Day 1 Labor Day Weekend-The Zoo

 A couple weeks ago Matt started looking for another job, not because he doesn't love the company he works for but because he felt like he need a bigger challenge. After a few interviews we ended up with 2 written offers the beginning of last week. Matt went to Wadman to give them a heads up with what was going on. Wadman immediately asked if we would wait to make up our minds until they could give us a counter offer. Wed we had the offer in hand and we were more confused than ever. The offer from Wadman was a job Matt has always wanted(business development). Wadman had been talking about starting this branch for a couple years but it took Matt receiving other offers to start the ball in motion. We told everyone we would have an answer by Friday. Thursday we asked our families to help pray with us and attended the temple. By the time Thursday ended we knew what we wanted to do and Friday morning Matt went to Wadman to let them know we would be accepting their offer! So in the long run not much changes. Matt moved his office upstairs, we did get a pretty good raise, and an extra week of vacation. After he let everyone know his decision he took the rest of the day off so we could all spend some time together. So after a long week contemplating and stress we headed to the zoo. We called Kimber and she said her and Luke would love to join us. My favorite is almost always the polar bear and this trip he didn't disappoint. He came quite frequently to the glass for the kids to get up close and personal. Luke on the other hand hated the closeness and every time the bear came close he would cry..it was so sad. So Kimber sat back with him so they weren't to close.

 After some lunch and visiting we headed to the bird show. The kids loved how close the birds flew to our heads.....minus Luke hating when the parrot squawked. 

 After the bird show it was time for some water fun...it was 97 degrees and plenty hot. This was the 1st time we had been since the "splash pad" opened. It wasn't quite a typical splash pad but it was different in a good way.

 Of coarse we had to ride the carosel and both of the girls loved it...as you can see by their faces

 And poor Grace was so so sad when it was time to get off

 Then it was time to head for home....since grandma and papa were almost here. We headed home and got dinner started and got a phone call from our great friends Mindi and Corey that they were in the area and wanted to stop by so we added another table and a few more chairs so there was room for everyone. We had spaghetti, garlic bread, ice cream, and apple and cherry crisp for dessert. The kids played great together while the rest of us visited til well after our bedtimes but it was definitely worth it. Gracie found some cucumbers out of the garden and was content to sit at the table and eat them while we visited.

This was a great start to our amazing and exhausting weekend...stay tuned.

1st Day of Preschool

 This year, after ALOT of discussing, we decided to put Hallie in "real" preschool. We and anticipating starting her in kindergarten next fall and wanted to have someone else let us know if they think she is ready in all aspects not just intellectually. She has been so excited and asked everyday for the last month if it was time to go to preschool. She is going to a place called Preschool Express pretty close to our house.  They take kids 3-5yrs old and have 3 classes but they don't separate them by age but by skill level and where they fit the best(this was a major plus for us). The week before the teachers did assessments to decided how to align the classes. I was thrilled when they said they were going to start Hallie with the 5 year olds! They anticipate by spring she should be reading and be more than ready academically for kindergarten. The one thing we have to work on is writing so it will be fun to see where it all goes. But anyways she was thrilled when the 1st day of school finally came. I had to wake her up to make sure she was ready and had time to eat breakfast. She goes Tues and Thurs from 9-11:30am. There are 2 other little boys in the ward that also are in her same class so its nice we can carpool. So the other 2 moms usually take them in the morning(since we aren't really up early) and I do most of the picking up. Thanks heavens for the suburban...even if you don't have a lot of kids you need a bigger vehicle for the carpool). Here are the pictures from her 1st day.

  When she got home and after she had had some lunch she asked if I would take a few more pictures of her and I was happy to oblige. 

  I decided instead of keeping all her papers I will take pictures and add them to the blog so I have them in one way or another. Here are her papers from her 1st day.

 I decided to do a little survey with her...I think it will be fun to look back and see how she grew and changed.

I hope she continues to love school and learning as much as she does at this point. We bought a small white board to practice her writing. She often times will find it and ask me to give her a letter to draw. I am already surprised by how quickly she is catching on. We are also starting to learn the states and there capitals...I never even thought to teach her something outside of colors, shapes, the alphabet, ect. I think preschool will be great for all of us and we are excited to watch Hallie learn and grow this coming school year. If you notice on her survery she put some thing she wants to accomplish this year is to go to kindergarten...silly girl.

Lava Hot Springs

We have been planning this weekend to Lava for months we invited 7 other families and were super excited about getting to know people and spending some time as a family camping. The last couple days before we left 5 families dropped out. I was pretty frustrated/disappointed...I just think if it was a priority people would have come. But regardless we decided to go anyways and have fun with the couple other families that were coming. Matt came home half day from work and we loaded the coolers and were on our way. We stopped at the BE Fair to get a couple cheeseburgers(because they are the bomb) and then continued on our journey. The girls both slept about half way and Matt and I talked about the past week and its happenings. When we got to the camp ground the weather was perfectly overcast and on the cooler side which made putting camp up great. We got dinner going after Matt put together our new grill. In the mean time the Gulls arrived shortly followed by the Calders. We all ate dinner and just as we were finishing up it started to rain...light at first and then hard. Luckily we had a couple sun shades that covered our picnic tables and camp chairs. Matt and I attempted to put the girls to bed but the thunder was so loud. So we all came back out to the fire and waited for the rain to stop. Shortly after the rain stopped. I put Gracie to bed and we got the smore stuff out. We all ate smores, visited, and got ready for bed. By then everything was wet and the poor Calders tent was like a giant puddle. They decided to sleep in the car....where it was at least dry. I think we all headed to bed that night a little deflated with how our trip had begun. Gracie slept for a couple hours and woke up crying. It was a different cry I wasn't sure if she wasn't feeling well or was just so tired she couldn't calm down. She cried for quite a while. I walked around the camp ground and she finally calmed down so we headed back for bed. She continued to get up all night every 30 minutes to 1 hour....which made for a very exhausting night.  Although Hallie slept through all of it. By 6am Matt and I had both had it and decided to take Gracie for a car ride to see if she would fall asleep. It didn't take long and she was out. Matt parked at a clearing near our camp site and decided to take a nap til the sun came up. When the sun came up Matt went to start the car....no response. We had apparently drained the battery the day before while leaving the lights on while we unpacked. I was back at camp worried sick and pacing since Matt had forgot his cell phone. Matt flagged down a passer by who jumped the car and Matt headed back to camp. I was so relieved to see him but didn't know if I should hug or hit him. We cooked breakfast and all ate together. Luckily Gracie hadn't disturbed anyone elses sleep. 

 Gracie slept til around 10 

 The Calders and Gulls packed up their stuff...as you can see there was a puddle under the Calders tent.

 We all helped pack up, sat around the fire, and played 

 Gracie ate some breakfast

 And off to the water park we went. It was just across the bridge which made it very convenient.

The girls couldn't get enough of the slides, new kids cove, and jumping in. Several times we were asked how old Gracie was. She would just jump in without hesitation then swim for the ladder to climb up and do it again. I was very surprised at how well she could control herself. She loved the puddle jumper floaty she worn....I think because it gave her a lot more freedom than her life jacket. Hallie wore arm floaties part of the time and her built in life jacket the other...she liked her arm floaties the best probably because they were little mermaid.

 After a couple hours of playing we headed back for lunch Hallie cried the entire way...partially because she didn't want to leave and partially because she was exhausted. When we got back we changed the girls clothes and Hallie asked to stay in the tent while we cooked lunch. Five minutes later she was totally asleep.

  Matt, Gracie, and I ate our lunch then we laid Grace down as well. Matt when to check on the girls and they were both asleep in the same position...with arms over their head and feet crossed

While the girls were asleep everyone else headed for home and we were left on our own. We headed back to the water park. While we were there we noticed the clouds were building again. We talked about it and decided we didn't want to deal with another night of rain and no sleep. Hallie even gave her input...as long as I can still swim I would rather go home and sleep in my own bed because I like it better than the tent. So I stayed and played with the girls while Matt went back and loaded up everything. After about 1 hour the girls and I headed back, showered, and then we all loaded in to head for home. The ride home went pretty quickly with the girls watching a movie. We got home and put the girls to bed and then unloaded everything. We had a fun time and can't wait to go back but hope the weather will cooperate with us better next time.

Fair Time

One of my favorite times of the year is the fair. Growing up it was the event before school started and such a fun tradition and we have continued to keep it as that. I was a little worried when Hallie woke up Wed morning with swollen red eyes I called the pediatrician since it wasn't looking like any pink eye I had ever seen and the dr wanted to see her. So an hour later we were at the dr and found out she had a bacteria eye infection. So her put her on some antibiotic eye drops and we were good to go but her poor eyes look so sad. So after naps we headed to Brigham to pick up Matt who was doing some work stuff there and headed to the parade. Grandma Joy had saved us a great spot and we were super excited because we got Grandma and Grandpa all to ourselves this year.

 While we waited for the parade to start we ate apples and visited. The spot grandma had got us was shady and really not that hot so it was pretty enjoyable.

 They handed out Popsicle, creamies, pop, juice boxes, cereal, Frisbee, water bottle, squirt guns, and of coarse candy. This is seriously the best parade ever.

 Gracie would get so excited every time they would trow candy and collect as many piece as she could before she was showered with more. Then she would excitedly run back, reluctantly give me her candy and head back out for more. We did have a few slow spots that we all had some candy and she was great with that.

 Me and my sweet heart

After the parade we loaded up and headed to the fair for dinner. We had delicious dutch oven and it was just that...delicious! We then walked around to the exhibits and to see the animals. Grandpa was great and pushed the kids in the stroller the entire night....it helped him with his leg as well. I did a little shopping and then we headed back to grandmas. We played on the front lawn and visited before heading for home. Just as we got ready to leave the moon came up over the mountains it was beautiful.It was such a great night spent with family and making memories. Love traditions and nights like this

Lagoon Day

I don't know that summer is complete without a trip to Lagoon. We had been telling Hallie all summer we would get to Lagoon so we decided to go this past week. We were supposed to go on Tuesday but found out our great friends were going on Monday so Matt was able to trade days off so Monday morning we got up and packed. I was trying to get everything ready and turned around to find Gracie looking like this. She has learned how to climb up her rocking chair and get in her draws and i guess this is what she found. I couldn't help but laugh and take a picture.

Then we loaded up the suburban and off we went....we met up with Melissa and Ryan at the Carousel....which the girls loved by the way. And our Lagoon trip had begun. It was great to go with Ryan and Melissa because we could have partners to trade and take the kids on the little rides but more important was to have buddies for Matt to ride all the rides with. I'm not a huge ride rider I get super motion sickness so I have to pace myself so I don't ruin the entire day.

 After a bunch of rides we decided it was time for lunch. After lunch we rode more ride the egg beaters were one of Hallie favorites.

 While Ryan took the girls on the egg beaters I stayed with Gracie. She was getting a little whiny so I asked if she was tired...she said, "yeah binki, blankie." So I gave her them and she was out in no time.

 Hallie's favorite ride was the lady bug bop in the picture below its a smaller version on rocket

They had quite a few new rides since we were there last time. Hallie went with Melissa and Addie in the teacup because this was one of those rides that I wouldn't have lasted long spinning.

 Gracie and I took our own teacup and I let Gracie control the spinning so it was a great ride

 Hallie thought it was great that Gracie could ride with her on the ride

  Somehow Matt and Ryan(Ethan really wanted to go) got talked in to riding the cliff hanger and ended up pretty wet to say the least.

 Then we decided to give our aching legs a rest and took a train ride to see the animals. Gracie was so funny and would gasp every time she saw a new animal and excitedly point to it

Then we hit up Bambora which was another huge hit, Hallie rode it 4 times in a row with different people. And a handful of kids rides.

By then it was about 7:30pm we headed back and packed up our stuff and did a few more rides on the way to the car. Hallie cried when we left and asked if we could come back the next day...I guess we knew she had fun. We headed home about 8:30 for a quick bath and a late bedtime. But it was all worth it we had a great time and were so glad we changed our plans so we could go with Melissa and Ryan we SO wish they lived closer so we could see them more often.