Starting School

Yep. School started. And we have two very excited girls . . . and one boy missing his sisters.
Brielle went to her first day of Kindergarten on August 29. She had been counting down the days until the big day finally arrived. Every morning she would say, "Just three more days 'til Kindergarten!" On her first morning she got up, got dressed in the outfit she had laid out and was waiting at the door with back pack on at 7:30am - a full hour early. I took her up to school and she gave me a quick hug, waved good bye and walked off like she owned this. No problem. She was thrilled. Well, after about three days of going to Kindergarten that turned from excitement to astonishment and a bit of a whine saying, "I have to go again?" Even though it is only from 8:30am to 11:30am, I think the adjustment of having to go every day was a lot. She's catching on now though and comes home every day quite happy.

Ava started preschool on September 6. She was also so very ready. She is old for her class and always will be having a September 5 birthday. She just turned 4 and they are all 3 (turning 4 this year). Soooooooooooo, she has been waiting and waiting for her turn to go to school. Because she was bored, she spent her time tormenting and terrorizing Zachary. We're glad to see her off and busy with school.

Ava also was up and ready and waiting at the door to finally go start preschool at Ms. Chris'. She's seen Brielle go for 2 years and was very happy and comfortable to be dropped off with Ms. Chris. She even got to take birthday treats to share with the class on the first day and they sang Happy Birthday to her. She's in love with school.

And now, from 9:30 to 11:30am every Tuesday and Thursday it's just me and my little Target buddy. Amazing.

Take A Hike

Utah. What do I say? It's beautiful. There are some aspects of living in Utah that I question whether I like or not, but the mountains surrounding us are an easy answer. I love them! From the time the snow melts, I look up at the mountains every day wanting to be up there. We are such a short drive up the road from two awesome canyons. I'm so happy taking the kids hiking in them and this year we even got to camp in them!

Donut Falls Hike

This is one we do a lot. It's pretty, it's close and it is so easy for the kids. Brie and Ava quite literally ran the whole way to the falls. Zachary held his own hiking the whole way. It was cloudy and about half way there we started to hear thunder.

As we took this pic in front of the falls, it started to rain. It rained our whole way back. Once Ava was assured that rain drops would not hurt us, it was really beautiful walking through the woods in the down pour.

Camping at the Spruces

The Spruces Campground is just up Big Cottonwood Canyon. I have been wanting to get up there with my tent (Christmas present) and my new camp stove (Birthday present). We waited until everyone else started school and then headed up to a not so crowded campground. The tent was great (it's huge) and the camp stove seemed like high class living compared to how I watched my mom and dad cook meals over the fire growing up. We had such a good time.

After lunch and a nap we went hiking to Lake Blanche. Now, let me say, this is a long hike with a fairly good elevation gain. We knew we would just be going as far as the kids could go and then turn around. It's a hike Scott and I have been wanting to do so we just went to check it out. To our surprise, the kids trooped on for soooooooooo long. It was pretty steep and they hiked up at least 1.5 miles. Zachary walking all on his own. I was so very proud. One day Scott and I will make it all the way to the lake.

Seriously, this kid (23 months) lead the way almost the whole time. We just tried to keep up with him. I sang the "Following The Leader" song right behind him and he swung his arms to the beat and marched up the mountain like he was having the time of his life. Awesome.

Soaking our feet in the river at the bottom.

Back at camp we made tin foil dinners. Mmmmmmm, were they good. That is one of my favorite things to eat camping. Scott decided to make a tin foil dinner the size of his head. As we were making dinner we heard some weird noises and then saw a HUGE moose walk right into our camp site. We got the kids to walk slowly to my side of the table and where we could get in the car. We watched him quietly. HUGE. He walked around our tent and then headed off. So cool.

S'mores for dessert!

In the morning we woke up to a good fire by Scott and of course, had "Eggs In A Frame" for breakfast. That breakfast is what makes camping sooooooo good (even on a hoity toity camp stove).

Forgot a spatula, so I used a stick.

Delicious!

Some had already filled up on cookies and orange juice before the rest of us woke up for breakfast. Rude.

Cecret Lake

Just this past Saturday we made our way up Little Cottonwood Canyon to hike Cecret Lake. This is the time when usually the wildflowers are really going strong.

We had to stop for 10 minutes at any glimpse of water so that Zachary could throw rocks . . . and then drag him away crying . . . . until the next water sighting.

We made it up to Cecret Lake . . . (It was BYU game day. Can you tell?)

which turns out isn't so secret. It was packed.

Love it and I'm looking forward to more. Hiking when the leaves are changing colors is just as beautiful.

A Happy Birthday!

My birthday was celebrated in August and it was a good one. It was on a Sunday, so instead of me getting up, getting ready, getting three kids ready for 9am church, feeling sick, wrestling through church on my own and then spending the afternoon by myself with the kids . . . . Scott took a vacation day!!! So nice. So instead, I woke up a little later to the sweet smell of Belgium waffles being made on my new waffle iron birthday present. They were topped with strawberries and cream. My favorite. In Primary I got to wear the birthday hat and they all sang to me. Love it. After church I took a long afternoon nap. Love it even more. And then came my birthday dance!!! The best part all day. Brielle and Ava danced their little booties off to Beyonce singing "All The Single Ladies" in honor of me and my big day. Brings tears to my eyes. What a good day.To make all this even better we had dinner with my siblings (Landon, Sarah, Evan, Tawna, Korey) the night before at L & S's house were I was given my very own box of Honey Nut Cheerios to eat (because that is all that sounded good). And my birthday dinner was had at Greg and Cindy's house were we got to finish that dinner with "Better Than Anything" cake (that's what she calls it). Yum Yum. How nice, huh?

Washington

Hooray! We made it to Seattle! Our first stop in Seattle was a Duck Tour ride through the city. Boston Duck Tours were my favorite, so we tried them in Seattle and had a GREAT time seeing the city by land . . . and by water and quacking our way through the whole thing.Tom Hanks floating house from "Sleepless In Seattle".
After our tour we walked around the Space Needle to check it out. Last time we were in Seattle, it was mine and Scott's anniversary. We ate dinner at the rotating restaurant up at the top. This time, with three kids, we just looked up.
We made our way on the monorail through town over to Pikes Market. The kids were very interested in the "flying fish" and Brie even got to help out with a huge salmon. We also loved all the fresh flowers, fruits and veggies.
Raspberries!
Our wandering took us down to the pier along the water where we found a carousel to ride and, of course, some little girl dancers who LOVE to put on a show for the adoring public.What was the best part of Seattle though? Seeing our Randi! She let us all take over her house for a few days and was so very good to us. It was certainly fun to be with her.

Randi did the girls nails with sparkles and jewels. They were in beauty parlor heaven.Hanging out with Maxwell, the dog. Zachary is showing him some of his own special tricks. And, hanging out with Randi's dad, Rex.

Our second day in Seattle, we all got to go to a day game at Safeco Field together. What fun and seriously, what good food. Not just a hot dog at this baseball game.After a good baseball game we hit the beach. I guess, I would kind of call this a beach. It certainly had sand and ocean and girls in bikinis and lots of volleyball, but no one would touch the water and it wasn't above 75 degrees. The view as beautiful though and the kids always like to cover every inch of themselves in sand. Along with the beach volleyball competitions, there was also a cart wheel competition on the sand. The two participants - Brielle and Ava.After such a good time in Washington, it was time to hit the road for a very long drive home. We told the kids we wanted to get home that night instead of staying somewhere half way. So, we stopped for bathroom breaks and diaper changes at gas stations while we filled up. We ate in the car, the kids napped, watched movies, colored and sang. To our utter shock and amazement there was almost no crying, fighting or complaining. Can you believe it? We pulled into our driveway and the GPS said our total driving time was at exactly 13 hours and the amount of time we allowed for stopping? 42 minutes! Yahoo! It was soooooooooooo good to be home.