I'm a Big Kid Now!

Adam's first day of Pre School

We are doing a neighborhood pre school and Adam is loving it!  They have already done such fun things.  He has 5 kids in his class and we each take a month teaching.  I will have them all next month:)

Here they are learning the letter "A" sound 

Number Jumping 

Singing Time "One Little, Two Little, Three Little (Toes/Fingers)"

 

Number Ball Sorting

 Play Dough

 Hands and Feet

Learning to Ride

Adam is also learning how to ride his bike.  The bike is a little big, but he is doing well and will grow into it soon.  I still think he likes to zip around on his scooter a little more though. 

 Brandon had to get in on the action too:)

Here are a couple of videos of Adam just growing up.  The one above is him riding his bike, and the one below is him doing a flip at Kangaroo Zoo.

Birthday Boy!

 Happy Birthday Adam! 

Adam started out his day waking up to balloons on his door.

 Kangaroo Zoo

When David got off work, we went over to Kangaroo Zoo.  It's just a huge bounce house for kids.  Adam loved it. 

 It took Brandon a little while to warm up to all the bounce houses and slides, but once he did, he and Adam had a blast together.

 We were even able to convince Brandon to climb up the huge slide and come down!  Adam had no fear and was doing jumps and flips and "surfing".  It was an active little boy's dream place.  I'll have to add the video of some of his flips later.

Birthday Dinner

Adam chose to have chicken dino nuggets, artichokes from the garden, and a mandarin orange, pineapple, marshmellow salad.  Kind of funny.

 Spiderman Party

(Once again, David does the decorating and does a great job!)

Adam got a motorcycle bike for his birthday.  It is a little big, but by next Spring, it should be perfect, and he is already getting the hang of it.  He had to go on a hunt for it and found it in the basement.  He was excited!

Last but not least, Adam got to move up to the top bunk for his b-day!  Brandon will soon be making his way into the bottom, so we can free up the crib for the baby.  I think Adam feels pretty big and cool that he gets the top.

Family Dinner B-day

Every month we have a family dinner and celebrate the birthdays for that month.  Adam got to share it with Aunt Lacy and I am pretty sure she let him pick out what kind of cake he wanted:)

I think all the cousins enjoyed it!

We just love Adam so much and hope that he had a special day.  He is such a thoughtful and helpful boy.  I just can't imagine life without him in our family.

Triathlon Time

David competed in two triathlons this year.  He did a sprint Triathlon in Bountiful and then did an Olympic Triathlon at Bear Lake.  He worked really hard and did a great job!

Bountiful Triathlon

 Julie, David, Michael, Krystle, and Mike all did the Bountiful Tri this year.  It was fun to have so many people to watch and cheer for.  It is becoming quite the family event and tradition, and we are looking forward to more doing it next year, including me:)

The Run: 5K 

(David and Michael had a lot of energy despite only getting a few hours of sleep the night before, because they stayed up talking all night long:) I think they payed for it later on in the race though.  H/H!

 The Bike: 11 miles

 Off to the Swim: 350 yds.

Julie and Mike both placed in their age divisions.  Way to go!!  David and Michael vowed to take the next race much more seriously and to get some sleep!



Bear Lake Brawl

This was a much bigger race and David's first open water swim.  He and Michael did this one together and both did really well!  They both reached their goal times and had a great time.

 The Swim: 1500 meters

 The Bike: 24.8 Miles

 The Run: 10K

David was really pleased with how he did.  He got his goal time of 3 hours by just 2 seconds!  Now he is already talking about doing a Half Ironman next year.  He really enjoys the training for these events and works really hard.  I am proud of him.

 The Cheer Squad

Bear Lake was a really fun place to watch the event, because we got to see David a lot during the race and while he was out on his bike ride, the kids got to play on the beach and in the lake.  They were in heaven!

 We also got to make a trip out of the event, which was a lot of fun.  We stayed the weekend in a condo in Garden City with Michael and Lacy and Julie.

We went to the famous Pickleville Playhouse and watched a play called "Who Killed Juanito Bandito?"  It was pretty funny.  We also got fresh Bear Lake Raspberry Shakes and just enjoyed relaxing together.

 Bear Lake was gorgeous and the weather was just perfect.  I think we may be coming back!

Colorado Trip

Beautiful Colorado!

Erin and Mike planned a trip out to Colorado.  We stayed in Ridgway and visited Ouray and Telluride while we were there.  It was a quick trip, but we had a great time.    

Nauni came with us too.  She was a good sport to sit in the back and entertain the kids.  It was only a 6 hour drive, and the kids loved switching between cars to go with their cousins, but they also got a nap in too.

Here was our cabin.  It was called the Log Hill Retreat and it was a retreat:)  It was HUGE and just beautiful.  The kids all bunked in one room and had a blast.  The views were great and it was so still and quiet out there (well until our kids came along:)  Every night David and I would go out on the porch or balcony and just sit and enjoy.  We had a full moon too, so it was just so peaceful and prefect.

Driving to and from our cabin gave us this beautiful view of the valley.

The Gang!

There were deer and elk everywhere.  This morning we found 5 right across the street from our cabin.  I think the boys were getting a little close for my comfort though.

Bachelor-Syracuse Mine Tour

We toured a real Silver and Gold mine. We boarded a mine train (also called a "trammer") and advanced 3,350 feet into Gold Hill.  It was very interesting.  We were just wishing Papa Jones could have been there with us since he used to work in mines. 

Naters got chosen to show how they drilled ore veins and worked in the dark.  He was pretty brave to just hold on to that tiny peice of metal while the tour guide took a wack with a sledge hammer!

Cascade Falls

We then hiked up to some Falls.  It wasn't that full being so late in the year, but the kids were still able to climb up to it and enjoy it.  We waited and waited for a group to Canyoneer down the Falls, but they never came, and we couldn't stay any longer to wait and watch them. Too Bad.

Erin and her kids all scrambled up to this little cave found by the Falls.

Box Canyon Falls

After Cascade Falls, we ventured over to another waterfall.  This one was CRAZY!  My pictures don't really show it, but it was just huge and powerful.  It is located in a park, so they have it pretty regulated and cut off. 

On the hike to the top of the Falls, you could see a view of Ouray nestled in the mountains.  It was a cute little town.

Million Dollar Road

We then took a scenic drive on the Million Dollar Road.  It was pretty cool.  I took so many scenic pictures on this trip, but only put a few on.  My pictures can never really seem to capture it though really. 

We saw lots of old mines along the way.

Ridgway Railroad Museum

We stayed in Ridgway and went to their museum.  They have a neat history of the railroad along with mining.

The typewriter was the hit of the museum!  It was hilarious how the kids were all fighting over that to play with.  In here they were using all the old equipment to be railroad dispatchers.  It was cute.

Telluride, CO

Our last stop on our way home was Telluride, CO.  It was a fun little town and the kids loved it there.

Brandon could have thrown rocks in the rivers all day long.  It kept him occupied for hours!

Nauni and the kids

Another beautiful scenic drive home.  We took some backroads home and got to see some great scenery. 

We had such a great trip.  There was so much to do, we wished we had more time, but then it always makes it good to come back!  Thanks to Erin and Mike for planning it all and inviting us along:)