First Backpacking Trip

This past weekend Luke went on his first backpacking trip!  He had a great time, and we are so proud of how great he did.  Friday afterschool he and Jer headed up Logan Canyon and hiked up to White Pine Lake for an overnighter.  It's about a 4-mile hike each way.  Jer said he complained a little but not a lot!  He was so amazed at all of our backpacking stuff that he got to see and use for the first time.  We've done quite a bit of car camping and hiking with the kids but this was the first time he got to see the little stove and water purifier in action.  He is a gadget guy like his dad, so he was totally impressed.

They picked a perfect, warm night and Luke was also impressed with Jer's sweet cooking skills--not something he sees around here a lot.

On the way out Luke found an old, broken dog leash which provided a lot of entertainment.  He used it to get bad guys in the bushes and trip Jer among other things.  He's also no dummy and at some point hooked it on Jer's backpack for a little extra pull!

The rest of the weekend was great too.  We all met up at the Liechty's cabin at Bear Lake on Saturday morning and then headed to the beach for the day.  The drive up was so pretty.  We had the kids at Tony's Grove a few weeks ago and only a few trees had changed but now it is absolutely beautiful.  I love fall!  Even though it was September the water was tons warmer than when we were there in July (at least warm for Bear Lake).  The kids were fully submerging, and we had a great day topped off with way too much food at La Beau's.

Luke and Caitlyn warming up after a dip.

Jer and Steve in their cute swim shirts.

This guy needs a post of his own soon.  Let's just say he has left the angelic baby stage and is becoming quite opinionated.  He's a cutie though. 

The whole gang.  We got the van stuck in the sand and the easy-up blew away and took out Caitlyn but other than that it was just a lazy, almost summer day.  Please stay fall...I am in no way ready for winter!

P.S.  I didn't think Blogger could do worse than the old way to upload pictures, but they managed.  The new editor is terrible.  Only click that preview button if you have all day.  I might have been muttering a few choice words while trying to post this.  Frustrating!

Big Preschool Kid

Seth started preschool last week, and he loves it! It's so nice to have a child that just wants to be dropped off and go do his thing. He goes to Ms. Jenny who lives about 5 minutes away from us. Every time we drive in that direction he asks if we are going to "my Ms. Jenny's house." He picked out this really tacky Buzz Lightyear backpack with lots of bling on it but for some reason he did not want it in the picture. He wears it with pride to school though!


It is hard for me to believe he's already three. I know time will keep flying, and he will be in school all day before I know it. I love having him at home with me, so his preschool is only twice a week which is great for both of us.


What am I going to do with the three hours per week with just one child that I now have? I don't know...the possibilities are endless though. This Tuesday I went to the grocery store with just Ian, and it was awesome...like being on vacation...almost.

Seth is becoming quite the character, and he charges through life at full speed (doing lots of crashing into things in the process), but he is also very sweet and doesn't seem to have an aggressive bone in his body. I find him laughing with Ian all the time. We sure "lub" him around here.

Cute Kids

So we've had more firsts around here the last few days and I need to do another post with some pics, but I just wanted to write down a few cute things my kids have said recently.

You probably had to be here for this one but the other day at lunch Seth told me, "my tummy is starting to rumble." I kind of laughed and then he said, "my favorite food is gruffalo crumble." Then I realized he was saying the line from the book "The Gruffalo." It was pretty cute, and he wanted some "gruffalo crumble" for lunch. We had to improvise.

Last night as we were driving through the parking lot at the park Luke starts yelling, "hey there's Cream. He's in my class."
Me: "Cream?"
Luke: "Yes." We went back and forth with that a few times.
Luke: Starting to get frustrated with me, "Cream, C-R-E-A-M."
Me: "Like ice cream without the ice?"
Luke: "Yes!"
We still didn't quite get to the bottom of it. He told me "Cream" has black hair. I'm thinking it must be like "Kareem." Anyway, it was cute and he finished the conversation by saying that "Cream" had a brother that looked exactly like him. I asked if they were twins. He said "yes it's his twin only older." Apparently we're still a little fuzzy on the concept of twins!

Glad I have these cute kids to make me laugh everyday. Ian is currently pulling his favorite trick of sticking his hand under the lid of the garbage can on purpose and then squealing until I notice and help him.