D movie and the boys loved it.  I kept looking over during the movie and could see them reaching out with their hands to try and touch the image in front of them.  Thanks for such a wonderful and educational experience Mom!

Swim Lessons at Riverside

For the second year in a row my kids have taken swim lessons at Riverside.  They do the best job there and my kids love it.  Landon is swimming on his own now and doing so well.  Chase actually got in the water on the first day this year and did almost everything his teachers asked him too.  The kid is so stubborn sometimes.  Landon's main achievement this year was his front flip off of the high dive.  He is barely tall enough to even jump off and than does a flip!  He had the admiration of all the older kids, but just played it off like it was no big deal.  The kid has no fear!

Lunch

I came downstairs one afternoon and Landon had made lunch for him and Chase.  He was so proud of himself and was so happy that he was helping out.  Not exactly the most nutritious lunch ever, but at least there was a granola bar involved.  I love my boys!

The Sphincter Tones

So my dad is a GI doc and he started this band years ago called "The Sphincter Tones", need I say more?   This summer they participated in the Provo concert series at Pioneer Park.  It was a great time and they actually had a pretty good turn out.  It think my dad had the time of his life!

Fly-fishing in My Dad's Back Yard

So one morning Bryce and his brother Ryan decided to go fly-fishing.  Well, what better place than in your own backyard?  Okay, it wasn't our backyard, it was by dad's, close enough.  They weren't successful at catching anything, but I think they still had a good time.

Zermatt

We went up one weekend to my dad's condo at Zermatt with John and Tara.  It was a great relaxing weekend with lots of swimming, some shopping, and golf for the guys.  Everything was great except for Chase getting sick one night with asthma.  The closest 24 hr. walgreens was in Salt Lake while the breathing machine we needed was in Provo.  Bryce had to drive down to Provo to get the nebulizer while John drove to Salt Lake to pick up the prescription.  Thank goodness the poor little guy was feeling better by the next day.  Thanks to John and Tara for being such wonderful friends!

Nash's first experience in a swimming pool and John splashes him to make him cry.

Moving

Well, we did it!  We have made the move from St. Louis to Iowa.  It was a VERY long week, but we all survived.  Thanks to Bryce's parents and my dad things went fairly smoothly.  My dad flew home with the boys all by himself so that we could pack up the truck and do the move without them.  Without Bryce's parents and his little brother Josh I don't thing we would have ever even made it!  They were so wonderful and helpful with all of the packing.  We managed to al least take them one afternoon to see the arch.  It really is so much bigger than you think when you get up to it.  Thankyou to all!

Dr. Bryce Haslem M.D.

It's official!  Bryce graduated from the St. Louis University School of Medicine today.  I got to watched him take the Hippocratic Oath with all of his classmates and I am so proud of him!  These last four years have not been easy and he worked so hard to get where he is today.  

CONGRATULATIONS!!!  You deserve it!

Don't my boys look so handsome and so well-behaved!

Bryce's class reciting the Hippocratic Oath                                    Bryce and the proud parents

                                           

My dad came too                                                                   John and Tara

                                                                                              (We didn't see everyone together to

                                                                                                 get a group shot)

The Happy Family!