Zac's cookies

The other day while Sadie was at school, I decided we needed to make a treat for family home evening that night.  He helped me make some no bake cookies and then he wanted to be the one to put them all on the cookie sheet too.  It took a lot of effort to not take over, but he was having so much fun.  After every blob fell onto the cookie sheet, he would look at me and say "Did you see that?!?!?"  ha ha. 

 Licking the spoon as he went along.  

 He missed the cookie sheet on this one.  

 Of course, that just meant we got to eat that part on the counter!  Yum.

 I mean, look how happy he is!

 So proud of his work.

This is what it looked like when he was all done.  Ha ha.  And we did end up eating them all gone.  I guess the shape doesn't matter when it comes to cookies!

Problem solved

 With Sadie starting Kindergarten I was hoping to be able to walk her to school most days.  Well, she is in afternoon kindergarten so we usually need to rush home and put Emery down for a nap, then wake her up to go get Sadie after school.  So I haven't walked very much.  It is a mile to the school, so it would be 2 miles twice a day for little Zac on his bike.  He is usually very good on his bike, but with the need to get home quickly to put Emery down for a nap it didn't seem like it was going to work out.  But I tried it anyway last week and I figured out how it can be done. 

 Sadie can go so fast on this tiny bike.  I am trying to get her more interested in her big bike, but she likes this one the best still.  And her backpack is pretty much bigger than her!  ha ha

 Here is my solution.  I brought a rope and tied to to Zac's handlebars and then connected it to the stroller I was pushing so if he started to slow down too much I would pull him with the rope.  Genius.  It worked like a charm.  Of course, Sadie wanted to be attached too.  Good thing I brought a long rope.  I got a good workout.  

 

This was on our way to school in the middle of the day.  Then after school was a different story. There were kids everywhere and I was trying to keep the kids from completely blocking the sidewalk so the other school kids could pass us.  It was really difficult.  A few people in my ward asked if I needed a ride home...I guess I looked pretty silly with my two kids connected to a rope on their bikes behind me.  Ha ha.  I finally took someone up on their offer to drive us home.  We could have made it, but the ride was nice too.  Maybe next time we will play on the playground until most of the kids are gone and then we can walk home in peace!  :)

Frozen Yogurt

 We have a frozen yogurt place near us that the kids (and I) LOVE.  They get to put whatever toppings the want on their choice of frozen yogurt.  We usually all get our own except for Emery.  She wanders from cup to cup and we all share bites with her.  This time Zac was such a good sport and kept giving bites to Emery.

 Then he would look away for a second and she would steal a bite...

 Just using her fingers of course.  And Zac had no clue.  ha ha.  

 Then when he turned back around she would wait for him to give her another bite.  Ha ha.  Sneaky sneaky.

And here is sweet little Sadie. She always chooses the most interesting combinations of frozen yogurt.  Cinnamon yogurt with fruit and gummy worms and nerds and candy bars...and she always finishes all of it.  :)

Piggy back rides

Actually in our house we call this the "Ba loomp ba loomp".  Ha ha.  The kids love this!  And Emery is now fighting for a turn when the kids jump on.  She used to just be happy watching, but now she wants in on the fun.  Daddy is such a good sport.  I'm sure his knees were killing him after crawling all the way across the tile.  :)

More Thanksgiving Point pictures and the park

 We love our Thanksgiving Point passes!  We met up with our friends at the gardens one evening.  It is always so much fun to hang out with these guys!

 And we have the cutest kids ever!

 Sadie and Zac taking a break on the spiderweb to pose for a picture.  They really are good friends these days.  Zac really misses her while she is at school.

 Friends!

One day after school I packed up a few snacks and we stopped and played at the park before we had to pick Rob up from work.  It was fun...we hadn't been there in a while.  It was a perfect little break between school and picking daddy up.  Usually we just go home, sit around for a tiny bit and then leave to pick him up.  I think I will do this more often.

 The kids discovered they can climb fences.  Oh boy...

 Emery discovered she loves the tire swing.  She hates other swings...well she likes them a lot, until you try to push her.  Then she hates it.  ha ha.  But with the tire swing she loves going around and around.  It was hard to get her to come off!

 Last Friday we were supposed to go camping, but the weather did not cooperate.  So we ended up going to the Dinosaur museum instead.  Rob had a blast!  :)

And Sadie requested we take this picture.  ha ha.  It is always really hard to get younger kids to look at the camera because they are just memorized by the huge shark behind them! 

Zac's first day of Preschool

 Zac started preschool this year.  Well, it is a neighborhood preschool where we each teach one week and then we get four weeks off.  It is really nice.  I was a little nervous about him not wanting to stay by himself, but he has done great!  He comes home so excited and tells me all about it. 

 Sadie held his hand all the way to the first place.  It was sweet.  She is a little jealous that he gets to go to preschool, so I just remind her that she gets to go to school every day and Zac only gets to go twice a week.  :)

He is so grown up!  Love this little guy!

Sandy Waterfall

 While my mom was here we needed something to do, so we decided to go hike to the "Sandy waterfall".  I had heard of this waterfall from a friend but hadn't gone yet.  So we packed up the kids and off we went.  Despite it taking us about an hour to get there (we went the wrong way a few times...it shold only take baout 20 minutes next time we go.) we had a great time.  We weren't sure how long of a hike it was so we brought lots of water and snacks. 

 The kids were happy to get out of the car after the long ride there.  

 Checking out the map to see how long the hike is.

 I brought my baby carrier to see if Emery would ride in it so I didn't have to just hold her in my arms.  We started out like this, but I think it was more comfortable for both of us when she was on my back.  The trail starts right in between two houses.  Kind of strange.

 This is the first little cave we found. Cool!

 This cave was right by the waterfall.  We could actually walk into this one.  The kids loved it.

 We made it to the waterfall...which only took us about ten minutes of walking.  If that.  It was a nice short hike.  But there weren't really any spots to sit down and the rocks were hard for Emery and Zac to walk on.  It was kind of stressful trying to prevent falls and injuries.  ha ha.

 Finally they sat still for a little while...

 Beautiful Sadie and the waterfall.

 Then grandma decided to climb higher to get a better view of the waterfall.

 Then of course the kids wanted to go up too.  Grandma did a great job helping them get up there.  But while she was helping Zac climb up, Sadie got stung by a bee.  If you look close in this picture she is smiling through her tears because I told her we needed a picture.  ha ha

 We found a spot that was more flat and sat down to have a snack.

Sadie got stung right in between her middle and ring finger.  Ouch!  But she was a trooper and after a few minutes told me "It doesn't even hurt anymore!"

Then we hiked back out to the car and went home for some lunch.  This will definitely be a hike that we do again!

Sadie's first day of Kindegarten!

Sadie went to her first day of Kindergarten yesterday.  I was a little bit bummed that we walked up just as the whole class was walking in, but Sadie didn't seem to mind.  She is holding a girl that she made and decorated as her first homework assignment.  As we were walking up to her class one of the eyes popped off.  Oh well.  When I picked her up she told me all about it and how excited she was for school tomorrow!  She is so ready for this.   I will miss having her around in the afternoons...and Zac will too I think.

 YOu can't really see it, but she has a tinkerbell backpack.  

The other kids didn't want to be left out.  :)

August...busy month for us

 August was a busy month for us.  A good busy though.  We had Crys and Alan living with us for about 2 and a half weeks which we loved!  The kids loved the extra attention and they were always helping out with dinner and kids and cleaning and everything.  And it was just fun to hang out with them in the evenings sometimes. 

 They took us out to Red Robin...so yummy!  Thanks guys!

Then the evening that they packed up and moved back into their own place, my parents and younger brother came into town.  My oldest brother Scott was getting married that weekend, so over the next few days my whole family including my grandma came and stayed with us at our house.  It is so fun to have visitors!  A lot of people around here have tons of family around, so it was fun to have our own family here for a few days.  We loved it.  

Here is great grandma giving the kids all sorts of fun things she brought.  

 

 This is on our way to the wedding.  Scott and Stephanie were married in the Logan temple so we had about a two hour drive to the temple.  Isaac and Emery took advantage of the drive there and slept for a while.  Zac and Sadie also took advantage of the fact that Isaac was sleeping.  I looked back to see Zac touching his hair a few times and then looking at Sadie and giggling.  ha ha.

 

 Logan temple.  So pretty.

 Grandma with the grandkids.  Zac was obviously very tired.

 Grandma and Daisy.  She is so cute!  I was just loving watching her roll all over the place.  

 And then Emery photo bombed Scott and Stephanie coming out of the temple.  Ha ha.  Ooops.  Sorry if she is in all of your pictures!

 Cousins!

 And of course we had to decorate Scott's car!  We used Oreos and markers for the windows.  Then it rained that evening and scott said the oreos smeared all over the car.  Nice.

 Grandpa and Daisy.  So adorable!

And here is grandma and grandpa with all the grandkids.  This is actually a great picture of them.  I love it!

Everyone left pretty soon after the wedding, but my mom is sticking around to see Sadie's first day of school. (Which is on Wednesday!!!)  We have had a great time with family and are sad that most of them are gone home now.  Sadie and Zac really miss their cousins!  Come back anytime!!!