Hayden Gets a Haircut!

Kylie has been enjoying school this week and Hayden has been enjoying not taking naps.  Which makes him into a demon monster at 4 PM.

We have been getting cooler weather this week (mid-90's anyone?) so we have done a few walks and every day after school I let the kids play on the playground because Hayden loves it so much.

This weekend I figured it was finally time to give Hayden a haircut.  He looked really cute with his long hair, but the poor kid would sweat like crazy every time we went outside.  His new haircut looks great on him, though he did keep moving, so behind his ears is kinda bad!

Sunday was a struggle.  The kids had absolutely too much energy for church.  Literally we were there for 5 minutes and I already wanted to leave.  We barely made it through the sacrament before we all went outside and played for awhile.

Then, just before classes started we went inside and talked about why we go to church and how we need to act while we are here.  Kylie knew all the answers, but she definitely doesn't act like it!

Hayden didn't want to go to nursery, so I took him to my class where I had to teach - and he was super excited about that because my teaching partner brought cupcakes!  But after he downed his cupcake he was ready to go home so my teaching partner was kind enough to drag him kicking and screaming to nursery, where I found him once church was over passed out next to the door.  Poor guy!  Today was a tough church day for everyone!

Afterwards we did some art therapy and the kids loved it because I finally bought them their own cheap watercolors to paint with (don't ask me why I hadn't done this before.... ).  They painted some beautiful pictures to send to their grandma's and grandpa's, so watch your mail!

Kylie Starts Kindergarten!

The beginning of the week was filled with our last-ditch summer fun: swimming, playing at the park, and playing with friends.  And on Thursday Kylie started school!!  She was super excited and kept insisting that I don't come to class with her.  I am glad the summer break made her excited for school again and hopefully she keeps that excitement for a long time!

Hayden was upset he didn't get to start school again this year, but he is doing something equally momentous: potty training! Kylie has kept inviting him to go potty with her for the past few weeks, and suddenly this week he started getting the concept!  For several days he would go by himself and he even wants to do all the clean up himself (because he is going on a little potty).  If you know Hayden, you know how much water he drinks.  The whole "get a treat for going potty" concept doesn't work for him because he can literally go every ten minutes.  One time he got his potty treat, and as soon as he finished it decided he wanted another so he immediately went potty again.  And he notices when the treats get smaller and smaller (from a chocolate kiss to a few chocolate raisins to several mini M&M's...).  Honestly right now I am not fighting him for it.  If he prefers his diaper right now, then fine.  If he wants to use the potty, great.  Kylie is the one being his drill sergeant and it's awesome!

County Fair Time!

The beginning of the week started off normal enough.  Our regular choice of activities given this heat.  On Tuesday we walked to the swimming pool like we always do, but upon entering the gate I realized at once that something was gravely wrong.  There, struggling in the water, was a little lizard.  The poor little thing! Kylie and I immediately jumped in the water and scooped him up.  We laid him on Kylie's kickboard and placed him in the sun - then proceeded to poke him to see if he was still alive.  (How does one provide resuscitation to a lizard the size of a finger?)

After explaining to Kylie several times that we could NOT take the lizard to an animal doctor, we saw that he was breathing.  Success! We watched him for a few more minutes as he breathed and flinched, and then in the most dramatic of exits he gasped for air, and then flip flopped to his back, legs splayed in the air.

Our little lizard had just given Kylie and Hayden their first glimpse of how fleeting life is.

The agony! The horror!!  The awkwardness of explaining to the kids that the lizard was, in fact, dead and not sleeping.  We then placed him on a rock amidst millions of other rocks and succumbed ourselves to the fact that the lizard is now bug or bird food. With heavy hearts we continued swimming and tried to live our lives as normal, like our little lizard friend would want us to.

Thus ends my dramatic re-telling of our little lizards fight for life.

On Thursday we tried something new: the county fair!  We hadn't gone in years past because the kids were too little to enjoy it, but this year I felt they were ready!

We had to walk through all the food trucks, shopping booths, and barn area before he made it to the amusement park rides.  They were having the goat contest when we went through the barn, and Kylie and Hayden really enjoyed petting all goats.  The next event was the kids turn to show off their goats, and they were getting them all dressed up in fun costumes.

Kylie and Hayden were super excited to ride some rides!  We had lots of fun watching them experience the rides together.  I am glad they are so small that they could sit together on most of the rides.

Afterwards we got something to eat and played on the playground they have there and then dragged our obviously tired but in denial children home.

This weekend we also did something new:  we bought a car!  Brandon's two cars are just costing so much in repairs that we figured it would be better to get rid of them and get a nicer car that we wouldn't have to worry about.  So we found a Honda Pilot that everyone liked and we brought it home Saturday.  Now all Brandon can talk about is going camping.

Sultry Summer Days

It has been a rough couple of weeks, but we persevered.  There was lots of swimming, park playing, and playing with friends.  Just like normal!

We had fun doing all the activities that Grandma Tess had sent home with us, like making popsicles (we do that daily!), making some Finding Dory bracelets, and playing with our lanterns.  In fact, Kylie loves her lantern so much that she falls asleep with it every night so she is "not scared".  It is pretty cute!

The kids also decided one day that they were kitties and to prevent them from eating the cat's food I had to feed them some Cheerio's in a dish like the cat.

On Thursday we got a surprise visit from Uncle James who was on his way back to California.  Usually Kylie is all over any visitors we have, but I think Uncle James' big lumberjack beard scared her because she was keeping her distance!  Sadly Hayden was sleeping so he missed out.

This week we did a lot of unpacking, because it seems like we will be staying here for the next little while.  Kylie and Hayden were very excited to see all the toys that had been hidden away for the past 6 weeks or so!

Pioneer Day

I was sick the first part of the week, but we did manage to go to the store Monday morning and Kylie got the opportunity to spend her birthday money from Grandma Tess and Grandpa Pete.  She chose to buy a little ice cream Play Doh set.  For the next few days Kylie and Hayden had tons of fun playing with the Play Doh.

We also did go swimming once.  It is nice that the kids are big enough that I don't have to be in the water with them!

Friday we went to play with our friends Kennedy and Acadia.  The kids love playing with friends!  Saturday was when Washington celebrated Pioneer Day, so we all went to the parade in the morning!  This was the first year since we lived down here that the parade fell on a Saturday, so it was Brandon's first time!  It was fun teaching Kylie and Hayden that if they cheer loud at a float they were more likely to candy thrown in their direction.

We even kept the kids up late to watch the fireworks show at 10.  It was crazy because they were so excited for fireworks that they didn't even act tired, even when we put them to bed at 11 PM.  Hayden even held his first sparkler!  On Independence Day he would always ask for one and then drop it immediately when it was lit.  So this was a big improvement!  Kylie, on the other hand, got sparked earlier this month, so she is against sparklers.  Again.  

Snowbird!

The week started off slow enough with our little sick kidlets.  Lots of lazy days and too much tv.  We did make it to a park one morning just to break out of the house before it got too hot.  Kylie discovered that she can go down the fireman pole thingy!

We also managed to go on a hot walk to get the mail one day and ran into our friend Peyton and the girls were so excited to see each other.

Wednesday night, really late, we left for Snowbird.  We left the house at 9 PM after Brandon's class that he taught, and the kids were super hyper for an hour thanks to the huge suckers Brandon got them.  We managed to make it up to Snowbird by 1.30 AM and bleary eyed we crawled into bed only to be woken up by our crazy kids super early like normal!

Thursday was our big super fun day.  Luckily the kids were feeling better, though I was starting to feel kinda down.  First stop was the park!  Hayden didn't care too much about playing at the playground versus wandering around the woods on a bear hunt.  He was convinced he was going to find a bear!

Then we started going on some rides!  Hayden was feeling the effects of staying up all night and just wanted to cuddle with Grandma Shari, but Kylie was up for jumping on the tramp and then the bouncy house.

Then Grandpa Gary and Brandon joined up with us and we went on the mountain coaster.  Probably our most favorite ride!  Hayden still wouldn't let go of Grandma Shari!

Then we took the tram up the mountain and had some lunch, after which it was definitely nap time.

Everyone got a good nap in before going out to play some more!  Many more rides on the Mountain Coaster and even the Alpine Slide once.  We had finally gotten Hayden away from Grandma Shari and he was going to go down with Brandon, but then he saw me and came and sat with me.  And then last second he went to join Grandpa Gary.  Crazy kid!

Then some more jumping and playing in the bounce house.  The kids could stay on that attraction forever!

Friday we went to the playground again and took a short walk through the woods.  Hayden loved it and was so fascinated by everything, but Kylie cried practically the whole time because there were too many bugs and too much dirt.  So we came back and went swimming!  It was a deep pool so Kylie really got to show off her swimming skills!

Then Grandma Shari took the kids back home and Brandon and I got to spend the evening alone up at Snowbird!  Which was really nice because I was really feeling my head cold by then and it was nice not to be chasing the kids everywhere.

Saturday we met back up the the kids and Grandma Shari and Grandpa Gary only to find poor little Kylie all sick again.  I think she has a bad case of swimmer's ear.  So she and I spent the day in bed napping and the boys spent the day playing video games.

Sunday we headed back home in the morning after a quick stop to see Grandma Tess.  She had a birthday present for Kylie and Kylie loved opening up her surprise on the way home.  Hayden also had a little something and it was a nice distraction from the long drive!  And now we are home!  We had a super fun time visiting everyone and spending some nice time up in the cool mountains!

Kylie Turns 5!

On Monday we received a surprise visit from Grandma Shari and Grandpa Gary!  They had dropped by for a few hours and their visit helped make last weeks madness better.  Kylie loved it because she got her birthday present a day early!  Then she and Hayden had a lot of fun playing with all her new toys.

Then we all got together for dinner before Grandma and Grandpa had to head back home.  Brandon and I decided to keep the kids up and go see the fireworks in the center of town for Independence Day.  Kylie and Hayden had fun with the sparklers and pop-its and when the fireworks finally started it was 10 PM and we were all sleepy.  We were also RIGHT next to where they set them off, so it was incredibly loud, but really fun to watch.  I covered Hayden's ears the whole time, but Kylie was so upset by the thunderous fireworks that she had to go sit in the car until they were over.  Next year maybe we won't sit so close...

Tuesday was Kylie's birthday.  She was officially five!!!  So exciting!!  We went swimming that morning to celebrate and then went shopping.  Kylie had gotten letters from Aunt Connie and Great Grandparents Naylor and so she got to choose some presents with her birthday money.  That night had a small family party.  I didn't plan a friends party this year because everything was up in the air with moving or not and I didn't want the extra stress.  But this worked out because The kids have been kinda sick lately anyway.  We had cake and presents and then played with her new Lego set!  Super fun.

The rest of the week was quite restless.  First Hayden got sicker, and now Kylie has gotten sicker.  It's really just a bad cough, but Kylie is making it worse because she doesn't want to take any medicine or fruit gummies or anything!  It is really making me crazy how she won't take anything to help her feel better.  Kylie also lost another tooth this week!  So now her two bottom teeth are missing!  But one is already growing in!  So crazy!  I am wondering if that has contributed to her fever lately.

Saturday we were able to go out and have some fun.  We went to a little glow in the dark mini golf course.  It was super fun and air conditioned.

Then we lazed about the house with our slightly sick children for the rest of the day.  I am really hoping they feel better soon because we are planning on going up to Snowbird this next week!