August Rush

This month was totally crazy! Between trips to the doctor, two new stay-at-home jobs I've started, a masters course I'm taking, and of course my #1 job--the kiddos--it has been hectic! I have been a slacker about blogging, but we've actually done some pretty fun things this month. I don't want this to turn into a travel log, but here's a quick rundown of what we've been up to and tons of pics. Warning: you don't have to look at all the pictures if you don't want to!!

Three weeks ago we made a really quick trip to Twin Falls to see the Wards and go to the temple open house. I thought this was a great experience for our kids (and us too). We had a fun time. The Wards, as always, were great hosts and took really good care of us. I was a slacker and took no pics. The next weekend we went with a huge group of our friends and their kids to Park City. It was one of those time share deals, so we had to listen to a presentation. We all showed up to the presentation with our kids, and I think the salespeople wanted to die. They had a room for the older kids to play in. We took Seth in with us to the meeting but that did not stop our guy from making a 90 minute pitch! It was so hot and I thought I might pass out. Needless to say we did not buy. The rest of the time was great, but I totally slacked on pics and only took a few.


We had a barbeque by the pool with the whole group one of the nights. The kids had so much fun. There was a giant checker and chess set there. They just threw the pieces around and no one got knocked out so it was all good.


Luke is into dressing up lately. He likes to choose his own clothes (those red shorts are a fav), and he puts on all sorts of other stuff too. He also gets in his Dash suit from last Halloween all the time. He also always has a ton of weird, little toys with him. Wherever we go his hands and carseat are full of "treasures."


This is Luke and our neighbor Blake. We see him numerous times per day. I'm not sure how Luke was going to see with this one.


Seth can get into trouble faster than I can blink. He is the messiest kid! He needs several new outfits per day, and he is constantly taking stuff from drawers, cabinets...and leaving it all over the house. When I took the garbage out I came back in and he was helping himself to the cleaners (I forgot to put the child lock back on)--not my best parenting.


Seth got a litte more than he bargained for on this one. Our friend was testing our sprinklers and as soon as Seth heard the water he went booking around the house. I followed him to watch the sprinkler start up and shoot him directly in the face. He turned around and was just letting it hit him in the back of the head before I could rescue him. The look on his face was priceless. I don't think it was exactly what he expected.


This is my cute boy, affectionately known as "Big Baby." Sad thing is he's not much of a baby anymore, so we might need a new nickname.


Sunday afternoon we went up to Tony Grove and had such a great time. We didn't get there until evening, but the kids were so good on the drive and it was so fun. I'll admit it--there are days when being a mom is frustrating and I struggle with patience and wonder what I am doing wrong. Days like this totally make up for those. I could not stop looking at my cute kids and feeling so grateful for them. Their pure joy at being kids and being outside with their mom and dad was awesome. It was just one of those magical mom times when I couldn't get enough of squeezing my kids. Now I'm a realist--the magic didn't necessarily stretch into the next week, but it was a great time. Times like these make up for the sometimes frustrating, monotonous days--nothing makes me happy like my kids do!

Last but not least--the kids have had lots of fun swimming different places this summer, and they really like our little backyard pool. All of the water on Seth's head is from Luke dumping it on him, but he is a great sport about it. Luke was so excited to find this tiny caterpillar.

This was our best effort at a picture "together." Neither of them are super cooperative.

That's all for now. I guess summer is basically over. Crazy!