Daddy

I love that my kids love their Dad.

Macy's First Day of Preschool

Macy was so excited for her first day of preschool! It almost killed her that her siblings got to start a week before her. She has been so excited to go to Miss Jill's class. We were in Park City on the first day so excuse the poor lighting. She looked so cute in her new outfit from Grandma. Each child was given a bear to color and bring on the first day of school. She wanted to paint hers. I looked over when she was almost done and it looked great. She had a lot of colors, she stayed in the lines, it was very beautiful. I looked back in about two minutes and the whole page was a sea of colors. The bear was no where in sight. Apparently when she finished, she wasn't finished with painting. So she just painted all over everything she'd already done and filled the paper from edge to edge with paint. We couldn't even see the bear to cut it out. If you look close in the last picture you can see her "bear" hanging up with all the others :) She had a great day and we are so happy to have such a great teacher who my kids will always love.

Park City Trip

In September, my parents were nice enough to invite us up to stay in Park City with them. It was convenient for us because we could still run down for school, Kid History Premieres, missionary farewells, etc. It was also fun because Chelsey and Jared were still here and so it was one big party! We had tons of fun playing games with them everyday (I want Dominion :). My parents did a cool FHE lesson complete with loaded ice cream sundaes. We did some shopping (and my car died because a light was left on...as soon as John got there to rescue us, I turned the key again and it came to life without any charge :) The kids did a lot of swimming. Carston will always remember Park City because it is where he finally learned how to swim! He was so excited! Too bad someone stole my video camera out of my car so we'll never get to see it. The girls were awesome in the water too. It was the first time where I could sit on the side of the pool while they all swam. I love the new life jacket I got -Puddle Jumper-it is amazing for little kids and allowing them to swim around and maneuver in the water. It was so much fun. I love my family. I never, ever, Ever get sick of hanging out with them :)

Scouts-Raingutter Regatta

Can you tell that Carston is a little obsessed with all things military?

First Day of School

The first day of school is long gone....but here are the pictures. We will be moving in December, so we decided to enroll our kids in Lindon Elementary. Carston and Avery were nervous and excited to start at a new elementary school. I was anxious all day waiting to hear how it went. We started a new tradition and went to get slushies after school while they told me all about it. It took both of them a few weeks to make friends and get adjusted but they are both doing great now. The day some boys from Carston's class invited him to play at recess was a VERY good day! Avery is lucky to have her cousin in her class and another friend she can meet up with at recess. I am grateful for both of their teachers who work with our unconventional schedule. Hopefully this will be the last change of elementary schools for all of our kids!

Carston picked out his school outfit: army shirt, army shorts, army backpack :)

Summer Pictures Part 2

Silly Kate

Super Fun Uncle Jared...If his goal was to make all the nieces fall in love with him, he succeeded

Crazy Kate

Planetarium with Emma

Professional Pictures by Aunt Heather with a dance party before

The BIGGEST cardboard box house ever known to kids....these make me happy :)

Homemade Slides

Machine Pitch for Carston

First Father and Son Campout

Trip to Ikea

Cupcakes with Grandma Robin

Summer Pictures

FINALLY! The Blue Swing at Grandma Gayla's! Aaron's mom told Macy about this swing at Peyton's birthday party and she asked me about it everyday until we went :)

Stewart Falls

This summer was the best summer EVER! I loved having both of my sisters here. Chelsey stayed all summer long, Heather came with her kids for a month (and husband for less), and it was the first summer my mom wasn't working. We partied EVERY DAY! I seriously loved it. I love these awesome women in my family.


Aaron and I both like to hike (our spouses don't feel quite the same :). We decided to take 7 kids up to Stewart Falls. I was a little nervous about how things would go because I wouldn't have John's support, but I figured if it all went sour we could just turn around and head back. The kids did AMAZING! Macy and Kate walked the entire way up there, and Kate rode on my back for only a quarter of the way back. They had fun looking for interesting things (we took a million pictures of tipped over trees and roots sticking out of the ground). We counted over 20 butterflies. Hallie fell lots of times but she did her best to be tough. We had a nice lunch at the top. And then we headed back down. Someone at the top told us that if we took another trail, it would be shorter. We decided to take all the kids down that way while Aaron went the other way and got the car. It was nice and it was shorter. But there was this one part near the end that gave me nightmares. I literally had nightmares that night of my children being dragged away in the raging river. The trail became VERY narrow and if you went off the trail, you would fall right into the river. My mom about had a heart attack over it. And I did too. When we got down to the bottom there was a sign that said the trail we had been on was closed. So yeah, don't go that way if you're taking lots of little kids who could have easily fallen in. It haunted me for awhile how close we had been to a tragedy. Other than that though, we had a lot of fun and I was very impressed with how great my kids were on such a big hike.

August Sayings

AUGUST SAYINGS

CARSTON

*Carston thought it was the funniest thing in the world when he peed his bed one night. He hasn't done that for several years. He couldn't wait to tell everyone about it because he thought it was so crazy funny. He told me several times, Grandma, Daddy, etc... I'm glad he got such a kick out of it :)

*I was going shopping to get the kids clothes to wear for pictures. Carston said he wanted to come along. I found out later the only reason he wanted to come was because he didn't want me picking him out a shirt he didn't want to wear! He takes after his dad and has quite the opinions on what is cool to wear and what is not. I finally talked him into a gray shirt with pockets and other stuff because 'it looked a little bit army."
*Carston will be starting at a new school this year and I don't think the kids will have a hard time figuring out his interests. Grandma took him to pick out a school outfit. He chose army shorts and an Air Force shirt. I took him to get new shoes and he picked out some camouflage ones. He also has a camo backback. Luckily I was able to talk him out of the camo shirt by finding the Air Force one :)
*Carston was able to participate in a great service project. His piano teacher invited him to be part of a concert for the Veteran's Rest Home. He went up there and played the piano. It was neat to hear him talk about it when he came home. You could feel how good he felt about doing something kind for people who truly appreciated it. Hopefully we can plan more ways to do that as a family.
*Carston learned how to swim under water while we were in Park City!

AVERY

*Avery chickened out going laser tagging when it was Carston's birthday. Apparently she regretted it because she was adamant about going this time around when we went with her Aunts and Uncles. Even though it meant missing the chance to play with Hallie, and that says a lot. She was super cute and stayed close to her mom and dad. She loved it :) I was happy that she had a desire to conquer the things that she was a little scared of because she didn't want to miss out on something exciting.
*Avery LOVES to read. She is getting so many books at the library now and she plows through them like no one's business. She will spend hours up in her bunk bed reading. She is very excited for school to start and loves to do learning with Macy or play school with the girls. I love it. I love hearing my kids say, "Just let me finish this chapter Mom!" It reminds me of myself :)
*Avery made friends with a little boy at the playground in Del Taco. About an hour after we left, she let out a big sigh and said, "I'm really going to miss that boy."
*I took the girls to The Chocolate for a special mommy date. They felt so special and were thrilled. Avery kept talking about all the decorating and furnishings and how much she loved them.

MACY

*Macy has been loving having her cousin Peyton to play with for the month. However, sometimes the two of them together makes for a lot of not listening to their mother's. One night after we found them deliberately disobeying we sat them down for a talk. When we asked them why they disobeyed, Peyton said, "Because Macy had a great idea!"
*Sometimes Macy is not super excited about our family rule of no one getting left out. Sometimes the last thing she wants to do is let Kate join the playing. Kate tried to come play with Macy and Peyton while they were at Grandma's house and Macy said, "K-ATE...go find Grandma! Grandma has a surprise for you!" It worked that time, but I don't think it will take too long for Kate to figure out that little trick.
*The kids and Emma were working on making their own movie with the video camera we gave Carston. Carston and Emma both wanted to be the directors. Emma was getting pretty upset with Carston because he wouldn't let her do something she wanted. Macy finally chimed in with her advice on how to handle the situation, "Just keep bothering him Emma!" Uh oh...hopefully she doesn't stick with the tactic for her teenage years :)
*My mom took Macy to the bathroom and told her she knew which one was the girls because it said "women." Macy wanted to know if the one for the boys said "Prince."
*One night I heard Macy talking to Carston. "Dad is the boss of you, and mom is the boss of me. Wait a minute....NO ONE is the boss of me!" And then she broke into song about how no one was her boss.
*Macy FINALLY had her first day of preschool! She could not wait! She loved it and looked so cute walking off with her huge backpack on her back.
*Macy is obsessed with Chelsey and Jared because they've been living in Utah for the summer. She loves spending time with them and is always wanting to be playing or snuggling with them.
*Macy is awesome in the water! She puts on her life jacket and takes off. She goes all over the place with no hesitation.

KATE

*Carston and Kate sit next to each other in the car. One day while driving Kate wanted me to take her bows out of her hair. I told her she would have to wait until we got there. Without missing a beat she said, "How 'bout Carson?" And without missing a beat, he took them out :) I love to see them being such good buddies with each other.
*Sadie threw up all over the kitchen floor. Kate said, "Sadie's pooping her spit!"
*I guess Kate decided she didn't want to wait for me to potty train her. I'd been thinking about it for awhile but we were having too much fun enjoying our summer to make the time for it. So she has been telling me when she needs to go, I'll take her, and then get quite the surprise when she goes potty on the toilet. It is awesome.
*Kate likes to dance gracefully during the Hymns at church :) It makes me smile every time.
*Kate fully potty trained herself! She doesn't have accidents unless I don't listen when she tells me she has to go. Like when we were shopping at the outlets in Park City. She told me. I didn't listen. She peed on the sidewalk.
*Kate is awesome in the water. She puts on her life jacket and goes on in with no hesitation. It is amazing!

Dear Kids

Dear Kids,
I want you know how much I LOVE being your mom. Everyday, I am seriously filled with joy that we get to be with each other every day. I think of how different things would be if we weren't homeschooling for most of school, and it fills me with gratitude that I get to spend so much time with all of you each day. Every once in awhile, there will be a day where you spend most of it away from me. On those days, I can't wait for you to get home and hear all about everything. I LOVE being with you. I thank Heavenly Father every night that we can do our schooling the way we do. I can't imagine doing it any other way.
I love each one of you. Each one of you push me in different ways to be better. I am grateful that I get to be your mom. I'm grateful that we can spend our lives together. Have I said how much I love to be with you? Maybe a little too much, but I want you to always know that there is nothing else I would rather be doing in my life.
Love Mom

Cousins and Riverwood Splashpad!

We were so lucky to babysit cousins this summer for a few days. Callie, Bron, and Drake came to stay with us while their parents took Jace on a little trip. My kids were in heaven! They can not wait until these awesome kids become our next door neighbors. Their last day with us we went down to the splash pad they just put in at The Riverwoods. We looked a little crazy strolling in with 7 kids in swimsuits carrying their towels. They had a lot of fun though and it was a great way to spend the morning.