October

Ben and I took the boys to Kohl's one Saturday and they both wanted to sit in the little cart. Hee hee!

Then they held hands in the car on the way home! Adorable. These boys are the best of friends sometimes, but they also know how to push each others' buttons the most!

Emma had her first big school research project and had to give an oral presentation on a Utah landmark. She chose Harper Ghost Town. She memorized her speech and did a wonderful job. Papa and Grandma got to come. I love this picture of my papa intently listening to Emma!

Grandma and Papa also took Rachel and Luke on their birthday dates, per tradition. I think this picture was for Rachel's date in September, but Luke also got one for his in October.

The last days for shorts happened in early October. I got summer stuff packed away and winter clothes out. Look at my little guy in overalls! I wanted to get a pic of him in them before I packed them away. He kinda looks like a minion, don't you think?

Papa came up from Texas for a quick trip and helped us do a few things around the house, including putting a new seal on our basement toilet. Luke happily helped Papa and Uncle Dave as they worked. He's even sporting a plumber's crack as he helped Papa with the toilet! How appropriate. :)

We had a big family dinner while my dad was here, which sadly, I don't think I got any pictures of! It was for Luke's birthday and I think we only took video on Ben's phone of the cake and all that. Here's Papa playing the piano with Emma before the dinner.

The girls' school had a fall festival, which was super fun. Each student got to decorate a pumpkin at school and they were all on display during the festival. Here are the girls' pumpkins--turned out way cute!

We decided on a whim to take a few family pictures in late October before the leaves all fell off the trees. It was very impromptu and I didn't even go out and buy any coordinating clothes--I just worked with what I had and I think it turned out pretty cute! I'm not posting the family pictures because they may or may not be Christmas gifts for some people who read this blog. :) Sue took the pics for us, which was very kind of her. This is the pre-picture chaos. Those of you with kids can relate, right?

Here's a few other shots from that night. The leaves were beautiful!

Ben snuck in some good fishing trips with the kids. Luke wants to go every time. Here's their catch from one of their outings. Such a good bonding activity.

Happy 7th, Rachel!

Rachel's seven!!!!

We had a friend birthday party for her. Since we don't have a cool, fun backyard anymore (at least not yet.....) we held the party at the local park. The playground is awesome and fun was had by all. Here she is with her requested pink cupcakes.

Opening the gifts. She got some cute ones!

A little Bingo

The gang

Oh, how we love our Rachel. A few things about Rach at age 7: *She keeps her room IMMACULATE. All the time. It's amazing to me, actually. She never needs any reminders and on Saturday, when it's time for all the kids to clean their bedrooms, she just smiles because she knows all she needs to do is dust a little and vacuum because everything else is done. :) She loves having her own space--a little too much sometimes, since she hardly lets anyone in her room! *She still loves to color and draw. *She is great about doing her homework and reading every day. She doesn't read voraciously like Emma does, but she enjoys it. She especially loves reading the Friend magazine. *She likes to write little notes for all of us in the family. We love it! *She is definitely competitive with Emma. *She likes to ride her scooter far more than her bike. *She's been having cheese quesadillas in her lunch nearly every day at school. *Her favorite foods (besides cheese quesadillas) are cereal, bagels and cream cheese, cheese and crackers, (hmmmm....seeing a trend here?), and mashed potatoes and gravy. *She feels the spirit a lot and sometimes it moves her to tears. *She is in the Lindon city children's choir this fall and loves it. She can't wait for her upcoming Christmas concert! *She doesn't like to be away from home for too long. *She joined the running club at school! Twice a week, they run at recess and earn little charms by meeting running goals. She is so excited about it. *We love her sweet spirit and super tight hugs. Our family wouldn't be the same without her! Love you so much, Rachel!

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!