August 2012

August has been a nice month for us. Here are some highlights:

Sterling lost his first tooth. It was quite wiggly and so Matt persuaded Sterling to let him pull it out with pliers. (It makes a great story, ya know?) The fact that Matt had crazy morning hair made the pictures even better.

As you can see, Sterling was not traumatized and don't worry, Matt did wash the pliers first.:)

I'm getting bigger . . .

The kids enjoyed their end of summer reading program celebration at the park.

We went to a baseball game with the Bacon, Spangler, and Dorius families. This was a prize from the summer reading program.

We went to the Children's Museum again and hit their Knights/Princesses show and their Wizard of Oz exhibit among other things. The kids enjoyed the simulator of tornado speed winds, dressing up, playing pizza restaurant, painting, bubbles, etc.

Just before school started we decided to squeeze in a camping trip with the Owens. We met each other half way, in Iowa. We enjoyed hiking, swimming, and rafting down the river. It is actually a funny story because the water was so low that we pretty much had to paddle down river to get anywhere. We didn't go very far because it was so slow going. However, I think we all had fun and enjoyed being together.

We also enjoyed playing card games together (well Matt Owen would never admit that he had fun playing cards because then we wouldn't have to coerce him to play every time :) and at the end of our trip we even enjoyed some rain.

School started mid August. The kids are the first students of this brand new elementary school. The kids insisted on wearing their school shirts for the first day.

Along with the routine of school, we have also started soccer (Eve and Ster), piano (Eve), activity days, (Eve), and dance (Eve). I may be crazy to do so much but so far we have a great schedule and it has been quite enjoyable. (Soccer photos will be on future posts.)

Soccer will end in October, so things will slow down a bit then. Now that the kids are in school, and Sheri will be starting preschool I am definately NESTING! It's a good thing, because October 5th is coming fast and I could even deliver before then!

I feel quite happy. Life is busy and good! I sure love my family! I am very blessed!

Utah/Idaho Trip 2012

After about 1 1/2 weeks in Colorado, Annie and I drove out to Utah with our little birdies for the Murray reunion, and a day with the Harts in Idaho. Making the drive with someone makes it so much more fun! We were both bringing little ones and knew we would be able to help one another and understand when those difficult moments came.

In case anyone didn't know . . .Annie and I can disect about any thought and talk it for hours. . . and we did. :)

We were happy that we could stay with Aunt Julie! My kids LOVED her house. She had a cute girlie room with dress ups and a tea set and dolls, she had a trampoline, and a dog. My kids were as happy as clams! Aunt Julie was so accommodating and generous! She put my kids at ease immediately.

I wasn't very consistent on the photos but here are a few of some of the activities from our trip:

Our hike up to Timpanogos Cave

Thanks to Uncle Ivan, Uncle Aaron, Grandpa John, and Aunt Cat for their help getting my 3 little ones up the mountain so I could get my pregnant self up in decent time!


Our Hart gathering in Preston, ID. Thanks to Reed for letting us come to his house and enjoy the nostalgia of childhood visits to Grandad's.

It was nice meeting cousins I had never met and seeing many family members that I hadn't seen in many years.

This is the tree I used to climb as a girl.

Grandad's house

Annie swinging Mary on the tire horse. A devoted Mama.

Catherine and Aaron in the raspberry patch. I remember eating raspberries with milk when we would visit Grandad.

So content! Cat was also a great help to me throughout my Colorado/Utah/ Idaho trips.

By the way, Matt was able to fly into Utah and join us for the weekend. NICE!

Sunday we visited with the Seaquists, as beautiful and sweet a family as ever! Then we went to Temple Square to take the kids on a very short tour.

Both Saturday and Sunday evening we had gatherings with the extended Murrays at Grandma's house.

We enjoyed seeing Ivan's new hobby, bee keeping. Pretty unique and cool!

The kids were curious and a little cautious.

Thanks Uncle David for planning the reunion this year!

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get many good photos of the extended family. That will just have to be top priority next time I visit.

It was good to catch up with family and see how life has changed for so many. My kids are not the only little ones around and found second cousins to play with. Pretty cool to watch!

Monday, July 30th, Matt flew out of SLC and Annie and I drove back to Colorado with our brood. Tuesday, I drove back home and still had energy to unload and vacuum out the car, start some laundry, weed and water, and get everyone to bed. Whew! What a July!