Isn't he lovely

Dallin was dressing up in my clothes this morning. Potential black male?

I love it when he dresses himself, even if he doesn't get it quite right. I taught him to start with the top or bottom button to get them lined up, some how he managed to to start at the top and bottom and still get some of them in the wrong holes. Look how proud of himself he looks though.

Wrapping up summer

Feels like summer is coming to an end. It is still uncomfortably warm these days, but I know there are only a few more before it gets cool. We headed to Bear Creek park this evening with my brother's family for a picnic. Spent a lot of time on the swings, as usual.

 Dallin made a new friend; usually does when we go places. He is a friendly guy. He liked rolling down the hill.

 Drew swinging.

 The big boys are too cool to smile. I have to be sneaky to get one from them.

Life lately

We have been keeping busy with all kinds of things lately. My brother Kevin and his wife, Kassie had a baby about 2 weeks ago and I took pictures of their cutie, Rylan. See more here.

 Dallin is doing more swim lessons. He loves them now, and it is something for him to do. He loves his new teach, David. He has an Australian accent. Ashlyn was signed up for lessons too with me joining her, but we dropped out. She wasn't cooperating with  me. She would work with the teacher and do what she wanted, but not me. Great! Are we going to have one of those relationships?!?

 

 Nate's dad got married a couple weeks ago and he was able to go to the wedding in Iowa.

Other things we are up to, but not photographed yet are

• I have joined a group of ladies that do hula dancing. The group does performances throughout the year. 
• My sister-in-law Paula and I are doing home school preschool with Dallin, and his cousin Joel. They are enjoying it. I am feeling like it is a good thing to do for Dallin because he gets upset to tears sometimes when he colors outside the lines or cuts off the line. Let's get that out of his system at home so he isn't an annoying, whiny Kindergartner. Perfection is great to strive for, but my goodness!
• I have started P90X, which I have been wanting to try for the longest time. I love it. 
• My baby sister, Kris, is waiting for her mission call! Can't wait to hear where she is going. 

Oh, yeah, did I mention we got a car?

 A couple weeks ago we found my dream car, a Toyota Sienna, on craigslist. I know, who's dream car is a mini van? But mine really is. They are so practical for families. It was time to get a new one. We had been borrowing my brothers car who is on his mission until March. His girlfriend will be coming back from her mission in January and will be needing the car to drive, so of course she is more important that us, so she gets my brother's car. It is ok, we love our van.

Have you ever had pear butter? A friend of mine gave me a bottle a few months ago and I fell in love. It is so good! Our church owns a pear farm in my town and the members pick pears every August and preserve them to give to those in need. After the pears have been picked off the trees members can go pick up the pears that have fallen to the ground for free. It is win win really. I get lots of free pear butter and they don't have to do all the clean up. If you want to make your own here is one way to do it. 

And just a couple cute pictures of Ashlyn.

Tanner's in 1st grade

He has been anxiously awaiting this day. He loves school. He was super excited, then you can see he looked a little more nervous once we got there. He is already talking about his friends, so I think he loosened up.

 His teacher seems super nice. I plan to volunteer in his class, mostly to see how he behaves. :) I liked being able to spy on him a little when I did it in Idaho. 

Dallin and Ashlyn

Dallin and Ashlyn get to spend a lot of time together these days,  now that Tanner is back to school. The lighting in my bedroom was so pretty this morning, I had to take some pictures. 

Eskimo kisses with dad before work. Precious.

Railroad Park

We were invited to a Primary activity at the Railroad Park today. The kids rode the train pretty much non stop.

 Ashlyn doesn't look excited in the pictures, but as soon as she got off she ran right to the front of the line and got on again. No on really saw her push her way through the crowd.

 Chawna, my cousin, is the one that invited us.

 Thank goodness for the big kids that took Ashlyn over and over again, so I didn't have to.

Blackberry Picking

We live close to some blackberry bushes, in fact where our house was built was probably a big blackberry bush at one time because we keep getting little vines sprouting up. GRRR. So annoying. We like them, just no in our backyard. 

Ashlyn probably enjoys picking them the most, and she isn't really afraid of the thorns. 

 After a while she just sat down and snacked on the berries. 

 It is torture when you are picking and you look up and see all these berries that are out of reach. 

Happy Birthday Tanner

It is still hot these days, so for Tanner's birthday party we played with water balloons. Hundreds of them! Played a few games but they really enjoyed throwing the balloons at each other the most.

 Tanner has been begging for a skateboard. Being only 6 I didn't love the idea, but I saw him playing with our neighbors and he was doing pretty good and is really determined, so we went ahead and got him one, and pads too, of course. 

 Tracie, my sister, made the cake. She did a great job with it. We did a sports theme.

Feelin' blessed

We bought our '97 Subaru Outback in 2006. It had over 200,000 miles when we bought it. I had no idea it would be such a reliable car all these years when we needed it to be. We have been students pretty much the whole time we've had this car and haven't had many problems. My dad did a couple fixes when we'd come back for holidays or affiliations but nothing big. Well, all of the sudden, in the last month, we have had our rotors, radiator and alternator replaced. And we will need our axles replaces soon. Even though it is a bummer, we are so grateful for the timing of it all. We can afford to pay for these fixes now, but while in school it could have been financial crisis. 

And what else has helped me stay positive is the timing of each break down. When our alternator went out, it was about 100 degrees. I drove the car to my dad's shop with all the kids, and it died right when I pulled into the garage. He only had to push it like 5 feet to where he'd work on it. Then I smelled the coolant and noticed the car over heating when we got to the end of our street as I was leaving to run errands. I was able to turn back around and again, not get stranded with the kids somewhere in 100 degree weather.  And the parts were available each time so the fixes were quick and cost less than we anticipated. Even though it stinks that the car is slowly dying on us, I am so grateful for the circumstances. I feel like we have angels watching over us. And one of them is my Dad. He is wonderful!

While we were stranded at home waiting for my dad to come fix the car after work, we had to find things to do, so we got out some paint and paper plates and made some masks. 

Peaches and Pure silliness

It is peach season, and a local store had peaches for $0.10 per pound. I went and got some, along with a couple hundred other people. Craziness. It was like Black Friday. Ashlyn has been eating them like candy. Loves them.

 I keep expecting Dallin to outgrow his silliness. But he doesn't, and maybe just gets quirkier everyday. He came out like this the other day.

 Then we were running out the door to get to church, and we had told Dallin to go grab a couple toys to bring to play with. This is what he grabbed. LOL. When I told him they had to fit in his church bag, these were the expressions I got.

Can't leave Tanner out of the post. No pictures right now, but we will have some soon. His 6th birthday is this weekend, so we are having a party. It is in the 100's all week here, so we will do a water balloon party. He is finishing up T-ball next week, and then soccer starts in September. We are trying to figure out what to do with Dallin. He is old enough to participate in some activities, but which would be the right one for him? I am thinking karate, but I don't know yet. Tanner didn't start anything until he was in Kindergarten, so maybe we will just wait with Dallin too.

Needed this today

My favorite

I forgot to put my favorite beach pictures on the blog. Ashlyn was so fun to watch play in the sand. I personally don't love the beach, but being there with my kids (and my camera) made it really fun.

Harris Beach II {who else was there}

We actually tent camped on this trip. I was worried about it since I have never done it with kids, not really. But the kids slept the best. Nate had to go sleep in the car because our air mattress deflated and he was touching the ground. Once he was off I slept find with Ashlyn by my side. I would do it again, in fact, we plan to next month. 

Cousins. Being silly. 

 Throwing pine cones in the fire.

 Pro Frisbee thrower--Tracie

 My uncle Shaun and his wife Young sok were there too. It is always a fun time when they are around. They  are pretty much adults size kids.

 My cousin Cody and his wife Katy

 My sisters Kris and Tracie.

 Dinner time

My parents came too, but stayed in a hotel. 

 My uncle Justin and his family are in town from Florida too, so they joined us for a day.

 Andrea, and uh, her sister (can't remember all my cousins name, believe it or not. Could be Ashley, Ali, or Angelie. I went to college when after Fran had her 4th daughter, I think, and they have 6, so I have a hard time remembering the last few names. I know, Horrible!)

 Kris sinking in the sand.

Here is how she got so deep. :)