Zachary

 Now that Sadie is in school all day I get to spend a lot of time with this kid.  He is such a cutie.  He loves to make people laugh, wrestle, play games, play with smurf figures, hold Riley, and play outside.  He is always making me laugh.  

 Zac and Riley.  He loves holding her!

 Zac on our teddy bear blanket.  It seems like he was just a baby doing tummy time on that thing.  Now, he is bigger than the bear!

 The other day at bedtime I look up from feeding Riley to see this.  ha ha.  See what I mean...always making me laugh!  I sure do love him!

First Day of School

Sadie had her first day of school today!  Yes I realize that the year is wrong on the paper she is holding...oh well.  Her first day of being at school all day went well.  There was just one issue at lunch.  Apparently, they have recess before lunch (which I think it weird) and then a teacher goes and gets everybody's lunches from their classroom and bring them to the cafeteria.  Well, Sadie's lunchbox was not there (because hers was IN her backpack, so they didn't see it)...so she had to walk back to her classroom by herself to get her lunch.  She said she got lost and started crying so her old teacher Mrs. Tapia from last year helped her find her classroom and lunch.  

 We can't believe we have a first grader!!

 She is so cute!  I missed her so much today...sigh.  

 We walked to school this morning.  It was fun...although Zac almost got backed over by a car which scared me half to death.  And no...I'm not exaggerating.  I am so thankful that the lady who was backing out was going really slow...Zac had stopped to wait for me to catch upand he was right at the end of someone's driveway.  We had a talk about not stopping behind driveways after I gave him a big hug.  It is still hard for me to think about...it really scared me.

 We found Sadie's class and her friend.

Here they are right before they walked inside.  I almost cried, but I think that was mostly because one of her classmates was sad and crying.  ha ha.

We hope Sadie has a great year of first grade!

Canal Fun

In our neighborhood there is a nice paved path near the canal.  We love to go for walks there.  We used to just stop there for a few minutes and throw sticks in it on our way to the park, but since Riley came along we have just been walking there and spending a good long time playing there.  It is only a ten minute walk or so (maybe less) from our house, so we are close enough to home if Riley gets hungry.  Plus, it is so nice because it is surrounded by huge trees so the path is always shady.  So it has been our go to activity this summer.  The kids love it and so do I since it is in the shade. 

The kids like to try to climb the trees, swing on the hanging branches, but mostly they like to throw sticks and leaves into the water and watch them float down.  Sometimes there are ducks that swim right up to us expecting bread or something.  It is pretty fun. 

This cracked me up the other day.  I looked behind me to make sure Zac was still coming and this is what I saw.  He found a little branch that had fallen off of a tree and was trying to carry it with him while he rode his bike.  He is so funny!

The kids recently discovered that these trees have big nails hammered into them.  I'm sure someone who lives close by put those in so their kids could climb the trees.  I don't let them go too high since I can't really help them down with a baby strapped to me chest.  But they have fun climbing this high and jumping down.

The bridge is a favorite place too.  They usually throw things into the water on one side, then run to the other side to see them float by.

Here are Sadie and Zac jumping off of the trees.

Sadie wanted to do it again.  Look at that form!

Cute Emery trying to swing on the branches like her older siblings.  

Zac could do this all day I think.  He is always the first one throwing things in the water and the last one to leave.  :)

Duncan's birthday

We had a little get together for Duncan a few days after his birthday. We were glad that everyone close by could come...but we were sad that his mom just missed the party!  She was here from Tuesday to Saturday, but she left that morning.  Oh well. We still had fun. 

 We were so happy to see our adorable nephew William again.  Emery took at turn holding him this time and did a great job. 

 Here is the birthday boy showing off his new Kindle Fire...a gift he got for his birthday.  Pretty sweet!

 Aunt Crys played legos with the kids.  They love the extra attention when aunts and uncles are here!

 Luke and Taylor.  And bunny ears.  Real mature Luke...ha ha just kidding!

 Rob took a turn holding William.  He was doing some kung fu moves while holding him...put him right to sleep.  Cute.

 Here are the cousins taking a (short lived) nap together.  The almost lasted all the way through dinner.  

 Here is Riley hanging out with Aunt Crys.  Our kids are so lucky to have so many awesome aunts and uncles!

 And of course...what is a birthday party without blowing out candles?!  I think he blew them all out in one breath even.  Happy birthday Duncan! 

MUD

 The other day the kids were out back and Rob and I were inside with Riley.  We heard the water get turned on outside so I told Rob to go check it out.  He said the kids are just watering the garden...and I told him, I bet they are just making a mud puddle to play in.  He agreed with me but we decided we would let them play in the mud for a bit.  I sent Rob back out a few minutes later to tell them to turn the water off.  Then I heard him say "You can play in the mud with your hands and feet".  Then he came in.  When it was time for the kids to come in, I was kind of dreading going outside to see how dirty they were.  Boy...I never expected it to be this bad!

 They pretty much made a pool of mud and were jumping and laying in it.  Zac and Emery had taken their pants off because they were so dirty.  ha ha.

 So they all got hosed off by Rob before they could come in.  There was piles of sand in their hair. Yuck.

 Emery waiting her turn to get cleaned up.

I told them no more mud for a while.  ha ha. 

Pictures from the hospital

 Here are some pictures that I took on my ipad while we were at the hospital that I love. 

 Here she is right after birth.  Well, this was probably about an hour after she was born.  She had finished nursing and immediately found her thumb and sucked on it for a good twenty minutes.  So adorable!  This picture shows all of her cute rolls and chubby cheeks. 

 Here is Rob holding her right after her bath.  The nurse used Elmers glue to glue the bow to her hair!  I was so surprised!  

 So cute!

 Hospital Selfie!  I wish we had taken more pictures at the hospital.  This is the only picture of both Riley and me at the hospital!  Oh well.  

Rob had to try out the hospital bed while I was taking a shower.  

Backyard fun

 We have spent a lot of time in the backyard this summer.  It has been so great to be able to send the kids outside and not really have to worry to much about them.  Of course, I usually go outside with them, but since Riley arrived it has been a little bit harder.  Anyway, their favorite things are the pool, the slip and slide and the tiny corner in the garden that they are allowed to play in.  Most of the time they just dig in the dirt...but sometimes when I am not out there, they make a huge mud puddle and then splash around in it.  ha ha.

 Here they are enjoying yummy bomb pops in the pool. 

 Me and Riley hung out in the shade on the deck.

 Then they started playing in the mud.  Emery loved it!

 Sadie avoided the mud...thankfully.  But here is a picture of her cute face!

And here is Zac.  He obviously enjoys the mud too.  Ha ha.  This is nothing compared to the mud event that happened yesterday.  I'll be posting about that soon!

Raspberry picking

On Saturday before we visited Taylor and Luke's house, we decided to drive down to Mapleton to a raspberry patch to pick some raspberries.  We had been there a few times before so we were excited to go again.  Sadie was a little bit nervous though because the last time we went she was stung by a wasp.  We made it out this time without any injuries.  :)  Emery was really nervous at first because there are tons of bees and wasps flying around (they have beehives on their property too) pollinating the plants.  After about five minutes, she got brave and walked through all kinds of raspberry bushes and ate tons of raspberries.  The next few days she had scratches all over her arms from her bravery. 

On the way there we stopped at the bank and got suckers.  Emery fell asleep with her sucker in her mouth.  It was a 50 minute drive so by the time we got there the sucker was completely gone.  :)  

As you can see here, Emery is still a little bit unsure about all the bees.  But Zac was very reassuring and reminded her over and over that if we leave them alone, they will leave us alone.  

Zac and Sadie both filled up their buckets completely. (they were little)

Riley enjoyed snoozing in the front pack.  What a cutie!

We had a great time!  I wish there was a upick farm closer to our place!  We will definitely have to go back next year!

Cousin William

 Yesterday we drove down to Provo to meet our new nephew William.  I was so excited to meet him because Rob got to drive down and see him in the hospital without me right after he was born.  He was born exactly two weeks after Riley was and he was exactly three pounds lighter than she was.  :)  He is such a cutie!  I wish I could have held him longer, but Riley was getting fussy so I had to hold her.  I guess we will just have to go down and visit again soon so I can hold him more.  

 Here is a picture of the two cousins who are two weeks apart!  

 Ha!  I just think this is so funny!  Riley is so big!  And they both are adorable!  I can't get enough of these babies!

 Zac is our baby holder.  He likes to hold Riley the most out of all of our kids and he will hold her for a long time.  Here he is holding little William.

 I love this picture.  These guys are good buddies!  

Cheese!  

Thank you for letting us come visit Luke and Taylor!  We can't wait to see you guys again!

Water baloons

 A couple weeks ago, I was at Target with the kids and decided to let them pick something out from the dollar section.  Zac chose water balloons.  He asked ans asked me to fill them up and I kept putting it off...next time I'll remember to not let them get water balloons until they are old enough to fill them up on their own!  ha ha  Anyway, I finally agreed to fill up some of them one afternoon and the kids were really excited.  I filled up about 20 of them...and they were all popped in about 1 minute.  ha!  The funny thing was that not one of them actually popped on Zac or Sadie.  They would throw them at each other and they would just bounce off of them and break on the ground.  It was hilarious!

 Ready for action!

 Even when they were standing this close to each other, they bounced off.  I could not stop laughing!

Then I decided that we should fill some up and ambush Rob when he got home from work.  So I filled up about 15 more and we waited for him to get home. Figures on the day that we are waiting for him he leaves work about 30 minutes late!  But the kids were pretty excited about getting him with balloons that they weren't too impatient.  We put a bucket by the back door with 2 water balloons in it for Rob when he got out (because it didn't seem fair to not give him any ammo!). 

 When he got home I rushed out and told the kids to get ready.  Here they are hiding.

 Rob walked out and I told him he better get his ammo.

 He is ready!

 Then the kids ran around and tried to get him with their balloons.  I don't think they got him...

But it was pretty fun to watch.  Rob ended up just popping his in his hands above their heads to make sure they got wet.  Ha ha.  Fun times!