end of September

We had a busy, full week this past week. Lots going on, and I actually took some pictures!
Monday Emily got braces, just on the top. She was nervous and a little scared.  But she did great and will be happy to have beautiful, straight teeth in about 10 years! HAHA.
Both Taylor and Emily are already into orthodontics and it's crazy expensive but so worth it.

Tuesday was a warm day and we decided to take a bike ride after school.  We ended up exploring down by a stream near our house and Emily and Isaac got attacked by hornets!! It was so scary and they were in tons of pain. I made Taylor bike home and get Grandma Shields to come pick us up, because they were sobbing and there was no way they could bike home. It was really a traumatic experience.
 Luckily grandma came and saved us, and they skipped soccer practice while laying on my bed covered in ice, bug spray, toothpaste etc...
Later that night their friends made this cute poster along with some ice cream to help them feel better. 
I am so glad that day is over!

Our SLC library has a pass called the "Community Education Pass"
I checked it out this month and got into all these fun places for free!
So this week we went to:
Red Butte Gardens
Discovery Museum at the Gateway
Natural History Museum
All for free, it was perfect timing because the beginning of the week was warm and gorgeous weather, great to see the gardens. And by the end of the week it was cold and rainy so we went to the museums. Plus the kids had No school on friday so I could bring Emily and a couple of friends. (Taylor was with his friends)
Here's some pictures of our fun week.

Lizzie is obsessed with these tap shoes, they were Emily's and they are 5 sizes too big for her, but she loves them!!!

Monica and her girls came with us to the Gateway museum.
All the kids were in heaven playing and having fun. Isaac and Becca were the cutest mailmen, busy delivering all the mail.

They also loved the Museum of Natural History, it's an amazing museum full of lots of fun to explore.

Saturday morning was Mary's baptism.
We got up early and drove to Lehi and spent the morning at her baptism. She and Emily are already 8, it seems like they were just little babies.
These girls are great friends and we love having cousins live nearby.

After the baptism we met at a park for donuts etc... The kids had fun playing with their cousins and eating donuts.
It was a fun morning, and we are so proud of Mary!
Emily will be getting baptized in November...so exciting!

The weeks just race by- before we know it Christmas will be here!

I haven't been taking any pictures lately, too busy I guess.
But the other night we had a gorgeous double rainbow above our street.  It's been pretty rainy lately, which is great! I love the beautiful rainbow after a summer storm.
Here's Lizzie playschool group.
She is really liking her school and has a lot of fun while she's there!  She is growing up too fast.

We had out ward/neighborhood "Fire and Ice" party!
It was a super fun night, chili and homemade icecream cookoff, the fire truck and live music.
The kids had a blast, and it was a great way to spend a warm fall evening.

Here's our cute neice and cousin, Eden. She is so adorable, we can't wait to meet her!! We really wish Jen and Chandler lived closer to us.  Move to Utah already!!

Lizzie has a little playschool that she is doing with some of her friends.  They meet once a week to play and do crafts, read books etc.. I hosted this week and we had a lot of fun.  It's a cute group of kids!

I took the younger kids to
"This is the Place" state park. They loved riding the train, seeing the animals and Isaac rode the pony. Lizzie wouldn't ride a pony she was too scared. It was a fun outing.

Every Thursday while Taylor takes Ukelele we play at the nearby park. Lizzie was loving swinging on these swings. She looks so big and grown up now! She is growing up too fast.

Emily likes to stand on top of the play structure and dance. She's very good at climbing things.
I can not believe she is almost 8! How is this happening, I wish I could freeze time right  now and keep all my kids right where they are.

Danny and I went to the James Taylor concert at the Conference Center. It was an awesome concert, we had tons of fun! We didn't take any good pics though. But we love his music, it's mellow and fun to listen to.

Soccer started on Saturday.
We have all three kids in soccer which makes our days crazy and busy!
Good thing it only lasts for 8 weeks!
Issac has been SO excited about playing soccer. He has been asking everyday when his game will be. Isaac is a cute boy and did awesome at his game. He really liked the halftime snacks of oranges.

Emily had a game after Isaac's. She did great too!
It makes for a fun day to see all these soccer games.
Taylor had a game too, but Danny took him and didn't get any  pictures.



It's starting to feel a little like fall.



Danny and Taylor have been working hard on  building a patio cover for our back porch.  It is coming along good, and we are excited to have a nice shady area to eat and hang out in. 

We said "Goodye" to the Reeds on Monday. They left for Ireland until Christmas! We love having them on the street and really miss them while they are gone.
Lizzie especially will miss yelling at Logan and Dallas. 



Lizzie is looking like a big girl now, and really should get potty trained soon.  Taylor took some pictures of her diaper extra full-he thought it was so funny!



Lizzie and Allison have been playing well together lately, they love playing dolls, and hauling all their stuff around. 
They are so funny and adorable to hear interact while playing.

We went to the zoo this week, and Lizzie begged to go on the Merry Go Round. I got her a ticket and put her on and then she freaked out! She cried to get off so we moved to a bench on the ride. I guess she's still not ready for Lagoon or Disneyland.

The zoo was perfect- not very crowded and not too hot!
I love going to the zoo in the Spring and Fall. 

The kids spent the night at Goofy Grandma and Grandpa's house Friday night. Danny and I celebrated our anniversary.
They had a great time seeing a movie and playing with G & G Wall. Thanks for taking them for us!

Danny and I are celebrating our 14th Wedding Anniversary on September 2nd.
It's been a wonderful 14 years. I love being married to him and am grateful to have in my life.

We've been through a lot since we got married we :
Lived in four different states
Had four beautiful children
bought 3 houses
bought one pet, a king snake
had many jobs
taken four amazing trips to Hawaii
traveleved to Europe once
had countless laughs and fun times together.
It's been a fabulous 14 years and I'm looking forward to 14 million more years!!

Happy Anniversary to us!



We ended the summer with an amazingly fun day!  Everyone on our street pitched in and rented a huge bouncy slide. We spent the entire day outsdide with friends and neighbors. 



The kids had tons of fun on the slide, and got really tired by the end of the day. Isaac was very brave this year, going down doing tricks and playing "King of the Hill" with the big boys!

We got pizzas for lunch, had popsicles, snacks and then our friend made cotton candy. It was really a great way to end the summer!!

The power was out in our neighborhood for 11 hours on Monday. Luckily Grandma Shields never looses power, shes on a different power source. So we ran a long extension cord from her house to the bouncy slide.

Lizzie was being goofy this day afer getting a snow cone at the shiver shack.
She looked at this dollar bill and yelled "Grandpa!"
It was so funny...I wonder which grandpa she was referring to.

School started bright and early Wednesday morning.
Isaac will have afternoon Kindergarten so normally he will go to school from 12-3,  and then walk home with the kids.
He was up and ready to go the first day so we could get pictures and walk all the kids to school. 

Here's my cute kids ready to go!
Taylor 5th grade
Emily 2nd grade
Isaac kindergarten
Lizzie home school with mom!
She was totally in school mode, and made us get a backpack out for her.  She kept waving her hand at me saying
"Bye, mom. I going to school, See you later!"
It was really cute, but she was pretty sad when she realized she doesn't go to school yet.

It was hard to get up on time. Everyone had been sleeping in until 8ish or later.  School starts at 8:25, so I was dragging them out of bed around 7:40.



Here's the group of kids who walk to Uintah from our street. It's a good bunch of kid and all different ages too.




The night before school started I was tucking Isaac into bed and he got a panicked look on his face.
He grabbed my arm and said
" I don't even know any math! Will they teach me math in school?"
It was so funny. He had been thinking about all the things he does know, and realized he didn't know enough math.
I thought it was super cute!



Back to School is bittersweet. In some ways it will be nice to have a schedule but it's been really great to have fun, relaxed care free days all summer. I am not looking forward to homework, colder weather and just more business!



The kids all came home from schoo happy.
Taylor reported it was long and boring.
Emily said it was good and she liked her teacher.
Isaac seemed happy and told me
"Mom, you know I'm the ONLY good one in my class?!"
I laughed out loud as he described how everyone else was talking, crying and not listening to their teacher. It was hilarious!




Thursday after school we headed to Springville to celebrate Goofy grandpa Wall's 65th Birthday! It was a surprise bday party, and Danny was in charge of getting him to the party around 6:45.
Monica had the "Waffle Love" truck come to their backyard and provide all the food.  The waffles were loaded with fruits, whipped cream, nutella etc... They were delicious!



The kids had a fun night, running around and eating their yummy waffle.
We love Goofy Grandpa and hope he had a fun birthday party!

Isaac and I went on a little date to Yogurtland, he was thrilled with his  yogurt covered in gummy worms. 
I love his smile, cutest 5 year old around!