September '11

I can't believe that I still have Summer stuff on my blog, and it's the dead of Winter.  Time to catch up!  September means School, and I have 3 in school this year!  They all started on the same day:  the day after Labor day.  Everyone was excited.  Erin is in 4th grade this year.

Devin (going into 1st grade) bumped his head right before this picture!  Then we rushed him right out the door to school!  Oops!

Colin was excited, but nervous to start preschool.  When I left him he cried.  But once he discovered how fun it was, he never cried again.

We also went to the Utah State Fair.  After doing several things as a family, we let the kids each choose 1 ride to go on. 

Erin chose this bungee bouncer.  She loved it! 

They all loved the animals!

Also in September, Erin got her Brown Belt!  Only one more belt left!

September 15th was Colin's 4th Birthday!  He's getting so big!  I decided that this year it would be fun for him to have his first friend party!  He invited 4 friends, and they had a great time!

Then later on when John got home, we celebrated again with more cake and ice cream!

On September 17th, John ran the marathon that he had been training for all summer!  His goal was to do it in 4 hours.  He did pretty well!  He did it in 4 hours 15 minutes!  An excellent time for his very first marathon ever!

Devin has started losing his baby teeth!  He lost the first one in August and the second one in September.

And what did the tooth fairy do with his 2 teeth?  She passed them on to Sean!  (Sean really got his first 2 teeth in July, but it was kind of cute that he had the 2 teeth that Devin was missing)  :-)

Here's my cut Sean at 10 months old!  At this point he was doing an army crawl, pulling to stand, clapping, mimicking everything, and just being a cutie (when he wasn't teething).

April/May

Well, There's more for April. Erin entered a couple of art pieces in a contest (like reflections) at school. She won an Honorable mention on her tiger picture!

Erin and John had a Daddy Daughter date in April too. They dressed up fun and had a great time playing games and dancing.

In early May, I took the two little boys and went on Devin's field trip to the Hogle Zoo. There were so many parents there, that we got Devin to ourselves! It was a lot of fun. I just wished Erin and John could be there. Maybe another time.

Sean touching his toes! (May, 5 Months old)

Also in May, John took a weekend trip down to Bryce Canyon and Cedar City with a couple of his Mission Companions and College friends, Duane and Chad. They had a great trip reminiscing and visiting with friends.

May was the ending of the school year too, so Erin and Devin both had school programs. Erin's was all about patriotism.

Devin's was all about animals. I made his costume out of a black sweater and sweats he had, and some scrap materials. He did a great job learning about his animal and singing the songs with the group.

For Memorial weekend, we went up to Park City with Mom and Dad. We stayed at their condo and even though it was cool, they all went swimming. We also went to the Olympic park. Mom and I went on a tour while John, Dad and the kids went on the alpine slide and zip lines. It was an adventurous day!

And, Yes it snowed while we were there!

September!

So, I guess I should fill you all in on our very busy month of September. Erin started school on Monday Aug. 30th, the day after we got home from Lake Powell. She was a little nervous about not having met her teacher, but now she says that she has the best teacher ever!

Devin had his first day of Kindergarten that Friday, Sept. 3rd. He was so excited about starting big kid school! He loves his teacher, and going to school like a big kid. His only gripe: Not being able to go all day like Erin.

My little brother Roger blessed his sweet little baby Alyssa on Sept. 5th. It was a beautiful blessing, and they had a yummy luncheon afterwards at a near by park. That was a great idea, cause the kids were able to play and run around after lunch.

Karate has gone to a whole new level lately. John and Erin both earned their red belts on Tues. Sept. 7th. I am so proud of them for sticking in there for so long. They are now working on their Brown belts. after that it's Black! What will it be like to have 2 black belts in the house!?! I think we will be well protected.

Erin has been growing her hair out for a long time! Years actually, and we decided that it was time to cut it. Here is the before picture.

She decided to donate her hair to Locks of Love, who make wigs for children who don't have hair due to childhood sicknesses. What a great cause! I'm so proud of her! The lady who cut her hair was telling us that she's had girls crying and moms freaking out when they found out how short their hair was going to be, but Erin was excited and happy to be donating her hair. I think it looks really cute!

Well our little Mr. Colin has had his 3rd Birthday! I can't believe it's been 3 years! He is such a fun kid! He's so talkative, and sweet! He mirrors everything that his big brother and sister do.

He got cars and a big car case, and tools too. This is great cause he loves to copy his dad too, especially when he's out in the garage building things. That tool set has seen a lot of action all ready!

Happy birthday to my sweet car-loving, talkative, cuddle buddy, Colin.

August has been very busy. And since we're going away again, I decided it was time to update you all. We all had a great morning at the splash park near us. The kids really love it! Especially colin.

We have been waiting and waiting for our chickens to start laying eggs. John built this hen house for them in June, and they seem to be happy, but no eggs. Finally we got one!!! At the beginning of August, the John and the kids found an egg! They cooked it up right away and ate it! They definitely taste better fresh! Here's a picture of our Happy chickens!

My little brother Roger and his wife Tasha Just had their 1st baby. She is such a cutie, and the first baby girl since Erin! Her name is Alyssa.

Erin's favorite thing lately to do with Colin is to dress him up like a girl. Colin just loves getting dressed up and lets her do what ever she wants. These are the results:

Devin seeing all the excitement, decided to get in on this attention.

With only a couple more weeks of summer left til the kids go back to school, we decided to go camping. We went up to the High Uintas where it's cool, and neither John nor I have been there before. We camped in a smaller campground with a river running right through! It was so fun to sit on the banks and watch the kids play. We drove up to the Provo River falls they were beautiful! There are several layers to the falls too, so it was fun to hike along and see all the different falls. We also went to Mirror Lake. It's such a peaceful place! What a beautiful place.

While we were out and about, John decided it was a good time to take a profile of me, cause I'm definately starting to show.