Beauty all around

My brother Ryan has been posting pictures of the sunsets, sunrises and all sorts of beautiful sky pictures. I thought I should be paying attention to these things more - the sky is beautiful no matter what the weather. My favorite though is the sunbeams streaming through the clouds.

 I love it when my kids stop to notice too and look up. Lea ran to get her camera to take pictures of the sky one afternoon.

 Amazing how you can look to the back of the house and a storm was coming yet the sun was shining on the front of the house. Different views offer different perspective. I'm grateful for the times when I remember to stop and look up at the beautiful paintings in the sky.

Stars, bugs, and swimming

 Poor little Ammon is terrified, terrified!, of ants, bugs or any creepy crawly thing. He got bit about 15 times (all at the same time) at the pool over the summer. This time it was at Beckers. Jeff put him in the grass to he wouldn't burn his feet on the sidewalk - he started screaming about ants biting him. We couldn't see anything at first - 5 minutes later he's feet were covered in swelling bites!

We were hoping to see the meteor shower - not so much. Instead we pondered the meaning of the ipad and what apps would help us find constellations and why Ethan was still awake.

 oh that's right - he was swimming??

 those are actual stars - not specks on the lens. :) we saw a couple shooting stars, but nothing like a 'shower'. all in all a great time because we spent it with our very favorite people and our kids were all asleep - except Ethan of course.

Mo turns 2!

 Seriously - where does the time go!? Brendan (my nephew) left for his mission shortly before Ammon was born. When my sister started sending out his final countdown for the mission I could hardly believe it - Ammon was only 1 right?! Oh man he's almost 2!!

 a little birthday pizza and superhero theme

 Happy birthday to Mo-mo!

 and blow!

 toddler parties bring out all the crazy!

time for presents. do you love the pink bean bag chair he chose for his seat of honor??

 I caught it!

 Is he not the happiest 2 year old!? I love this kid - he's hilariously funny and so very sweet. 

Happy birthday Ammon!

1st day of school - 2012-2013

Since we were getting home the night before school started, I did some back to school shopping for uniforms and a few essential school supplies: a pencil, lunch, and water. Let's not go overboard I didn't have a lot of space for things and really who needs every single supply on the very first day??

The night before, Jeff gave each of the kids a Father's blessing. Tears were shed and the Spirit was very strong as the kids were able to put aside their fears and prepare for a new school year. I love this moment in time.

Bright and early the next day because school this year starts an hour earlier - 8 am and not 9!

 Mo eating 'who-knows-how-old-pizza' he found in the fridge.....

 1st grade - 6 years old!! Miss Phillips class

4th grade - 9 years old!! Miss Carpenters class

 waiting for mom to show up - the drop off line/parking was chaos!

Bye Lucas! It's crazy she'll be doing this next year.....

 Success!

Abbey's first day of Preschool - she starts Kinder next year!! Mo is going to be so bored - except he gets to nap while she's at preschool. :)

 Preschool with Miss Janna and Miss Jackie - yeah!

Back to reality, schedules, and school

Jeff arrived late Friday Aug 3, we left Saturday morning (side note: Kim Bateman's dad Jim passed away this week from cancer - very sad and fast. His funeral was the day we were leaving town - Aug 4th)

I don't have any pictures of Jeff's arrival because we were too busy enjoying his company after 3 weeks - kids were a smidge excited. They spent the next morning playing in the grass and having a great time with their dad. We drove to Provo and stayed with my aunt and uncle. We got in at 1 am - traffic in Utah is always a nightmare it seems...we stayed for breakfast, they left for church, we locked up the house and visited with Steven for a little bit. Then back on the road. I finally pulled the camera out around Flagstaff - beautiful clouds and sun streaming through.

barely visible but there's a double rainbow

stickers kept some of us entertained

movies on our 'hanging-in-there-please-last-a-couple-more-hours-we're-down-to-one-screen' dvd player.

candy from the gas station in Page kept others hidden from view.

we love the car! sort of.

Finally make it home and it's 102?? Ugh. Oh and it's 9 pm.

Jeff takes the camera and heads inside because he sent me this picture a couple weeks ago: and a note - Tell Lucas I cleaned his room - Jeff

(I showed Lucas the following picture - he was devastated! Called Jeff and practically in tears. He soothed some fears but didn't explain why! he was 'cleaning'.

Here's why:

Jeff had his phone on the bed recording everything - Lucas was/is so excited for BUNKBEDS!! He ran back in the hall jumping up and down yelling to his sisters - I got bunkbeds!!