Noah in the pool

We have been spending quite some time at the pool this summer and have all been loving it. Maybe I should use the past tense, though, since it is coming to an end soon. Why can't the pools here just be open as long as it is hot and not only until school starts?

I decided to skip swim lessons for Noah this summer since it was not going so well during the winter. I also figured, at his age, the main thing is to just be used to the water and play in it a lot. So that is what we did and he definitely made some progress.

Here he is diving. This is not his best dive but the only one I have on video.



Noah thinks he can swim, of course. He thinks he can do anything. The confidence of a 3-year-old... It might not actually be a bad thing because we signed him up for his first triathlon. But more on that later...

Little Sam

Noah has two cousins named Sam. Big Sam is almost 11 and lives in Logan. Little Sam is 5 and has been living in Connecticut. He is moving to Brazil in a few weeks though.

When little Sam came last summer, Noah and he were not too interested in each other. They were more rivals than friends. This summer, however, they hit it off and loved being together. Sam taught Noah how to play Sorry in Grandma's attic. They rode long-boards together.


At the family reunion, Horse-shoes was one of their favorite games.




Thanks for being such a good cousin and friend to Noah, Sam. We will miss you even more, now that we will see you even less. But we are trying to save some money to come see you and your wonderful family.

Max had fun with Sam's siblings Lazarus and Sarah. Lazarus was wondering why this little dude was always right in his face.


Sarah thought he was oh so cute.


PS: Thanks for the great pictures, Amber and Adri.

Family Reunion

At the end of June, we ventured up to Logan to hang out with the Lowry Family for a few days before the actual Family Reunion at Bear Lake. All of us love hanging out at their house and especially in their back yard. Their yard is big, beautiful and lots of fun. It has a go-pick-whatever-you-feel-like-eating garden, a tramp, two goats, a play set, and now also a cute yellow lab named Wilson.



Max and Noah love to play with Sam and Toby. Karl loves to talk to John. I love to run and bike with Brenda. Everyone is happy.


Here we are: the whole Jarvis clan.


Our house was right by the shore and we had a beautiful view of Bear Lake.


The days were mostly spent in/at/on/by the lake.

There was lots of digging in sand


building castles, motes, and craters


bathing in all types of water


sailing with Captain Ty


boating with uncle Matt


riding in the duckie


hanging out in the sun


playing the guitar


walking on the beach


At night we were busy acting out family history stories, showing our talents,



and singing with Grandpa.


We sure had a great time. We love all the aunts, uncles, cousins, and especially Grandma and Grandpa. Thank you for two wonderful days!

Thanks also to Don and Amber for sending us some of their pictures. Our camera died after the first five minutes. That seems to always happen to us.

Hip Hip Hooray

Yesterday afternoon we received a beautiful phone call. It was from the shop in which our car has been for about 10 weeks altogether now. I was starting to forget that we actually own another car. A pretty nice one. One I don't have to worry about my bike falling off because the rack is homemade. One I don't have to hold the trunk open with a stick and hope it does not accidentally close and chop my head off. One with key-less entry.

Anyway, the guy on the phone said:

We fixed your Subaru Outback! Come, get it!


He was at least as excited as we were. He had been working hard on it for a long time. Finally, he figured out that the manufacturer of the new timing belt marked it wrong and thus, he installed it wrong. Or something like that. I was not quite paying attention when Karl was telling me, because I was so happy about our car coming home.

Karl went and got it the same night and today we drove it up the canyon to Jordanelle Reservoir. No 'Check Engine' light came on. Sweet!


On the way home the car started overheating and the A/C stopped working. Not so sweet! Karl says it should be easy to fix but I am getting a little impatient and frustrated. A lot, actually.

Nevertheless, Mandy and Melissa, get ready! We are coming for sure this time. A/C or no A/C. Oh wait, we have to drive through the Nevada desert? Let me rethink that one. I hope we are coming for sure this time.

Toddler Max

Max is walking! He has been for about 4 weeks. Finally, we got a video of him wobbling around.



I am really excited for him to be a toddler. Babies are fine and all but toddlers are so much more fun. He is just busily toddling around everywhere and exploring everything. I just sit back and watch him get into mischief and trouble. When things get out of control, I run over and save him. I run and save him a lot. Probably every 2 minutes. I don't mind.

Keep up the good work, Max. We love you!

Opa Leo

Happy Birthday, Opa!

Lieber Opa,

Wir wollen Dir von ganzem Herzen einen wunderschönen Geburtstag wünschen. Leider sind wir etwas spät, aber Du weißt ja, wie das so geht. Da müssen wir erst noch ein bisschen rumrennen und spielen, bauen und eine große Unordnung machen, bevor uns hinsetzen können und einen Brief an Dich schreiben.

Echt schade, dass wir gar nicht bei Deiner Geburtstagsfeier dabei sein konnten. Oma backt doch so leckeren Kuchen, den hätten wir echt gern gemampft. Und Dir hätten wir gerne Umarmungen und Küsse gegeben. Und ein Lied gesungen. Oh, und unsere kleinste Cousine Lynn, die hätten wir auch mal gern geknuddelt. Aber wir freuen uns schon riesig auf Dezember und da können wir ja dann all das nachholen. Sag Oma schon mal, dass wir ganz viel Kuchen bestellen wollen.


















Wir finden echt, dass du der beste Opa auf der ganzen Welt bist.* Ich werde nie die vielen tollen Reisen mit Dir vergessen: Ardeche, Mont Ventoux, Ettenheim, Yellowtsone, Tetons, und natürlich bei Dir zu Hause in Ispringen. Kannst Du Dich an das große Wohnmobil erinnern? Das war echt toll. Kannst Du so eins mal wieder ausleihen? Dann kann Max auch mit. Dann wird es noch toller.

Max freut sich schon riesig, Dich kennenzulernen. Ich erzähl ihm ganz viel von Dir: dass Du ein echt guter Fussballspieler bist (wie ich) und unser Trainer sein kannst; dass Du echt stark bist und sogar uns beide tragen kannst; dass Du der beste Pferdekakamacher bist, den ich kenne; dass wir Dich unbedingt wieder bei der Arbeit besuchen müssen, damit er auch die tollen Muldenkipper sehen kann; dass ich immer ganz viel Spass mit Dir habe.

Wir lieben Dich sehr, Opa. Und Oma natürlich auch.

Ganz liebe Grüße von Deinen Enkeln,

Noah und Max


* Grandpa ist auch der beste, aber er ist ja ein Grandpa und kein Opa.

Summer Corn

Another thing we love about summer is corn. While I shuck it, Max and Noah love to eat it raw. As you can tell, they also like the color orange.


The best corn grows in Grandpa Don's yard. Great-Grandpa Karl was a farmer and professional corn breeder and passed his knowledge and talent on to his son. Grandpa's corn makes Max very happy. It actually keeps him occupied and in one spot for more than 2.6 seconds.


For best results: boil corn on the cob for 3 minutes only! This rule is taken very seriously in the Jarvis family. But I have to admit that it gives you the most delicious corn.


Karl decided that, even without a yard, we could still have a little garden. So he got some pots, soil, and other various things and planted one tomato, two cucumber, and two melon plants. I loved the idea but was a little skeptical. But, check it out, the plants are doing pretty well and we have actually harvested quite a few yummy tomatoes and delicious cukes. We mostly eat them right off the plant. So tasty!


Max loves the bright red tomatoes. So far, he has been able to get a hold of almost every single one and squeezed it in his hand before we had a chance to salvage it. Noah decided Max thinks it is a ball.


We also finally have some little melons that a growing a little each day. We can't wait! Thanks, Karl. I can't wait to have a garden big enough for Karl to grow corn.

Summer Rain

One of the best things about summer is its rain storms. Tonight we were blessed with one of them and we loved it. After dinner, the boys all went for a bike ride while I cleaned the kitchen and just as they came back it started pouring.

Like this:







I love dancing in the warm rain. But I was kinda stuck in the kitchen still, so I just watched as Noah ran and biked through the rain with his friend. They had so much fun. Karl and Max joined them for some of the fun.







A beautiful double rainbow perfected the evening.







Then it was time for a warm bath and bed time stories.

I am sad summer seems to be coming to an end already.

PS: Our camera battery was dead, so I had to find some pictures on the web. Sorry.

Once upon a time...

... there was a little dude.

He grew.


And grew.


And grew. Then he had a birthday and his brother gave him lots of hugs. He did not like it.


He also knew how to walk. He was very proud of it.









But his mother failed. She never took any pictures or videos.

The end.

One-Year-Olds

I thought it would be fun to post pictures of each of my boys on their first birthday.

Max - 08/02/2009

In typical Max fashion: the second the candle got near him, he touched it and burned his little hand. That was the end. He would not even touch his cupcake.


I guess the practice run did not help.


Noah - 10/09/2006

Noah saw the candle, admired it and then ...


... carefully blew it out. We were all in shock. I guess it is not something that runs in the family.


Karl - 08/26/1979

I am not sure what Karl did or did not do with his candle. I should have asked his mom. But it looks to me like he was a little scared of it.



Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of myself on my first birthday available right now. Thanks to Karl's parents who scanned their family pictures carefully, one by one, and then sent them to their kids.