Dear Family,

First of all, I would like to begin by thanking all those who quit praying for “moisture” out here in Utah. We haven’t seen any rain this month, and we have actually had to start watering our lawn, which isn’t good in Spanish Fork because water is expensive down here! Not to mention the fact that we have had 100 degree weather for way too long! Thank goodness there is not much humidity out here.

At the beginning of the summer, I was in the dugout during my softball game and I saw a little boy with his jacket pulled up around him peering through the fence. I looked at him and wondered whose kid it was. Suddenly it hit me. It was my baby, Cole, who now looks much more like a little boy than a baby. Yes, Cole is growing up. At 15 months, he has mastered walking and now there is no stopping him. He can now follow his cousins (and their friends, and perfectly strange kids, and dogs, etc.) all over. He thinks life is a game and loves to play and laugh with pretty much anyone who will play with him. This includes his posse of 4, 5, and 6 year olds (Morgan and Mason-his cousins, and their friends) and sometimes 10 and 12 year olds (Colton and Kalin-more cousins and their friends) who think he is the coolest 1 year old in Spanish Fork. If there is a ball around, he will find it and throw it. He loves to go to my sister Jennifer’s house because there is always a ball laying around for him to play with, and he also pretty much gets whatever he wants over there!! He also loves to “help”, sometimes much to his parents’ dismay, by loading (or unloading) the dishwasher, throwing things away (including things like the UNO game and the mail and his toys), getting out the canned goods, recycling the paper (before it’s been read), etc. (I’m sure all of you are reliving the joys of having a 1-year-old around the house!) He has also enjoyed going to Seven Peaks Water Park, where he loves to try walking around in the water (by himself, of course) and going down the slides. I think I end up more tired from chasing him at the end of our time there than Cole does.

Chad is staying busy at work these days. His usually light summer months have been filled with NCAA reports and breaking in several new coaches. He does find time to play in a men’s softball league and on a coed intramural team with kids from his BYU ward. (We are trying to pretend we are still young, although the day after games gets harder and harder.) Chad is also turning into a master lawn man. He spends several hours trying to figure out exactly how much to water it (I know, if we lived in the Midwest we wouldn’t have to worry about that kind of stuff!), as well as what secret tonics will keep it the greenest on the block. Chad has also been working on losing weight. He’s lost about 40 pounds in less than 4 months and his goal is to lose about 25-35 more before the end of the year. Needless to say, we are going to have to buy him a new wardrobe before too long because he is running out of clothes that fit. I have tried to get him to buy some new pants but he constantly tells me it is a waste of money since he just plans on losing more weight.

As for me, I am staying busy this summer trying to finish (or even start) several projects around our house that I have been saving for when I have some free time. I’m still waiting to finish (or even start) most of them, although we are finally getting some pictures hung in our house after 18 months. I also got my wisdom teeth out earlier this summer. The irony did hit me at the time that I was voluntarily paying someone to yank out four of my teeth and cause me pain, while my poor son suffers in pain as his teeth come in. This has been especially true lately as Cole has been cutting his molars. Mostly I spend my time playing with Cole and picking up after him. We have nicknamed him Dr. Destructo because he can make a mess in a hurry. This fall, I will go back to teaching a class at BYU.

We enjoyed having my mom out here for a week in July. Cole learned quickly that there was yet another person that he could get pretty much anything he wanted from! Chad and I took advantage of her willingness to watch Cole for a night and escaped for an early celebration of our anniversary up in Park City. While we were there, Chad talked me into going on a bobsled ride on the Olympic Bobsled Track. Riding in a bobsled at 67 mph is quite an experience. Chad loved it, I’m still trying to figure out if I enjoyed it or not!

Although it is still a month away we are looking forward to school starting back up the end of August…..ok we really aren’t looking forward to school starting, but Chad is looking forward to football season starting! After three long years of struggling BYU football program will be back to their winning ways. Chad is so confident of this that we have planned a trip to South Bend, IN in late October to watch BYU play Notre Dame. I guess Chuck and Lorna are optimistic too because they are planning on meeting us there for the game…..although our guess is that Lorna couldn’t care less about the game, she just wants to see her grandson. For all those who are sick of seeing pictures of Cole on the family website you can thank Lorna for that, she is the one who requests (Chad says a better word might be demands) pictures every other week or so.

Anyway we miss and love everyone and look forward to seeing you here and there. By the way, who is in charge of the reunion next year and what plans are we looking at???

Love,

Chad, Becky, and Cole