Block Party

Today was or neighborhood block party. We usually have one every year and it is so fun to mingle with the neighbors and the kids always have a good time. This year Jason was on the committee he got to plan some of the events. They decided to do a carnival theme. I will have to admit it turned out awesome. Good job!!

We blocked off the street so no traffic could get in. We had tons of good food and plenty of fun things to keep everyone entertained.

Talan getting ready to go down the water slide. The kids had so much fun playing in the 3 bounce houses.

Talan climbing up the high staircase. The first time he went down he thought it was so much fun, but the second time

I think his face tells the whole story.

The only bad part about the party was that the skies where partly cloudy and we had some rain and wind. So if you were wet it was cold.

Jason was in charge of the dunk tank and Talan was so excited to get it filled up with water and try it our. Waiting was so hard.

Another activity they had was balloon animals.

Talan wanted a blue dog on a leash and he had them make a sword for his brother.

Talan waiting for a turn in the Toy Story bounce house.

Finally the dunk tank was ready to go.

Talan did a great job. He hit the bulls eye every time he had a turn.

However, he couldn't hit it hard enough so he got to walk up and push on the button.

The party also had face painting.

They asked Talan if he wanted BYU or Utah. Talan picked the U, which surprised me because he will usually pick anything that is blue.

The party also had a football toss which was fun to watch.

Jason and Talan having fun at the party.

 What was Lincoln doing durning the party? Having a nap with his favorite duck blanket.

I love the yearly block party and hope that it will remain a tradition in our neighborhood for many years to come.

1st Day of Preschool ~ Raspberry Sawhorse~

Today was Talan's first day of Preschool. He is so excited to go back to Raspberry Sawhorse Preschool. He loves his teachers Mrs Jackie and Mrs Loni. It looks like this years theme is "Learning Safari."

I thought that Talan would be up bright and early, but I had to wake him up. It will be interesting to see how he does with morning preschool. Last year we did afternoon so he could sleep in.

Talan and Jason having breakfast before their big day at school. Yes, Jason is still going to school but he only has 4 more class until he has his BS in Accounting.

I am a Preschooler!!!!

I am so excited to see how much Talan will grow this year! He learned so much last year I am sure he will be ready for Kindergarten next year.

What a handsome boy.

Talan showing off his Thomas backpack. Talan was sad that today was not show and tell. He wanted to take his handcuffs to class. That is a scary thought, I wonder who he wanted to handcuff. Since it  was not show and tell day he wanted to take the snack for the class today, but it was not his turn to take the treats either. Hopefully they will do something in class that he will be excited about today.

Talan trying to run off because he was tired of me taking pictures.

Talan

Lincoln wanted to go to school with Talan today. I think he will miss his brother. Or maybe he won't because he will have all the toys to himself with out Talan taking them away.

Who will Lincoln wrestle with? Good thing Preschool is only 3 hours.

Talan was so excited to see that Mrs Jackie's swing was decorated with animals. It looks like this month's theme is Safari.

Waiting for Mrs Jackie to open the door.

Talan was so excited to see Landon and Evan this morning. They are 2 of his friends that were in his class last year. He was happy to see some friends that he knew. He was so embarrassed that I was taking pictures. He was not sad at all for me to go home.

Mrs Jackie dressed up in her Safari outfit. Talan was excited that the morning was starting off with Play Dough. I think that we made a good choice by having Talan going in to Kindergarten as the oldest, he was so much more outgoing today and was not sad at all with me leaving him there.

This is the learning area at Raspberry Sawhorse Preschool. They also have an exercise room and a computer room but I forgot to take pictures of them. Mrs Jackie changes out the decor monthly as the theme changes.

This is one of Talan favorite things about preschool, he loves doing his homework card. Each student gets a new card each month and if they do their homework they get to put a sticker on and when it is full they take it back to school and Mrs Jackie gives them a prize.

They always have letter, numbers, color and shapes to learn. Then they have a few other things for them to practice depending on what the theme is.

This is the scrapbook that they will be making this year. It will be fun to see it when they are finished at the end of the year.

Talan had a great 1st day of school. They made safari hats and learned about wild animals. He was excited to see Landon and Evan and Mrs Jackie even had a new golf toy.

I am so excited for Talan, he is going to have so much fun this year. I am so thankful that some of his friends are in his class this year. I love seeing my kids grow even though time is going by way to fast.

Camping at Springville Crossing

Over Labor Day weekend we decided to take advantage of the long weekend and go up Springville Crossing to camp. Thanks to Joe for getting up early Thursday morning and getting us an amazing camp site. We were tucked back in a cove away from the road but next to the stream. We had a ton of shade and we were not right next to any other camp sites. I liked not being close to anyone because we could fire up the generators and we would not be bothering anyone. All of the kids were constantly dirty. Oh well that is why camping is fun.

Lincoln loved the endless supply of rocks. He enjoyed throwing the rocks in the fire pit, the water, and the dirt.

The kids enjoyed digging in the dirt and playing around the camp.

Lincoln and Crew had the best time playing with the cars.

Talan taking Addy on a pretend 4-wheeler ride. The kids all loved to ride on the 4-wheelers. We had  to make sure that the keys were never left in them or they might have taken them for a spin. We also had to watch that no matches were laying around. We caught Addy with a match behind the trailer. I had to laugh when Joe told Addy that we don't play with matches. Addy responded with I am not playing with matches I am just trying to light it. At least she was being honest.

I love camping at Springville Crossing because we can just jump on the 4-wheelers and ride. We went on a lot of rides. On Friday we rode to Look Out Point. It was dusty but fun.

Joe took Talan and Crew with him on the  4-wheeler.

Jason took Lincoln and I.

Jessica and Addy rode together.

Talan and Lincoln sitting on a rock at Look Out Point. It was so pretty up at the point, I loved the pines and the view was amazing.

All of the kids.

The Bills family at Look Out Point.

The Christensens.

The kids did so good on the ride we decided to keep going and see the beaver ponds. Joe said it was just up a little bit farther. We jumped on the 4-wheelers and headed out. After about 30 minutes of riding we stopped and asked Joe how much farther we had. He said it was just around the bend. It was not around the bend but we finally reached the ponds. It was worth the ride.

We all walked down to the ponds. Talan was tired and laid down for a little rest, while the rest of us threw rocks in the pond. There are about 3 ponds up there and the scenery is so pretty.

This was one of the smaller ponds.

Lincoln throwing his rock in the pond. He could have spent his whole day at the pond throwing rocks. As we walked away he keep looking back and saying "bye rocks".

As we walked around the pond we found this Blow Snake eating a salamander.

An up close photo of the beaver dam. I was hoping to see a beaver swimming around but no such luck.  I don't think that Addy liked the ponds. On the way down she got stung by a bee and the whole way back to camp she keep telling us that she wished that there were no bees on the planet. Talan enjoyed the ride home. He sang camp songs all the way back to camp, I am sure that Joe enjoyed his singing.

After a long 22 mile 4-wheeler ride we needed to cool off. We went down to the stream and played in the water. The kids had fun splashing on each other and throwing sticks to Dakota.

The water was so clear and so cold.

Lincoln was having fun throwing rocks, but he accidentally put his face in the water.

 Even the big boys had fun playing in the stream. There was a broken beaver dam, so the boys wanted to fix it. They spent the afternoon fixing the dam and making a kiddy pool. They did such a good job that they actually rerouted the stream.

Lincoln throwing rocks.

After a busy day playing we bathed the kids and let them watch Monster Inc. They had fun wearing there matching snuggies and eating popcorn.

When we went in to check on them this is what we found. Talan had fallen asleep and tossed his arm over Addy. He wouldn't snuggle with her if he was a wake because he gets so embarrassed if we ask him if Addy is his girl friend. He also wanted me to delete this picture when he saw it.

What to do while the kids are watching a movie? Sit by the fire playing Kings in the Corner and snacking on treats. We were having so much fun we stayed up until after 1am.

We went on another ride up to what is referred to as the Tub. When we got to the turn off the road was closed so we had to walk in to it. Of course Lincoln got a lift from dad.

This is the Tub. It is a dam that shoots water out. My Grandma said that her dad would take her to the tub when they were driving home from Strawberry Reservoir and she was so scared of it.

The whole gang at the tub.

Of course we had to go out on the dam. It was probably against our better judgement because it was falling apart, there is no railing and part of the floor was missing. Not only did the adults go out on it but we also took the kids.

The little boys leaning over the edge throwing rocks. You can see the rebar sticking out where the cement is falling away.

The view from the dam. The sound of the water falling was so relaxing and the site was beautiful.

I don't know why, but I loved this old out house that stuck out of the water.

Talan and Addy climbing up the mountain side. They had fun sliding down the hill, but they were covered in dirt.

Addy trying out her mountaineering skills. She will need to keep practicing because she got stuck and Joe had to climb up and free her.

We had to stop and have a drink and snacks in the shade after our hike up to the tub. I love Crew in his Mickey hat and sunglasses.

Of course we were having fun riding so we decided to extend our ride from the tub and go to Strawberry Ridge. It was so pretty to look out over Strawberry Reservoir. You could see the Marina and the boats out on the lake.

The kids were ready to head back to camp. We stayed on the ridge for a few minutes making phone calls and checking messages because this was one of the few places we had cell service.

Since everyone was talking on their phones, Lincoln picked up a couple of rocks and tried to talk on  them.

Crew was bored so he decided to sit and wait in the dirt. After all the calls were made and we had enjoyed the view we started off to camp.

When Joe pulled in to camp he had 2 sleeping kids. The sound and vibration of the 4-wheeler put both of the kids to sleep.

After another long day of riding we went down to the stream to cool off. Talan, Jason, Addy and Joe wanted to see if they could catch any fish. After an hour or so they came back to camp with some fish to grill up for dinner. Talan loves to fish but hate to touch it.

This is what Jess and I did while the older kids and husbands where fishing and the little ones having a nap. We lounged in the comfy chairs and sipped a cold soda. This was our favorite part of the day.

Talan and Jason showing off for the camera.

We had so much fun camping at Springville Crossing. We arrived Thursday afternoon and set up camp. We had an awesome camp site and we were so lucky to get it. Most of the camp sites were full. The kids managed to stay clean for about 5 minutes and the rest of the weekend they were covered from head to toe in dirt. We spent the weekend riding the 4-wheelers, swimming in the stream and playing games. This was our first camping trip on our own with our trailer. Luckily we took up a generator because we found out that our batteries would not stay charged so we only had heat when the generator was on. It was an adventure.  We were having so much fun camping with the Bill's family we decided to stay until Monday morning. We were running low on food and water but we were all just having such a fun time. I think it will be a yearly tradition from now on.