Erin is Six

Erin had a birthday just before school started this year.  She turned six.  She was so very excited to be six like all her friends.  Now that she's six, they will all start turning seven.  Poor girl will never catch up.  Erin is my steady, responsible one.  I feel more comfortable leaving Reagan outside to play with siblings if Erin is out with her.  She is a great help and loves to help me with whatever it is I am doing (unless it's doing dishes.  She hates that.).  She takes turns loading and unloading the dishwasher, folds her own laundry, clears off the table, makes her bed, and picks up the house.  She is a great helper.  She likes to help with cooking too.

She decided she wanted a brown bear for her cake this year.  She wanted brown so it would taste chocolaty.  At first she wanted a brown baby, but she ultimately went with bear.  

Miss Erin is quiet around those who she doesn't know, but quite funny, happy and crazy here at home.  She is sensitive to those who are struggling and tries in her quiet way to help out.  I can see her growing up more and more. 

Happy Birthday to Our cute Erin.  We love having you in our family.  We wouldn't be us without you!

Lagoon

We got some very discounted tickets from my sister (thanks Mur!) and decided to go to Lagoon.  It was after Salt Lake School District was in school and our district wasn't in yet, so it was the best Lagoon day ever!  There were no lines.  We just walked on every ride.  We left Reagan with Grandma and told the kids were were going to have a picnic at a park.  We pulled into Lagoon's parking lot and Liam said "This isn't a park, it's a giant sand pit."  They were pretty disappointed until someone figured out it was Lagoon.  Then there was much celebration in the back of the van.  We all had fun.  I went on all the rides with the children since Cameron's stomach doesn't like riding.  He was the photographer and moral support.  He did go on a few rides with us.

He did go on the Sky Ride, which I wasn't as nervous about this year as the children were bigger and not as likely to slip under the restraining bar.  Irrational, I know, but my fear none the less.

Cute Erin on the Sky Ride.  All three kids went on all the rides.  Every single one.  Well, there were two that Erin and Owen couldn't go on because they weren't tall enough.  But everything else they got to ride.  I was so impressed by all of them, but especially Owen, fearlessly walking onto each ride.  

Like this one.  Yep, that's us in the back.  All four of us.  I thought it warranted a closer look and... 

I zoomed in on this one.  Look at Liam's face.  That is the face of pure terror.  I still laugh when I look at this picture.

They went on this one too.  We are four of six - SIX - people on this ride.  So much fun I tell ya! 

Note all the empty seats.  Fun times. 

Here's proof that Cameron was there.  This was on the train.  A nice break from the hot sun. 

This one was Owen's favorite.  We went on it three or four times. 

This was Erin's favorite.  We went on it twice. 

We didn't get a picture of Liam's favorite - The Samurai - But this was his second favorite.  

I am so glad we got to go this year.  We told our children we could go, but then it was just way too expensive.  With these tickets, we all got in for just over the price of one ticket.  It was a really fun day.

Reagan's 2nd

Reagan turned two.  She wanted a plug cake for a long time.  (That is what we call her pacifier.)  So I was looking up how to do one of those cakes, but she suddenly changed her mind and decided on a dog.  I let her pick the color and she chose blue.  She is my happy girl who loves to cuddle.  She likes to play with the big kids and feels like she's just as big as they are.  I took her in for her 2 year check and she has lost weight, so we will be keeping an eye on that.  I think my sister's son who turns one soon weighs as much as she does, skinny little thing.

Blue dog, speaks for itself. 

Reagan is my only one who stays home all day long with me now.  Everybody else is going to school in some form or another.  She is learning to talk pretty well.  Consonants are still pretty beyond her, but we know what she's saying most of the time.  She talks about her singer (finger) and knows all her sibling's names.  I can tell her to call everybody for dinner and she will stand at the top of the stairs and yell "Owen, Yeeum, Enin, Daddy, EAT!!!"  over and over again until they come running up the stairs.  

She is reminding me more and more of Owen.  Though she is a little less energetic.  They have a lot of the same gestures and speech patterns though.  We're glad we have her.  She sure is fun to have in our family!

The Zoo

We went to the zoo.  I wasn't particularly excited, because I'm not a huge fan of the zoo, but they have changed it so much, I don't feel as sorry for the animals anymore and their new polar bear, seal, walrus exhibit is super!  We went with Julie and Jamison and everybody had loads of fun I think.  We stayed for most of the day.

Children on the rhino! 

I did feel a little sorry for the eagle.  He didn't have much room to fly, poor guy. 

This is a bird's nest just of the eagle pen.  That's why my boys are being crazy birds. 

The elephants are always fun.  You can just see the baby at the left side of the picture below his mom.

Elder Kendall's Homecoming

My nephew came home at the end of July from a mission served in Africa.  His family invited my sister and I to the airport to see him come home and we thought it would be fun for the kids to experience an airport homecoming.

Erin got to hold a sign his family had made. 

This is my niece waiting patiently (ha!) for her brother to come down the stairs.  She missed him a lot I think. The whole family was so excited to see him.  And when he came down the stairs, Shannon screamed "There he is!!"  I thought it was funny that later Brad said to her "I seriously was going to call you and tell you not to make a scene."  He knows his sister well.  Glad they love each other so much.

Here's the family, so happy to have their missionary home. 

And here's Shannon after her long awaited hug from her big brother.  Welcome home Elder Kendall!!

The Village

The kids wanted to go to a petting zoo.  It was on our Summer of Fun list this summer, so I took them to a petting zoo at Gardner Village...on a weekday.  Of course, the petting zoo is only open on Saturdays and the animals are kept elsewhere on the weekdays.  Sigh.  So, we decided to look at all the shops and feed the ducks instead.  Luckily I had thought ahead and brought some bread.

The shops were really fun, but made me feel like I am not reaching my crafting abilities.  I expect that's what they want you to feel so you will buy more stuff.  Reagan decided she would eat her bread instead of feeding the ducks. 

I love this picture of Owen because he so very rarely smiles normally in pictures.  Usually it's either forced or a big, showing teeth GURRR smile.  Plus his curls are fun. 

Each of them got to choose one candy from the candy store and they sat by the pond, ate their candy and fed the ducks. It turned out to be a peaceful day.

Parade

We went to our annual parade here in our little city.  This year, it was crazy!!  There was an entry that our stake spearheaded with Helaman and his 2,000 stripling warriors and everyone was excited to see it.  We also heard rumors President Monson would be the Grand Marshall.  We aren't allowed to set chairs or anything up before 7:00 am the morning of the parade, but there were chairs and awnings and blankets all over the place the morning before the parade.  So, Julie and I took our chairs down and set them behind the sidewalk to reserve our spot and took turns driving past during the day to make sure they were still there.  Then we got up at 2 in the morning and spent the rest of the night sleeping with our stuff.  There were a lot more people there than previous years.  President Monson was not the Grand Marshall, but the 2,000 warriors were quite a sight.  We had had a Family Home Evening lesson that week talking about them and so our kids really thought it was cool.

My sister and her kids came down to go with us too.

Reagan just liked that she got candy from the floats. 

Owen loved the bands and would dance all over when they came by. 

Here's Helaman with his warriors following... 

These pictures don't give the scope of how many boys there were.  They were lined up across the whole road and the line went on for three or four minutes.  Each of the boys had a staff that had metal on the bottom of it that they would pound the ground with every few steps.  In the middle of their march, they all stopped and you could see the staffs at the front of the line start pounding and it spread throughout the line until they were all pounding in unison.  Then they pounded faster and faster and stopped, put their staffs in the air and yelled "We did not doubt!!"  It was really awe inspiring and gave you a visual of just how many young men went to battle with Helaman.  It was a good visual lesson for my kids.