Super Saturday and Not-As-Super Sunday

Saturday was a really fun family day. We decided to take the kids up to the Capital in Salt Lake City and Memorial Grove that is right by it. It was quite a hike... not long, but steep!
See the capitol building in this picture? Between us and the capitol is a huge ravine, canyon, whatever you want to call it. The down was easy, it was the hike back up that was a little tough.

At the bottom of the canyon is Memorial Grove and this is where these pics were taken. We had a a lot fun talking to Ally about the different wars and the veterans. But by far the kids favorite part was watching some people throwing a ball into the pond for their dogs to chase.




The we hiked up the other side to the State Capitol Building, just because Ally wanted to. It was so much fun to talk to her about it and see what she has really learned in school. As in she knew that Utah was number 45 out of 50 states, could identify Pres. Lincoln in a statue, knew about the Senate but not the House of Representatives... We were able to teach her a bunch of stuff and it was fun.

(see Devin? he's on Alex's back)


After our excursion we went to my parent's house for the Annual Back to School Party. It was so much fun! Have you ever seen Minute to Win It? Well, I never had, but you have to do a bunch of crazy stuff to win. My mom made up a really fun game and had all of us doing crazy stuff. The kids thought it was the best thing ever!
This is Alex trying to blow off all the white ping pong balls but leave the three orange ones.

I wanted more pictures, but after that I could only chase Devin and try and keep him from being a big obstacle in all the games.

Sunday was not so fun... It's amazing that my family has not been sick the ENTIRE summer... but send Ally to school for 4 days and of course she gets a cold. I cringe thinking of the germs. Oy!!!

The First Day of Third Grade

Today was the first day of 3rd grade for Ally. She was a little nervous, but mostly excited. We met her teacher last night and she seemed very nice. I really hope they do a better job of challenging her this year.

Note the jeans in her pictures? Do you KNOW how long it took me to find an actual pair of skinny jeans for her??? She is blessed to be EXTREMELY tiny/skinny and all the skinny jeans we bought for her were not skinny enough. I finally found these at Old Navy... super skinny slims. They are hard to fit over her feet but they are actually "skinny" enough for her. Oy, to keep up with the trends!




I can't believe she is in third grade already! I swear it was just a few days ago Alex was holding me while I cried because I had to leave her at kindergarten. Luckily there was no tears this year... I could only feel pride in my sweet, beautiful little girl as she lined up and followed her class into the school... Just don't tell her I called her "little" she thinks she is a mini teenager.

And here are a few pic of Devin, because whenever I pull the camera out I hear "cheese" over and over again until I take his picture... see, I train them well!

Achievement Days

I love the Achievement Day program. If you don't know what it is, it is a program for our church. All the girls between the ages of 8 and 12 meet twice a week at a leader's home. They learn different skills like cooking, babysitting, etc. and they learn scriptures and ideals and talk about important morals... and sometimes they just do something fun. Ally loves it and I love it as well.

This past weekend they had all the stake meet together and each group did a skit. (A ward is a congregation in a certain neighborhood and the stake includes all of the wards... in our case, 6 wards). They had the girls walk the red carpet and gave them a brunch to eat while the skits were performed.

Ally's group of girl's did a skit about a new girl that moved into the neighborhood and the courage it took for one girl to include that girl in her clique. (Each skit was supposed to have a moral to it). It was very cute and her leaders did a great job, complete with songs and everything.

Here are a few pic's... even if they aren't the best because of the lighting and angle.
This is all but a couple of the girls:

The skit:




I am SO thankful for her sweet leaders and the adorable girls in this program... it has been so much fun for Ally!

Devin Turns Two (well sort of)

Devin's official Birthday is not until tomorrow... but the day just didn't work out for us, so we celebrated on Sunday.
He woke up in the morning and opened presents from us.
Ally gave him a rocking type horse that we got from Ikea... I didn't any good pictures of him on it though, because he wouldn't stop rocking wildly and look at me.

He could hardly wait to rip the paper.

His first present was a pair of clothes... with an airplane because what two-year-old wants to open clothes?

He LOVES the show Wonder Pets so we got him a talking Ming Ming that skates in a cirlce, talks, sings... very annoying, but Devin loves it.

His final present was a Mickey Mouse tricycle... boy is this thing loud playing the music!

He had to carry Ming Ming around in the basket with him.

Later that night we had our family over and they brought him lots of presents... they sure know him, because he got 3 big trucks... and he loves all three of them. My favorite truck was from my brother because that one doesn't make any noise... sorry to his Grandparents who got him adorable ones, but drive me insane with all the loud noises... "Stop and go, stop and go..." ohhhh that song is stuck in my head!
He loved a pair of keys that his great-grandparents gave him... I just love the big smile on his face when he saw them!


Then it was time for cake and ice cream. Devin has 3 (and only 3) shows that he will watch: Wonder Pets, Mickey Mouse and Barney (oy, that purple dinosaur!). So I decided to make him a Mickey Mouse cake. Usually I buy a pan and follow that design but I decided to freelance it... it turned out pretty cute, I think.

Blowing out the candles had to be Devin's biggest highlight of the entire day!

We had practiced earlier and he was SO excited!

He was a little too short so Alex had to lift him up.

It took him several tries but he eventually got both candles blown out.

After he did it everyone clapped and cheered for him and he was in heaven! He started jumping up and down and cheering in delight... forget presents, he would have been happier having everyone cheer for him blowing out candles all day!
Of course, eating the cake and ice cream were pretty good too!


My favorite part of the day happened after everyone left. I brushed his teeth, read him a brand new story about frogs that my mom had given him as part of his present and then sang him the usual two songs... same routine we do every night. Then I give him a drink of water and tuck him in... only this night he was so tired he fell asleep in my arms as I sang him his two songs. It's been such a long time since that has happened. I just had to cuddle my sleeping boy a little longer! It was so beautiful to hold my little man, that is growing up way too fast, and remember that he is still my baby. Mine.

Thank you, Heavenly Father for this sweet little boy that can drive me crazy with his endless mischief... but who I wouldn't trade for the world.

Happy Birthday (tomorrow) to my precious, not-so-baby, Devin.

As the summer slips away

and we're moving toward back to school and cooler weather, here is a little reflection of the past week for us.
First of all we went with my family to Willard Bay.



We also had a little time (since it was slightly cooler) to visit some parks.




We went up Provo Canyon, as well.





Alex has been digging trenches to get our sprinkling system put in and Devin has been loving being outside with him. This week we were all out there working in the yard when I heard Devin screaming. I looked over and a huge swarm of bees were flying around him. I dropped everything and ran to him, grabbed him and went flying into the house. He had received 6 bee stings... luckily he was not allergic. He's a brave little guy and after a few minutes he was fine... more fine than his terrified mom. I was so scared what I was going to find as I stripped him down in the kitchen, and I was worried about a reaction.

Alex also started working for US Bank as the branch manager.

Yep, just one big, happy family!


If only the lazy, fun-filled days of summer could last longer!