Fun Hannah

Hannah did a project while the boys were at school. She painted a pig and loved saying, "pih" and "oih-oih!"

 The boys have been waiting all summer to go see the Nationals play their dad's favorite Giants! We went to the temple in the morning, then went to Nathan's new place. The boys took off for the game while Hannah and I watched tv, went to Costco, and for a walk. The kids love Nathan's "robot cat."

 She loved the berry smoothie!!

First Day of School

The boys were so excited for the first day of school!

Tommy's starting Kindergarten!!

 Damon's in Second Grade!!

 Damon walked off to his classroom by himself!! We were shocked since he's shed tears the last 2 years. Tommy didn't cry either (but I did!). He was a little nervous in the gym, but saw a few friends. They both had a great day. Hannah and I had a great day too, we went shopping!

 We went to Rita's after school for a tasty first day of school celebration! Hannah sure loved sitting between the boys getting bites from one then the other.

Last Day of Summer

Well, the last day of summer arrived whether we liked it or not. We had 6 things planned for he day. 

1. Breakfast Fun: Krispy Kreme donuts from the gas station

2. Surprise Fun: Playing with friends

3. You Pick: Watched Lego shows online

4. Fun with Dad: eating at Texas Roadhouse

5. End of Summer Treat: ice cream cones

6. You Pick: game before bed

We also went to Damon's class to meet his teacher. It helped everyone get ready for school. It was such a fun day!

Cute Pics

Since our yard was torn up for the new septic system, we needed to replant grass. Barrett told the boys if he would give them a penny for every rock they collected. They took their buckets out there and hunted for rocks. We then spent a whole day raking, leveling, and spreading seed. Barrett has spent many hours watering. We're finally getting some green grass, but it has a long way to go!

 Grandma sent the boys gift cards to Rita's, so we went for a tasty treat!

 We went to the craft store one day. The boys picked out little bracelet projects and Hannah got a little tiara. 

 We happened to run into some friends at the park one morning. The kids had fun looking at the water and chatting.

Pool Time

We have loved going to the pool this summer. When we go, we usually all get in the big pool and Hannah uses a floatie and Tommy practices his swimming. Then, Damon stays in the big pool and the rest of us go in the little pool. Sometimes we were lucky enough to take Dad after work. Hannah has really grown to love the pool. She would yell at me to let go and she'd float and eventually started kicking. She loved jumping in the pool saying, "whuu, tooo, feee, go!" Then she'd jump to me (or Barrett). Tommy has really started getting good. If we had a few more weeks, he'd be floatie free. He is so determined! Damon loves swimming in the deep end.

Fun Day

Every summer, the movie theater shows older kid movies on Thursdays with admission, popcorn, and drink for $4 per person. We hadn't been all summer and the last one was a few weeks ago. I told the boys I'd take them since it was Rio 2 and we hadn't seen it yet. Barrett decided to ditch work and join us. It was really fun. Then walking out, Barrett said he wasn't going back to work and suggested we go to the beach. We rushed home, packed a lunch and piled our beach stuff in. It was a super fun surprise beach day! Hannah LOVED playing in the waves. The boys were finally starting to get more brave...especially after they saw some kids ride up a wave on a boogie board then do a flip. Such a great day! We also stopped off at the Nike outlet to get the boys new shoes. They weren't aloud to wear them until school, unless they stay in the house...they love 'em! 

Crayola Factory

We have been wanting to take the kids to the Crayola Factory in Pennsylvania for years. We finally made it a few weeks ago. Our Saturday cleared up from obligations because of rainy weather, so we thought it was the perfect opportunity to play indoors. The kids had a great time! They made their own crayon labels, marker, played with model magic, made themselves into coloring pages, modeled crayons, made crayons into spin art, painted with melted crayons, made a billion drawings into puzzles, saw how crayons are made (I still remember the Mr. Rogers episode where they showed crayons being made!), colored, played, and had fun!

 Tommy drew Calvin and Hobbes, but turned it into a puzzle...I really tried to convince him not to because the drawing was too cute. I'm glad I took this picture.

 There was a Lexus dealership right as we were going into Crayola and they convinced us to come in and color on a car. The kids thought it was awesome.

 

Hannah loves Baby Bop and guess who we saw near the parking garage?! Hannah loved it, just not close up!

July Happenings...

 Barrett and I were asked to help with Youth Conference this year. We were given assignments, which Barrett mostly handled. He had his sister, Ainsley design the shirt logo and flyers and he got so many compliments! So, one weekend I was home with the kids while he was off at Youth Conference. We had Barrett's car because he needed the van. Well, since his oil needed to get changed and tires rotated, we dropped it off at Sears and the kids and I hung out at the mall all morning. I promised them we'd go to Byler's for ice cream since the mall was kind of painful.

They all loved it!

 Grandma Ro sent the boys Chia pets! Believe it or not, they were planted the same day! It was fun watching them grow. The best part is we can pull them out again later!

 When we were under contract with the sellers of our house, the septic system failed inspection. A new drainage line needed to be added. The company was really behind schedule and couldn't get to us until recently. It was a sad, sad, sad day when they started digging up our beautiful yard. 

I had to leave and came back when they were finishing up and this is what we found...no more yard!!! We can barely look out our windows now, it is just so sad!! But at least we didn't have to pay for the new drain field.

 

I've been reading the boys Calvin and Hobbes. Tommy has really been into it. He has this little dog that he calls, Hobbes, and totes him around everywhere. He talks to him and reads him, from memory, Calvin and Hobbes. He acts out the comics he thinks are funny and he sleeps with Hobbes (the dog). He wanted to make a craft one day and wanted it to be a tiger...a mask is the best I could come up with. He loves it, but Hannah gets kind of afraid of it.

 I put two little french braids in Hannah's hair the other day. It was too cute! 

 Someone found her brother's undies and decided to put them on!!

 Barrett's been working hard on our yard prepping to re-seed. Damon loves being out there with him, but isn't much help:)