The Recent Going Ons

I'm so behind on our life. The kids are growing and changing so much so quickly and I haven't posted it. I'm a slacker and feel discouraged because of my ineffectiveness and inefficientness. I just don't get anything done!

The following are some of the pictures I have taken in the past month that are especially noteworthy. Some things I want to remember. Here we go!I have started taking Cadence and Cooper to the FIRC for storytime again. We go with Cadence's best friend ever - Jack! When Cadence was a baby, Jack's mom, Heidi, was her babysitter for the 2 hours I worked at Wilson. When Piper was born, I started taking her to Camille's. Now Jack and her are the BEST of friends. She is seriously depressed if Jack doesn't make it to storytime or if she doesn't get to play with Jack at least once a week. Of all the friends that Cadence has ever had, she gets along the best with Jack! They are so silly together. Heidi is one of the sweetest, most kind people I have ever met. I am SO GRATEFUL for her friendship! Picture taken by Cadence!
Chris was assisting in painting a lady in our ward's house. Cadence begged to come along. She really enjoyed her first "painting service project." She is a good little helper!
Cadence enjoys playing dress up and singing made up songs. Here cousins dressed her up in this gypsy looking outfit. I think she looks adorable. Unfortunately, we don't have a ton of dress up clothes, but we use what we have!
Cooper is growing and changing so quickly. He is such a cute boy and I can't stop kissing him! I found this cute little onesie outfit at the thrift store for a quarter. I love it on him. He is full of curiousity and keeps me busy and on my toes! I love this stage of life (but still wish I could get stuff done.)
Some friends gave us this put-under-your-washer-thing, but it doesn't fit. It is outback. Cooper enjoys crawling around it in and Cadence likes to climb on top of it. I just think it is a cute picture!

Chris changed the brake pads (or something like that) on the truck. Cooper and Cadence had to be right there assisting him. Cooper would pick up the wrench and bang on the wheels and hubcaps. He catches on quickly!!! Like father, like son.
Because the weather is getting cooler and the days shorter, we emptied the pool. The kids had an absolutely blast laying on the side of the pool while the water flowed out! I think they had more fun doing this than actually swimming in it:)
Cadence picked out a bike helmet with flames. Although she is still intimidated by her bike (due to the slopping sidewalks that cause her to tip), she loves to ride it around. For a couple of nights, we rode bikes (mom or dad on a bike with Cooper in the burley) and the other walking/running next to Cadence so she felt secure. We rode around the block, in ever circle, etc. When Dad got home, it was time to ride bikes. I wish we had better, safer sidewalks:)

A silly thing that Cooper loves to do for many meals is wipe his dinner all over his face AND hair!!! He is such an insane eater. Unfortunately, he will NOT wear a bib. He rips them off or moves them to the side so he can get his clothes dirty! Silly rascal!!! He laughs when I tell him not to!

Cadence's First Day of Real Pre-school

We decided to enroll Cadence in pre-school this year. I know she is only three, but she is so smart and keeps asking when she can go to school. I put her on the list for Riverside. It is the pre-school for kids with disabilities (mostly speech delays, some severe) for Logan City School District. She is one of the "model" peers. It is important to me that the kids learn to love people with disabilities and not be afraid of or make fun of them. She goes 2 days a week for 2.5 hours a day. Cadence was so excited to start school. She woke up at 6:30am because she was so excited. Even though I have been taking her and Cooper to the FIRC for storytime, she really wants to go to school by herself. The told me, "You can leave now, Mom. I want to go by myself." Chris and I drove her over and these are the pictures we took of our big girl!!! Cooper is growing so big too.

Cadence's teacher is Miss Joy (Coombs). When I was in the SPED program at USU, she was my practicum partner at Logan High. Funny how she is Cadence's teacher now!!!

Cadence LOVED her first day. She came running out smiling and happy. She got a treat, stamps on her hand, painted, sang "The Wheels on the Bus," traced her name, played in the sand and more. Since I know the bus drivers, they let Cadence and Cooper sit on the bus while they were loading the kids in wheelchairs. Both thought the bus was SO COOL!!!

Cadence wanted to play in the sand more. (It is becoming standard that after pre-school, we walk to the playground and play in the sand for 30 minutes or longer.) She told me all about school and how much she likes it. I'm so happy!!! We walked home in the stroller because it is only about 1/2 mile from our house. By the time we got home, Cadence and Cooper were both asleep. A very big day indeed!!!
For the most part, she has really enjoyed pre-school. She can spell her name verbally now. She traces her name too. She hasn't loved writing letters yet. Some of the things she has said are, "one, two, three sides. One, two, three angles." I guess she learned about triangles that day. She sings these cute little songs for cleaning up and about getting a friend. Cooper and I go to aerobics at the church and do some errands while she is at school. We usually ride the bike with the burley connected to pick her up. This works out well in our schedule. I'm glad that Cadence is liking school!!!

Bringing Grammy Home

Three weeks ago, my mom was able to leave my sister's house, where she's stayed for the last month, and go home. Her broken ribs and pelvis are healing and she's feeling much better. She walks without a walker!!! I picked her up and drove her to her doctor's appt in Sandy. After that, we stayed at her house for 5 days assisting her in getting used to home and being on her own again. I stocked her fridge, made meals, did laundry, cleaned, ran errands, and entertained the kids. (I should say, I attempted to stop Cooper from destroying Grammy's house.) While we were there, the kids and I (and Grammy) had a lot of fun.

We ate at McDonald's, played at Chuck E. Cheese, drove on Charles' tractor, feed the sheep apples,

swung in Grammy's huge tire swing,

ate lots and lots of grapes off the vines,

ate and played at Burger King,

discovered the inside of the dryer, (Cooper first, then Cadence)

and drove on a Sunday evening temple trip.

How cool is it that Grammy lives within 15 miles from 4 different temples? First, we visited the Draper Temple. SO beautiful up on the bench (surrounded by ENORMOUS houses)!!! Cooper fell asleep in the car.

Cadence practiced her modeling skills while wearing her princess shoes. She cracks me up!!!
Then, we drove to the Oquirrh Hills Temple. Cooper woke up! Walking around the temples was quite enjoyable!!!

I wish we could have gone through this temple during the open house. Poor planning on my part. On our way home, we stopped in front of the Jordan River Temple for the kids to see.

Gorgeous places!!!

Grammy is now back to work and doing well. Gratefully, she only broke her pelvis, not her hip. She has many people at home who care about and are watching over her. Let's hope this is the last big accident she has for 20 years!!!!

Harvest Time

I love it when our garden starts producing food we can eat. The corn has come and gone too quickly. Between being in Boise and going to my mom's a couple of weekends, we didn't get to enjoy it much. It got "old" too quickly. We have been enjoying BLTs, zuchinni casserole, grilled zuchinni, shish-ka-bobs,delish cherry tomatoes, corn-on-the-cob, cucumber sandwiches, salads, etc. If only the veggies were ready to eat in July and were good until the end of Oct.!!! We still need to eat the eggplant and potatoes! Love fresh veggies right from the garden.
Unfortunately, I was hoping to be able to share more, but there is something wrong with the soil or something else. Our zuchinnis don't produce much and the leaves turn a misty white color. A couple different plants grow big and green and even blossom, but don't produce many veggies. Frustrating. We have a lot of tomatoes though. So if you live in Cache Valley and want some tomatoes, please come over and get them!!!

Blistering Hot Boise

A couple of weeks ago, we drove to Boise to visit my sister, Natalie, and her husband, Richard, and daughter, Breelle. We've been trying to get up there all summer and knew this was the last weekend we could go before Breelle started school. It only took us 4 hrs. and 15 minutes to get there:) Sweet! It went by quickly. The kids slept half the way. I read to Chris articles from the Ensign. When the kids woke up, I crawled in the back and we sang song, read books and were silly.

The first day we were there, we attended the Idaho State Fair. Breelle and Natalie enter photos and crafts and sometimes flowers or grown things in the fair. It was HOT, almost 100 degrees, but we still had fun! Cadence actually PET and FED the animals. Miracle!!!

Cooper pet the animals too! He's never been afraid of them. He even let some of them lick his face. Look how cute he looks in SHOES!!!



There was a large variety of animals that the kids were in awe over! Aren't these cute?


There were lots of activities we participated in at the fair. The girls painted ceramics. Cadence's was a kitty that turned out VERY COLORFUL!!! Blue, purple, green. So creative!!!

Cadence and Cooper LOVED the alligator show. Three weeks later, Cadence is still talking about the alligator and the guy that wrestled with it and put his hand in their mouth! She was amazed.

We watched a guy paint pictures with spray paint. It was so unique and cool. He created a picture of the Salt Lake Temple in the clouds while we watched...with spray paint!!! The kids also met a clown. She gave them stickers. Cadence doesn't like sticker on her skin because she says they hurt.
We watched Splash Dogs, dogs that jump horizontally upto 20 feet. We were dying of the heat!!!

Breelle won a special prize for a cross stitch she did. She won several other first, second and third place prizes for her work. Natalie got third place for a photo she took in Alaska. We really enjoyed the fair, except for the blistering heat!!!! The kids drank a lot of water! Cooper was a wild man. If we didn't keep him in the stroller, he was everywhere attempting to touch everything!!! I love this crazy kid!!!
Back at the house, we goofed off and played dress up. Breelle is a great cousin for Cadence. She plays well with her and shares all her treasures!




We played at multiple parks around their house. Cadence is loving playing "Little Girl." I am the little girl and she is my mommy and Cooper is her husband. We played this and pirates and magic show at the parks. We also made washer necklaces that you can find at my other blog.
The Hannah Montana Girl Talk game we gave Breelle for her birthday was a hit!

Chris went fishing with Richard and caught a dozen or so croppy. We ate them for dinner!
Cooper enjoyed playing with Jack. Cadence didn't. She still is disliking dogs!
After church, Natalie had some friends from work over for a potluck salmon dinner which they caught while in Alaska. So tasty! We left for home. It only took us 4 hrs. 23 min. Yahoo!!!

Thanks for letting us come visit! We will be back next year!