Summer's officially over, and we did our darndest to get in as much summer fun before settling back into the routine!  Here's a collection of random photos to document what we've been up to!

Harrison is thoughtful and pick me the "prettiest" flowers.  Excuse his grumpy face.  He had much more important things to do that pose for photos, like dig into that "cahco".


In stark contrast to how I spent my actual birthday, my friend Jacqueline treated me to a trip to Blackhawk to try my hand at some video poker, which she plays weekly and always brings home mega money.  Well, I quickly lost all of mine, but it was still so much fun to feel like a high roller.  She and her mom go all the time, so we got to stay in the luxury suite for free, eat for free, basically do anything we wanted for free.  It was awesome!  Before the trip, she told me that she wanted to dress up to go out to dinner and that I had to wear heels.  I haven't worn legitimate heels since I started having babies 8 years ago, and this was the last pair I have in my closet.  I was nervous that I was going to fall, but tried to keep it together.  I made it to dinner, and was feeling pretty good about myself and the fact that I hadn't fallen yet.  I stood up to leave, and just as I was beginning to tell Jacqueline how impressed with myself I was, I slipped and let out a loud yelp, so that everyone in the restaurant turned to look at me.  Luckily, I didn't fall, but this is the reason I stick to flats!


The old adage of not spending too much money on kids' toys because they just want to play with the box is still ringing true in our home!  Much to my chagrin, our kids LOVE to raid the recycling and "do projects".  Connor was so incredibly proud of the trailer that he made for his PlasmaCar.  Every piece had a function and a purpose.  While I can't imagine what the neighbors were thinking about my kids pulling around piles of refuse, I didn't want to squash his creativity, and he was pleased as punch to have me take his picture with it.




This little stink is the naughtiest baby I know.  I caught him drinking the dog water at Nana and Papa's, so I chastised him, then ran to get my camera, because that stuff is good blackmail.  Look at him glancing out of the corner of his eye to see if I'm still watching!


He knows he's being naughty, and nothing's more fun than naughty!


Stinker!


We celebrated Noah's 6th birthday at the pool!


Harrison was going to make sure that no one forgot about him while dishing up the cake and stood there yelling, "CAHKE!  CAHKE!"


I'm pretty sure he's not one to let himself starve.


Connor and Alaina took swimming lessons at our neighborhood pool during the last week of summer, and are so happy that they can swim in the deep end by themselves now.  Harrison is still not much of a fan of the water, but Daddy can still get some smiles out of him.






Alaina is in a super-independent-about-her-hair mode, and I have to beg her to brush it.  Then, when we get it brushed, so insists on styling it herself and won't let me get near it, so just go with it.  She's still our little free spirit and was quite proud of her balloon toes.


When we were in Utah, Harrison slept with this blanket that apparently was my baby blanket.  He fell in love with it, so Mom sent it home with us.  He's still completely smitten and calls it, "Bae", which is pretty amusing, given the pop culture reference of the same name.




Pretending to be asleep...


...and checking to see if I'm still there.


I'm home so much these days because I'm too much of a wimp to go many places with multiple toddlers, and I just had to get out of these four walls for an afternoon.  Now that I'm comfortable with the Bear Lake area of Rocky Mountain, I packed up the kids and made them hike with me up to Nymph and Dream Lakes.  As usual, there was some moaning and groaning about the physical exertion involved, but overall, the kids had a wonderful time collecting sticks and rocks and climbing up the big rock facades.


Connor loved feeling like a true mountaineer.


Harrison just wanted to go, then start screaming when we reached the tranquil lakes.  The fishermen loved us, I'm sure.


You better believe that when I put this picture in our photo book, there will be no mention of the bickering actually happening in this picture.  I love rewriting history to suit my desires! :)


Apparently Alaina felt pretty hardcore while climbing those rocks.


Not to be left out, Harrison did some rock climbing of his own.






Harrison was getting so mad that he couldn't catch the chipmunks that were running all over these rocks.


Beautiful!  The mountains are my happy place!


On our way down, we saw these elk commenting on how crazy I must be to have attempted this day trip by myself.  Next time I'll bring backup, but we still had a great time!


A few days later, school began!  I'll say it every year, that I can't believe I have a third grader and a second grader!  Both kids were ready to get back to their friends and the fun of school.  We're fortunate that our elementary doesn't put a ton of focus on homework aside from reading, so the transition hasn't been too hard.  Having less kids at home during the day allows me to focus my attention on Harrison and Garris, who are little mischief makers by themselves and devilish together!  The other day we were having an especially naughty time (hiding behind a chair with a bottle of Alaina's nail polish, painting on picture frames with lotion taken out of my purse in the closet by standing on the shoe rack, smuggling bottles of paint from my paint box as I was reorganizing the basement and hiding behind the sofa with them) and I heard Garris say, "Ha-son.  Carwyn mad.  Funny!"  I guess I don't strike much fear into the hearts of these toddlers.  I've since sold my baby stuff to buy more baby-PROOFING stuff, which is a double edged sword, since it keeps the older kids in the house, too.  We're doing well and hope everyone else is, too!  Happy fall!