Colorful Fall Leaves? Not this time...

At the end of September, we always go on an annual drive with Russ's family to see the changing leaves. For some reason or other, there was no color when we went this year...At least not color in the leaves. We did, however, see a beautiful colorful rainbow, and the drive was beautiful all the same. It was pretty cold for our picnic afterwards, but the kids never seem to mind. I love traditions :)

Isn't Nora a little cutie?
These girls are so cute together! I'm glad they are good friends and that Mylie has a cousin so close in age to her. I can't wait until we move into our new house so they can get together again!   Oh, look! Someone must have talked to Nora. She has/had (still kind of has) major stranger anxiety. She is a mama and dada's girl for sure! Cute boys!   I love Coy's smile for pictures.   Here is the beautiful colorful rainbow by the not so colorful leaves.

Our Last Summer Activity!

We headed out with Grandma and some cousins for one last summer fun day right before school started. We rode the FrontRunner train to the Gateway to get lunch, play in the fountains, and get ice cream. It was a great day and perfect weather. The kids especially loved the train! It had been so long since they'd ridden it, I don't think they remembered it much.

The Ride on the Train:

  Playing in the Fountains:     Then Bennett and Mylie visited the moon and mars:

Our Fleeting Summer ~ {July}

Here is a recap of July now (and to be technically correct, a little bit of August as well.)

First off, the Fourth of July!

We started off with the annual 5K in our neighborhood. I did not run this year, but got to enjoy watching my little guy not only reach his goal of beating his time from last year, but SMASHING it! Bennett surprised us all (well in some ways I'm not surprised) and finished in 28 minutes 19 seconds! He is one competitive and driven six year old!

Here are the spectators:
Bennett's cousin, Franklin, ran with his Dad as well! He did amazing. I am so proud of these young boys making such big goals! I don't think I would have ever dreamed of running 3.1 miles at that age!

Bennett always gets his signature "red face" when he exercises hard.

The boys with their running partners (aka dads).
After, we headed to our annual breakfast and swim at my aunt and uncle's house. We love it so much! In fact, the kids say the 4th of July is their favorite holiday (right after Christmas, that is.)   Of course, the day wouldn't be complete without eating a pastry the size of your face. Mylie finished every last bite. Swimming makes you hungry!
It is almost impossible to get Coy to look the camera.
Bennett's floaties make me laugh in this picture. He for some reason got this terrible fear of deep water this year, even though last year he would jump off the diving board and swim to the side with nothing. His first round of swimming lessons was a fiasco this year...He was so terrified of where he "couldn't touch." Luckily, aunt Cheryl invited us over a little later in the month before Bennett' second round of swimming lessons. He finally got over his fear, and we couldn't get him to stop jumping off the diving board and swimming...with no help from any flotation device!
We discovered that in yet another way, Coy is so much like his brother. He found Bennett's container of cars, and with no help from anyone, this is how I found him. Bennett used to do the same thing: organize the cars. Look closely to see how he has grouped them all. Pretty clever.
We love Popsicles on the Swingset! Many days after dinner, we would finish up our day outside.
Coy tries to eat every last drop of popsicle, and is always mad when it is gone.
Mylie sporting her orange lips:
Here it is. Coy trying to lick off every drop. Look at his belly. That is why the shirt comes off first. I love his pout in the second picture. That is his signature pout.
He know right where to put the stick when he is done...
Remember the red face? He was playing hard again, so here it is! I think he tried to see how many times he could run up the ladder, go down the slide, run and touch the fence, then run back to the ladder and do it again until Dad got back with his ice cream.


Even though we already hit Disneyland this year, we still decided to go to our Stake Lagoon Day. We left Coy with a babysitter and missed him, but had a lot of fun with the older two. Mylie was such a good sport and went on whatever she could, and Bennett tried and loved all the thrill rides this year, although I still think his body is still a bit too little for some of them. (He bruised his head on Colossus.) His favorite ride of all was Wicked. We had fun taking turns taking him on that, and because he is so small, we always got on pretty fast because of the booster seat line!
The next day we headed up to a cabin Russell's grandpa built in Idaho. We spent the weekend there with the Harkness family. The kids had fun playing games, coloring, making cards, throwing water balloons, dancing, watching movies, and just having some fun relaxing. Mylie especially had fun playing with her cousin, Kaydence.
Here are those swimming lessons when Bennett was finally fearless..YEA! He did such a good job and hopefully we won't backtrack next year! And the last picture is just cute because the kids got to stay up and watch some fireworks from our bedroom window one night.


And that sums up our July and our first week in August! We just celebrated Coy's second birthday, so hopefully I will get all of that caught up and on here as well! And this past week, Russell and I reached our 11th anniversary! We haven't celebrated yet because we were camping, but will do so soon! And I just can't believe school starts again already this week! WHERE DID THE TIME GO??!!!

more easter~

I have so much I want to get on here! I need to get caught up so I can document all of the things I want to! I have so many pictures to go through, especially since we just returned from our trip to the "Happiest Place on Earth!" So I'm back to the Easter posts I never finished.

Here is our Easter Saturday.

A little family pic:
That morning we had a litte hunt at our house.







Mylie got some Princess CDs. She was in heaven dancing along!
Mylie drew this picture to give to my Grandma at the Easter Hunt she holds every year:
So we headed over to my Grandparents for the best Easter Hunt of the year! It is always fun to see everyone and the kids love the hunt, and everyone loves the pinatas!
Waiting in line to get out there and hunt:




Coy was a little terror that day. He didn't want anyone to help him, touch him, hold his hand, or hold him. He finally had to be confined to his stroller so as not to inflict injuries upon himself. He was happier when he got a little ice cream in him.
These are all of my parents' grandchildren...except for Blake. We wish he could have been there! Quite the group! (Yes mom, I will get you a copy of all of these group pictures if you want!)
Showing their true colors!




And Bennett brought home a little pinata souvenir, worn as a hat. He really wanted a picture of it.


There you have it! Our Easter Saturday in a nutshell!