1st Day of Preschool

Preschool started today. Lyla was SUPER excited. She doesn't even quite know what school is, but she somehow knew it would be awesome. 

We actually stayed the first day so the teacher could tell us about the year and other info we needed to know. So the kids came and just played while the parents listened to the teacher. Lyla sat at this little kitchen/drive-up window the entire 45 minutes. I kept looking over and there she was just playing away and would talk to anyone who came up but still stay there if no one was coming to the window. She talked about it the rest of the day. It had a little button you could push that made those windows (on the right) open and she loved it. 

She told me as I went to get her "Mom, you are supposed to leave, I go to school by myself". She was right. I told her that she would be at school alone but forgot to mention to her that I would be staying this first day. She was so ready to just dive in. 

Thursday came, the official "1st day" and she woke up with an excited voice and says "I get to go to school today ALL.BY.MYSELF!!!" It was so adorable how excited she was. Preschool is right up her alley and she is going to thrive so well there. Here is her 1st day picture, Minnie Mouse backpack and all. 

She jumped out of the car, gave me a semi-nervous but super excited hug and good-bye and ran up the driveway by herself, waving goodbye. I got a little teary, mostly in excitement for her because she was so excited, and because of course she is growing up and isn't my little toddler anymore. She is now my independent, strong, happy little preschooler. 

Labor Day

 We enjoyed a fun evening at Penny's house for Labor Day. We ate dinner and then played outside for hours enjoying the nice weather. It was a little hot in the sun but perfect in the shade. 

Forgot the swimming suits, so we went with a tied up dress and a diaper, ha. They didn't seem to mind and got soaked anyway. 

  

Mac has mastered the squirt gun and thought it was hilarious to shoot grandpa. What a happy little smile

Jace played with Lyla almost the entire time. What a little sweetheart. Lyla loved having so much attention and every time he walked away she would run around looking for him again. 

Lyla got her first ride on a scooter. It was the cutest thing with that huge helmet and clenching onto Grandpa for dear life. As they drove away she shouted out WA-HOO!!

And here is our classic metal radio flyer picture. There just isn't anything quite like a metal wagon and they just don't make them any more. Penny had one though and it got some good use that night. I love the way Lyla is in full motion running down the sidewalk and Mac is looking back right into the camera with his sweet little face. 

Sunday Bike Ride

 We have early church, so sometimes Sunday afternoons get a little long hanging around the house. So today we decided to pack up the bikes and take them to one of our favorite parks, Liberty Park. It is a beautiful park just a few blocks from downtown. There can be some sketchy people there sometimes, but if you look past them there is an awesome park with a beautiful view. 

 It has a perfect mile long path around the whole park that is nice and flat and perfect for beginner big girl bike riders like Lyla. She loved it and never complained about being tired. 

We also stopped half way and fed the ducks and had PB&J for dinner :) Isn't this such a great picture of these two with the sun reflecting off the water like that? Love it.

We stopped and played at the park for a few minutes before loading back up to go home. It was such a pleasant day and great weather. If only we had a truck and didn't have to take 2 cars with tied down trunks to get our bikes there...haha

Lyla's 1st Drawing

Lyla has some problems with wanting to do any type of directed activity if I'm involved. One of the many reasons I have put her in preschool this year. She will never draw or write letters or anything if she knows I want her to. I have got her to write an "L" for Lyla and she has been doing that for quite some time, but she wouldn't ever try any other letters or try to draw people, objects etc. Then one day she FINALLY was in a good mood and I got her to draw a sun. I think it was the cutest sun I've ever seen. I showed her how on the right and then she did her own on the left. I'm just hoping preschool gets her in gear and she starts learning even more since she responds better to other adults. In any case, I was very proud of her for drawing this sun :) 

Fun at a Friends Cabin

 Some friends in our ward, the Kilgore's, invited us up to their family cabin for the day yesterday. We had so much fun 4-wheeling, canoeing, shooting guns and a small hike. It was a great day and both kids had a blast.

Just excited to be outside and exploring

 I have shot a 22 before, but they brought up some shotguns that we tried out for awhile. The kick was way stronger than I thought and didn't feel too great on the shoulder! I shot it a few times but decided shooting is not really my favorite sport. 

 Exploring the woods, and a dried up river. Lyla was a little champ climbing all over the place 

 There was a little boy there (also in our ward) who she became good buddies with. The 4-wheelers made her a little nervous for some reason and she wouldn't go on them. But as soon as Jacob got on and called her over she jumped on without even thinking twice. It was adorable. She wouldn't ride on them the rest of the day unless he was on it with her. 

 When we were cleaning up the cabin to leave we couldn't find the kids, until we looked in the bedroom and saw this. So innocent and sweet, but we all had a good laugh about these two in bed together. 

The End of Summer Swimming

 We have been swimming a lot this summer. I didn't get a lot of pictures, but here are some from one of the last times the water park was open. We had such a blast going to both local pools and to the water park since we had a season pass. 

Lyla's favorite part: the slides. Since I can't take both kids on the slides at the same time Lyla only got to go down when Josh was with us. So even though it was only a few trips, she couldn't get over the water slides and was such a little daredevil. She looked terrified going down the big dips and just before entering the water, but at the end came bobbing up with a huge smile every time and said "that was fun, can we do it again?!" 

This year Lyla really got even more comfortable with the water and is super close to being able to swim. She can hold her breath and look under the water and is good at using her arms and legs but just doesn't make a lot of progress in moving forward. All of the swim lessons were booked within a minute of registration around here and we just couldn't get into any of them, but we will probably be taking some at an indoor pool this fall. What a great summer!

They play music at the wave pool and got this cute video of the kids dancing

Lyla's Life

Lyla comes down from her nap (which she didnt take) and says "Mom, I have a bead up my nose". I looked, sure enough, at the top of her nose was a blue bead. It was turned sideways and filling the space so no tweezers or anything were going to get up there without pushing it farther. I googled it. Hold clear nostril closed, blow through mouth. I tried, she screamed, I panicked. I decided to call Josh for some extra help, so he came home and tried the same method and after the second or third blow the bead flew right out. Whew. Just glad we didn't have to go to the doctor or anything to get it out. Thanks google

She is just starting to transition from taking naps but it does catch up with her after a day or two without one. So the first time since she was a newborn she fell asleep somewhere other than the car or her bed. She was out cold and was hard to wake up (it was 5pm, I wasn't letting her fall asleep for too long!). I still give her naps every few days and bed time is pretty early the days she doesn't nap. 

Got a new big kid bike. She wanted to push the pedals back to rock the bike to get herself going like she does on her tricycle but this bike makes it stop when you push the pedals back. It took only about a half hour for her to figure it out and already a day later she has picked it up and loves riding around the neighborhood. 

Mac thinks the bike is pretty cool too and had to try it out

The first time she rode by herself without me by her or helping push her to get going

Quotes:

I come into Lyla's room and she's wearing her Belle dress (from Beauty & the Beast)
Me: Hi Lyla
Lyla: I'm not Lyla, I'm Belle
Oh, hi Belle. What are you doing?
I'm getting the beast (pointing at Mac)
OK, lets get him together!
No mom, I'm Belle, I got this


Mom!  Look, I'm thirsty. See? (Lifts up shirt and points to stomach) My belly is thirsty


Don't drive off that hill Mom, its dangerous. (looking at a random grassy hill on the way to the store, still not sure what made her say that)

7th Anniversary

 We had a nice romantic dinner the night before our anniversary. My parents and Cindy were all leaving for the weekend so we had to do it a day early so we had a babysitter. We had a great dinner at Christopher's Steak House in Salt Lake. 

We still wanted dessert and dinner went by really quick so we decided to go all out and go to Melting Pot for dessert. It was delicious as usual. 

Even though we celebrated the night before I couldn't let our anniversary pass by without doing something fun. So I surprised Josh and set up a few candles after the kids were in bed. We had some sparkling pink lemonade (i'm not a huge fan of sparkling cider, and we both liked this one a lot better). Josh's parents had sent a fruit bouquet and chocolate covered fruit we enjoyed that by candlelight and opened our cards. In Josh's card I put some tickets to Imagine Dragons, one of Josh's favorite bands right now. 

It was a fun anniversary. Nothing huge or spectacular but a nice date and time together. We are so happy and loving our simple but busy little life with 2 kids. 

The New 'Do

Basically a huge bulk of my life my hair has been the same: Long, straight, boring. It doesn't take curl very well or stay any certain way so I just blow dry it and pin back my bangs because I hate hair in my face. I felt it was time for a change, finally. I have been looking at the "bob" haircut for awhile and decided I'd try it out and see how it goes, and if I hate it, hair always grows out. 

Old Hair: 

New Hair: 

I decided to do sort of a bob in the back and have it do an A-line type cut down to the front. I.LOVE.IT. 

This picture isn't as accurate as I sometimes think it looks. When I first do it in the morning its fuller on the sides, but overall it usually looks this way. Thanks to Lindsey who is a great stylist and cut it just the way I envisioned it. My hair actually cooperates most days and stays full and cute. I think I'll stick with this for awhile.