Summer wrap up

We've done our best to add some fun before the kids head back to school next week. Casey went fishing with Brett on Thursday the tenth; he caught a couple of fish, and had a nice break for the day. That evening we went out and picked peaches at Northview. It was a quick pick because the orchard was closing early; so we grabbed what we could in ten minutes and left. I canned some peaches and made peach jam that evening. We finished our back to school shopping that night and then went for a couple of things this week (note to self - never save back to school shopping till August - options were low : /
That Friday we took the kids swimming to Nat Soo Pah. The kids and I have never been and we haven't gone swimming enough as a family this summer so we decided to go and enjoy the sunny afternoon. There was a slide that both the kids loved, and Kendal enjoyed the diving boards. Alice lasted a while before she needed to be fed and rest. It was a nice afternoon to enjoy some family time.

 

 

Sunday the 13th Peter begged to have a picnic outside. Casey was awesome and cooked up some potato salad, fried chicken, and cereal bars to enjoy!

Last week Kendal and Peter had earned a kids pizza meal as a reading reward from the Library so Casey took them out to eat for lunch one day and then to do one last free summer bowling.

Casey has had a lot of football since we came home from Logan. First with camps and now practice. He's working with a lot of new coaches on the middle school teams (aka football crazed dad's who get to coach their sons now - insert eye rolling and sighing).  He also started back to work last Thursday.
Last Friday afternoon we headed out to Raft River to do corn. We went out and picked the corn that evening. (Usually we husk them soon after we pick, but our motivation was lax so we saved it till Saturday) So the next morning we husked, cooked, cut, and bagged well over 100 bags of corn which is roughly 500 plus ears of corn. Besides Alice and James the kids are at wonderful ages to go play / entertain themselves. They happily played the day away and enjoyed cousin time! They even got to run through the sprinklers in their clothes and dug motes and pits in the giant sandbox. Alice was a trouper to hang out in the pack n play outside and deal with busy coming and goings and distracted Mama inside. (Unfortunately she and I had tummy / neither regions issues thanks to my antibiotics that made for an off day /week.) We ended with a wonderful meal together and headed home for a good nights sleep.

 

Monday was the Eclipse. We toyed with the idea of going to see the "total" eclipse; but  because we didn't have a concrete plan and Casey had football practice early in the afternoon we decided to stay home. We made pin hole viewers and "doughnuts" with the kids to enjoy. It was fun tracking the progress of the eclipse and the kids enjoyed the experience. Peter was sad when our "totality" was over and wanted us to control the sun and make it last longer.

We've hit up a couple of parks and the kids have had plenty of outside play these past couple of weeks. Outside time = lots of dirt digging and messy kids, and wonderful imaginative play with neighbors. We're soaking up our last bits of summer and freedom before we're bound by schedules and to do's.

This summer. . . 
Kendal has turned into a voracious reader this summer. She found a bunch of fairy chapter books she's in love with. She can read each chapter book in a little over an hour so she's devoured them one by one and has read around forty of them this summer. Kendal has thrived on our Summer to do list and completes her tasks fairly well. She loves having things planned out and likes to get privileges, or extra fun activities when tasks are completed. She's been pretty good about including Peter in her play with neighbor friends. They can disagree, push buttons, and argue like any pair of siblings, but overall they play very well together. Kendal still sMother's Alice and loves to offer her help diapering, feeding, her whenever we let her. Kendal is eager to start her school year. She will have Mrs. Saxton in second grade. She has her twin buddies Brooke and Meddow from her first grade class with her again. Kendal will also be starting piano lessons this year with Aunt Vanessa! She's excited to learn and I know she'll love it!

Peter -
While completing his daily to do's haven't been his favorite, he has done them this summer. He's going through a good stubborn phase this summer where he wants to listen less and act out more. We realize it's hard being wedged in the middle between knows it all, can "do it all" big sister, and gets what she wants / has a lot of attention (in his eyes) baby sister. I think he's a bit lost in the middle so some days so he acts out at one or both of his sisters. Either excessively bugging them, being a bit over the top with Alice, or not acting his age. He's still gets the best giggles out of Alice, he just doesn't know when to reign in the energy and can be a bit much with her. We're doing our best some days and failing others, but were trying to work with him more and give him more opportunities to shine and have positive experiences.We've signed him up for soccer this fall. We know he'll enjoy it; it will be a good outlet for him and it's an experience that's just his to enjoy and try out! He's nervous, yet excited to start Kindergarten. He'll have Mrs. Makings! ("The nice lady who's stamped our hands at football and basketball games" for the last four years") He's going to do great in Kindergarten; the routine of things will be great, he'll be around kids his own age, and he's usually great with others teaching him!

Alice -
Alice has grown so much this summer. From starting foods to learning to sit on her own, rolling everywhere, now making scoots forward (sometimes backwards ; ) all over the room to get what she wants. Nothings safe and she wants it all! She's in love with food, however she's kind of slacked off and isn't as interested in Nursing. She still loves to grab her feet and suck on her toes. She goes all over the bed at night and unfortunately still isn't sleeping through the night. (I'm just not up to torturing three different sets of neighbors and myself to let her cry it out and learn to sleep through the night. I've given in too much and this is the punishment I get.) She's a definite Mama's girl which for the most part I don't' mind - till I'm the only one she'll calm down for or my arm is dead from her heavy little load. She has the sweetest girly babble and it's fun when she goes off "talking" for a while.

End of July - Logan visist

A few weeks ago Casey and I celebrated our 11th Anniversary! We chose to do eleven acts of service during that week. The kids' favorites were putting away random grocery carts, boys vs girls pick up trash at the park (the boys won), and making treats to take to the primary president. On our Anniversary we had a relaxed morning at home. After lunch we went to the park to pick up trash, then we ran an errand over to Burley that took longer than expected so we got pre-dinner snow cones and picked up take n bake pizza to enjoy at home that night. Casey took Kendal and Peter bowling that week as a thank you for helping with the service. Casey and I had an at home date night Friday where we had a mini pie contest. (Winner's mini pie would be made into the big pie verson for the Stake pioneer dinner the next night) I made a coconut cream pie and Casey made a rich chocolate with meringue pie. His looked amazing and was super rich, but mine won the easy category so that's what I made the next day. Casey helped Brett and Vanessa build their shed that Saturday and then he joined the kids and I at the park for the stake activity. Kendal and Peter happily played with friends and on the bouncy slide / house.

I am married to an amazing man! I am lucky to be in love with my best friend and luckier we have eternity to enjoy together!

Sunday the 23rd we made our way to Logan to spend two weeks with family / working. (I'll try to write about all I can -mostly highlights; however I'm sure I'll miss some things.)
On the 24th we went up to the parade in North Logan. The kids enjoyed the people, princesses, and gobs of candy thrown our way. Alice got to meet her great Aunt Bonnie! Following the parade we went to the park for some fun. The kids got animal balloons (Kendal a duck, Peter a monkey, Elliot a monkey), played some pioneer / old fashioned games, and went down a giant bounce slide. We went out for lunch at Pizza pie cafe and then the kids all got to play in the kiddie pool at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Tuesday was low key, just playing at Grandma's house. We took a little walk around the Research Pond  and fed / scared the ducks there.

Wednesday we went out to Nana's for a while. Since the boys are working on homes in the subdivision next to Nana's we saw them also. Peter decided to sit on the sidewalk and eat his lunch while watching the boys pour cement. Kendal and Peter even got to work with Grandpa tying up rebar and Uncle Eric gave them a ride in the Backhoe.

Thursday I took the kids to the Elk Ridge park in the morning. There was a splash pad there so I let them go in clothes and all. There was even a water slide going from some local lacrosse teams practice. The kids had so much fun! Unfortunately when the fun needed to be done, and Alice really needed to go to eat and nap it was a struggle to get them to leave so when we got back to Grandma's the kids had to eat lunch and play outside for a while till they dried off. That night I took the kids out; we grabbed some yummy doughnuts and went for a walk around the temple grounds. We talked about Casey and I getting married eleven years ago and Kendal and Peter rolled down the temple hill like I did on my wedding day. We saw a couple getting their pre wedding shots and two girls getting their baptism pictures done; (Kendal's baptism excitement continues to grow!)

Friday night we went up to the the Preston Rodeo Parade. On our way up we stopped at Pepperidge Farms for some fish and cookies! We had a bit of pizza before the parade started and the kids got more treats to enjoy! Thankfully Peter wasn't terrified of the horses this time, however there was one that trotted over as the rider handed Kendal a treat Peter bolted back where Casey and I were sitting.

Saturday morning the boys poured cement. After lunch we made our way down to the Ogden dinosaur park. We spent the first while outside exploring the paths and looking at the dinosaur replicas. Peter's favorite was the huge T-Rex and Kendal liked some prehistoric bird she thought looked like a penguin. Alice happily strolled along with us. My parents and Kathrine joined up with us for the last bit outside. Then we went into the building to see some fossils and other displays. The kids thought it was cool that there were guys there drilling away rock from some fossils. We took refuge in the Air Conditioned space for a while then let the kids play on the Dino playground till it was time to go. That evening we made our way to Farmington join my Ernstrom cousins for a dinner. It was nice to catch up and see some family we haven't seen in a few years.

Sunday we went to church at my parents ward. Alice was a chatterbox almost the whole time. Since it was a fifth Sunday they had a combined meeting the last hour which was a parenting Q and A. It was neat to hear from many people that taught, coached, mentored, and influenced my life sharing advice and knowledge. The kids happily enjoyed Popsicle's that the ward was giving out afterwards. David and Anica had us up to their home that evening for dinner. The kids happily played away the evening.
During our second week in Logan I decided to redo my parents front door. I spent a couple of days scraping then painting the metal door. I'll just say it ended up being more than I bargained for, I still hurt, but the end is one good looking door so it's all good.

 (Decided pictures of cute kids are better than the messed up / restored door)

The kids sadly had to say goodbye to Auntie Katheirne as she went back to work Tuesday of that week. Tuesday night we ate a picnic dinner at Adams park. The kids loved digging around in the volleyball pit!
We did a round two at the park and splash pad with Elliot and Anica on Wednesday. Kendal and Peter happily played between the playground and splash pad. There was some work being done at the park so Elliot happily sat and watched the dirt being loaded into the dump truck.

 Alice had a kick of Allergies this week and wasn't herself. It may have been mixed with a cold, who knows.
Thursday we took lunch out to Nana and the boys. The kids happily played with the vintage playschool toys and then we picked out Twas the Night before Christmas books that they'll inherit from Nana someday.The kids got to end at the job site again with the boys, enjoying the dirt, and getting in on the action.

Friday the boys quit a bit early and we took the kids bowling. Kendal did her usual dance the ball down the lane. Peter decided to stop using the ramp and spun around / tossed the ball down the lane. Elliot loved to bowl, but hated when his turn was up or when his Mom had to bowl. It was an off day for all of the adults and Peter ended up with the high score for the day! We let the kids play a few arcade games afterwards.We took some dinner out to Nana's and enjoyed seeing her that night.

The boys poured cement Saturday morning. So we headed home after lunch. We made a stop in Raft River to see Casey's parents. We ended up enjoying the afternoon at their house and getting fed dinner before we trudged off home. As always it was a trip full of late nights, plenty of sweets, loads of love, and memories made. We were happy to come home to our own beds though ; ) Unfortunately I came down with Mastitis and since the wee hours of Sunday morning and continuing into the week I've had a really horrible few days so thus my lack of writing sooner.