Garden Park

 Remember last year when we went to Garden Park to see the Butterfly Release?   Well, we didn't feel like going this year because it was so crowded last year.  So a few days before it was going to happen, I heard we could go to the park and check out the butterflies that were coming out of their cocoons.  So I took the kids over on a hot afternoon and we pretty much had the place to ourselves.  There was one scout troop there...but that was pretty much it.  It was great. 

 Emery always finds all the benches and requests pictures.  ha ha.

 The caterpillars were so cool to watch.  The redish one on the right was moving around a lot.  It was neat to watch how they move around.

 This was the only butterfly that we saw outside of its cocoon.  

 Any time there is a sand pit, before I can say no (to taking their shoes off), the kids have their shoes off and are in the sand.  Silly kids.  

 There were lots of pretty flowers around to see.

 And of course we always need a picture on the ladybugs.  There are five lady bugs and only four kids.  Next time we will have to bring a friend with us so we can fill up all the lady bugs.  :)

This was at a different park, but these girls are just so cute.  Emery has the best smile and Riley is so fun.  I love that I get to spend my days with these cuties.

Emery

 Emery is such a fun girl.  She has such a big imagination and can play with things like spoons for an hour.  I love to just watch her.  She is also very into glitter, fancy dresses and "beauty shop". (sparkles on her eyes and lip gloss) 

 Here are my two girls helping me make some cookies while the older two are at school.  :)

 Emery and I started these letters last year for preschool every week.  WE got a little behind, but we finally finished the Z last week and put it up on the wall.  Now we need to start again!

My friend passed along some cute dresses that someone had given her.  They are mostly Sadie's size, but when Emery saw them in the back of our van, she wanted to try them all on.  She was in heaven and kept telling me to take pictures of her.  

I'm a little bit worried about her teenage years and the dent it is going to make in my wallet.  I guess my plan of making them pay for their own clothes might help.  He he.

Date with Zac

 Zac and I went on a date last weekend.  We went to Mulligans and played mini golf.  It was a blast.  He would always run ahead and show me exactly where the hole was before we hit it. 

 He had great form.  ha!

 His was the red ball and mine was the purple.  He picked my ball up for me out of every hole because I had worked out the day before and my legs have never been so sore!  Thanks Zac!

 Then we went and got some frozen Yogurt at Menchies.  We started eating it outside, but it got chilly, so we moved into the car.  

I loved having one on one time with Zac.  He is a pretty special boy.  He is such a good big brother to Emery and Riley and he just loves Sadie (most of the time).  He has been adjusting to all day school so he has been pretty tired.  It's rough staying at school all day.  He also started taking piano lessons and is doing great. 

Back to School

I decided to try a low key back to school dinner this year.  We came up with a family theme for the year (Be the best you can be) and had a fun dinner.  I hit up target and got some cheap glasses and party hats to make it more fun.  The party hats were a bust because they didn't even fit on anyone's head!  They were way too small.  ha ha.

 Our theme for the year.  

 The table. The kids were so excited when they saw it.

 Rob with the kids.

 Me with the kids.

 Riley wore her glasses like this the whole meal.  ha ha.

 On their first day of school.  I sure love these two.  Sadie-3rd grade. Zac-1st grade.

 In line to go into class.  Zac has lots of friends in his class from our ward. 

 On our way home we stopped to try to pet the sheep through the fence.  They were too quick for us though. 

Ward Campout

 Our ward had a camp out a couple weeks ago.  We couldn't decide if we wanted to go up to the mountains and just have dinner and then go home, or if we were going to stay.  I decided to pack everything up as if we were going to stay and then decide once we were there.  It was supposed to rain that night, so we would see what the weather was like. 

When we got there we ate dinner and still couldn't decide if we were going to stay.  The clouds had rolled in and were looking rather ominous.  But we finally decided we weren't going to be wimps and we would tough out the storm.  Rob put the tent up while it was raining on him.  ha ha.  He found a great spot though that was sheltered by lots of trees.  He's awesome like that.  And it only rained for a little while, so we were glad we ended up staying.  We had a great time playing volleyball, making s'mores and chatting with friends.

 This was how Riley helped me pack the van.  :)

 Driving up the mountain I was surprised to see so many fall colors already.  It was so pretty.  Every year, we try to drive up the canyon to see the fall colors and always end up missing them by going too late in the year.  I'm going to try to talk Rob into driving up there this weekend again.  :)  

 Emery had a great time with all of her friends.  She really loves exploring and finding all the bugs and spiderwebs.  

 This was the view right outside the door of our tent.  So pretty!

 This girl had a blast eating cheeseballs, getting very dirty and wandering around the fire pit.  She always had a dirty face.  

 We even got to see a rainbow! 

 Rob and Emery really enjoyed their s'mores!

 Riley's face when we told her it was bedtime.  Ha ha just kidding.  I don't remember what was going on here, but she doesn't look very happy.

 These three got to share an air mattress.  They had a blast.

 Riley got to share the bed with us.  Poor Rob didn't sleep much (or so he says...every time I was awake, I could hear him snoring! ha ha) because Riley snuggled up really close to him and pushed him against the side of the tent.  

 The next morning we had pancakes.  They put the leftover s'mores stuff in them.  I wasn't adventurous enough to try one, but I did take a picture.

All in all we are glad we stayed.  It was a fun time.