Sasha turns 2!!!

I don't know where the time went, but yesterday Sasha turned two! I can't believe it. We wanted to have a very little celebration, so on Thursday night, Jake, Angie and Kai came over to celebrate with us. Here is our sweet little girl.

Sasha even blew out the candles herself. I was quite impressed. I think because of the examples of her older brothers, she understood what she needed to do and did it.

Here are Kai, Ethan and Grant enjoying the birthday pie. (We're not huge cake fans . . . )

Sasha loves her doll that she got from Uncle Jake and Aunt Angie. She did get other gifts also, but this is one that I took a picture of. And obviously, I forgot to wash her face off. Oops!

Happy Birthday Sasha! We love you!

Las Vegas!!!

So, I asked Brian to take me out for a night for my birthday. I wanted a whole night away. I hadn't slept a night away from the kids, except for when I had another baby and was in the hospital. Many of you know, when Brian does something, he either does it the very economical way, or he goes all out. Well, this time, he went all out. He surprised me, somewhat. He planned everything, and a week or two out, he told me we were going to Las Vegas. He still kept some secrets though. We left on the evening of Friday, September 18th, and came back on Monday, the 21st. It was so much fun and a much needed break.

One place that we went to was the M&M store. There was a fun factory like thing to walk through, and then the store.

The main surprise was that he took me to "The Phantom of the Opera". He also got us front row tickets. It was amazing! I'm still singing the songs, and we went on Saturday night.

He also splurged and reserved us a room in a very nice hotel. It was the Encore, and it was beautiful! There was an indoor garden, with flowers and trees. You can see behind us, they also had balls of flowers hanging from the trees.

This was where we checked in and out, in the hotel lobby. Butterfly images were everywhere. Here is a link to our hotel if you're interested. http://www.encorelasvegas.com/#/homepage/ We had the resort suite, king size bed.




When we were waiting for our shuttle to the airport, we saw several Rolls Royce cars that were owned by the hotel.

We realized that we weren't that interested in taking too many pictures, because it's just us. We're kind of boring. When you have kids, I think you realize that. The kids are just so much more interesting.

Another thing that we saw was the water fountains at the Bellagio. Here is a link to what we saw, if you are interested. This may be a bit silly, but I did choke up a little bit when we watched it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-R5KAmLNHdw

We spent a lot of time walking down the strip and through all of the hotels on the strip. Some of those hotels are pretty amazing!

Brian is also amazing! I will never forget what he did. We had an amazing time. Thank you Brian!!! Also, thank you so much Jake and Angie, for watching our kids! We owe you big time!

Fair!!!

We went to the fair a couple of weeks ago with Grant, Beth and Rachel. It was a lot of fun!

Rachel and Ethan were able to see what it was like being weathermen. They would put a blue cloth over the body of whoever was there, and you would just see their head on the map. It was pretty fun.

Howdy!

Grandpa paid the guy some money to get some stuffed animals for the boys and to let them throw a few darts. They both did actually get a balloon each. They were quite excited!

The boys LOVED the rides. They only went on a few, but the look of pure delight on their faces was priceless!

Grant and Rachel rode on the swings.

Ethan got to make this plane move up and down. There was a lever that you could push from the inside. He loved that he could control it.

Grant and Rachel rode on the bumper cars . . .

and Ethan and Grant couldn't get enough. They loved watching them. Of course, they wanted to ride them too, but I guess it can sometimes be hard being a bit too little.

Sasha pretty much just got to enjoy the ride. Luckily, she did take a nap, so that made her and us parents pretty happy!

Ethan starts kindergarden

Ethan started Kindergarden yesterday. He was so excited! He was up pretty early getting ready. He actually didn't ride the bus yesterday though. For the first day, they had the students bring an adult friend (parent, grandparent, neighbor . . . ). So, I went with Ethan while my neighbor watched Grant and Sasha for me. Here are some of the pictures that I took while at school with Ethan.

The students drew pictures of their families. He drew each of our initials by the person. We are all holding Sasha up over our heads.

This morning, Ethan rode the bus to school. He was so excited to get on. I believe in this picture, he is looking at the school bus coming.

He was so excited to get on the bus. The bus driver actually had to talk with him about watching her to see when he could get on. He thought she was ready, but I guess not. In this picture, you can his little orange back pack. He sat right in the front seat.


He's looking forward to going to school tomorrow. I think it will be a fun year for him!

Ethan can ride his bike!!!!

Ready! Set!

GO!!!

Last week, Ethan learned to ride his bike. He was so excited! It was actually quite amazing. We were out playing with friends, and one of our neighbors helped him on and held onto his seat. She said he circled a couple of times, and then he was going so fast that she had to run to keep up with him. I guess he was ready! That was all that he wanted to talk about for the next week. It is still his favorite thing to do. Amazing!

Brian and Ethan went on a bike ride together through the neighborhood. They really enjoyed themselves.

Day Camping

A couple of weeks ago, we went camping for a day with Jake, Angie, and Kai. We just left in the morning and came back in the late afternoon. We really had a good time! (Angie, I borrowed some of your photos. I hope you don't mind.)

Brian, Ethan, Grant and Jake rode the 4 wheeler up the mountain with a trailer to stock up on fire wood for hunting season.

We just love the face that Ethan makes for pictures. The funny thing is, he's not making a face. He thinks he's just smiling. Funny boy!

Sasha had a really good time eating all of the junk food that she could. Hello Marshmallows!

Jake and the kiddos relaxing by the fire.



Grant had fun too. Ethan picked out his own marshmallow stick, actually I think he picked out several. He had a hard time keeping track of them.

Angie, Kai and Sasha eating some grapes. Kai was so nice to feed Sasha. I think after all the junk food, the fruit was a nice break.

Swimming Lessons

At the beginning of August, the boys took some swimming lessons. They did really well and had a lot of fun. They are also not afraid of the water anymore. Here is Ethan with Coach Jessica.

And here is Grant with coach Haylee.

On the last day, they did a swimming safety class. They taught all sorts of things. One thing they did is teach them how to use a life jacket. When Ethan and Grant were both together, I had to take a picture of it.



Each day, at the very end of class, everyone would get together and put their hands together and yell "We love swimming!" It was pretty fun.

Just to tell you how good the swimming lessons were for the boys, even Brian said it was worth paying $40 per child for swimming lessons.

Sasha hung out with me by the side of the pool while the boys were in swimming lessons. She was pretty good.

Rigby Lake fun!

We went to Rigby Lake with our neighbors about a month ago, and had a really good time. L to R: Ethan, Grant, Chloe, Dylan, and Jodi.

Funny Ethan!

Grant had a fun time too!

And yes, Sasha was there too.

INL Picnic

In July, there was a company picnic for all of the INL employees. The kids had so much fun. There were probably 20 huge jumping castles/slides. The boys had a blast. There was also free food, ice cream, pop, cotton candy, and snow cones.

I love the mid air shot!

There was also face painting. Sasha sat patiently.

Grant's is a sword.

Little car for Ethan.