Bubbles

When Ethan is off at school and I have just my 2 youngest at home, I'm reminded of how easy life with 2 kids was. I'm sure that's true every time you add another kid. We can go places easier, play without fighting, get ready quickly, etc. (Don't get me wrong, I miss my sweet Ethan while he's at school!) Today when Austin got home from preschool, we spent about an hour outside just blowing bubbles, riding bikes, etc. Austin could blow bubbles for hours and be perfectly happy. And Kylee is content to chase all the bubbles Austin blows.

Thanksgiving Point

I took Austin and Kylee (Ethan was already back to school) to Thanksgiving Point a couple weeks ago with a few of our friends. We went to the Petting Zoo and rode the ponies, saw all the animals, and went for a wagon ride. Kylee LOVES animals right now, especially cows, so she was absolutely in heaven at the petting zoo. When we stood in front of the cow pen, she paced back and forth and stared at that cow so hard, and kept saying loudly, "Moo!!! The cow!" She even turned to complete strangers and would get their attention and say, "See the cow???" It was so much fun to watch her there. Then we headed to the Dinosaur Museum and Austin got to see the t-rex that he's been asking to go see for months.

Lemonade for Sale

Our neighborhood was having a big neighborhood-wide garage sale a few weeks ago, so the boys decided they wanted to open a lemonade stand in hopes of making a little cash. Since they didn't tell me they wanted to do this til the day of, there wasn't much planning put into it, but it turned out fine and they had so much fun. I was so worried no one would stop and buy anything from them because there were 3 or 4 other lemonade stands in the neighborhood, but luckily we had a few customers. Grandma Karon even drove all the way out to Lehi from Mapleton.

Caught red-handed!

First Day of School

Ethan started 2nd grade this year and Austin started his second year of preschool. Ethan loves his new teacher and already has made a few new friends. Austin goes to a preschool 3 houses down the street from us with a bunch of his friends. I, for one, LOVE the convenience of being able to walk to school.

Picnic and Water Fun

Summer is almost over, so we're trying to enjoy our days outside while we can. Today we had a picnic in the park by the Mount Timpanogos Temple. Kylee is in a stage where she REFUSES to look at the camera and smile. That should make 2 year old pictures fun this year. To make it worse, she wanted to hold my hand all around the park, so it was next to impossible to get a picture of her.






We've spent a lot of time this summer on the slip n slide and blow up pool in the backyard. I swear I have a bunch of pictures of the boys playing, but I can't find the camera with those pictures. So for now you'll just have to enjoy this cute gal with her pigtails.

Boulder

I took a 3 day weekend trip to Boulder, Colorado a few weeks ago to visit my brother Eric and his wife Lara. Eric is going to school at University of Colorado Boulder to get his Phd, so we don't get to see them too often. I left all 3 kids home with Adam. The trip was all his idea too; what a great dad and husband!
Here we are on Pearl Street in Boulder. We saw lots of fun shops and lots and lots of hippies. Oh, and a few marijuana shops. Those crazy UC Boulder kids.



A view of Boulder from the mountains above


The next day we spent driving through Rocky Mountain National Park. Now, I live in Utah surrounded by mountains every day, but these mountains were above and beyond what I'm used to in Utah. It was gorgeous!










We saw sooooo many wild animals during our drive through Rocky Mountain National Park and in Estes Park. We got right up next two quite a few HUGE elk, little animals called marmots, and lots of others, but the coolest animals we saw was this whole huge family of beavers. Some crazy lady on the street of Estes Park stopped us and said, "Oh! You have to go see the beavers!!!!!" We thought she was strange, but we followed her directions and found the most amazing stream that was home to at least a dozen beavers. We saw them chewing on trees, swimming, eating, making their dam, etc. One of them got just a foot away from me. My camera battery had died by this point in the trip, but I got tons of pictures on my iphone. Which haven't been transfered to the computer yet, so sorry. But it was pretty neat.

Randoms

Here's a few random pictures from various things this summer.

Oh sweet, silly Kylee. She was soooo slow to learn to walk. She took her first steps at 18 months! But even after she knew how to walk, for a while she would walk on her knees everywhere. Here she is walkin' along on her knees, even when she knew how to walk on her feet.


She loves to dress up, whether it's other people's shoes, headbands and bows, sunglasses, hats, or even Batman masks.


I've never had a child fall asleep while in their high chair til this little girlie came along.


During "Lehi Round-up Days," we went to a fun party at the park.




Austin and his friend Drew at Monkey Island


Kylee and me at Monkey Island, ready to go down her favorite slide


One afternoon we headed up American Fork canyon with my mom. I love that place, it's so beautiful!! We found a random little spot that was perfect for Kylee to wander around and for the boys to do a little hiking and exploring.
I love how much these boys love eachother.



What a view! This is what we saw when we got to the top of the hill we hiked up:


Austin collecting rocks to throw in Tibble Fork Reservoir