Monkey's in the middle!

My cute boys are in Kindergarten! They are so big & didn't hesitate to run into their new class. Mack was really excited to find out that there's another Mack in his class! Now he refers to himself as "Mack A"! Sam told me his new best friend is the boy in the blue shirt! :) I love these characters! Can't wait to watch them grow up this year.

Bella toting "Rosie" & her cookies to school, expecting that she was starting too! She's now happy to discover that not going means lots of one on one time with Mommy :)

The Grand Finale

The boys finally got their camping trip in before school started. They camped at Albion Basin for 2 nights, hiked to Cecret Lake, roasted hot dogs, & got filthy! Fun boy time :)

We also made it to the zoo.
We saw the bird show, until one of the hawks flew into a tree & wouldn't come down! It was pretty exciting for the kids.

We played until we dropped!
We also went to the Ogden Dinosaur park the same week. It was crazy & we were so tired. It was all so much fun though!

This weekend we took Noah out for a special night of fettucine alfredo & bread sticks. He acted like he was starved!

Waiting for the Grand Finale of our summer to start with Grandma...

The broadway version of the Lion King!

It was a m a z i n g !!! The costumes especially were fabulous.

Noah couldn't wait to run to the first day of school this morning. I could hardly get him to stop for a picture! It was a great summer & I hope it's an even better school year :)

Last child syndrome

Bella had her nap yesterday at my parents house, because we had no power & it was getting very hot. We took the boys to a movie while she slept. When we picked her up, my Mom looked at me & said, "she has last child syndrome!" My mind starting thinking about what she meant & then she explained that Bella peed through her clothes, her blanket, sheets & mattress while she slept because her diaper was so full!

Immediately I said, "no- I changed her....didn't I?"

I guess getting lost in the crowd is part of being the last child! There is another symptom of last child syndrome that makes them the luckiest kid in the family too. It is best said by Barbara Kingsolver in her book, "Poisonwood Bible." I just finished it last night & it is beautifully written, so I'll just quote her rather than trying to convey the feelings myself:

I took one deep breath for every step they took away from me. That's how it is with the firstborn, no matter what kind of mother you are- rich, poor, frazzled half to death or sweetly content. A first child is your own best foot forward, and how you do cheer those little feet as they strike out. You examine every turn of flesh for precocity, and crow it to the world. But the last one: the baby who trails her scent like a flag of surrender through your life when there will be no more coming after- oh, that's love by a different name. She is the babe you hold in your arms for an hour after she's gone to sleep. If you put her down in the crib, she might wake up changed and fly away. So instead you rock by the window, drinking the light from her skin, breathing her exhaled dreams. Your heart bays to the double crecent moons of closed lashes on her cheeks. She's the one you can't put down.

Slow down time!

While making dinner Sunday, my mind began wandering & I got so sentimental. It probably was because I went to a very touching funeral the previous day for my Mom's best friend, Claudia. She was truly an angel walking the earth; she raised, loved & cared for her 2 severely handicapped sons, was a wife, worked part time, past relief society president & of course, took care of her home & all the other womanly duties that often go unnoticed, but count for a lot! She did it all without complaining & with the most adorable sense of humor. She was always a character in my life & I loved her. The only good thing is that I know she's at peace, probably for one of the first times in a really long time.

While I stuffed manicotti shells, I thought of the future & how I hope that my kids will come home to eat Sunday dinners forever. I decided that I could easily triple this recipe for my 4 kids, their spouses & dozens of grandchildren. I hope I'm around to see all this. I know life is fragile & it doesn't always work out like we hope. I tried to enjoy every previously tedious or chaotic thing we did this Sunday & see it as something to hold on tight to, because I know it won't last long. These kids are growing up fast & time is speeding by!



It's so much more fun to steam cute little dresses than large blouses for myself!



We flew..



explored...

dreamt...

imagined...

then we worshipped. It was a beautiful day.

More summertime highlights

First airplane ride to Boise



Sam & Mack learned how to ride their 2 wheel bikes on the same day!
(Something about competition?)!





Bella enjoying some yogurt for the first time in a long time. It seems like her dairy allergy is doing better, but for some reason, yogurt still gets her all congested & she ends up sick.

Our neighbor cleaned out her old costumes & it was like Halloween in July!

Noah panning for fools gold at "this is the Place State Park"

Arrgghhhh!

British soccer camp

Lagoon ^Bounce Back!^ with a friend

Fun at the park

Cub Scout camp

I've been such a poop about updating my blog lately. Too much summer going on! We are enjoying all the fun, but I do rather miss a regular routine, in a way. I try to keep somewhat of a routine going through the summer, but with weddings, beckoning canyons, swimming lessons, sports, beautiful warm nights, cub scouts, weed pulling, fire pits equipped with smores ingredients...it's just impossible to get everyone to bed on time & get up in the morning! My butt keeps getting bigger because that 6:00 am alarm buzzer reminding me to get up & jog it off, just annoys me when I don't get to sleep until midnight. So, I'm t r y i n g to get a little more focused now that we're on countdown to school (28 days). We've almost done everything we wanted to do this summer, except the zoo & camping. Not pictured was a visit to the Copper Mine, visiting old friends, starting a kids book club, hiking, having dinner & smores (obviously my favorite) in the canyon, running through the sprinklers & riding on Len's work firetruck & throwing candy in many local parades! So, we'll go to the zoo, play, play, play, camp & try to get to bed a little earlier. Pretty soon it's going to be homework & science projects!

Life is good today

Lagoon fountain. The anticipation is killing Noah!


Mack avoids the anticipation & stands right in the middle & gets soaked!


Sam safely watches from the outside!

Bella helping Mommy wash the dishes with her toes in the water!

Up into the wild blue yonder

For Father's Day this year, we sent Len up in a small plane & said "good luck!" It's called a discovery flight, where you & an instructor go for a 30 minute flight & he lets you have the controls. We knew this was one of the only things that would tempt Len into not going to work as soon as he woke up. He watches the History channel on war & airplanes so often, that the boys have now given up trying to get him to change the channel & just watch with him. They now share Len's love of airplanes. Len was ecstatic & had a blast! Apparently, he did a pretty good job of flying too :) Noah & Sam ended up hopping in at the last minute.


Len said as soon as they took off, they all heard Sam singing the "A,B,C's" into the headsets! I guess he wasn't scared a bit! I'm so glad that Len had fun, if even for a few hours. He works so much that it's crazy, but he has a much better attitude than me about it. I appreciate how hard he works, I just wish his boss appreciated it more & compensated him! If not, he should be able to be home with us because we miss him!



This is one examples of the ridiculous things that happens when your husband is never home to help keep the house & manly things in good repair. Our nice bbq has been needing some tlc for 2 years, but I don't know how to fix it & we don't have extra money to hire someone for everything that is broken. I decided I was not going to have another bbq-less summer, so I pulled out our camping stove & we enjoyed bbq chicken last night for Father's Day (without a father)! It's all good!


We love Lenny & practically maul him to death when he is home. He's such a great Daddy & husband :) We are very lucky to have such a kind, cute, handy & sweet guy in our life.


Happy Father's Day babe!