Labor Day Fun!

We celebrated Labor Day with a short trip up the canyon. (I LOVE where we live and how close we are to the mountains) We went with our good friends the Normans as well as my mom. The weather was BEAUTIFUL! We roasted hot dogs, had fresh peaches and nectarines, homemade hot dog buns, chips and ended it with smores. The kids had a ball, taking hikes, finding sticks and just plain getting dirty. By the time we left the kids were filthy! It was a nice way to end the summer fun.

Sydney and CeCe

BBQ hot dogs taste so much better over an open flame.

Good Times!

Max didn't care if his hot dog was cooked or not (yuck!) he just kept eating them.

Grandma Sharon and Sydney

Mark and Raelene

Andrew enjoying his Yummy Smores! I have never seen a better "smores" marshmallow than the ones that Mark Norman makes...They were delicious!

I am not sure how many each of us had but Kayla was sure enjoying her two!!! (look how dirty her fingers are)

Max was so dirty. He even spilled his soda all over him which made the dirt stick that much more. We had to change him into his sister's sweatshirt. Oh you gotta love "Messy Max!"

HELP!

I know we still have a couple of months left until our baby boy is born but we are having such a hard time coming up with boy names. You see on my husbands side of the family this baby will be grandchild #49 and on my side this baby will be grandchild #20. So many of the names I like are already taken. So I need your help. I am looking for ideas of boy names. Something that sounds ok with Kerby, so preferably not ending with a "K" sound because for example if you use the name Jack Kerby it sound like Ja Kerby and I don't like the name Ja! So if anyone out there has some cute (or handsome as my boys would say) names please SHARE!

(Here are the names that have already been taken by family members: James, Jake, Jackson, Dillon, Travis, Porter, Christian, Carson, Taylor, Jacob, Jeremy, Landon, Justin, Clint, Michael, Lance, Nash, Dallon, Derek, Drake, Luke, Hyrum, David, Drew, Dalton, Ryan, Tyler, Max, Andrew, Tanner, Matthew, Eli and Hunter)

Another one off to school...

Today Andrew started Kindergarten.
He was so excited.

Max thought he was going with him.

Andrew and his buddy Gabe are in the same class.

Poor Max! He decided to drown his sorrows in Peanut Butter. You would think I would be getting a break by having one more in school...Nope! Max keeps me busier than any other kid could begin to do. But now I don't have Andrew to help entertain him! I get to have Max all to myself. Oh we will miss you Andrew!!!

Two Dollar Tuesday...

For the month of August Thanksgiving Point has been having "Two Dollar Tuesdays". So we decided to take advantage of that last night. We had such a blast. It was beautiful. The gardens are breathtaking and my kids can just run and run or as you can see roll and roll.

This is a huge hill right at the beginning.
The kids love rolling down this.

Andrew made grandma nervous by looking
over the edge at the waterfall.

I believe that Thanksgiving point has the largest man made waterfalls.

Andrew, he is such a mellow kid, he was just enjoying the view.

We brought grandma with us. I think we wore her out!

They have this huge pond full of lily pads.
Here was a frog the kids found that was trying to hide.

Everywhere you go it's beautiful!

Max loved smelling ALL of the flowers

They have a children's garden as well.
The kids loved climbing and playing everywhere.

If you have never been to Thanksgiving point, you need to go! It is so much fun and so beautiful! We can't wait to go back. We ended the evening with an ice cream cone from JCW's, Thanks grandma!!!

Heading Back to School

I am sad. Didn't know I would be sad. Today is the first day of school and I did shed a few tears. I know, don't get me wrong I am so ready for a routine and some structure but I will miss the little terrors. I guess I kind of thrive on chaos if you can't tell. Well I still have the main terror...Max at home and he is plenty to keep me busy.
Andrew starts kindergarten but not until next week.
I love these monkeys!

Sydney 2nd grade, Tyler 3rd grade,
Raegan 6th grade and Kalli 5th grade

Raegan

Kalli

Tyler

Sydney (Little Miss Sassy)
Andrew!
I think he was pretty happy to have a quiet house.

The last days of summer!

Wow, I can't believe this summer is coming to a close! What a summer we have had. My kids have been so great, lots to deal with and they have dealt well. I think we are all ready for some structure, not necessarily wanting them to go but definitely needing some structure. We have done some fun things that I have not blogged about due to my dad's health and so forth. So here is a quick update before school starts.

Andrew, Sydney and Kalli

My mom, my sister Tara, Chad and I took the kids to this cool little park in Highland that had some great water features. The weather was beautiful and the kids had a great time.

Sydney

Max

Tyler and Max

Max and Andrew hanging out with Aunt Tara before she had to go back to AZ.

We were also able to celebrate Andrew's 5th birthday. Him and his buddies got to go see the movie G-Force. The little boys loved it!

Every morning this summer, Tyler and Kalli had swim team and since I don't have late sleepers in my house this is what our curb looked like every morning. The kids loved to wait for the car pool to come even if it came at 7:45 AM.

Max really got attached to his daddy this summer. Monkey See Monkey Do!

The kids had fun sleeping in the tent!

At the end of July, Chad had the opportunity to speak at a Youth Conference in Wilmington, North Carolina. So I was lucky enough to get to tag along. It was a nice break before a hectic end of July. We had such a blast. North Carolina is Beautiful! We met some of the nicest people who I now keep in touch with by email, and we ate some of the greatest food. Chad and I had never heard of "Hush Puppies" so our new friend Cari told us where to go to try them. They were delicious! I don't know how those people stay so thin everything they eat is DEEP FRIED!

The beaches were clean and beautiful.

We loved North Carolina!

And of course the kids have spent many days at the swimming pool. Luckily with Chad semi out of work he was able to go swimming with the kids almost every time. It was kind of the joke in the neighborhood that he was one of the "women" since he was seen with the kids running carpools, planning birthday parties and taking them to the pool more than I have been. I have enjoyed him being home more but financially it will be nice to have him back at work!

The Funeral

Yesterday was a beautiful day. One full of tears, laughter, good friends, old friends, family and devotion. One that I would not like to repeat any time soon. We were pleasantly surprised at the amount of people who attended. With my dad having been born, raised, worked and raised his family in AZ he had a lot of love and support here in UT. Thank you to all who made the trip up here.

Chad gave the life sketch. He did a great job, he was able to celebrate my dad's life and let people know who my dad was and what a great example he was to so many people. My brother-in-law gave the talk on the Plan of Salvation and how we can return to our Heavenly Father and be a forever family. We also had the privilege of hearing from President Alan Layton who was my parent's mission president in New York as well as the President of the Oquer Mountain Temple. He gave great council about eternal families and the Temple. It was a day of much reflection on how we are doing personally in our quest for exaltation. I will be forever grateful for the gifts my dad has given me and the example he was. In my eyes he was perfect and really never did anything wrong. I love him and will miss him.

Andrew, Sydney and Tyler

The Men

My cute nephew Jackson and his dad Jason
Look at the gorgeous mountains in the background!

My mom, me and my four sisters

Andrew and Raegan

Me (five months pregnant), my cousin Melanie and my sister Andrea
I am grateful for an eternal companion!
Chad and Cassie

We Have A Tie Breaker...

IT'S A BOY!