Lagoon

This year for Labor Day, Studies Weekly had their summer party at Lagoon!  The kids LOVED it - we had such a fun day! They were so brave and went on all of the rides, we were so impressed!

The Romans decided to come that day with us, it was fun to hang out together there!

Kris was thrilled to get to ride the Sky Coaster for the first time

City Creek

We checked out the new City Creek shopping center across from the Salt Lake Temple.  We had a fun night with LauraLee. 

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We ran into Rodger and Claudia Sorenson - family friends from long ago!

Thor and Lokey

The Romans got two new kittens - recently after The Avengers movie came out.  

The kids love playing with them!

No Soup for You!

In July we went to an Orem Owlz game and met the Soup Nazi from Seinfeld!  He signed autographs, served soup, and we even got video footage of him sternly yelling "No soup for you, Cole!"  He was such a nice guy and we had fun meeting him.  It was also free ladle night at the game so we all got ladles.  Good times!

This is the Place

In August we took a little trip up to This is the Place park in Salt Lake. We had driven up to see the memorial statues before, but never actually gone into the park.  Wow have we been missing out!  We had such a fun time! 

The animals at the petting zoo were so much fun! This goat would not leave Claire alone! He followed her all over and really loved her shoes!

We went on a trolley ride, panned for gold, learned about Native American culture, made crafts...we loved just walking around and seeing the fun replica they built of what Salt Lake looked like when the pioneers arrived

Happy Birthday Cole!

Cole is 9 years old!  I can't believe how fast time goes...it doesn't seem like that long ago that we brought him home to our condo in Orem as a brand new baby and tried to figured out the whole parenting thing.  Wow, has he taught us A LOT!  We love Cole so much and couldn't be more proud!  On Saturday we went up to Aspen Grove with all of the Gillespie family.  He had Ryan Kelly come along and we had a pre-birthday celebration up there.  Today he wanted to take glazed doughnuts to school for his treat - they couldn't be anything else.  When I took them in all of the kids were chanting and cheering - it was awesome!  After school I made dinner of Cole's choice - homemade cheeseburgers!  We also bad blue (BYU) jello, strawberries, fries, endame and for dessert I surprised him with a Texas doughnut! The kids were so funny with them - they were huge!  After dessert and presents we went to see the new Amazing Spiderman in 3D.  What a fun day - we love you Cole!

Girls At The Game

The girls love coming to watch their brothers for a different reason - the playground!

Ali and Claire walking to the slides - I LOVE this picture!

 And the snacks!

Josh even shared his Oreos with them!

 When we got home we stripped Claire down because she got so wet on the field.  I was laughing so hard at her in her diaper and pink shoes!  She wanted to play DS like the big kids and vacuum! Such a cutie!!!

Are You Ready For Some Football?

This year Cole and Josh are playing flag football.  They practice each week and their games are on Saturday  morning at the sports park right next to their school - about two blocks away from our house, which we love!!

This week they both of their teams won!

Josh is a Running Back on the Cleveland Browns.

 This past game Josh ran in an extra point as well as a full field touchdown! We are so proud!

His Coaches are Mike Pizzi and Dad!

Cole is playing Quarterback for the Jets!

Set, Hike!

 

His Coach calls his arm "The Cannon".  He throws a perfect spiral with amazing aim!

 

11th Anniversary

In August we celebrated our 11th Anniversary.  The kids stayed at the Horton's for a couple of nights and we had a blast! We went out to eat, went shopping, shot guns at Orem Rec Gun Range, Finished season 2 of The Walking Dead, went to City Creek and went to see Wicked!  I was so excited that we decided to get tickets and we absolutely loved it! 

It is wonderful being married to your best friend!

Cole came downstairs all dressed up and in his deep "dad" voice announced: "See ya honey. I am going to church now, er to my meetings. Get the kids ready and bring them over at 4". Then I went up stairs and Josh was actually wearing church pants and shoes and after a few minutes Cole comes up, ruffles Josh's hair and says "kiddo, why aren't you getting rady for church". IT was

Kennecott Copper Mine

 This summer we decided to take the kids up to see the Kennecott Copper Mine. They had never been there and couldn't believe how big it was! They loved watching the trucks and tractors drive around.  Cole and Josh were able to get pocket knives (which they have been dying for) with their names on and Alaria got to fill a bag of pretty rocks.  It was fun to explore Utah a little bit!

Labor Day

This year we were able to celebrate the Studies Weekly Summer Party at Lagoon!  (Yes, we had to wear matching company shirts) The Romans decided to join us, which was so much fun!  We left Claire home with a babysittter and we were shocked at how brave the others were.  Cole and Josh rode everything - including Wicked, Colossus, Samurai, The Rocket, and so many more! They loved it! Alaria's first ride was The Bat and every ride she got off of she asked to go on again.

We had such a fun day!  The kids are already talking about when we go next time!

And Then There Was One...

Poor Claire...now that school has started she sure is missing her siblings! She keeps standing at the stairs yelling out "Ali...Cole...Josh...Boys..."  She is so cute! Her new favorite thing is to climb up on the kitchen table.  She is full of mischief lately - constantly unloading the pantry, the lazy susan, any and all cupboards or the kids art boxes.  She could not be sweeter though - she is the best snuggler ever - she is growing up so fast!

Kindergarten

Yesterday was Alaria's first day of Kindergarten.  She has been counting down since she graduated preschool last spring, and it did not disappoint! She was in heaven to find out that she was in Mrs. Lamb's class!  She is also in the same class as Sophie Riggs, Kennedi Robinson, Garret Rasmusson, Sicily Pedler, Vivia Fitch, Linus Harker, Tate Pizzi and Linkin Jeide!

 It feels so surreal to have all three of these cuties in school now! They are so excited that they all get to walk home together!

Yesterday I told Alaria since it was her last day before school started, I wanted to make her a special lunch. I told her she could pick anything she wanted and I would get it for her.  She thought for a minute and responded with "you know that pink medicine you get at smith's? (Amoxicillin) I really want that. It is so yummy!"  After a good laugh, I made her tomato soup!

Back to School

School started on August 21st this year. Josh is in the first grade and his teacher is Miss Richards. She is super nice and he is happy to be in her class. It is a long day for him now that he's at school all day, but he is doing great - loving extra recesses and eating lunch at school! 

 Cole is in the 3rd grade and was thrilled to find out Mr. Morley was his teacher. He is reading "Holes" right now. He also got 100% on his first pre-spelling test today which means he doesn't have to do any spelling homework for the week. Cole and Josh walk to school together in the morning and will pick up Alaria after kindergarten and all three of them will walk home together. They are all so big and we are so very proud of each one of them!