Back to School

The kids have started school again! I love my children dearly but I was ready for them to go back and I think they felt the same way. 'I'm bored' was a phrase I would hear at least a couple times a day along with 'there's nothing to do!'.

 The kids have great awesome teachers and are enjoying being back in school. I have already subbed and have 12 more days scheduled for the month which I didn't except so fast into the school year but I'm exited and I'm looking forward to spending more time at the kiddos school this year.

Mads

Something new Mads takes to school everyday this year are some glasses. She has 20/20 in one eye and 20/30 in her other eye. Not horrible at all and the only reason she would really need to wear them is to make it easier for her to read the smart board during class. Lucky for her she sits on the front row. Soooo...so far she hasn't used them at all! I'm just happy its week two in school and we haven't lost them yet.

Maddie

Gymnastics is something new on our Friday's to do list. It amazes me how coordinated Maddie is and how easy things come to her. She so didn't get this from her parents. She did awesome and her teacher was impressed on how quickly she caught up for her first time. 

She had a super huge grin after everything she tried! 

It doesn't seem long that this picture of Kenzie and Mads was taken. I love it! Kenzie loves Gymnastics and just made the cheer team at her school. Hopefully Mads will love gymnastics just as much as her cousin does.

 I had a hard time of the idea of spending a little bit of our Friday nights at gymnastics but her class is so small(probably due to the crappy time) that she gets so much extra attention that I think we'll just have to make it work.

Scrivy Crew/29/SLC

SLC
We spent a few hours in SLC on Saturday. We had a great time exploring new places.

Our first stop was Memory Grove(thanks Celeste for this hot tip). What an amazing park. We had a great time taking pictures and going on a fun short trail. Dogs don't need to be on a leash on this trail so we saw a lot of dog owners and K9's. Of course this made my hubby want a dog. I could see the longing in his eye. Someday we will find the perfect dog.

After spending a little time at the park we headed over to The City Library. It's huge and way open for my comfort zone. I was sweating bullets when I notice all of the glass including the elevator. I hate heights. But what do you do in a place like this...

(inside the elevator,only 2 levels up,3 more to go at this point)

(Maddie's sharp eyes noticed these mini books hanging from the ceiling are actually making up a person's head)

Our last stop of the day was at Bruge's. Yum!Yum!Yum!

  I've got to say I was dissapointed with the machine gun sandwich. Jason's opinion was it was fine edible but not the best, I just liked the frites and sauce on top. Of course the waffles on the other hand are so yyyuuummmmyy! The stuffed cheeks prove it.

And that's a wrap for our SLC adventure.

Scrivy Crew
Camping is just so much fun with friends! Especially if you go with the Scrivner's.  They know how to camp!!!They have a great philosophy I'm adapting into our camping trips from now on. Yummy food!
We had a great time together...

• camping
• playing at the beach
• hiking
• getting dirty
• making ice cream
•  and laughing(really hard as a chair Crystal was sitting on broke)
• 2nd camping trip of the year broke the record we have so far with the trailer

 It was just for one night but man it was so much fun we'll have to make this into a yearly tradition and The Eckardt's will step in up a notch by next year.

Crystal and I took the kids on a little hike after setting up camp.

Dirty. 

Paxton is such a good baby!

Four cute little monkeys hanging in the tree.

Making homemade ice cream.

Like I said The Scrivner's know how to camp. We had a great hobo dinner and dessert. 

Jason took the kids on a little walk to a nearby creek we discovered earlier in the day.

Two cute girls. Addie is as tall as Mads.

At the beach.

More beach fun!

I'm almost convince that maybe backpacking into the wilderness isn't as bad as I think it is if it's really the way Crystal and Dan described it.  Maybe Jason and I will have to try it sometime next year.Maybe...
29

Jason turned 29 on Saturday and after such a fun camping trip and playing we down played the celebration with a simple date night. Jason and I went to see Inception. It was a  great movie and really awesome. I'm glad we saw it on Jason's birthday. It made the day end perfectly. Love you Jason! Can't wait to celebrate your 30th birthday!That leaves a sour taste in my mouth;).

Summer Fun

Clapp's Pool

We have had another fun summer in the Clapp's pool. This is one of our favorite summer treats! Korbin can now swim the length of the pool and go off the diving board with ease. Maddie can swim for longer periods of time but I still hesitate a little with her going off the diving board without a life jacket on. We've been very lucky to have been going over to the Clapp's for the last few years. It's crazy to think how much the kids have grown since our first visit. The Clapp's are just a fun couple to be around who are a great example of the friendliest people I know. 

 They've just announced they will be moving to a condo across town. We'll be sad to see them go and leave our ward but the best part is they will live close to grandparents E's so we can still visit.

Dinosaur Park

While packing up Kati's house and getting everything ready for the move Mads and I ran into some pictures of us at dinosaur park. For a few years our x-mas gift from Kati's family would be a dinosaur park membership. We used it a lot! Every Saturday was our day to spend time together and catch up on the week and this is where we could let the kids run wild. After seeing the pictures Mads has wanted to go back so picked a Saturday and off we went. 

It definitely has loss a lot of the appeal it use to have on the kids but they still managed to have some fun with a few new exhibits.

Eckardt's

Some fun pictures with all the Eckardt's. It's crazy to see how big this family has grown.

I love this picture of Kenzie! She's turning into a beautiful young lady and is so pleasant to be around. Let's count on the rest of the girls to follow her lead.

Everyone is back home now and settled. We've been spoiled and have had a lot of fun the last few weeks doing different things together. It has been so great! We miss everyone very much but we know we'll see everyone again in 2 months in sunny California! 

Pineview

I took the kids to PIneview for the first time. I had forgotten how much fun it is to play at Pineview beach. We stayed for a few hours. Long enough to eat, get some pictures, visit with friends and I end up out of the water fight. I didn't even get a candy bar out of it. I ended in 30th place. Realistically I'm really glad to say I'm out so I can sleep again! I was having bizarre dreams with different scenarios and strategies. Now it's someone else's turn to try to be mischievous and get my target out.