End of Summer

We've had a fun-filled summer and it has flown by! Here are some more of the highlights:

Going to the Boise Classic hot air balloon festival at Ann Morrison Park. We lasted long enough to see two balloons blown up and then had to head home for bed.

Watching for Daddy to come home from work...a daily event (you can see Bill's car turning onto our street).

Daniel learning to walk

Good times with Dad in the back yard

Playing in the children's room at the Art Museum

More playing in the back yard

I'm so glad these boys love to play with each other! We're looking forward to a nice Autumn and more exciting adventures!

Preschool

Sam started preschool this week! It is a group of six 2-3 year-old kids from our ward and the other five mothers and I take turns teaching in our homes. It is two hours every Monday and Thursday mornings and I taught the first week. We are learning the alphabet, so this week we studied the letter "A".

Nate, Amerie, Olivia, Spencer, Sam (Kenzie was absent)

We did a matching game with animals that begin with the letter A, colored pictures of the animals, read the story and learned the song, "The Ants Go Marching", had a snack of "Ants on a log" and apple slices and made a little "Autumn" craft.

The kids sat still pretty well most of the time, but the last half hour they were ready to just play. Daniel loved being part of the gang. Sam gets along with all of the kids pretty well (he's knows most of them from the nursery in our ward). I think this will be really good for him and help prepare him to be a Sunbeam next year. And the weeks it's not at our house will be really good for me so I can run errands with just Daniel. It will be a breeze!

Sun Valley

I always look forward to this time of year because we get to go to Sun Valley, ID for a few days. This time we left at noon on Thursday so we could enjoy most of the day there. We picked Bill up at work so the boys could take their nap in the car. They slept most of the time and we arrived a little after 3 and checked in.

Since our friends, the Wilson's moved here, they came too and we hung out with them most of the time. We went swimming every day (I never had my camera with me though...boo!) in the wonderfully heated pool. It was great weather; a little chilly in the mornings and evenings, but perfect the rest of the time.

Sam relaxing on his bed. This year we got a family suite that had two rooms. It was a life saver when it came to nap and bedtime!

Feeding the ducks

Even Daniel wanted to participate!

Walking through Ketchum

Dinner at Despo's in Ketchum

Catching a little football on a break from Bill's meetings

One last feeding

Just before leaving for home. I hope this tradition keeps up!

Utah Visit [Second Stop: St. George]

We headed down to St. George Wednesday afternoon, stopped for dinner in Cedar City and made it to Bill's parents new house that evening.

They have a gorgeous view of the whole city. Three of Bill's sisters and his brother and their families had been there for a few days, so we were so happy to get to join the chaos! Fourteen grandchildren under the age of 13=not much sleep! Two other sisters and two older cousins stayed in a house nearby that Bill's parents rented for a week.

They have a wonderful pool in the backyard that was occupied almost 24/7. Sam finally got brave enough to swim on his own wearing his water wings and had a ball.

Watching a movie with cousin Seth

Watching a movie with cousin Andrew

More swimming (and squirting Uncle James)

Daniel loved the pool too and was always his happy little self

Daniel and his second cousin, Riley. They were born on the same day, just a few hours apart!

Whitaker Family talent show

Sam singing "Little Red Caboose"

Last night with everyone

We had so much fun and miss everyone already! We hope it's not too long before we can all get together again. We can't wait to meet our two new Whitaker cousins next spring!

Utah Visit [First Stop: Salt Lake]

We had a whirlwind trip to Utah these last two weeks. It all started when Sam, Daniel and I drove down to visit my parents (Bill had to work). I was really nervous about traveling alone with them, but I timed it so we would leave right after lunch in time for their afternoon naps. Everything was going great, and maybe I was getting a little too cocky because when we got to Ogden, it all fell apart.

Traffic slowed to almost a complete stop because of an accident and suddenly, Sam started screaming. I turned to see what was wrong just in time to see him throw up...twice. Because of the accident, I couldn't get off the freeway for almost 10 minutes. Fortunately, I had just talked to my friend, Sarah and we had arranged for us to stop at their house in Farmington for a little break. I pulled off at the next exit and cleaned Sam up as best as I could and then quickly headed to Sarah's. Sam seemed fine playing with his friend, Drew, so I decided it was just motion sickness. Then, as we were getting ready to leave, Sarah asked if I'd like to take a bucket just in case. A few minutes after she gave it to me, Sam started gagging again and, luckily, I caught it all in the bucket. I threw the boys and all our things in the car and headed to my parents. We hadn't been there more than 20 minutes when he threw up again. So I just got all our stuff from the car and put the boys and me in bed.

I wasn't sure what was wrong with Sam, so we just took it easy Friday and hung out at my parents house. It was my brother, Dan's birthday, so we had a bbq with them and played outside.

Daniel and Noah became fast friends

My sisters family was also visiting and I took my boys and her kids to the Church History Museum on Saturday. It was pretty crowded, but they still had a great time checking out the children's exhibit.

Sam enjoyed playing with (and putting stickers on) my brother, Dave.

Sunday afternoon I took my boys and two nephews up to Silver Lake near Brighton Resort. I love it up there and the walk around the lake was beautiful.

Sam helping Grandpa mow the lawn

Cousins: Asher, Noah & Sloane

We also went to Hogle Zoo (forgot my camera), had lunch or dinner with lots of friends and played in the fountain at Gateway. It was a great visit. Bill flew in Tuesday evening (thank heavens!) and we drove down to St. George Wednesday afternoon for the Whitaker family reunion. More pictures to follow...

Hoops

Bill played basketball in a city league this weekend. It was 3 on 3 and they blocked off most of 8th Street downtown and had over 40 half courts, one right after the other.

Bill's team played two games Friday night and then two games Saturday morning, and then they were out.

The boys and I drove down to watch the last game Saturday morning. It was already quite warm, but since we found a place in the shade, it was very pleasant.

After the last game, we walked up toward The Grove where the fountain is to cool off a bit.

Of course, no outing would be complete without a nice collection of sticks. He is such a boy!

And Daniel has learned how to do "so big"

Banks Beach

We spent a beautiful afternoon along the Boise River at Banks Beach on Saturday. We drove up with our friends, the Wilsons and splashed around in the freezing water and watching the rafters float by.

Daniel wasn't sure what to think of the sand at first, but got comfortable pretty quickly and was all over the place. Sam loved building sand castles and playing catch with Joshua and Bill.

Just before we left, Bill dunked me in the water. Sam, concerned at my screaming, started crying and still reminds us of what Daddy did to Mommy. I will get my revenge!