Sisters

Last weekend my sister Jaycie did a triathalon and I took the kids to see her finish! She did great! Here we are just a few minutes after she finished. The girls were so excited to see her run through the finish line, it was really cute. (For the record...no, I am not pregnant, and yes I will be starting P90X again Oct. 1st. Don't mind the belly.)

My sister is such an amazing person. I really look up to her and strive to become what she is. She is such a loving and caring person and does so much good for others. She loves the Gospel and lives it in everything she does. She radiates happiness and it's rare to find her in a bad mood. I just love her! She has some amazing physical talents as well. Her musical abilities have helped and inspired so many people, especially those she works with as a music therapist. My family and I love listening to her play the guitar and piano and sing the songs she writes. My favorite Christmas song is one she wrote and recorded called "Mary's King." She is a caring sister, a loving wife, a thoughtful daughter, a FUN aunt, and will be a wonderful mother some day. Love you sis!

Crossing the finish line.

We surprised Jaycie and this is when she first spotted us!

Jaycie, her husband Nick and my kids.

Transitions

We finally did it. Kayman is officially in a "big boy bed" and he is loving it! The first few days were rough and he wasn't too sure what to think, but he loves the freedom now that he is used to it.

We were having trouble putting him down for naps and at bedtime for a few days, he would cry and cry and say "downstairs" as I was leaving the room. I felt so bad leaving him when he was so upset. I thought he might be hating that he was caged up in the crib, so that is why I made the change. Syd was 15 months when we switched her and she loved it. Jess was almost 2 and did fine. For Kayman, it took a few days to get used to.

Here he is taking his first nap in his new bed. So precious! I was actually surprised he fell asleep in the bed. I thought I would find him on the floor in the entrance to his room. He's getting so big!

Crazy Boy!

Kayman is officially crazy. This is his idea of fun. I was worried he would break his neck, so this didn't last long, but I just had to get video of it. He thought of this all on his own. Syd came into my room laughing and said, "Mom, you've got to come and see what Kayman is doing!" Here is what I found:

Summer extension

One of the only things I like about summer ending is the excuse to go to St. George to extend it a little. It had been too many months since we had been there, so since Syd was off track we took advantage of the time we had to spend a while in the George. We had a great time together with just our family. It was so great to be together with no responsibilities other than to just HAVE FUN!

As you can see, the kids were very happy to be together. The held hands in the car a lot of the time. When Kayman's hands were not occupied they found themselves full of sisters' hair, so luckily he was willing to keep them occupied this way.

Andy had to go home after a few days...someone has to work, right?! My parents came down the day after Andy left and spent some time with me and the kids. We took their boat out to the lake and had an unexpected experience on the way home. One of the tires on the boat trailer blew out. I did what I could to help my dad fix it. I'm sure glad it happened when my dad was there, and not when we borrowed it last week! We don't have a hydraulic jack that made it so easy to fix. He had to wedge a rock under it to get the trailer high enough to even get the jack underneath it.

We spend a lot of time at the pool at my parents' house. They are so nice to let us use their place, and we loved swimming where we could have the pool to ourselves without having to worry about keeping track of everyone in a crowd. The girls got very comfortable swimming in the deep end, and Syd even learned how to tread water. By the end of the first day their fingers were bleeding from holding on to the edge and climbing in and out of the pool so much.

Here is Jess posing by the hot tub.

Syd loved to jump from the edge of the pool onto this floaty.

Mr. Stud was pretty cool with his glasses on...as long as he was floating on something. He didn't much like being in the water.

Princess Syd soaking up the sun. Check out that view!

We took a trip up to Dixie Rock, a favorite place of ours. Andy and I used to go there with friends when we were dating in college. It's so beautiful! The kids loved hiking around on the rocks. It seems that none of the kids inherited Andy's fear of heights.

We are so fortunate to be able to go to St. George and have such fun times there as often as we do. It is one of our favorite places to be. Of course we always have to drive by our old apartment and show the girls where we used to live. They think it is pretty cool.

It seems like a lifetime ago that we were living there. It's amazing how much has changed and how fast the years go by. While I was there this week I ran into a lady that used to go tanning nearly every day when I worked at a tanning salon down there during college. She thought that maybe it was 3 or 4 years ago. I had to think about it for a minute before I realized it has been 9 years! I have changed a lot since then, and my life has changed a lot. I am so grateful for my loving husband and 3 beautiful children. My family is so wonderful and I am pleased with where I find myself after so much time.

Boating

Summer is coming to an end, and the fall is coming quickly. We decided to take advantage of the still warm weather and go boating while we still can. We went up to Jordanelle with some friends and had a great time!

The water was pretty cold, so I wasn't too excited when Jess requested my company on tube, but I decided I better go with her. We brought Kayman along with us and had a blast! I thought the kids would just cry when the cold water splashed in their faces, but they were having so much fun! I'm glad I made the sacrifice and subjected myself to a little discomfort. I know, mother of the year.

Kayman and Annabelle just enjoying the ride.

Andy catching some air on the wakeboard.

The girls took turns on flag duty. They did very well! They always claim the bow of the boat...the best place to ride!

Preschooler!

Jessica has been just dying to go to preschool. On the first day of school for Syd last year Jess cried the whole time Syd was gone. She really wanted to go with her. Now, after watching her big sister go for 2 years, Jessica's turn finally came around!

Jess was SO excited to wear her new shirt and show off her new haircut to Mrs. Teresa and her new friends. She knows 4 of the kids in her class already from church, so that helped her feel more comfortable. She had a hard time sleeping the night before because she was getting a little anxious, but in the morning she was just ready to go!

Mrs. Teresa is a wonderful teacher. She works very well with all the kids and helps them feel comfortable from the very beginning. Here she is with Jessica, who is still a little nervous. She was the first one there so I got to stay with her for a minute so she could transition.

Jess came home from school with a great big smile on her face and all kinds of stories about what they did the first day. She even got a piece of cake! She loves preschool!