Family Pictures

I've been dying to do an outdoor family pic, so I thought I'd combine it with Jack's 9 months photo shoot...and even with my less than cooperative kids that day, I am in love with the results! Thank you Paige!

The first day of the rest of her life...

...or at the next 18 years or so!  I cannot believe my little Mady is starting school!  She is in Pre-K at St. Olaf's in Bountiful and goes every morning from 8-11.  What a change it will be for all of us!  Today has been so bittersweet for me, I will miss her of course, but it's more "bitter" just thinking of how fast time has gone, and how quickly she is growing up.  today she is off to pre-k, then kindergarten, high school, and next thing I know I will be sending her off to college!  I heard this from a friend about raising kids..."the days are long but the years are short", and I don't think there is a better way to describe it.  The fact that Mady is SO ready to go to school makes it sweet and I couldn't be more excited for her to learn and make new friends.  

We have been talking about the first day of school for quite some time now, and I can't believe it's here!  We woke her up this morning at 6:45 and she was so excited and super cooperative.  After breakfast and a zillion pictures, York and I took her to school, leaving Sophie and Jack home with the neighbor girl.  She was a little nervous when we said goodbye, but she did great.  Since that moment I have had a nervous pit in my stomach that still hasn't gone away!  And all I could do after I got home was watch the clock to make sure We weren't late picking her up (which I might add we were 30 minutes early...A little anxious maybe?!).  She seemed to have a great first day, and I am really looking forward to getting into our new "school schedule" routine.  

Mady is overall a really great kid.  She is adored by Jack and Sophie.  She is smart, sensitive, and thoughtful.  She loves all animals, bugs, and dinosaurs.  She likes to play barbies and dress up.  She loves to color, sticker, glue, and draw.  She almost always has a band-aid on.  She loves anything and everything purple.  She pretends to be a purple lion cub with sparkles, and only answers to "SParkler" or "cubby".  For as long as we can remember she has had her lion cub, "cubby", at her side...a stuffed animal she got at the zoo forever ago.  She loves to mismatch her socks and shoes.  She hates ponytails but let's me do them now for school.  I wish I could freeze time right now.  I never want to forget how Mady is right at this moment, I want to hold her tight and never let her go!  I'm so blessed to have had her everyday all day for the past 4 1/2 years...I suppose it's time to share!  I will definitely miss our mornings together, but I'm also really looking forward to this new adventure!

Mady, we LOVE you with ALL our heart and are SO SO proud of you sweet girl!  

Love, Mommy and Daddy:)

Jack is 9 months old!

Oh, my baby Jack.  BEST BABY ON THE PLANET!  But I can't believe he's already 9 months old! He has been a busy guy lately too...crawling and climbing and clapping - Oh my!  And he's waving and saying "ma-ma" too!  Here is my screen shot of Jack (can you tell I'm screen shot obsessed?!) and the last pics I have to share courtesy of Liz Wampler.  

and a few more pics of my love...

Loook at that face!

Jacks room

Weekend Getaways

So, after our final summer visitors left we decided to do the same.  We Packed up the car and the kiddos and went up to park city for a night and spent this past weekend in St. George.  In Park City we stayed at the Marriott Mountain Resort, rode the Alpine Slides, and swam at the pool.  Because if there is a pool in sight, we swim.  My kids are fish.  York's parents and Ty and Sue joined us for the day and we went for sushi that night.  A fun little "Stay-cation" was had by all!

We haven't been to St. George all summer but decided to brave the heat this weekend just for funsies.  Ahhh, we love St. George.  it is family time to the max.  no computers, not many toys, just tons of relaxation fun.  the kids love it as much as we do, although now mady is old enough to not look forward to the drive...and if it seems long to me, it must seem like a lifetime to a 4 year old.  York's parents were there for their annual trip to the shakespeare festival in cedar city, and they kindly gave us their tickets to romeo and juliet Saturday night and watched the kiddos for us.  shakespeare is SO much more interesting to me now than it was in high school...among many other things i learned back then!  Anyways, here are a few pics of our last couple weekends...

Park City...

Like father like son.  Like Grandpa.

St. George...

Bryce Canyon

“Hats, no pants” Party

Daddy's Girl...