It's so nice that we live near the mountains. Going up to Mt. Charleston is such a nice escape from the heat since it's always at least 20-30 degrees cooler up there. Plus it's nice to have a place for the boys to get out and enjoy nature.
On one of the last Saturdays of summer Rich suggested that we head up the mountain to let the boys play while we cooked out. Unfortunately, everyone else must have had the same idea because we couldn't find a spot to start a fire! So we made the best of it and played up in the mountains for a while and ate the food that didn't need cooking.
The spot where we pulled off had these funny trees.
And ginormous ants!!
The boys had a great time and we made the best of the situation.
A few weeks later our ward held the annual Picnic in the Pines. It's always a fun ward activity. We get to cool off and the boys get to run around outside with their buddies. Plus, no cooking or clean up is always the cherry on top.
James thought it was hilarious to smile and quickly frown as I took the picture.
Luckily, I was quick enough and caught his grin.
Alex and Henry were super hilarious and needed me to take a whole bunch of pictures of the two of them.
We are looking forward to heading up the mountain again soon!
Oh little Lydia! How can you already be 10 months old! This past month you have finally decided to be mobile. I never know where I will find you if I leave the room for 10 seconds. But instead of actual crawling or scooting on your tummy you do this little creepy crawl. Silly, silly girl. One day you will get those legs underneath you and really start to crawl.
You also like to scrunch your eyes up at us. You know you are adorable when you do that.
You've tried and loved so many new foods this past month: black beans, carrots, cheddar bunnies, baby food pouches of apple with spinach or pear with spinach, and pretty much anything that we eat. You do not, however, like anything with peas.
All of your brothers adore you and love to make you laugh.
Everywhere we go people continue to oooh and aaah at you. When they do, you snuggle into my chest which I just love.
The time is just flying by... I wish I could slow it down just a little bit.
This summer a few of the young women in our ward taught swim lessons at their pool so I had Alex and Henry go. Henry got much more comfortable in the water but Alex really became a fish! I was so proud of him and the progress he made in the water.
The boys helped me pick out a little gift for Mariah and Kylee--Swedish Fish and S'mores goldfish crackers. They drew some pictures for them and we attached this little note.
The boys delivered the gift all on their own. They felt so big. Later that day I saw this little picture of the girls with their gifts on instagram. Alex and Henry thought it was pretty cool.
We've gone swimming at our neighbor's house several times this summer and it's fun to see how Alex's confidence has grown since having lessons!
It's too hot here to camp out in the summer (and since we don't do sleepovers) so we like to let the boys have a "playroom camp out" occasionally. This summer we did it twice. For some reason William didn't want sleep in the playroom. I think he said it was too hot. He did hang out with them for a while though.
Later in the summer we tried again and this time we invited Henry for the first time. He thought it was super cool and he got to try out his new sleeping bag!
I thought it would be really fun for the boys to create some fun sidewalk chalk art. However, when I suggested it they were less than thrilled. They did it to humor me though and it got them outside even for a just a little bit. Oh well...
Bowling in the summer is a must because there are always great deals for kids at the bowling alleys. We didn't go last year because I didn't know where to go around here... everything is in a casino!! I was telling my friend, Amy, this one day and the next day I got a call from her inviting us to go bowling with them. She has 3 boys and invited a friend so there was a total of 8 boys! That's a lot of boys!
Everyone had a lot of fun and we were impressed at how well they did... especially the little boys! Henry was the youngest and beat them all!
The boys had a great time together and Amy and I had a fun time chatting (as always)!
Las Vegas has some pretty awesome parks and this summer we wanted to explore some of them. We first visited our small neighborhood spray ground. We had the place to ourselves which we love. During the school year we come play at the park nearly every day but during the summer we rarely visit so it was fun!
Next we drove down south to Exploration Peak Park. This place was awesome! First the boys all climbed up the "pringles".
Then we played on the actual playground. Henry and Lydia loved to swing on this awesome looking swing.
And Alex thought it was a great place to meditate. (He's so silly!)
Lydia even got to swing on her own for the first time!
This park had some of the coolest equipment ever! And they had something for all ages.
It even had different interactive games where these buttons lit up with different colors. There were all sorts of games you could play on it... the boys played forever and never got tired of it! I really wish this park were closer to us because we'd play there all the time! We are definitely going back to show Rich.
Our last park stop of the summer was Mountain's Edge. This one was pretty cool and all set up like an old west town. They even had teeter totters!
There was a spray ground there as well. I told the boys to go soak themselves and then we walked around the entire park on the walking trail. The boys loved rolling down the grassy hill there. We even spotted some wildlife--and big lizard and a little bunny!
It was fun to be able to explore new places this summer and we can't wait to go back again!
This summer we wanted to do some science experiments. We learned about bacteria and yeast by growing colonies in petri dishes. But the biggest hit was mentos in diet Coke. So so cool.
Man, it's rough being in this neighborhood. Two dogs! I hope it's better in North Carolina!
Animals aren't thinkful. 3-29-12
Somehow everyone that comes out of mom's tummy, that's a boy, somehow loves Dad! 1-19-12
According to James...
James has enjoyed making his own lunch (of food he wants to eat) so much that he told me, "It would actually be a punishment for you to make my lunch!" 8-26-15
(expaining to a friend after hearing me tell Henry that I wanted to eat him up) Do you know what "I want to eat you up!" means? It means I love you SO much. 5-3-12
Look! A zookeeper! (This was at church, pointing to a boy in a boyscout uniform) 4-8-12
According to Alex...
"When you look at Lydia you can't take your eyes off her because she's so beautiful... Mom, you are pretty too." 6-24-2015
mom: Alex, how did you get so funny?" Alex: "I'm not funny." mom: "you're pretty funny." Alex: "no, I'm not funny. I'm hilarious." 1-22-15
About his kindergarten teacher: "She's nice but she likes to torture me with hand sanitizer." 1-22-15
The Life of Henry
Henry has started writing "Jeff" on all of his school papers. His teacher will even call him Jeff at school. He is so silly! 1-30-17
(after eating a peach from off our tree) The crust tastes like fur! 7-17-16 (apparently I've always peeled the skin off in the past!)
I gave Henry a piece of watermelon to taste and asked him how it was. He replied, "C'est Magnifique! That means it's great!" 5-23-16
Lovely Lydia
Henry was making a mess while brushing teeth one night. Lydia was standing there and exclaimed, "Oh my gosh! You're making a mess!"
Rich was finishing dinner one night before I got home from choir. Lydia saw him open the crockpot and told him, "You're going to be in trouble! You're going to cry." (October 2017)
"Party? Treat? Soon!" January 2017 (2 years old)
Starting to stand on her own. (14 1/2 months) January 2016
