Happy Birthday John!

37 years Old-does that sound old? I don't think so! We believe our Dad is in his prime! He's a lean, mean, Physical Therapist machine who still loves to tinker in the workshop, beautifying our home with his woodwork. As far as we are concerned he's the best swing pusher, chicken farmer, "Special Date"r, silly song singer, funny "goodnighter" and berry picker, hiker, camper and lately BYU Cougar football fan around!

We Love You Daddy John! Happy 37th Birthday!

Thanks for being a good sport to a wife who has now been sick for most of your birthdays.

I think I'm pry 5 out of last 9 of them?

Naches Loop Hike

It's become family tradition to do a family hike for John's birthday-to go and enjoy the colors of fall and to spend time together. We decided to do Naches Loop up Mt Raineer again. It was so beautiful we just couldn't wait to get back up there.

Oh the excitement and the energy-not too fast there's still 3 miles to go...

The flowers were amazing-and everywhere!

Snow in September?

Even hard and not fresh still fun to play in!

a few waterfalls worth noting

and more flowers

1st stop at a lil lake for a sandwich-fuel

Overlooking Dewey Lake-want to go there someday

Tate did get down off his ride and walked a few feet of the hike.

Photographer Tyler Took these great shots

The flowers and view was endless and breathless-although I think Tate might have gotten ahold of the camera and left a nice fingerprint on the lens.

Rewards for finishing-Cookies

We had a great time and enjoyed the fantabulous weather! The trail was a little busy and I was a bit surprised not to find any fall colored leaves, but we did get to try and eat the Huckleberries that were out on the bushes. The kids liked it, although many times throughout the hike McKenna declared she didn't want to hike anymore. Tyler scored a few rides on her Dad's shoulders and Tate became a front pack to balance out the backpack of food I was wearing. John and I loved it and look forward to hiking more with the kids.

Rise & Shout the Cougars are out....Goooo BYU!

The first couple of BYU Football games didn't go exactly as planned or hoped for but game #3 had the family yelling, screaming and singing! Dad has his cheerleaders at hand excited and cheering with him for the BYU Cougars!

Tomatoes

Tis the year and the season for canning. With a little encouragement from Helga and then some help we whipped out these 14 jars of tomatoes in about an hour. She's got a great system down and it's a lot of fun! only 2-3 jars are actually from my garden, but hey it's a star.

I decided to use a jar to make spaghetti sauce and it was pretty good, as good if not better than the store bought sauce.

Thanks Helga!

Tyler's 1st Day of Preschool

School is in session, for the little people. After weeks of anticipation the big day is finally here and as you can see Tyler is a little bit excited! We went and met the teacher last Thursday and she was so disappointed it was not her first day. She did play the shy card, but would look through her hair to see everything she wanted and needed to see.

This morning she put on her new school clothes, put on her backpack, with her bike helmet inside and we headed to the Sumner Cooperative Preschool.

Which started out with circle time discussing the color and shape of the week as well as the day of the week and month.

Then they went to freeplay where she was able to cut and paste shapes and paper, paint on an easel, mold some playdough, and write in her notebook. Then they had storytime, snack and then outside to play. They came back in for a few songs and then were off for the day.

This is her new teacher, Ms Withem.

I know Tyler had a great time as she was in such a great mood all day and couldn't stop smiling. When I asked what her favorite part of the day-"I made a new friend. Her name is Peyton, and she is her very own friend."

My heart melted and I'm so excited for her!

Good Day

It was a good day...can't say that a lot was accomplished, but it didn't seem to matter. After McKenna was off on the bus and John had left for work the 3 of us at home got ready for the day and then there were pictures to be painted, play dough to be thrown and a kitchen to be left a mess. Then we were off to have lunch and time to be shared with friends. It seems life gets so busy that sometimes you just need to make time for friends, especially friends that you talk to everyday but never actually see. :)

When we got home the sun was shining so we fed the chickens and then headed inside for naps, homework and reading. It was amazing how quickly 4 pm approached and 20 minutes before we grabbed our scooters and headed for the bus stop. Walking to and from the bus stop was one of my favorite moments of the day-Everyone was in a good mood, we weren't in a hurry and we just chatted about nothing. McKenna decided to branch out on her own by walking up the neighbors drive to get to our house while we rode the scooters behind our house. It's always neat to watch as she stands a little taller when she knows she's getting to do something the younger kids would never be allowed to do. Watch us both grow...

This evening John was at the Auburn Football game helping out on the sidelines-he'd invited us to come to the game, but frankly the thought of sitting in the stands with 3 young children who probably would have no interest in the game wasn't very appealing. After playing with the toys and then a light dinner we put our pajamas on, made popcorn and settled for a movie-Rio had come in the mail via Netflix and we were pretty excited to see it. We laughed, we danced we loved it! A very fun night with the kids-wish they were all so laid back, but this is the stuff I want to remember or read about when I look back.

School Begins...for McKenna

1st Grade is finally here-I think the last couple of weeks have been a little painful for McKenna who couldn't start school soon enough. The new school, the teachers, the kids..."It's soooo hard to Wait" is what she would tell me every night as we tucked her in for bed when I would tell her the next day wasn't school yet. When I answered in the affirmative last night-there were squeals of delight.

Sadly with a dead phone I missed the morning photo, but was able to get her coming off the bus. She is commuting 45 minutes each morning and afternoon-longer than John drives to work. Fingers crossed that the new school is completed by next year this time.

She didn't have much to report for the 1st day. She came home happy but reported that she did have a hard time finding her classroom, but Mrs Thomson helped her and all was ok. I think she also said she sat by Marella on the bus, I think on the way home. I don't think she's shy of friends-which I remember being scared of this time last year. Oh how I'm thankful that time heals most wounds.

Summer Ends

The summer is winding down quickly and so for our last day with McKenna home before school starts we decided to go on a picnic to a park we'd never been to in SouthHill. It was a huge park with 2 big playgrounds, horses (springloaded), TeeterTotters, a lil Lake with Ducks and a paved path that goes around the water. It was awesome and a great way to end our summer outings...with McKenna with us that is.

Labor Day Weekend

On the way home from Church on Sunday we told the kids that tomorrow (Monday) was a holiday. They got all excited and asked which one...our response: "a work holiday. It's labor day which means we celebrate our ability to work, so Daddy is going to stay home and we are going to take care of the house inside and out." They weren't exactly thrilled, but that is what we did on Monday. Well mostly John and I-the kids helped with the house and then were off to play. The girls mostly in their room with their Polly Pockets and Barbies and well Tate....he was everywhere. He refused a shirt and was basically our Lil Lost Boy, all covered in dirt.

Can you see what he found? A HUGE SLUG! He couldn't have been more enamored with it.

Daddy was a little antsy to get some projects started and so he worked on the sofet (sp?)

We let the chickens out and I discovered that they really liked the leftover mac'n cheese.

Shiver, Rainbow, Lollipop and GoldiLocks

(I've been working on knowing their names)

At 4:30 Dad came down the ladder and declared it was time for some fun so we headed to the DQ for Chocolate dipped Ice Cream Cones and then we made an impromptu visit to the Tom & Helga's and had a great evening with them. Their daughter and grand-daughter were there and the kids loved playing with Sage.

The topic of the night was McKenna's loose tooth that was literally hanging on by a thread. As we were leaving she showed John who quickly reached in, pulled it forward and it fell out. McKenna couldn't have been more surprised-she was so afraid it was going to hurt. Surprise quickly turned to anticipation and excitement for the big visit from the Tooth Fairy.

It was a fun day and night for all!!!

End of Aug-Sept 2

Recap of last week:

Lazy Monday-nice to have those every once in a while...

Tuesday: Adventures in a Babysitting. Watched a couple of sweet boys for the day. Had a great time with them.

Wednesday: Hiking.

We got together with Genny Phillips and TD Thornton and their kids. Despite the overcast sky we headed up to Naches Loop for a little hike. We drove the hour and a half and right before we got there we drove into a cloud, that didn't lift. Infact when we got out of the car the thermometer registered at 42 degrees. Needless to say we got out and then we got back in the car and headed down to warmer climates. We ended up doing a different hike-that went straight up. It didn't stop the girls at all-in fact Mya and Kinley ran up most of it quite impressively.

Thursday: Pt Defiance Zoo

Back to School Night at Maple Lawn's new location: McAlder

McKenna met Mrs Larson her 1st grade teacher, saw her classroom, and then we took a tour of the new school. It was a fun night for all.

Friday: Catch up-clean the house and hit the grocery store