It's summer again?!

I am truly afraid for winter to get here.  Some nights the only thing that saves me is packing up the kids and going for a walk or going to the park.  What am I going to do when I can't do that for a while?  So we have been trying to get out as much as possible.  We love the kindergarten park that is at the school by our house.  It is always in the shade in the evening and it is perfect for Aleah and Cade.  They LOVE the slides!  Yes, I said they.  Cade loves going down the slide.  He gets so excited when it's his turn.  If you don't believe me then check out the smile on his face in the pictures.

Aleah can do it all by herself!  She can climb up, swing (she always has to swing before she goes down of course), slide, and land on her feet.  We always have to say, Read, Set, Go!

READY

SET

GO!

READY

SET

GO!  

Oh how I love this picture of Cade.  It makes me laugh!

Yesterday I had the kids wearing pants because the weather has been cooling off.  Well, after Aleah's nap we went out on the deck for snack time.  While we were sitting out there I started thinking, "Why is it so hot out here?  It's the end of September!"  Then Aleah said, "Sprinkler!"  I looked at her and her red cheeks and I said, "Ok!"

This was Cade's first time playing with the sprinkler.  He was very interested and had a lot of fun!

Aleah loved to squirt Cade and it didn't even phase him.  He just kept on playing.  A couple of times she got him in the face.  He stopped, kind of shook it off, and then went back to playing.  They played so well together for a long time. 

What a great idea for a hot hot day!

I felt silly because I had my kids wearing pants when it was 90 outside.  But there is nothing a little cold water can't fix!  Right?

Little Gymnast!

I think that gymnastics is an amazing sport, I know, surprise surprise!  It teaches coordination, flexibility, self confidence, discipline, listening and following directions, strength and fitness...  Which is why we believe that it is important for our kids to take gymnastic when they are young.  We will also introduce them to other sports and musical instruments and then when they are old enough we will let them decided what they want to do.

So we got Aleah in a gymnastics class.  It is a class that she does with the help of her parents.  She is loving it and Brad and I are loving it too!  I know that I am a little biased, but I taught gymnastics for a long time and I have to tell you that she is good.  I am very impressed.  They might recruit her to be on the olympic team, haha!  But, she is very good and she catches on quickly.  It was also nice because her class was in the evening and the next morning she slept until 9am.  She usually wakes up around 7:30 or 8.  She must have been worn out!

Look at how strong she is.  That is really good form!

Brad did some really good spotting!

Cade had fun playing on the mat and watching Aleah.

Do you think...

that Cade will be crawling by my birthday?

Family fun get away!

For the holiday weekend we decided to go down to Brian Head to stay at the cabin with Brad's brother and his family.  Brad took the day off on Friday so that we could drive down that morning.  I thought it would be a good idea to go down during Cade's morning nap so that he would sleep most of the way.  Well, he only slept for 45 minutes.  But he was really good the rest of the way.  Most of the time he just sat there watching Aleah.  He loves to watch Aleah!  When we got there we relaxed, played the Wii, and had a yummy steak dinner followed by some delicious zucchini brownies.  My sister-in-law is an amazing cook.  She always makes really good food!

That night I fell down the stairs!  OUCH!  I am so thankful that I wasn't carrying Cade or Aleah.  As I was going down the stairs my foot somehow slipped off the stair and I went flying in the air.  I pretty much did a back-flop.  I landed on the stairs at the bottom that, of course,  are not carpeted.  Because I did gymnastic I know how to fall without really getting hurt.  Well, I don't think there is a good way to fall when you are on the stairs!  I have some major bruises and some whiplash, but thankfully I didn't break anything.

Saturday everyone went on a hike except for me.  I wanted some quiet time and a nice LONG hot shower! From what I heard they had a great hike.  Here are the happy hikers.

Aleah had so much fun playing.  She liked playing in the teepee and in the playroom with all the dishes, stove, sink, fridge, washer, dryer, and vacuum.  She LOVED playing with her cousin Katie!  She didn't want to take a nap the whole time we were there.  As we were taking her up to her room for her nap she would cry and say, Katie... Katie...!  She only took 30 minute naps while we were there because she just wanted to play.  She loved chasing her cousin Bryton and playing peek-a-boo with her cousin Nathan.  She was very entertained and never deprived of attention!

Brad's mom came up Saturday afternoon.  It was nice to have her there and fun for her to get to see Cade and Aleah.  We don't get to see Brad's parents very often.

Saturday afternoon I got to do something that I rarely get to do, BAKE!  It was very fun.  I made some cookies and then I made a mushroom chicken over rice dinner that I think turned out really good.  That evening we sat around the fire and had smores.  I love sitting around the fire and visiting, I just wish we could have sat there longer.

Sunday was nice and relaxing, even though we knew at home our ward was getting spilt.  I'm having a harder time than I thought I would with this change.  I'm just sad that I won't get to see a lot of my friends once a week.  And it's not just my close friends that I'm going to miss, it's everyone!  I keep thinking about all the people that I look up to, and those who always have a smile or something nice to say.

That night we had a super good chicken taco salad and then we stayed up late playing canasta.  I have never played canasta before.  It was fun, but I didn't do very good.  I won the first hand and then it all went down hill from there.  Sorry, I just like to win!

Today we came home, gave the kids a nap, and I met my parents at their office so I could get worked on.  It was so nice of them to work on their day off because I am actually feeling a little better now!  Then we went to the Blue Lemon for dinner.  Yumm yumm, we love that place!

It has been a great weekend, I'm so thankful that we were able to get away with Brad's brother and his family.  I am looking forward to Wednesday night.  We are going to take Aleah to gymnastics.  Yes, I am very excited and I will post pictures of our cute little gymnast!