Open houses and Rocky Mountains

My computer has been having problems and these photos feel like forever ago.  But I guess catching up is better than not documenting anything at all.

Nora LOVES shoes.  She particularly loves these shoes of Ben.  She put them on and wore them around the house for a full week and then cried and threw a tantrum when Ben went to put them on for church.  She was yanking off her Sunday shoes and grabbing and tackling Ben to get at his.  It was hilarious.  She also loves ice cream.  She climbed up on the table one Saturday and commandeered Ben's ice cream.  Which produced shrieks and tears from Ben.  Nora had grabbed his scoop of ice cream in her bare hands and was chowing down.   Oh boy!  She can sure hold her own against her brothers.

And these pictures remind me a little of Ben.  Ben would cuddle up with his bear on stairs.  Nora cuddles up with a book and then gives herself a rest on the stair.

These cute boys made a train out of our chairs and the old hose reel.  They played there for a long time.

Ben is also super funny these days.  His imagination is taking off.  He told us instead of killing bad guys he'd send them to outer space in a rocket that he could control by a remote controller.  

He also says the funnies things.  Shortly after we had finished singing "Scripture Power" he asked dad if Sid was a bad guy?  We both looked at each other wondering what he was talking about.  I started reviewing the lyrics in the song: "Scripture power keeps me safe from sin."  Oh...sin.  Not Sid.  Super funny.  We explained sin again and had a good conversation.

I also Love the way Ben says a few words:  yours= ores, theirs=uhms

Ben can also ride his bike without training wheels now!  So big.  I was taking a walk the other day and seeing both he and Isaac from the back on their bikes, Isaac slightly bigger and taller, Ben holding his own behind him, I wished I had something to take a picture so I can always remember that moment.  It was one of those good moments as a mom when you are just so pleased with your kids and everything is right with the world.  It was happy and adorable.

We had Shannon's family for a visit over Labor Day.  We went to the Fort Collins Temple open house and then headed up to Rocky Mountain National Park.  It was a day of adventure.

Aubrey was so cute hugging the statue of Christ.

Jeremiah was a good sport to hang with my boys.  He and Isaac thought it would be awesome to keep the slippers as a souvenir.  Super silly.

Isaac stood watching this lady play the harp for a while.  He really is fascinated with music.  

Some other cute things about Isaac:  He can be such a good helper and I love hearing his "okay" said with such enthusiasm and inflection when he is excited about what I've asked him to do.  He is reading super well and I like hearing him read to Ben.  He is LOVING school.  He seems to be mellowing in a lot of good ways.  I was watching him in our primary program last week and he was sitting more reverently and calmly than years past and it dawned on me just how much older he is.  He did start speaking a little loudly in the microphone for his part and stopped part way through to give an "ughhhhh" when he realized how loud he was.  Everyone laughed.  I guess even with the increased calm he is still "that" kid in the primary program.

So excited for this temple to be dedicated and operational!  What a blessing.

And to the mountains we go!  It was a beautiful afternoon.  We hiked around Bear Lake and then up to nymph lake.  The kids were troopers.

End of Summer - Start of School

This has been the summer of collecting bugs.  Mostly grasshoppers but some other things too.  Never spiders, thankfully.  My boys have a healthy fear of spiders.  I've warned them that some can bite and are poisonous.

It's been really fun for me to watch them spend hours collecting and caring for their grasshoppers.  I hope they always remember those long summer days in the back yard.

We've also still had plenty of legos.  Trying to figure out a good place to play with them has been rough.  Nora likes to dump buckets and break creations.  But the boys are too loud in their bedroom and wake her when she is asleep.  So we are still trying to negotiate that.

I bought a baby swing for our swing set and Nora LOVES it.  She wants to be outside all the time and now that it's cooling off a little more I'm more okay with stying out there to watch her. 

And then this big boy started kindergarten!.  He loves it and it has been good for the whole family.  He goes in the morning so we are all getting on a much better morning routine.

I bought the boys some clearance kites and they spent all afternoon playing with them.  Truly, they came inside for bathroom, water and meals only.  It was well work the 3 dollar kites.

oh, more first day photos.

The end of summer...the beginning of school age children.  Strange.

New Mexico

We took the opportunity to extend our trip a little and visit some things in New Mexico.  We drove through the petrified national forest.  That was pretty cool.  Jacob has all those pictures on his phone so I'll have to get them some day.  We got to our hotel late and so we decided on the quickest, easiest dinner option possible, IHOP.  

Nora was getting a little restless towards the end of it all so she and I headed out to enjoy the nice evening. The sunset was beautiful.  I've always loved sunsets, and this photo doesn't do it justice.

Nora the explorer enjoyed peaking in the window.

The boys went swimming that night while I put Nora to bed.  And the next morning we went to a few museums in the area.  They were fun.  We saw planes.

And replicas of atomic bombs.

Pieces of the Berlin Wall.

Another A-Bomb replica

The delorian and flux capacitor (or at least a recreation of it all)

A funny board game.

We stopped for lunch at a retro diner on Route 66.

It was a delicious greasy spoon.

We took a quick stop for Nora to nap and the boys to swim again and then it was on to more museums.  This time it was a hands on children's science museum.

We went out to dinner that night and Panda Express and then the boys got to go swimming again while I put Nora for a nap.  

All in all it was a really fun trip.  I remember the peeing in the car, the sleepless hotel nights with a teething baby, and the many urgent roadside pit stops.  The boys remember all the fun.  It's good they do.  I hope it's a positive memory for them as they look back.  Isaac said he wanted to do the whole trip again "exactly the same" so I guess it was a win!  No, I know it was.  I remember all the good stuff too.  Love this family of mine.