Continued Birthday Celebration

I wanted to do something special for Josh's birthday besides just the dinner with out little family. So I surprised him with night away from the kids. We dropped them off at grandma and grandpa's and went to Midway at the Zermott hotel. It has a swiss theme to it and was really fun. We went to the restaurant first and had a fancy and delicious dinner that Josh loved. 

After dinner we hit the pool and hot tub. Didn't get a picture of it but here is us in our cool robes just about to head to the pool. The pool has a really cool feel to it and the hot tub has a big rock formation with  waterfall that comes down into it. 

The next morning we went to the bakery right by the hotel and got delicious baked goodies. And found a few little trinkets to bring home to the kids. 

Before we left we walked around the scarecrow tour they have set up outside the hotel. Some of them were super funny like this Despicable Me character who is also a golfer.

Plumber butt! I tried to get Josh to really bend over to show his off but he wouldn't. Ha. He at least was a good sport and bent half way over next to the scarecrow. 

I found some weird gypsy creepy one and wanted to be her twin sister. 

We headed back to pick up the kids after the scarecrow walk. It was still early in the day but Mike was in town and we had made plans to have him play with the kids that day. It was nice though to just get away and have some time to talk and relax without the kids. We are feeling SO lucky to have my parents live here now so we can get away more than we normally would have otherwise. And our kids absolutely love going over there so we never have to worry about them when we're gone. Ahh...just thinking about it makes me want to do it again soon! 

Josh turns 32

 Josh worked on his birthday, but when he got home we went out to eat at P.F. Chang's with a gift card he got from his parents. Then we came home and opened up his birthday gift, which was a new BBQ. We had our last one that we found a street corner in Spokane for several years and was awesome but was starting to deteriorate inside and was falling apart. The kids loved helping him open it and we kept the box to play in for awhile. 

After present opening we had cake, german chocolate, Josh's favorite. Look how bright it is with all 32 candles! Whew 

This is Josh's manly face with his new BBQ, haha. 

Happy Birthday sweetheart! 

Singing the ABC's

I know she has known her ABC's for awhile now, but if she knows you want her to perform she rarely does. But I think a little extra practice at preschool also encouraged her. It gets a little jumbled in the middle there, but still cute nonetheless. 

St. George Girls Trip

This past weekend we got to go on a girls trip with aunts, mom, cousins etc. We went down to St. George and saw Mary Poppins at the Tuacahn outdoor theater. We met Friday afternoon at Kneader's for lunch down by my Mom's house and ate together before heading down. 

Here we are, minus my Mom who is hiding next to Cindy

That night we ate dinner at Texas Roadhouse and then went to the show that started that evening at dusk. It was perfect weather outside and we had a light jackets on and felt great. It was an awesome outdoor theater that backed right up to a huge wall of rocks. 

This isn't the set for Mary Poppins, its for the other show they are doing there (which some of our group went to on Saturday). But I wanted to remember the cool backdrop that they had and what beautiful scenery it was even though we were in the middle of a desert! 

 On Saturday we spent the morning lounging by the pool, then lunch at Chili's and shopping at Tai Pan and the outlet mall. We went to dinner at a local Italian restaurant together and then split ways. Half the group went to a second show and me, my Mom, Cindy and Lindsey went to the movies. We left Sunday morning. It was a relaxing and fun trip. Hope we get to do another one again some day. 

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.