First Day of School!

Monday was our first day of school.  The boys were both excited (and nervous) to start school.  Liam wasn't sure about having to go all day, but has since come home everyday saying how great it is to have 3 recesses. :)  It is strange to have both boys gone all day.  Ashlyn is not quite sure what to do all by herself.  Being home with me all day is not nearly as fun as having her brothers to play with.  Luckily Ashlyn will start Joy school/Preschool  next week. Here are a few pictures from the first day.

In our rush to get to school on time we ended up with no shoes for Ashlyn.  She got to hang out at the school in bare feet. :)

August Happenings

Tomorrow is the first day of school for us.  We have tried in the last few weeks to fit in everything possible before our summer break is over.  Instead of doing different posts for everything I am throwing it all together in a picture overload.  We have spent the last two weeks in our second round of swimming lessons.  The kids all did awesome and improved their swimming skills even more.  Ashlyn especially is our little fish.  She spent more time under the water than above it during her swimming lessons.  She has no fear.  She has become a great swimmer for only being 3 years old.  We also went to our county fair.  The kids enjoyed seeing the 4H stuff, the sting-ray exhibit, the hen house, and the rabbit house.  Most of the pictures I took came from the little animal petting area.  I guess the rest of the pictures will be explained as you scroll down. It has been a crazy few weeks, but I think the kids are finally ready to head back to school.

Swimming lessons.

 Big balloon at the fair.

 Baby camel in the petting area.

Gavin getting some belt-loop awards at Pack Meeting.

Liam lost his first tooth!  Actually Nate pulled it out after some drama.  I'm pretty sure Liam will have the courage to do the rest now. :)

After buying tickets almost a year ago, Nate and I finally got to go see Wicked.  I really enjoyed it and was glad to finally see it and know why everyone raves about it.

This is the box full of Roma Tomatoes that I picked last week.  I tried to give them away to who ever wanted some, but I didn't have any takers so Nate and I just cut them up to make spaghetti/pizza sauce to freeze.  This big box of tomatoes wouldn't be such a big deal except I have another box of two other kids of tomatoes.  I guess that's what I get for planting 12 tomato plants this year! 

This is Gavin standing next to a plant that he started from seed in school last Spring.  It has grown huge, but never flowered.  Now it just attracts the wasps! 

 Finally, yesterday we got to go to the Brigham City Temple Open House.  We had to get up REALLY early to go, but it was very worth it.  The kids really thought the temple was beautiful.  Gavin said his favorite room was the Celestial Room.  We were there at the perfect time with the sun shining in the windows and making the chandeliers reflect all over the walls.  It was truly beautiful.  

Bees Baseball Game

With only a week or so left before school we are trying to be as lazy as we can.  Although, I sort of ruined our laziness with putting the kids in a second round of swimming lessons at 9:00am in the morning. :)  The positive thing is we are getting on a better sleep schedule so the first week of school won't be too bad.  We went to our annual Hess Family night at a Bees Game.  Grandpa Hess got us awesome seats right behind first base.  We had to keep alert for balls flying right at us, but that kept the kids interested in the game and ready to catch a ball if it came our way.  Nate was out of town so I had to deal with getting the kids their free hot dogs and the one treat of their choice, which turned out to be slushies.  Besides that there were multiple trips to the bathroom, so I didn't really get to enjoy much of the game.  Now I know what Nate goes through every year when we go since he usually does all the running around.  :)  Anyway, we had a great time and it was perfect weather.  Until next year Bees Baseball!

Gavin and Liam with cousin David

Liam and his favorite cousing Lizzy (They really could be twins!)

Ashy and cousin Thomas

Gavin and David

Silly smile, oh well.

Lame fireworks

The title of this post says it all.  We did really lame fireworks this year.  We were in Yellowstone for the 4th and then we spent the 24th at my brothers house in Bountiful where fireworks were restricted, so we only did cheap sparklers, smoke bombs, and pops.  It was very low key and almost boring.  The kids were pretty disappointed that we didn't have any big aerial fireworks this year, so we promised we would do better next year.  All I kept thinking was that we sure saved some money this year.  Those aerial fireworks are expensive!!