Summer 2012

This has been such a fun summer. We didn't really go anywhere or doing anything out of the ordinary but had lots of fun being outside and enjoying the simple everyday things.

 We went to lots and lots of parks. We climbed trees (well the boys did), fed the ducks, explored and pretended lots and lots. At one park Quinn thought that one part where you climb looked like a tornado and so he kept getting "sucked up". At another he always would try to sell me pies but would inform me that the roof was leaking and being fixed and so he didn't have any pies just then. He loved pushing the roundabout rather than ridding on it. James preferred to jump around on it and so I tried to keep him away as much as possible. He spent a lot of time on the swings and both boys love learning how to swing on the rings.

 Hey look, a picture of me with a munchkin. I'm pretty sure he does NOT want to take a picture with me.

 At the end of spring Peter and I left the kids with my mum and headed down to St George for a few days. We had to change our plans a little as it rained the first two days and I was feeling pretty sick with the pregnancy. We hung out, rented a movie, went out to dinner, shopped at the strip mall and relaxed! It was heavenly. On Sunday the sun decided to make an appearance so we walked around the St George temple and then decided that we could make it to Zions after all. I am so glad we decided to go! It was beautiful and I only wished we would have had more time for hiking. We hiked emerald pools and the weeping rock. The bus driver informed us that because of all the rain there were gushing waterfalls that hadn't been there the day before. Everything was stunning!

 We rode our bikes, lots!

 We also went up to the treehouse museum a lot to escape the heat. The boys' favorite things were definitely the train and fire engine as well as the health section. They have microscopes that Quinn spent a lot of time looking through and they both liked taking care of the babies,weighing them and giving them shots

 One of our favorite things to do is to go hiking, The boys are seriously amazing, we must hike at least 1.5 to 2 miles and they hold up so well. Most of the time we are able to hike to where the trail crosses a stream. We never crossed but had fun throwing rocks into the stream and feeling how cold the water was.

 The boys were such great helpers with our garden. Though our garden was not that successful this year I'm glad we tried and will make a lot of changes next year. We finally got some strawberries this past week though that have been so fun to eat.

 Sometimes ideas on pinterest work out. This was a fun one...we got a plastic sheet and taped it all around, then we filled it with water and sealed up the hole. The boys had a blast jumping and rolling on it feeling the water swish around. We ended up with a few holes in it, but I think part of that was due to the fact that I put it on a hill and so there was much more pressure on one side than the other. All in all a super fun, different activity to cool off.

 I don't know if you can tell but this picture is a flour hand print on my belly. James loves saying hi to the baby, even in the middle of baking.We spent a lot of time baking goodies in the kitchen. Both boys love to help use the mixer and James has really started to take an interest in helping get dinner ready. He is super good at breaking mushrooms into bite sized pieces and has a slight obsession with knives, pointing out one when ever I am using one saying "knife knife!"

 Eating some lemon crinkle cookies they made

 We tried so hard to go camping this summer. Our first plans kept getting postponed because of all the fires. Then, we tried to scout out a place and realized the road was closed so that pushed our plans back as we tried to figure out a place that would be good to take the kids. We finally found an alternate route to the camp site we want to go to and then had to cancel plans again because a storm blew in. Then, we finally got to go. We started up the trail and quickly realized that this was going to be quite the trek. The path was SO bumpy. When we finally found the campsite we were so disappointed to find out that there was no where to pitch a tent so we headed back down that same crazy road. Quinn kept saying it was scary  and he didn't want to fall. Best part of the whole thing were the views, they were gorgeous. After getting some recommendations from friends we decided on a new campsite but then Peter had to work. Maybe we will have better luck next year.

 A picture with munchkin #2

 Hanging out with Daddy was the best part of the week

 The boys discovered dandelions and had fun blowing off the seeds. James can not go by one without picking it, but likes to rub the seeds on his or mine pants to get them to come off, silly man

 Love this picture. Quinn loves this sweater and wanted to wear it all the time, even though it was so hot out! Backpacks were a hot item this summer and of course swim goggles are a must. We did get to go swimming a few times. I took the boys twice on mine own, which actually worked out really well. I was pretty worried about being able to make sure they were both ok, but they stayed together and were super good.

We tried to go on the trail by our house for bike rides and a few walks. James loved spotting the trains that would run past the trail

 And Quinn found some pretty neat rocks.

 He also loved picking up snails and having an ant crawl on his arm

1st day of preschool! So far he is having a blast and is doing a super good job learning the letters and how to write his name. Its so neat to see him making friends, learning and discovering new things. I'm so proud of the way he is kind to the other kids, takes an interested in his work and tries to do a good job.

Look at that goofy face! Since we are doing preschool  at our house this month, James gets to join in. Using scissors is probably his favorite thing to do along with using the dry erase markers and playing with the other kids