The Best Week of the Summer

My most favorite summer holiday is the 24th of July, but only if we celebrate it in Spanish Fork, Utah. I'm a huge sucker for the whole parade, carnival, city fair thing, and I think McKay loves it as much as I do.

Dancing to the marching band at the parade.

McKay loves suckers. I think I have about ten suckers stuffed in diaper bags, purses, and the car in case of an emergency.

Finally getting a sip of that lemonade.



McKay loves his daddy. I don't know what I'm going to do when school starts.


Later on in the week, the whole Wing clan (Jordan's family) headed to Lincoln City, Oregon for a family reunion. Since our house was the perfect half way point everyone stayed the night so we could do the trip in two days. I don't recommend 12 people living in a two bedroom, 1 bath duplex. It was a bit crowded. We rented a house in Lincoln City, and that was perfect. The sun was out with no wind, and it was only 70 degrees! It was heaven! We were there only for a weekend, so most of our time was spent on the beach. I think if we lived near the coast McKay would be a true beach bum. As soon as we got there McKay nose dived into the ocean. Danny and I are glad he is fearless, but man! He makes us nervous!! Also, I wouldn't be surprised if a pearl showed up in his diaper one of these days because of all the sand he ate.

We are glad to be home now, and can't believe Danny starts school in a week! We are also so excited about our new nephew, Ethan Michael, from Jordan's sister, Becca. What a doll!

And We're Back!

Between major computer problems, and busy lives, we are finally able to post again. We are finally enjoying the summer teachers are promised. Danny finished summer school and most of his basketball tournaments. He is preparing for one more in Medford the 3rd week in July. McKay is talking a ton in his "almost understandable" language. It's fun to have him start to imitate. His favorite sounds are a constant "lou, lou, lou" which came from a mix of 'hello' and 'no,' and when we ask 'What does the monster say?' he gives a fierce and hands in the air 'Roarrrr!'
Jordan and McKay just spent almost two weeks in Utah, (Danny couldn't come because of school and basketball). The vacation started off with Jordan's brother, Joseph, getting married to Julianna James in the Mt. Timp. temple. It was wonderful, and we are all excited to have another girl in the family. Their colors were lots of different shades of pink, so that is why McKay has his adorable necktie.

I was one of the bridesmaids, and here we are in all out get-up.

McKay's favorite part of the reception was the music. A family friend played the harp, and McKay paced back and forth and couldn't get enough. I love that he loves music. A friend suggested that the harp might be McKay's instrument, and I said I don't want to have to buy a Surban just the carry the instrument around.

The happy and beautiful couple after the wedding dinner.

The next week was busy with Mommy and Me swim lessons with Becca and Aidan. We took the lessons from our old dance and swim teacher. I have taken many years of swim lessons and was never able to accomplish diving. The whole week I was scared I was going to be asked to dive. Luckily, I wasn't. McKay did really well, and liked jumping off the side and going underwater the best. He was able to blow two little bubbles, which was a proud moment. The main thing to practice is floating on his back and putting his ears in the water. When we got back home to Danny we went swimming, and McKay showed off all his tricks. I so glad we did it.

Mom and McKay practicing kicking.

We had a good time being with Grandma and Papa, and all of my brothers and sisters. We were also able to go to an art show my dad opened in Ephraim. It was in the perfect place and we are all so proud of our dad. Becca and I thought it wasn't a good idea to have the little boys in an art gallery so we got a sitter for the night. What a relief for me! Coming home to Danny, I am so grateful for team parenting.

We hope you all had a good 4th of July, and make sure to read the post below about a strange this valley we live in really is.

You know you live in Ontario when...

...the "Suicide Race" is bigger then the 4th of July fireworks. Let me explain. Vale (an Oregon Trail city about 20 minutes from us) has this race where people ride their horses down a mountain, into a river, and then into the city's fairgrounds. Dynamite goes off to start the race, and the horses race over, and in 5 minutes it is over. Thousands of people show up for the event. Danny explained the race to me like it was a scene from "Man From Snowy River", so I was expecting 20 or more horses stampeding through the crowd of people. But no, there were only 4 horses. Very disappointing. The whole thing was strange and I keep thinking "Where am I living?"

A little more McKay

Like Father, Like Son.. Mimi bought McKay a recliner and now Danny and McKay can watch "Curious George" together.















Danny got done with school at the end of May, so we headed off to Medford to visit Danny's family for a few days. On Saturday we went to the lake and McKay loved it. We thought that he would just want to get his toes wet, but he turbo ran into the water. It was very exciting.















McKay relaxing after fun in the lake.















McKay loves Road trips.. What 16 month old doesn't like to spend 9 hours in a car.















And 30 Minutes later... McKay was done.

McKay and His Swim Goggles

Now that I (Jordan) have finally learned all the in and outs of working this blog, we can update our site a little more often. I don't have to count on Danny to do the blog, because he is super busy finishing the school year and planning the summer season for the girls basketball team. Yes! That is our big news. Danny was made the head coach for the Nyssa Girls Basketball team. I am so proud of him, and we are lucky to have a head coaching job in only our second year of teaching. I myself am having a tough awakening of how much time really goes into coaching and basketball, but I'm getting use to the changes and excited for Danny.
McKay turned 16 months on the 7th, and being a toddler more and more each day. Walking and simply exploring the house has turned into running, spinning, and reaching. His new favorite toy is a pair of swim goggles Danny and I use for cutting onions (we sob like babies). McKay puts the goggles on the side of his forehead, and so I call them his hip-hop goggles. I am so proud to say that he is my little reader. He brings me books all day, have me read one line of them, takes the book back, gets me another, and says "bou". I love it. He has adopted his Boppy as his reading chair and will spend minutes (hours in toddler world) curled up with his blanket and 3 or 4 books. With playing outside as much as possible, this fills our day up nicely.
McKay's colds and coughs hit an all time low this last week. What started with a small cough, lead to a full asthma attack within a couple days. This is the 5th time this has happened since Christmas, so I knew it was time for more extreme measures. I got so tired of the attacks coming on so fast there was nothing we could do. So now, added to the albuterol breathing treatments with a machine during a virus, McKay now
is on Pulmicort, a long term inhaled steroid, that we do everyday to prevent an attack. McKay doesn't care for the treatments, but "Curious George" helps, and hopefully this works out.
That's about everything. We are so excited for our new nephew from Todd and Kylene, Boston Ryder. Happy Mother's Day on Sunday!

More Pictures

what happened

Last week Jordan and I wrote our heart out so that we could have a great blog. We saved it as a draft and it when I went to school to add the pictures it was gone.
Devastated I thought about stopping the whole blog, then I remembered all of the blogs fans, people that deeply rely on this blog. Like the Parkins in Philly, the Pratts in NH and the Bennions in Medford. I realized that this blog is bigger then Jordan and I so we kept on going.

Two weeks ago we spent Spring Break in the warm weather of Salem Utah. While Kristi and company were getting nauseous with the mixture of non alcoholic drinks and hours of relaxation on the beaches of Mexico the Pratts relaxed through snow flurries and 50 degree weather. No worries I wore shorts and flip flops the whole trip anyways.

McKay had his first real taste of Aidan (McKay's 2 1/2 year old cousin). Aidan was really really excited to see McKay. If Aidan was a Pratt family dog at the sight of McKay he would of peed all over the carpet. McKay was a little taken over by the high energy level of Aidan the first day. Remember, McKay been in a car 7 hours and it is past his bed time and then a tornado of energy is running circles and giving amazing hugs. McKay just put up his arms and begged for mom or dad to lift him up and once again get a privacy bubble. Day two was still a little hard on him (bad night sleep) but after that McKay just got used to Aidan and they became what their mothers wanted so badly, "best buddies." McKay was at the top of his game this week, the Wing family was not used to McKay's desire to scream high pitch sounds whenever he wants anything.
Jordan went all out this weekend and had a great time. I think that Jordan would enjoy ice fishing if her family was there with her. Jordan was able to spend time with her best friend and big sister, Becca. Jordan had the perfect vacation, good food, bought a pair of jeans, watched a recital with her sister in it, and relaxed. Jordan also threw Easter a week early so that McKay could spend it with his cousin. Jordan and Becca spent a lot of time and money but the boys flew through the egg hunt (neither really understanding what they are suppose to do) and Jordan and Becca were left wondering if it was all worth it.
Danny played basketball and read a great book watched college basketball and played with his boy. It was my best trip.
Talk to you later