End of Summer, Back to School, & Lost Teeth

 The week before school started it was pretty hot (high 90's is rare for Santa Fe) and so I was brave enough to take 3 kids by myself to the local community pool. My kids absolutely LOVED the froggy water  slide that dropped them right into shallow water in the kiddy pool. It was great. Wish I would've taken pics of Brocky there, he loves to play in water.

 Ella also started school here , and has to wear uniforms. I thought it was annoying having to spend a ton on a whole wardrobe after she was already set for summer.  But now it's not a fight on what to wear to school. Everything matches with navy and khaki. I also thought she'd be worn out going to school all day (catches bus at 7am and dropped off at 3:41p), but she came home saying,
" I thought it was going to be a long day!?" 
These pictures were taken at Back to School Night this week.  Above she is sitting at her desk.
  She has Mrs. Daniels and Miss Rose. 

That night as we were getting out of the car going to her school for Back to School Night, her other front tooth fell out while sitting in the car.  It's hard to see in the pictures, but now she is truly missing three on top, and looking so old to me.
This little girl of mine is growing up too fast!

Valles Caldera

 A few weeks ago we went up just past Los Alamos to Valles Caldera to visit our last missionary serving in our Greenwood 2nd ward, Elder Chris Luster.  He invited us to his homecoming talk and luncheon back at his beautiful home.  His parent's property actually sits right on the edge of this valley, which is actually the tip of an old ancient volcano!  There's actually been a couple movies filmed here, and actually one on his property using his barn. "The Missing" with Tommy Lee Jones was filmed here. (Valles Caldera is a National Preserve, and a 12 mi wide volcanic caldera in the Jemez Mountains in northern New Mexico. It is one of only six known land-based supervolcanoes.)

His family cooked us up an amazing feast with bbq's and smokers.  The tri tip was delish.  My kids loved playing on thier trampoline and visiting their horses.

 

 We took a little walk in the middle of the ancient volcano surface, where our kids enjoyed running in the high meadow.

Family Reunion: Park City, UT

 My family has met up in the Bear Hollow cabins in Park City, UT for the past 7-8 years now.  It's just a good meeting place for everyone and there's always lots of fun things to do there. There's a community pool, hot tub and workout room, which we took full advantage of.  Scott wasn't able to come the entire time since he had to work, but he was able to fly up for the weekend!

 We took a couple different trips and rides on the ski lifts and gandolas with my brother's unlimited free passes.

My mom took my kids to the alpine slides and kiddie rides for some quality "nanna" time.

 We all went bowling the night before Scott flew in, sad he missed out.  My kids LOVE to bowl and it's such a fun thing to do with the entire family.

 There's always a competition between us all, and my mom raised the stakes this year to $20 for the winner. My little bro took home the gold!

 On Saturday we headed down to Heber to ride the Heber Valley Historic Railroad, or the "Heber Creeper" as my mom calls it.

 They do this little act where the train is getting robbed by some gangsters.  My kids were honestly scared out of their minds. They were told to stick their hands up and they kept them up for like 5 minutes after the gangsters left our car to go on to the next. 

So entertaining!

We also had some other fun times like ladies-only shopping trip to the Park City outlets, and shopping at the new City Creek Mall in downtown SLC.  We had such a great time all together, but really missed our one sibling Jenna and her family (who had just moved to Shanghi, China).  Next year maybe we'll all go to China to visit them :)  But thanks to everyone else for making the effort to all get together, we love you all so much and wish the week didn't have to go so fast!

{9 months}

6 months - consistently rolling over

7 months- sits alone

8 months - started crawling

9 months - pulling himself up and standing

Ready for church on Sunday

1st Haircut at 9 months.... MUCH needed!

Weight: 21 lbs

Height: 29 inches
8 teeth
12-18 month clothing

Favorites:
sweet potatoes & corn, applesauce
finger food: puffs, carrots, peas
toys with noises or lights
attention from Ella & Cole
blanky & thumb for naptime/bedtime

We sure do enjoy having this sweet baby around,
we love you Brocky!

Fishing in Irvine, CA

Scott was gone in Irvine, CA last week for training (rough life), and he took full advantage of his free time at night.  One day after meetings he headed down to the dock and went on a deep sea fishing trip with his buddy Matt Gunnell.  He caught a barracuda and just as he was reeling it in, a sea lion jumped up and snatched the fish and took off.  It was dark so Scott could hardly see what was going on but Matt saw the whole thing.  The sea lion swam under the boat and out of sight. 

SIX

 I still cannot believe my little girl is six years old already.  It was Sunday and so she woke up to presents and balloons on the mantel before church.

 After church we were able to have our quick little family party before taking Scott to the airport (Irvine, CA for dental training, rough life).  Ella's favorite thing amongst all her gifts, and what she's been begging for weeks now is a dream light pillow pet.  She wanted a rainbow unicorn one, and luckily I could find one the day before.  I was seriously on my death bed the entire week with the flu+sinus infection and thus had no time to bake a cake or plan any kind of a party with friends ( like we have any here yet either).  So, poor girl had to celebrate small this year, but she got everything she wanted so she was happy. We love you Ella Bella Babooshka!

Ella's Favorites:
color: pink, purple and blue
food: mini corndogs
toys: dream lite unicorn (pillow pet)
game: picnic game
school subject: free playtime
movie: barbie series
outdoor activity: swimming pool
teeth lost: 6 total
friends: Brynlee, Adrienne
Weight: 46 lbs.
Height: 47 inches

ALBQ

 Since Ella's birthday is on Sunday this year, we had to celebrate the day before.  She was given a bunch of choices but wanted to go to the Zoo in Albuquerque. 

Cole looks like he's about to jump in here.... can you blame him?
 We all wanted to!

 We got there later in the day since we had to run a bunch of errands first in Albq.  We saw a ton of animals, but only saw 1/2 of the zoo.  Next time we'll take the train from the Zoo to the Aquarium and Botanical Gardens!

 We had a great day at the Zoo, even though it was a scorching 100 degrees we were not ready for (we're used to our mid 80's in Santa Fe).  The kids did great, and Brock even got a nap in; puffs were great to keep him busy.

 Before heading home, I wanted to see the Albuquerque Temple which we'll be going to.  It was huge, compared to Louisville, KY.  The grounds were beautiful and had a walkway all around the temple.  They have a building next to the temple that houses the distribution center and "waiting" area for kids to be babysat in (perfect for next time).

 I LOVE those beautiful ginormous mountains in the background.

{Independence Day}

 Our 4th of July was a jammed packed day.  We started out by Scott taking the older kids to an early parade in El Dorado.  He said the kids did an excellent job collecting candy. Their secret was to stick in their back pockets real quick so when the next candy thrower came by they were empty handed. (check out their bulging pockets while looking at the goats)

Then we headed to the plaza in downtown Santa Fe.  There are tons of shops and indoor mall strips, restaurants, galleries, and so many fun things going on. There was a live band playing right when we got there in the middle of the square.

 (Note to self: ALWAYS bring the double stroller when going out with all three kids!)

Right off one of the main streets off the plaza was St. Francis Cathedral. It was one of the oldest and coolest buildings downtown. So interesting to see their holy water and other rituals in the catholic church.

 Then of course Scott had to take the kids fishing, so we went up to Abiquiu Lake.  Unfortunately, no luck catching any fish, but the kids did pull up a crawdad.

The beautiful Rio Grande

After fishing we went back home for dinner and baths, and then walked down to the park 2 houses down from our house for the perfect view of the fireworks set off by the HS stadium. The whole day was a blast, and the kids even got to do some sparklers!
Happy Independence Day!

Santa Fe Mountains

 One amazing thing just 10 miles north of Santa Fe are these gigantic mountains and ski resort. The scenery is night and day difference from the desert of Santa Fe.  There's green grass, aspen and pine trees, running streams...

We took a little hike through the mountains and it was so refreshing to see some greenery.

From one point we could look out over the whole valley and see Santa Fe and Albuquerque.