{Mallory}

Mallory has been having a great time lately. Starting Kindergarten and soccer have been plenty to keep this girl busy.

Her kindergarten teacher is Mrs. Rigamoto and she has loved her. Every day she comes home from school excited about a new song, an art project, and chasing boys at recess. The other morning I was doing her hair and she said, "Mom I found the boy that I am going to marry." A little caught off guard I asked what his name was and if I should meet this boy since they were going to get married. She said, "His name is Cooper and you don't need to meet him yet because he doesn't know we are getting married yet." I asked her if he was cute and she told me that he was the cutest boy in class.... I was picking her up from school, as we were walking she told me she needed to whisper something to me, she whispered as she pointing ahead of us, "Mom that's the boy I was telling you about, but don't say anything, it has to be our secret.

On the first day of school I got to spend the 1st 30 minutes in Mallory's class helping her with a craft, watching her sing and dance, doing her 1st assignment. I was having more fun than her I think, she kept asking me if it was time for me to leave yet. This girl is definitely ready for the school experience. This year for soccer Mallory has lots and lots of friends on her team. We still are not sure if Mallory is loving soccer but we love to go to the games and watch her play.

{Lily}

My little Lily has had two huge 'Firsts' this last month.

When we got back from our vacation from Washington she found out that her friend Afton started riding her bike without training wheels. So, she was bound and determined to do it to. She begged and begged to have her training wheels taken off so finally Jared took them off for her and off she went. She needed a little help getting started but soon she was doing that by herself. She is one determined little girl. Once she puts her mind to something she doesn't stop until she gets what she wants or accomplishes what she started.

She also started preschool. This was a long awaited day. She has been asking to start school since Mallory started last fall. She has been so excited and I was nervous enough for both of us. I don't know why I worry about Lily more than Mallory when she is away from me but I do. I soon found out that I had nothing to be nervous about and she did just fine without me.

Lily and Mrs. Forsyth

Lily and Macy, it always helps to have one of your bff's in your class

Lily before her 1st day of class, don't mind the mustard on her chin, don't worry I got it off before she went to class!

{Lewis}

Lewis has grown so much in the last two weeks. He just turned 9 months on the 11th. He has started sitting up by himself, crawling, pulling himself up, getting into every drawer that is low enough for him to open and pulling everything out, talking and laughing constantly, not to mention grown at least an inch in height, at least it seems like it, he is getting to be a pretty big boy.

Jared was so proud of him. We took him to his first ever high school football game and couldn't have been happier for the entire time. He would even put both arms above his head when the crowd would cheer, may have been coincidence, but it was pretty cute to see him get into it with the crowd. Jared even told me that Lewis may be ready to go to a BYU football game by the time he is 4. We'll see, Jared doesn't like to miss a play and a 4 year old my be a little bit of a distraction.

Absolutely loves bath time...

Lewis loves to eat tomatoes fresh out of the Garden

Cutest Girls Ever!

Bryn, Kristin and I went to Park City to do a little shopping and ended up with the same dress for all of our girls. So of course you need pictures, right? These girls have been the best of friends since Lily turned 1. They seriously drive each other crazy but they can't get enough of each other. Could there be a more perfect group for a co-op. 6 girls, 3 of them just started kindergarten and 3 - 3 year olds.....I have had so much fun watching this group of friends grow up together...hope there are many more years of fun. THANKS BRYN for the awesome pictures!

Battlecreek Falls

A couple of days ago Jared and I took the kids to Battlecreek Falls in Pleasant Grove. It was a short 1/2 mile hike up and the kids loved every second of it. On the way down Jared decided to jump in the pool of water at the bottom with the girls. They did not have their swimming suits and thought it was so cool that they could get in with their shoes and socks on. The water was freezing cold but they didn't mind a bit. All day they kept talking about getting in the water with their clothes on. After that Jared caught a butterfly and let Mallory hold it. She surprises me sometimes!

Jared and I have decided that we need to do more things like this with the kids. We have so much fun and the kids are awesome when we do fun things as a family.

LeMoNaDe StAnD

Mallory has been begging me all summer to do a lemonade stand. I told her that when we got back from Washington I would let her do one, with the slight hope that she would forget. I should know my daughter by now and know there is no way she is going to let me forget something as important as a LeMoNaDe StAnD. I went to get Lewis's hair cut in the morning and brought Katelyn home with us to help with the stand. They had a blast!

Katelyn and Mal out by the mailbox trying to get people to stop

Our first Customer

Ruth was nice and bought two cookies and two lemonades from the girls...they were SO excited.

Trip to Washington

We had such a blast on our family vacation this year. We were able to go for 9 days to Washington state to visit lots of family... We left Friday night when Jared got off work and drove through the night. I am a horrible night driver. I will fall asleep at the wheel within 15 minutes of driving, no matter how much sleep I have had. ( I only know because of our last attempt to drive thorough the night somewhere). So Jared had to drive the entire way. I really feel bad that I can't help but for the safety of our family we decided that I wouldn't even try this time.
We stopped at a rest stop just before bedtime to let the kids run I tried to take some pictures but realized my battery was dead and I left the extra battery and the charger at home. I was so bummed... Luckily Grandpa Wright had a charger that worked with my battery so I was back in business. (Sorry, no pictures until Monday)

Saturday morning we got to Scott and Marianne's around 8:00 AM. They made us an awesome waffle breakfast and sent Jared and I to bed. They took the kids to the park and let us catch up on a little sleep. After we woke up Marianne and I went and did a little shopping, by the time we got home I was so sick I could barely stand up without getting really dizzy. I had the chills and had to go and lay back down. Jared, Scott, and Marianne took the kids to a lake and let the kids play around, I forgot their swimsuits (who goes on vacation without swimsuits?) so they just played around the lake and had a blast. By the time they got home I was feeling a lot better.

The next day (Sunday) we headed to Grandma and Grandpa Dickson/ Wright's. Little did we know what they had in store for us...we had a week full of fun things to do!

As soon as we got there Lily and Mallory wanted to go and see the chickens and the cows. There are both pretty timid around animals so they weren't so sure they liked the idea of Grandpa letting the chickens out of the coop to run around. Grandma and Grandpa assured them that the chickens were more afraid of them they were of the chickens. They seemed a little more comfortable around them until the next day.... I had just gotten back from the grocery store when I heard Mallory high pitched scream of horror, she was running towards me with a chicken hot on her trail, she was scared to death. I know it's horrible, but I was laughing so hard I was crying. She starting yelling at me "I thought you said they wouldn't chase me." Then she stomped off and said "I am going in the house." You could bet that if the chickens were out of the coop Mallory was inside from that point on.

Monday we went on a hike to the ice caves in the mountains past Verlot. It was so much fun, the girls loved the hike (about 2 miles round trip) and the ice caves were so fun to see. Lewis was in a backpack we borrowed for Jared's cousin, and loved every second of it. He was so tired he fell asleep but woke up with the biggest grin on his face.

Tuesday we went to a little beach right across from Downtown Seattle. Jared's cousin Janice and her husband Matt went scuba diving for sea creatures. They brought them up and put them in a large tub so we could see them up close and touch them, if we wanted. Thanks Janice and Matt for taking time to do that for us!!! Thanks Grandma for making sure there were seashells there for the girls to find, definitely one of the highlights.

Wednesday we took a ferry to the San Juan islands. The girls absolutely loved being on the ferry, out on the deck by the water.

Thursday we went to Darrington which is a logging town in WA. If Jared would have had the opportunity he would have loved to go to WA and log for a summer so he loved this. Then we went on the Deception Pass. It was so beautiful. Then we went to fort Casey. The girls thought it was named after me. It was an old military fort built pre WWI. It was fun for the girls to run and play in. They were even able to hide with Grandma and scare us. Grandma took the girls out to a field right in front of the fort and they went on a "bear hunt." We saw lots of bunnies and deer. DarringtonDeception Pass Fort Casey

Sadly, Friday it was time to leave Grandma and Grandpa. We had such a fun week that went by all too quickly. Grandma had a new surprise for the girls every day and they loved going to watch cartoons with Grandma and Grandpa every morning when they woke up and every night before they went to bed. Thank you for helping us create such fun memories! Friday night and Saturday we spent with Scott and Marianne again. Friday night Marianne and I went to the mall so I could go to H&M, Marianne's favorite store in Seattle, I had to see what it was all about. Cute, cute stuff. Can I just say the shopping in WA in crazy, huge malls everywhere. It may be better for our budget that we live in UT. Thanks Marianne for showing me the shopping scene.

Saturday we went to Pikes Market. It was so fun to go downtown Seattle, it is definitely a different world than what I live in but so fun to visit. The flowers they had for sale at the market are amazing! $10 for the biggest most beautiful bouquet I have ever seen. After the market we went to a pier by the aquarium and had lunch at a little sandwich shop. There was a band playing so the kids ate their lunch and danced to the music. What a fun afternoon and the weather could not have been more perfect. On the way back to Scott's we stopped at my Uncle Dave's and Aunt Diane's house for a short but sweet visit and the girls even walked away with a little bear as a treasure.

Early Sunday morning it was time for the vacation to end. Even after 9 days we were not quite ready for it to end. We had such a great time and were ready for more. But we had to get back to reality. Thanks to everyone who made our vacation the best!