I started August off with youth conference. We had a fun time. Brian was awesome and again took time off to stay home with the kids, while I ran around having fun with the youth. We started off with a trip to the Jordan River Temple for baptisms. Then we went to Idaho, to Lava Hot Springs.
We camped at a beautiful camp ground
My poor tent...I named it saggy baggy. When we went to put it up, all of the stake down ties were gone! Brian had said that when it was used at the Taggart reunion one was missing. Apparently the others came off too. It was a bit of a surprise, but it survived the 2 nights I needed it to, including a pretty strong wind and rain storm, and then it went to tent heaven. Thanks Saggy Baggy!
The first night we were there a thunderstorm moved in. We loaded up in cars and drove for a bit just to be safe.
The next day, we floated down the river. It was lots of fun and I only fell out one time! After that we went to the local pool for swimming.
On Saturday we headed to the Minnetonka caves. On the way we stopped for a quick trip to the Paris tabernacle. It was a beautiful building.
At the caves. This was my first time touring a cave. I thought it was very cool!
Then we stopped on our way home for lunch in Bear lake. I had my 1st raspberry day's raspberry shake. It was pretty delicious. I love spending time with these kids and the other leaders.
Brian even took the kids to a super hero party at the library while I was gone. He is super dad!
We enjoyed another fun cousin day. We went to see the new Lion King movie. The kids enjoyed it. Then we headed to jcw's for ice cream and french fries.
All of these cousins love Lyla
Brian took the 3 older kids to the ward camp out. I opted to stay home with Lyla in fear that we might relive the night we had a few years ago with Ava at the ward camp out. (She was freaking out and I had to sleep in the van with her) They had a fun time even though they ended up being basically the only family that showed up. Brother Jerry Nelson was there (I think he is about 75 or 80?), and the Landeens came up to provide dinner. Apparently the kids enjoyed playing games with Jerry. While they were away at camp, I watched Beck and Liv while Tiffany and Nathan were at a play.
We had Taggart family dinner at Mutual Dell. We are sad that next month will be our last one, because Grandma and Grandpa will be completing their mission there.
These crazy cousins were filling their shirts with sand to make giant bellies.
I managed to squeeze swimming lessons in for the last week of summer vacation. You have to be 4 to take lessons at the rec center and Ava missed the deadline by one week! It was a bummer because she really wanted to be in the water with the other kids. She and I spent most of the class time walking around the pool and she begging to put her feet in. You know how it goes though...once she gets her feet in, then suddenly her bum is in and then she is standing in the pool. Sadie and Finn both did really well and learned new things.
For our last cousin day of the summer we went swimming at the Pleasant Grove Pool. The kids had so much fun swimming with their cousins. Even Lyla loved being in the pool. They had a small slide in the kiddie area that she loved to go down while sitting on a bigger kid's lap.
Sadie and Lily had been dying to have a sleep over and we finally made it happen. Lily and Brooklyn came to our house for a sleep over! They had so much fun playing dolls,making paint out of sidewalk chalk and rubbing it all over their bodies and then watching the movie Hook. I was a little worried that we were going to be up all night, but most of the kids fell asleep during the movie.
In the morning they did face masks, foot scrubs and lotion. It was so funny to listen to them peeling the face masks off. "It feels like I am peeling my real skin off!"
Back to school
We went the night before school started to back to school night at the school. They had hot dogs for dinner and we were able to meet the kid's new teachers and check out their classrooms.
The next day was Sadie's first day of 4th grade. Finn had 1st grade orientation and then started the following day. I am so excited for school to start. It will be nice to have a regular schedule again and not so many fighting kids at home.
Ava's 4th Birthday!
We had fun celebrating Ava's birthday. We started off by getting her a haircut. Then we invited her friend Ruby and her mom to go with us to Thanksgiving point and out to lunch. We had fun playing at the Curiosity Museum. We sure love this Ava girl. I can't believe she is 4! She is a smart girl who loves paw patrol, little people, super heroes, playing with friends, swinging, cucumbers (cukes), reading, snuggling Lyla and playing with Finn and Sadie. She is sweet and spicy all rolled into one. I often call her a prickly pear because she can be so rough on the outside, but is is really one of the sweetest girls. One of my favorite things Ava does is she will say "I love you Mom, with all of my heart". She is practicing signing "I love you." She is excited to start preschool next month. We love this girl! Happy Birthday Ava!
That night we had a party with family and a few neighborhood friends. The kids decorated the cupcakes.
Ava got a target gift card from Tracy and Mark, she had a fun time spending it.
We had a fun night at Brian's work party. We had pizza, snow cones, popcorn, candy and soda. We watched How To Train Your Dragon 3 outside.
A day at the farm...
With the big kids in school all day I was able to take Ava and Lyla to the farm at Thanksgiving point. We had a fun morning seeing all the animals. Ava rode on a pony and we had fun riding on the wagon ride pulled by Doc and Daisy.
We finished off August with a visit to the chalk the walk festival at the library. It was AMAZING to see the cool pictures these artists made. They even had a big wall where we could color and draw. It was a hot, but fun day.
Random August....
Water fun at the Child's family dinner.
My cousin, Amber's husband, Eric works at temple square. He sent me these pictures of Brian busy putting up Christmas lights. (Yes in August...they start lighting Aug 1st) He said he was watching out his office window telling a coworker that he had a cousin that worked on grounds and then he was like "And that is him, right there!" I thought these were some pretty cool pictures.
One morning at breakfast, Finn put his cereal bowl on his head! I thought it looked like a nice Yamaka.
Ava dressed up for a cold 100 degree day! I thought she looked like a little homeless child.
One Sunday morning during the hustle and bustle to get out of the house to church I slipped on my sandals. Luckily Brian pointed out the problem before I got out the door!
I peaked in at Brian and Sadie reading and this is what I found. She was just reading away, I don't think she had any idea that he was out COLD!
This is Finn celebrating that he kicked my trash at skip bo.
Taking bike rides with Ava takes forever because she has to stop and pick up treasures all along the way. Good thing her bike came equipped with this handy dandy treasure holder.
Finn gave Mr. Potato Head a play doh Mohawk
Cute little Lou Lou.
Playing Uno with Grandma.
Lyla on the tractor at Grandma Terry's
Finn with his friends Owen and Knox at the splash pad
Crazy dress up girl.
I found this laying on the floor one day. I am not sure who is taking who for a walk.
I love Ava's art work these days.
One day I told Sadie she needed to pick something healthy to eat with her lunch. When I came into the kitchen later I found the bottle of Maraschino Cherries out on the table. When I asked about it Sadie answered, "You said to pick something healthy....Cherries are healthy!" Not exactly what I had in mind.
Chore time. This may have been counter productive. Finn was washing the outside of the window while Lyla was getting finger prints all over the inside.
Breakfast/reading time...
Miss Lyla has started walking this month. She is so cute as she toddles around. She still goes to crawling if she needs to get somewhere quick, but is walking more and more. I want to remember that any time you ask Lyla a question she says "yeah". No matter the question. She loves to be outside and any time the door opens she bolts to get out as fast as possible.
We are sad to see summer go, but are looking forward to a new school year and a more regular schedule.
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