First Day of School

It's hard to believe we have 2 in school now! Logan goes 2, sometimes 3 times a week all day. Kind of a funny schedule, but as a mom is kind of nice! I love having him home!

Adam was super excited to go back to school. He was up early and ready to go. He's in First
Grade and has Mrs. Platt as his teacher again, which he was really excited about. It's a whole new experience going all day!

Our New Dog "Max"

Okay, I never thought we would get a dog - at least not really any time soon. Well, the opportunity arose to get a dog from some friends. Our kids have been asking for some sort of pet for awhile, and we finally gave in! Max is a labradoodle mixed with a German short hair. He is a good puupy! Yes, he does his fair share of chewing things up and spreading them around the lawn, and jumping on us, but for the most part, he is a great dog! For the first few days, the kids were outside all the time just playing with him and putting his collar on him. To say the least, when they came in, they smelled like "dog!" They would even take naps with Max outside! We're hoping their fear of dogs subsides a little. The hardest thing for them is to feed him in the morning - because Max is excited to see them, he likes to jump on them! So their plan each day is to get Max distracted by the chickens. Max will just run around the chicken pen for quite awhile! He did get one of the hens once, when a friend accidentally opened the gate - but we saved her! We love to watch Lincoln when he sees Max. He looks out and says, "ruff, ruff"

Logan giving Max a big hug!
Adam and Logan taking a nap with Max

Adam and Max

Logan and Max

The family with Max!

Gotta Love 'Em!

When Logan came down one morning with his bright colored shorts, striped shirt, and jersey, I just had to take a picture - this just fits him so well! He's so much fun - and isn't it great these children don't really care what people think?
Lincoln has got to be our messiest eater! When he is finished, he just throws everything he didn't eat, plus his bowl and spoon and cup on the floor! It's always an adventure to mop where the high chair has been! Brenly is such a great helper - always willing to serve others!

Bike Ride

We love going to the Greenbelt for family bike rides. We decided to go a different way than we normally do, and found some fun bike hills to jump! Well, I was the only one that did it - Adam was a little nervous. Maybe next year the others will want to join in the fun!

Logan and Brenly taking a short break on our bike ride!

So "Mud" Fun!

Lincoln loves being outside - I almost feel like he could live out there! One day, shortly after it had rained, he made his way outside, and (with a little help from brothers) became plastered in mud and sand! He was happy as could be, and did NOT want to come inside to get cleaned off!

He's just as happy as can be!!

Princess Academy

Some awesome friends put together this fun, educational afternoon for little princesses. All the girls dressed up and went to the church to learn some "princess" skills. They did some oil pastel drawing, learned some cooking skills, table manners, sewing, and dancing. We had a yummy lunch and a princess talk afterwards. Brenly was in heaven! She still talks about it!

Doing a little dancing!

Our little princess on her throne!

Two sweet princesses - "Coley" and Brenly

Lake Fun

Lincoln enjoyed holding his new little cousin Jace

Brenly and Mom enjoying a boat ride!

Bear Lake is beautiful!

Beach Time

Even though it was really windy, it ws still fun to play on the beach. We played Bocce ball, frisbee, and the kids really enjoyed burying Lindsey. I must say I think Kevin and Carey had just as much fun! Once we had her good and buried Kevin got a nice cold bucket of water and dumped it on her head! Then when she got out, Kevin and Carey picked her up and threw here in the lake to get cleaned off - so helpful!

Buried Lindsey!

Kip relaxing under the canopy

Tom, Kirsten, and Lindsey relaxing in the sun (and wind)

Fun game of Bocce ball!

Bear Lake!!!

So from the trek we went to Jackson Hole to watch the Bar J Wranglers - so fun! Then we traveled that night to my Grandparents' cabin in Bear Lake. We were excited for some fun, warm beach and water time. My Mom and Kip were the only ones there. They let us take the boat out with Britani and Jesse and their kids who came with us. We were happy to have good water, but lacking in the boat experience. we ended up losing the new ski rope because it came unhooked while getting a skiier ready. Oops!! That was a costly mistake. Thankfully Mom and Kip found one and brought it to us so we could resume our boat time. We were glad to have that time because the rest of the days were our typical Bear Lake "windy" days! Still just fun to be together though!

Lincoln really enjoyed digging in the sand with his fork. I think he got a couple bites in too!

One of the funniest memories we'll have from this trip was setting up this canopy! A few of us tried, but thought pieces were missing. We thought we'd leave it to Kip, the handy man. Well, after a few tries and some sweat (which was quickly blown away) they figured it out! Those of us watching got a kick out of the many attempts and changing of the poles!

We kind of forgot to bring a table for lunch. Thankfully, Kevin and Cheryl had brought their large raft, that worked just dandy!

The final and finished product - we should have timed them! Surprisingly it didn't even blow away!