Our First Diorama!

Dallin has been studying Native Americans at school and he had to make a diorama at home. His choice was the Iroquois. They lived in longhouses. Here you can see them farming(that's corn, not tall grass- can't you tell?), fishing, and playing LaCrosse! Dallin did a wonderful job! I did help him, but I am always impressed at his creativity! Now that the first of many dioramas is complete I won't be as stressed out for the next one!

Proud kid!

(He's in his pajamas because it was 9:00 the night before it was due- better than 11:00! :)

Telling others about the Iroquois during the 2nd grade "Museum Walk".

Dallin sure isn't afraid to talk to people!

Halloween

Sammy loves how pumpkins smell :)

Dallin is not so sure about pumpkin guts and

Kaylie just watches her Daddy do all the work!

Am I cute or what? (My pumpkin is cute, too)

Kaylie and her dance class friends

Dallin=Batman, Sammy=Bumble Bee Transformer,

Kaylie=Tinkerbell, Nathan(Nate-bug)=A Bug

They sure had a great time!

Dallin's Baptism

Dallin was baptized two weeks ago. Here are some pictures from his special day.

Gramma and Grandpa came from Pennsylvania

Uncle Doug, Aunt Christy, and cousins came from 2 hours away.

Our family(I guess we were looking at different cameras)

Dallin with his proud parents

Dallin was baptized by his Daddy. It was a very special day! He was so excited! Thanks to all who were there and all you did. We wish you ALL could have been there !

Birthday Boys!

Dallin turned 8!

I can't believe that I have an eight year old. What a big birthday. He gets to be baptized and go to cub scouts. He is very excited. We spent a fun day together as a family.

Dallin got to choose what to do.

We woke up to 6 inches of snow on the ground! It's only October!

I wonder what this winter will bring!

The boys soccer games were cancelled due to the snow. This was actually nice because we got to spend more of the day together. We went bowling. (All the kids beat me, by a LOT! Preston didn't let me have the bumpers up, next time I'll make sure they are :)

Dallin wanted a "monster truck" cake. We didn't know he was into monster trucks :)

I didn't think I could draw one, so I bought a monster truck instead.

He didn't mind the extra toy.

His dinner of choice was Red Robin. He didn't know they were going to sing to him.

He was surprised and a little embarrassed.

I like to have a picture of me and my birthday kid each year- Dallin thought making faces was hilarious. We took a bunch. Eight year old boys are great!

We are so proud and happy to have Dallin in our family!

The next day was Nathan's birthday. He is ONE! The last year has flown by!

All the kids had fun washing their toddler toys and wrapping them up for Nate-bug.

They piled them on his lap as they unwrapped them for him.

Nathan thought all the toys were great- he got upset when we cleaned them up to have cake.

My sweet baby boy-don't grow up so fast!

He wasn't in the picture taking mood.

He sure liked his cake though!

We love our Nate-bug and are so grateful to have his sweet and happy spirit in our family!

Superboys

Sammy and his best friend David met last year in preschool and they are together again in kindergarten this year. They are so much alike and they have a lot in common. To start they are both the second child of four in their families. They love super heroes, pirates, "spooky" things, and adventure. When David was over for a play date the other day, I had to grab the camera when I saw this because it is so "Sam & David".

Enjoy!

They noticed me and had to pose for the camera

First Day of School

Okay, so they did start on August 19th, life has been pretty busy!

Here are my sweet school kids:

Dallin, the 2nd Grader

Sammy the Kindergartener

Walking to school. The school is at the end of our street(and across), yes, just 7 houses down! It's great! I still walk the boys, because Sammy is only 5 and I pick him up from Kindergarten, but Dallin walks home. I just step out and watch for him- so nice!

Waiting in line to go in- no tears for Sammy, he walks in like he owns the place!

( I think having his Superman shirt helps :)

Kaylie the preschooler

We do a home school rotation with two of her friends(that are boys, but she is use to boys!)

She loves it!

She loves her Princess backpack

So excited!

Vacation to St. George, Utah

Our family went to St. George, UT with Preston's parents for a week.

We had lots of fun!

Here are some of the things we did...

Grandma and Grandpa with the kids on the Temple grounds on the bench where Preston proposed to me- Look what we started! :)

At Snow Canyon. We went hiking there.

This is in a slot canyon, up the wall a little in a little cave.

Kaylie in another little cave

Our family at the St. George Temple-

I've always loved this Temple and it was so special to have our family there.

We also went to Zion National Park

BEAUTIFUL!

It was the first week of August and HOT!! Over 100 degrees everyday, so we tried to stay cool. This is at a man made stream in the center of the city.

Luckily, the resort had swimming pools. The afternoons were spent swimming.

(I had some other pictures of the boys swimming and they disappeared- sorry!)

Rocky Mountain National Park

We decided that it was time to go hiking! I enjoy kid-friendly hikes and there are so many places to hike here. We went to Rocky Mountain National Park(only 45 minutes away from us) a week ago and it was great! We hiked around Bear Lake(which is a 1/2 mile nature walk, actually) and then we hiked to Alberta Falls(a much more hilly hike that was 2 miles round trip). The kids did great. Dallin and Sammy were troopers. Kaylie and Nathan were being carried, so they were happy! We hope to hike more this weekend. It is so great to get out in nature- the first pictures are just beautiful things that I took pictures of! Enjoy!

Aspens are my favorite tree! I loved this part of the hike!

Exhausted girl!

Me and Nate(he's asleep) at the Falls

At Alberta Falls. The boys found walking sticks along the way.

Yep- snow! There was still some around the lake!

This chipmunk was begging for food! It was jabbering at all that passed and holding out its paws. It even climbed up Preston's leg a bit. It was hilarious!

(I think people have fed him before... we didn't)

At Bear Lake. It was nice and cool that day, perfect hiking weather. So fun!