August 2016

Well, considering December is two days away, its safe to say I've fallen a little behind in my "journaling". But, that is what I love about keeping a journal this way, it is easy to jog my memory when I look through the pictures. August was a very fun and busy month for us. He are a few of the highlights.

My parents love to have the older grand kids come visit their house alone. We love it because the kids get to spend some extra time with their cousins. Ava came for a week and my kids had a blast with her, she can entertain them for hours. 

August is pretty hot in Hurricane,so we spend a lot of time around water! Here the girls are getting ready to go play. 

Having parents who have the very best restaurant around definitely has its benefits. I love to eat there.They really do have the best food and the views never get old. I took this picture just to document how they prepared some apple slices we asked for for the kids while we waited for our meal.

Every once and while Dan and I hear a thud in the night. On this night Kami didn't even wake up when she fell off the bed.

In Scipio right of I-15 there is the cutest little free petting zoo next to a gas station in the middle of nowhere. The kids love to stop on our way up North. They have a lot of fun farm animals and even some more exotic animals in a separate cage.

Kami likes to look at animals but she does NOT like to be close to animals. Being in with the goats was quite a miserable experience for her. 

It turns out Ellie is equally afraid of cute little animals, She did not enjoy her experience of being forced to pet the lambs. She clung to me like a monkey. 

This year Dan and I had a really hard time deciding on a family vacation. We literally thought of and started planning every type of vacation you can think of, from long camping trips to Hawaii to foreign countries, but nothing every really seemed to stick. We just kept coming back to why would we spend so much money on a trip that our kids might not even remember. So we decided to keep it simple and cheap. We decided to go to Lagoon and then head up to Midway for a few days. It could not have been more perfect. It was so relaxing and fun and the kids did so great.

Before we went to Lagoon we stopped at Costco for food. While Dan and Cason ran in, I stayed in the car with the girls and this one could hardly contain her excitement! I'm pretty sure we heard "This is the best day of my life" 10,000 times that day (but if I'm being completely honest, Cason and Kami pretty much say that at some point every day. They also say "this is the worstest day ever" at some point every day too.)

Dan's Dad, Brandon's family and Jason's family also met us there which made it even more fun for us and the kids. Everything is better when cousins are around. 

I knew Cason was going to love everything at Lagoon, but I was a little surprised at how much Ellie and Kami loved everything too. There were a lot of rides that even Ellie could go on. I thought they might be more scared than they were. All three of them were up for any ride they were tall enough for. It was really fun to watch. 

Cason is a major thrill seeker! He was not scared of ANYTHING! He went on all the scary rides that the adults went on and was the bravest one of the bunch. 

He kind of takes after me in that regard. Him and I snuck away from the group to go on a few rides that nobody else was interested in. We loved them all! It think I had as much fun as he did. 

Luckily Rylan and Ellie were good sports and even took naps to get through the long day. 

So I didn't remember until the very last ride we went on to get a family picture, so this is the best we got of all five of us. Its a terrible pictures but we were all there having fun, even if it was 10 pm. 

And this is the only picture I got with Tony. I'm kind of bad at remembering to take pictures. 

We stayed at the Homestead Resort in Midway. It is beautiful on the outside and a bit more run down on the inside. We had such a great time while we were there. There was lots of room for us to run around and explore. They also have two huge pools that were really fun to play in. Not to mention Midway is high up on Dan's and my favorite places. We have always loved it up there. 

One day we found a cute little cupcake shop so we bought a few and went for a drive up the mountain to find a cool place to eat them. We drove through a crazy rainstorm but were up for an adventure so we just kept driving. Soon enough the clouds cleared up and we found the most beautiful place to park, put the tailgate down and enjoy some yummy treats to an amazing mountain view. My kind of picnic. You can't really tell from this picture, but our tailgate is hanging over a very steep hill. 

We found a little duck pond and park one day, complete with a museum that had replica's of different kinds of animal poop which was a big hit with the kids. I didn't get a good picture while we were there (obviously) but I wanted to document a kind thing someone said to us that really touched me. We thought we were the only ones there and were having fun playing on the playground, watching the ducks and doing all kinds of running races with the kids. We were all having a great time. While we were loading the kids back into the truck an elderly couple that was driving out of the parking lot rolled down the window and said to Dan and me "You guys are doing a great job. One day you are going to look back and be really happy you are doing this." I've thought a lot about that since then, especially on days when I think, why are we doing this? Three little kids is so hard sometimes and it stretches us is ways the hurt and make us feel like we are going to go crazy. Having a young family has changed our life in every single way. We literally have to adapt everything we do and give up a lot of things we would like to do. They take all our money, time and energy.  But I know without a doubt that this is what Dan and I are meant to be doing right now. I know that we are so blessed. I also know that some day we are going to look back and be so happy that we did it this way. We do have a lot of fun along the way too, its just a different kind of fun with lots of noise and hard work involved.

At the Homestead there is a natural hot springs in a crater. So, we thought what the heck, and decided to strap the life jackets on the kids and go for a dip after bedtime one night. You have to pay to go and only have a certain amount of time to swim. It was definitely a unique experience, we were glad we did it. 

It was basically like swimming in a hot tub that is actually a cave with no bottom. Cason and Kami loved it. They especially loved when Dan would pretend to be a monster, go under the water, grab their legs, and yank them under as hard and as fast as he could. They thought it was hilarious and I thought he was going to pull them right out of their life jackets. He is a fun dad. 

One morning the kids and I were at a cool little park in Coral Canyon, when my parents called and said they were going to a Sysco food show and asked if we wanted to come. I wasn't sure about taking my sweaty kids in their play clothes to a business thing. However, once they described a convention center full of food samples I decided to chance it. Dan met us there and we had a good time stuffing our faces with a million different things from steak to cheesecake. 

It's hard to even believe it but Cason started 1st grade. He was so excited. It is strange to have him gone for SIX hours a day. He is an awesome student and does so good at school. We sure are proud of him. 

He wanted to document all of us on his first day, so he took a picture of us. 

We planted a little box garden on the side of our house in the spring. The kids had fun doing it with us, but the only thing Kami was interested in planting was flowers. So, we gave her her own square to plant so flower seeds. She has been watering them and watching them grow all summer. She was so excited to finally be able to cut some to put in a jar in her room. She has also been sharing them with me and my mom. She really is the sweetest girl ever. We love everything about her. 

Saturdays are for yard work and setting up the pools. Ellie gets her own little pool so the big kids can be rowdy in the big pool. 

Ahhhh... I just love this little girl and every little thing she does. 

They are always up for a rid on Maggie. Even if its super hot outside. 

Cason is in the Chinese Dual Immersion program at his school. That means that he spends half of his school day learning Chinese and learning in Chinese. His Chinese teacher is from China and when they are in her classroom nobody is allowed to speak in English. We are amazed at how quickly he is picking it up. He could count to 100 in Chinese in no time. It makes us laugh when he brings home homework and it is all in Chinese characters. He learns all his math in Chinese and is having no trouble keeping up. 

I know we are having Family Home Evening in this picture, how or why we all ended up under the blanket, I have no idea. 

I don't do craft projects very often. Like ever. But I've been looking for something to hang over our beds for a long time but everything is expensive. So I decided to go simple and cheap (are you seeing a pattern, maybe that should be my motto) and put our favorite states/island in canvas in shadow boxes. 

Cason has to do extra reading in English at home for the time he loses in school because of Chinese. I like to see the places him and Kami come up with to read. Seems like a pretty good life. 

Kami started ballet with her friend Liv. I honestly never thought I would put my girls in dance but I have to say it is pretty darn cute to see her in her ballerina costume? uniform? gear? (I don't even know what you call it). 

Just putting their dolls down for a nap. I love having two girls so close together. They love each other.

Ellie likes to zip-line like the big kids. She is a strong girl. 

Just watching a huge caterpillar and praying mantis crawl towards each other in the rocks. The kids were really hoping for a dual. When I see this picture, I see the kind of childhood I always wanted my kids to have. 

We may not be very good at family selfies but that's okay. This is the best we got from a quick little hike we went on. I can't even remember the name of where we were but it was on this side Pine Valley Mountain and it was our first time there. We were just going for a Sunday drive but found a cool little trail and decided to follow it. It happened to lead to a place were three streams came together and there were some little waterfalls and lots of vegetation. It was a fun adventure. Unfortunately, Kami needed an emergency potty break and I didn't do a very good job helping her go in the bushes. We had a huge mess on our hands and she had wet clothes. Which is why she doesn't look very happy in this picture.

It's always a good time when extra boxes are laying around. 

Dan's Young Men's group playing rugby in the back yard. 

The pictures got out of order but here is Cason headed to school. He was adamant about what he wore and how he did his hair. He may not match perfectly but I sure think he looked cute.