Salt Lake, Sleepover, School!

(7/30 - 8/3) The boys attended a Christian flag football camp ... and absolutely loved it!

(8/3) Birthday fun!

Fueling up for some arcade fun!

Get those zombies!

Oh yeah!

Hudson is in boy Heaven

Shoot them! Shoot them!

Love how intense Beau is here

Love seeing this guy so happy!

These kids are obsessed with guns! Eek!

Their ticket haul

Trying some crab - very adventurous!

Sweet Kindergarteners!

MEGABED!

(8/5) Sweet, precious girl!

(8/5) Squeezing in some B-Day cake during a very busy time (notice the computer dest where the table should be!)

(8/6) Driving to SLC in the backseat with my crazies

Love this kid snuggling in

(8/7) This angel slept SO well bundled up in the freezing cold basement - Chloe liked to lick her face when she was helpless on the floor! Oh!

A beautiful little nook on the church grounds

Jared and Jenny live across the street from a gorgeous, historic church/garden

Cute cousins!

So happy to finally be together!

What a cool spot for pics!

A pond on the church grounds

Cute ladies

Enjoying the bird show at the aviary

Jared and I were invited to be in the bird show!

This little Toucan hopped across our arms

Every time he would stop and stare me down!

This sweetie wanted to sit in my lap - had to capture this moment on camera!! :)

J + J threw Hudson a little birthday celebration! How nice!

(8/8) The neighborhood was gorgeous! I loved this woman's flower garden!

What a beautiful walk!

Checking out "This is the Place" monument

Ready for some boat riding!

The pedal boats were hard to get moving!

The canoe seemed the way to go!

 

We fed the ducks

Love this brother of mine!

Enjoying some rides at Liberty Park

Woo hoo!

Oh yeah!

Fun on the Merry-Go-Round!

Finally seeing the SLC temple!

The kids had recently talked about the Christus in sharing time

What a beautiful place!

Love these nephews of mine!

Tired girl was so pooped!

Hannah was entranced by the bride!

She loves to see the temple!

Amazing chicken sandwich!

(8/9) We returned to the "This is the Place" visitor center. They have an entire village to explore!

We are digging for buried treasure!

So fun!

Riding the train

Sofia couldn't get enough of the Dole Whip!

Hannah was so done with the horse!

Cute little animal lover!

Sofia Celestine with Celestine!

Watching the others play in the splash pad

My gorgeous mom!

(8/13) First Day of 3rd Grade!

Look at all of those supplies!

I'm going to miss these boys!

My stair step kids!

Hudson's so tall!

And Sof-sof's so tiny!

Sisters!

Sisters!

SISTERS!

LOVE these chunky thighs!

We love our Sofie girl!

(8/14) What a babe!

And a stinker!

And a cutie!

And a trickster!

These two fall asleep watching TV together

(8/15) Beau's first day of Kindergarten!

I took Beau shopping for a new school wardrobe

He picked these shark shoes and Captain America shirt!

Ready to roll (I had a nice good cry in the shower)

(8/21) Fun at home

(8/22) Connect Four and treats!

(8/24) Playgroup painting!

Love these 3 Amigos!

(8/26) Sisters!

Sofia's little tongue kills me!

Sweethearts!

(8/27) Halloween preview!

(8/28) Sofia is 5 months old!

Love this face!

Love her nose wrinkle!

She loves listening to Salsa music!

She loves her siblings!

She loves reading books with Mommy

She's great at rolling!

SLC

The kids and I headed out of town in August to visit Jared and his family at their new SLC home. It was nice to get away while our house was in the middle of construction! I love visiting Jared's family - their new home is gorgeous, the boys get along well, their dog Chloe is delightful, they know lots of great spots to eat, and we enjoyed playing games during our down time. We were able to visit "This is the Place" monument a couple times; see Temple Square and the Christus at the visitor center; go out for some delicious chicken sandwiches, Japanese food, and the Pancake House; enjoy the aviary and pedal boating; and explore their gorgeous neighborhood. 

Sleepover

Hudson turned 8 while we were in Utah. He had his birthday party the weekend before consisting of his very first sleepover! We took the kids out for ice cream, to Hinckle Family Fun Center, out for chinese food (Hudson loves buffets), then back to our house for a sleepover on "Megabed." At this point in time, our house was completely torn apart for the floor renovation, so it was a bit of a stressful disaster, but hey! We made it work! Hudson's big gift this year was a scooter. 

School

August also means the start of another school year. This time, Hudson is in 3rd grade in Mrs. Velasquez's class (out in the portables!), and Beau is a brand spanking new kindergartener in Ms. Jarrett's class (she is a real-life Disney princess - she is magical, sweet as can be, and adorable). The boys have been doing wonderful so far this year! They are both very social and enjoy their friendships. They prefer to buy lunch rather than take my packed lunches (waah!). We carpool with some of their best friends (the Espinozas) and they could care less about saying goodbye each morning to their ol' ma! Hudson is excelling in Math and doing so much better at getting his homework done. Beau jumped right into the swing of things and was so ready to be at the same school as his big bro - he really looks up to him and is excited to be a "big kid." We're trying to get everyone to bed much earlier (6:30 for Hannah and 7:00 for the boys), but it's practically impossible with the addition of Cub Scouts and little league baseball to our schedule. 

It's a huge change for me here at home. Girl time all day long! Oh yeah! Hannah is delightful company. She's funny, imaginative, enthusiastic, silly, stubborn, and the cutest little woman I ever did see! She is up for anything most days (except grocery shopping) and especially loves watching cartoons, being the Mommy while I be the Grandma, and painting. When she's the mommy, it's "sweety" this and "sweety" that. Sofia is very go with the flow, but she does take tiny cat naps, so it's hard to get anything done! I feel more tired than ever these days and have very little energy for housework, grocery shopping, exercise, work, etc. Don't know if it's allergies, waking up at 6:30am every morning, or just getting older! Ugh! I put together a little play group for Hannah. We meet once a week to let the girls play. And I have my own "play date" every Wednesday with my good friend Pam. We've been doing playgroups with our kids the past four years and she finally has no more kids at home so we had to improvise. Ha ha!