Cornbellys

I took the kids to Cornbellys at Thanksgiving Point on Saturday. They've added a bunch more stuff to do this year, and we had lots of fun. We didn't do the corn maze (who wants to get lost for hours in a corn maze with 3 whiney kids in the 90 degree heat?), but the boys went on all the slides, rode the "grain train" through the corn fields, rode the "cow train", watched the chicken show, played in the castle, played in a room filled with pieces of corn, and more. So fun!

10 Months

Ok, so she'll be 11 months tomorrow, but these pictures were taken when she was 10 months.
We love having a sweet little girl in the house; Adam seriously has a hard time leaving her every day to go to work. Kylee is content to sit on the floor and play with her toys for long periods of time without making so much as a peep. She rolls all over the house and can go from laying to sitting and back with no problem, but she hasn't figured out the whole crawling thing yet. She gets up on her hands and knees, but then always decides she'd rather roll to get somewhere instead of attempting to crawl. She LOVES bathtime, especially if her brothers are in there, too. She loves to cuddle and is starting to reject her binky. We just can't get enough of her!

End of Summer Fun

Here's some pictures of some of the fun we had before school started.

Summer showers

Back to School

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I've actually been kind of sad that it was time for the boys to go back to school. I mean, I love some time to myself, and even going from 3 kids to just 2 at home makes things SOOO much easier. And now this year I'll have 2 out of three gone for a portion of some days. Wow! But a part of me loves being with my kids all day and knowing everything they're learning, eating, playing, and doing. I like to see what makes them happy, what makes them mad, who was nice to the, who was mean to them, etc. Maybe that's partly because Ethan in particular tells me almost NOTHING about his day when he gets home from school. He refuses to tell me the names of the kids he talks to, eats lunch with, plays on the playground with, etc. So when Ethan leaves me for six hours a day, I seriously have no idea what is happening during those six hours.
Ethan started first grade a little over two weeks ago. He has really liked it so far. He is so smart, and I am excited to see him learn so much more this year. But he is EXHAUSTED from waking up at 6:55 every morning and being at school all day. No matter what time I put him to bed at night, he is a wreck by about 5 pm the next day. Hopefully he'll adjust soon!
Austin started his first year of preschool a couple days ago. He is the type of kid that is definitely most comfortable at home, with his family only. So I was a little worried that he would be so upset when I dropped him off alone at preschool. Not so! He had no problems with me leaving him there, and when I picked him up 2 1/2 hours later he yelled happily, "Mommy, I had MUCH fun!!" Kylee and I don't know what to do with our alone time, but I'm pretty sure we'll find a way to fill it!

Park City

A couple weeks ago we had big plans to go to Lake Powell for the week with my side of the family. I was excited, but a little anxious because Adam wasn't going and the thought of having to be responsible for 3 kids that can't swim while staying on a houseboat for a week was a little overwhelming.
The day before we were supposed to leave for Lake Powell, I got a text from my mom saying she had appendicitis!! She had to have emergency surgery that afternoon and the doctor advised against going to Lake Powell. She recovered quickly and we decided we needed to go SOMEWHERE since we were all packed and ready to go. My dad found an amazing cabin the mountains in Park City. It was 3 levels, could sleep 30 people comfortably, had a game room and a theater room, a hot tub, swing set, etc. We had so much fun!
Some stuff we did while on the trip:
-The Alpine Slides (for those not from Utah, imagine taking a ski lift to the top of a mountain and flying down a graphite slide on a sled) and the Alpine Coaster (a one person roller coaster going down the side of the mountain)one day.
-Sat in the hot tub every night til after midnight watching a big meteor shower
-Lots of board games
-Hiking the hills surrounding the cabin
-My mom and I went on a moose hunt at sunset one night and just as we'd given up hope on seeing a moose, we saw one eating leaves right next to our car!
-Watched movies in the theater room
-Shopped at the outlets
-Strolled around Main Street Park City



Grandma and Grandpa got the boys matching jammies for the trip


Austin loved the big arcade game in the game room


Ethan is obsessed with the Angry Birds game on the IPhone/IPad, somehow he got a hold of someones iphone and my dad's ipad and was playing the game on both at the same time


The family up at the Alpine Slide/Coaster


A view of the slide on the left


The boys eating shaved ice after riding the coaster


There were beautiful wildflowers all around the cabin, so we did a little photo shoot with Kylee while on our hike





A not very good picture of the moose we saw


Me and Kristin on Main Street Park City


Kristin and Kylee on Main Street


Me and the kids on our hike behind the cabin


The boys and Grandma Sue on our hike

Misc. Summer Fun

I didn't think I'd taken many pictures this summer, but when I put my memory card from my small camera into the computer, I found lots of cute, random pictures from throughout the summer. Here's a little of the stuff we've been up to:

Ethan finally lost his first tooth! It got knocked loose months ago during some rough play when Austin and Ethan's heads collided, and it finally came out. That night, Ethan was so excited about the Tooth Fairy he could hardly sleep. I came in to kiss him good night after Adam had already put them to bed. I touched Ethan's shoulder and he jumped a mile! He said, "Oh my, I thought you were the Tooth Fairy!" It was so funny.


We had dinner at our favorite park one evening. Kylee loved the swings and Ethan loved pushing her in it.


Every year at Lehi Roundup Days there's a fun celebration in the park after the parade. Most of the rides are only a quarter each, so the kids can do as much they want without breaking the bank. The boys love the train ride.


And they always love a good shaved ice.


And Ethan loves pony rides (Austin, not so much).


My in-laws live in Mapleton, which always has a cute parade on the 24th of July. We went with them and had lots of fun.
Uncle Landon and Kylee.


The boys with Papa Steve


Sister-in-law Mandi and my cute niece and nephew



Cohen, Myka, and Ethan at the Living Planet Aquarium


Austin and Kylee hanging out at the aquarium


A trip to the Dinosaur Museum

T-Ball

Ethan just finished up his first season of t-ball; his team was called the Geckos. He loved it! We played in the Saratoga Springs league because we missed the deadline for the Lehi league.
There's no break between sporting seasons for him; soccer starts next week!