September

We did a few unique activities in September, the first being a trip to Promontory Point to see where the Transcontinental Railroad was connected. The drive was longer than we anticipated and the weather was a bit drizzly AND Max decided to get a sick tummy while we were there, but nevertheless, we are glad we went. We walked around the little train museum, watched a short video about the railroad, and my favorite--watching a re-enactment of the "Golden Spike" ceremony! The actors wore period clothing and and had props and everything. It was pretty neat and I'm glad the kids got to see it. The actors:

Luke got to hold the golden spike!

Poor Max was sick in his stroller for this one.

After visiting Promontory Point, we headed over to Brigham City to check out Peach Days (we were not too impressed) and to visit some graves of Ben's ancestors. Ben already posted about this, but here is another picture from the cemetery. I always love visiting cemeteries. I know, I'm weird. It just helps me regain perspective about my life.

The girls have been wanting to do a bake sale/lemonade stand for awhile now and I always put them off. I told them when we got moved in and settled a bit, we could do it. We did it on a beautiful day in mid-September and their good friends joined us for it. The girls wanted to donate the proceeds to Primary Children's Hospital and so we are headed up there this Saturday to donate it in person. They earned $50!

Sunday dinner at Sue's house. The kids always beg to pull out the dress-ups. Sue has the best ones! The kids can dress up for a full hour and be completely entertained.

Isn't Max adorable???

Blowing a kiss! Love this boy.

First Day 2013

My cute girls on the first day of school! They attend Aspen Elementary now and despite a difficult first few days of adjusting, they both really enjoy their new school. I am impressed with all of the activities and events Aspen offers. Emma is loving being a part of the drama club--I'd say drama comes pretty naturally for her! :) Notice the new "Bobs" shoes on the girls' feet. Yep, I caved and bought them trendy shoes for back-to-school. Emma, my shoe-lover, is thrilled!

My big fourth-grader.

My big first-grader.

Waiting in line on the first day. Rachel has adjusted so well to first grade! She absolutely loves lunchtime and handles the long school day very well.

Here's to a great school year!

Luke the fisherman

Luke and I went fishing at Strawberry Reservoir this afternoon. We had a great time trudging through the sage brush and catching rainbows and cutthroats in the 18" to 24" range. What an amazing fall day for fishing!

Summer

I'm anxious to get caught up on the blog here so that I'm not posting my back-to-school pictures at Christmastime! :) This past summer was a crazy summer. A whirlwind of emotion. We started out the summer doing all of the normal fun summer things and then three weeks in, we found ourselves preparing to move. It all happened so fast--only four weeks between putting our house on the market and moving out! It was exciting and hard--mostly hard. It was a lot more difficult to leave than I thought it would be! Probably because it was our first house, and we brought home most of our babies there, and we really made it our own. That house was pretty bare bones when we moved in and we had done much to improve it--everything from a full-repainting, to a complete yard re-do, updating cabinets and woodwork, etc. It was ours and it was beautiful. Although the tiny space was driving me bananas! And of course, the neighborhood. Leaving friends and neighbors was so hard as well. But...we felt it was time to move on and gain a bit more square footage. We still miss the house a lot and feel sad sometimes, but I'm guessing that is normal for awhile. Anyway.....some good stuff happened this summer too. This sweet little guy turned two in June! Isn't he just darling? He makes us laugh every day.

We went out to eat at Chili's as a family and then spent a quiet evening at home, opening gifts and playing with them. The following Sunday, we had a family dinner and enjoyed some yummy strawberry pie.

My two-fisted pie eater!

Emma had her piano recital in June. Emma invited a few friends to be there along with the relatives. It's always amazing to see her progress!

The Fourth of July was spent with the Familias, per tradition. We always have such a blast eating our hearts out, laughing, being crazy, lounging, fireworking, and feeling glad to be American. We love the Familias and we love America!

Early July brought swimming lessons. Sarah and I love to chat while we watch our littles learn new tricks in the water. Good times! All the kids really love to swim and learn a lot during lessons. Rachel lost a lot of her fear this time and it was great prep for our trip to Texas, where we swam nearly every day!

July mostly meant packing and prepping to move. We said goodbye to this house....

...and this yard.

Thankfully, we had a super fun trip to Texas to see my family planned right after we moved out of our old house. The timing could not have been better! Seriously. We nearly killed ourselves all weekend moving out and cleaning, had two days to rest at my in-laws' house, and then jetted off to have fun and relax for two full weeks. We really needed it--all of us. It kept my mind off of the sadness of moving and the work of moving in that awaited me when I came back. The kids needed the extra love and attention. And we all needed to PLAY! And play we did. Here are some of the things we did: *SWAM! A lot. Almost every day we spent 2+ hours at the pool. *Rodeo. Can't beat a Texas rodeo! *Frozen yogurt, ice cream, popsicles.... *Park *Cousin birthday party *American Girl tea party *Visit to the Alamo and dinner downtown *Cousin playdates *Pioneer ward party *Saw Despicable Me 2 *Shopping *Game nights *Movie nights It was wonderful to be with family and have so much fun together. Thank you mom and dad--you are absolutely perfect hosts!

On August 10th, a few days after we got back from Texas, we moved into our new house in Orem. Pictures to come soon, I promise! We live just a few blocks away from beloved Aunt Sue and we have been loving it. Sunday family dinners outside are always fun. The kids love Aunt Sue's dress-ups.

I can't thank everyone enough for their help in getting us moved out and moved in this summer! My dear in-laws took us in for several days and cooked for us, cleaned for us, watched our kids for many hours, so we could do the work we needed to do. And so many others helped us along the way--we thank you from the bottom of our hearts! Though we are sad about moving, we love our new home and neighborhood. It is nice to feel like we are not tripping over each other all the time!

Pioneer Ancestors

We recently visited the graves of our pioneer ancestors Lewis Wight and family in Brigham City. We had never been there before and discovered that the Wights are buried among Lorenzo Snow's family. Lewis Wight's family came across the plains in 1850 as part of the first Perpetual Immigration Fund group.The burial plots are located at the intersection of A Street and Center Street for anyone interested in visiting. There are many other pioneer graves there. It was quite moving to be among so many who sacrificed so much to escape religious persecution and to build a place of refuge in what was then a barren wilderness.

Marvelous May

May was, as always, a very crazy month filled with end of year shows, performances, graduations, recitals, etc. Super fun, but super busy. Rachel showed off her skills in a gymnastics performance. We tried out the program at AF Rec Center and were pretty happy with it.  She is third from the left in this lineup. 

Thanksgiving Point's Tulip Festival never fails to disappoint. Always so beautiful!

The kids all randomly started holding hands and it was so precious I had to capture it!

May means Mother's Day and it's always great to feel the love. :) I'm trying to start a tradition of taking a picture outside with all of my children. I love them all so very much!

Luke graduated from Miss Maureen's preschool. We are oh so sad about not being able to do it again this year. She only has an afternoon class for Luke's age group and the time will just not work with Max's nap. We loved this preschool. She was an amazing hands-on teacher who always did great projects and activities with the kids. I highly recommend her! And being able to just walk around the corner to school and back was a huge benefit as well.

Grandma was able to come, as well as Dad.

Here is the lovely Miss Maureen!

Rachel graduated from kindergarten. She was so darling singing her little heart out during the program! I loved the songs they sang. Daddy was able to come too and that was pretty special.

Love this happy girl!

This is her good little friend, Rachel. It's so funny because last year one of Emma's good buddies was named Emma. And this year Rachel became friends with the other Rachel in her class. Aren't they cute?

Mrs. Milner was a wonderful teacher. I was so impressed with her ability to relate to the kids and her unconditional love for all of them. We will miss her!

And we can't forget Emma! She loved Mrs. Moore (especially her great taste in fashion!!!).

It was a wonderful school year for all the kids. It is so difficult to blog about this now that we have moved. It makes me miss our neighborhood and the memories we made there all the more!