Labor Day.

I really love coming back to see family.  This particular trip was most anticipated.  My Grandma has recently been hosting a family Labor day party.  This is one time in the year where I can see my extended family.  The weather was just right for this Labor day in Utah.  I have always wanted my kids to know their cousins and to have a fun time, because that's what I had.  I loved family parties.  I loved having some of my cousins live next door to me.  The boys loved playing in the water on this great Labor day.

Daxton loves babies.

This is my Grandma Ellen.  She shares her birthday with Henry.  This was her first time meeting Caroline.  In fact she was a bit surprised to find out I had had my baby.  She lived in a nursing home and it's hard to get the word to her.

My dad set up a nice slip and slide for all the kids.  Creativity.  He had found a large tube and a big old tarp that was used to cover a football field at one of the local colleges.  Add a little water from sprinklers and a hose and this thing was awesome.  Can I just say isn't this totally awesome!!  I didn't get to go down because I was still within my six weeks of having had a baby.  Parker was brave and went down first and found the joy of the slide.  It took Lincoln a lot of convincing to go down.  He went with Uncle Nick once, thanks Nick for your attempt.  Uncle Brady tried next and slowly got Lincoln to like the ride.

Here's Logan.

Parker.

Logan.

Parker.  I really love that when you watched others come up from the hill they always had a smile on their face.

Daxton.

Uncle Nick and Reagan.

We needed more sliding distance because everyone was sliding off onto the grass at the end; so my dad dragged in another tarp.

I wish I could post a video because as the time wore on the kids started making trains going down.  They had a train once with about twelve kids, Brady was in the back. :)  The biggest kid right at the end jumped in the tunnel and chased down the train; my aunt Cheri.  Oh my goodness it was the best laugh of the day.  She hadn't brought any clothes to change in but she had fun going down the slide a few times.  I hope that one day I can have fun like she does.  She was always that aunt to really get us laughing.

This was Henry's one time ride.  He wasn't too happy.  Thanks for trying Brady.

Eventually Lincoln became a lover of the slide.  We couldn't get him to stop.

After a little while we had a baby shower for my little sister.  This was one of the first all girl shots we have had in awhile.  I think it's been at least 8 years since our last one.  This was Erika's first baby.

Henry found a lot of entertainment in Grandma's toys.  This table used to be painted in blue, yellow, red and I think green (when I was little).  Reagan is Henry's cousin who was born two days after him.  The little girl on the left is my cousin Layne's kid, Berkley.

My cousin Makayla loved holding Caroline.  In fact it was fun to see all my cousins fighting over her.  Ryan wouldn't give her up but in the end let his sisters Carrie and Lanae have a turn.  Caroline was a big hit with the family.  I really enjoyed being with my family and spending time with them.  I'm glad that Willie and I are a bit closer so we can participate in fun times like these.  Thanks Grandma for hosting a great family party.

September come and gone

September 2012

One of the fun things we saw on our first morning in Colorado was a rabbit hopping up the street.  Since then we have seen about three more one of which was in our backyard.  Mental note (keep them out of our garden next year).  

I can't believe that Caroline is only a month and a half old and her hair will stay in a little clip.

A Georgia past time.  Playing in the rain.  The rain is colder here so Linc didn't want to stay out very long.  It was fun to see him in his rain boots again.

Lincoln also helped me to bake some cookies one day.

The boys were introduced to a slip and slide during Labor day.  When we came home they set up their own slip and slide in the living room.  Taking the cushions off of the couch they laid them up to create a ramp then put their blankets down as far as they would go.  Wild kiddos.

There were a few patches in the back yard that needed some help.  My dad gave us a bag of seed and we spent a portion of our morning getting it laid.  The boys had fun getting the soil prepped.

One of Caroline's first photos of her smiling.  I love it.

One day I walked in to see these two hooligans getting into the powdered sugar.  We put it away.  In the back of their minds they were not finished...

 In October I had had a rough night one night and the next day I asked the boys to be good while I took a nap with Caroline.  I admit I left them for too long.  I even woke up once realizing I had not put the powdered sugar away that morning, I shrugged the thought off.  When I came down around 11 I found it had snowed in my kitchen!  In some spots the powdered sugar was a 1/2 thick.  The only way at the moment that I could figure to clean it up was to wipe up as much as I could with a dry cloth and then I would have to get it wet.   

 I saw on Pinterest once that you can teach your kids to sweep by putting a square on the floor made of masking tape.  Both Lincoln and Henry had turns sweeping up the p.s.  This mess even made it on to the carpet in both living rooms.  After an hour I had the floor without any white.  It still needed at least three more washes.  Oh yeah and the day before our floors were super slick so I had mopped twice to try to fix the slick stuff.  Can I just say I was tired of mopping my floor.  From start to finish it took three hours to clean up the mess.

 Lincoln was pretty tired by the end that he fell asleep at the table.  That doesn't happen often.

Caroline turned two months old!

 

The weather is perfect fall weather.  I love the light coming through the trees.  They boys really love riding their bikes along the sidewalk.

Recently we have had an angry bird at our house.  Poor Linc has been quite ornery.  He really fell in love with Angry Birds when my sisters were out to visit.  I found these jammies 75% off at Target.  I wish he had given me his real angry face.

Switzerland.

Willie went to a conference in Switzerland the first week of September.  He had a paper accepted and was the lucky guy to go.  He didn't get much time to plan his trip other than that on one day he would leave early from the conference and travel about an hour on the train to go to the Bern Switzerland Temple.  Some of the photos he took were for the kids, something fun.  Willie enjoyed his trip, maybe next time I will get the chance to go with him. :)  

The Bern Switzerland Temple.

Willie always brings home flowers for me...usually in picture format.  I enjoy it very much, he's a romantic.

In the middle of a nice old part of town a volleyball tournament was set up.  Willie watched for a little bit, he l

Willie later saw this guy looking a bit upset; having perhaps just lost his last match in the game.  

Such a beautiful place to visit.

I hadn't realized that Albert Einstein lived here.  There were a couple of museums dedicated to him.  This particular one showed some of his inventions, Willie didn't get to go inside because it was too late.  Einsteins home was getting fixed up and so it was closed while Willie was there.

Here's is Willie with Alex and Tiago.

One of Willie's favorite lab mates, Mattheu. He works in France, pretty cool.

Poster board session.

One afternoon he visited the Headquarters for the Olympics.  Once again, I don't think it was open but he did see some fun things.

This looks so yummy.

Go figure.  You can travel around the world and still there is a bit of home where you are.  A Peyton Mannning Broncos Jersey.