August 2012

In August we went to the cabin with the family.  Does "wholesome family recreation" get any better than this?  We love to watch the kids interact with their cousins.

David was at the helm for the river excursion.  The kids got pretty cranky by the time we made port, but our captain brought us home safe and sound.

Mary and Anna were overjoyed to join another crew for part of the trip.

We also met up for a family picture in August. We sure have some cute kids.

Would you believe I couldn't get Austin to look?

Austin's first day of joyschool was an outing to the splash pad.  He was so excited to start preschool.

Here he is on the first day of regular class.

Our little sweeties are getting too grown up.  I wish we could hold onto these moments forever.

July 2012

Our July was very, very busy.  The night before the fourth, we joined a children's bicycle parade and watched a magician perform in the park.

On the fourth, we went to Liberty Park and rode on the Ferris wheel.

Austin was very nervous on the ride, but after it was over, he couldn't stop talking about how much fun it was.

  We made flags from tortillas and berries.

 Anna graduated from "Rusty and Rosy."

 We finished up our classes in the park.  Austin and Sarah took a "Mom and Me" music class.

Mary and Anna took an art class from Mary's classmate's mom.

We went to the Edstrom reunion at Cherry Hill.

We bought a used tent trailer and had a blast trying it out.  Our first camping trip was to the RV Resort about a mile down the road from our home.

 The campground even had a playground and a swimming pool.

 Next, we tried a real campground in Little Cottonwood Canyon.

 David had fun demonstrating his scouting skills.

Mary changed into her pajamas on top of the van.  I can't remember why, but she and David found it very funny.  She also went on a hike with just Dad the next day and found a "rock family" of rocks with painted faces.

 The next morning, I took a walk with the early risers.

 The scenery was really beautiful.

Sarah was an exploradora.

 We took a chair lift up the hill at a nearby ski resort.

 The kids enjoyed feeding string cheese to the prairie dogs.

We started year-round school in July as well.  Mary had mixed feelings about starting school in the summer.  She has very good teachers this year and is getting to be quite the little French speaker.

Anna couldn't wait to go to school with Mary.  I love our school's tradition of having parents accompany kindergartners on their first day of school.  Anna didn't want me to take any pictures of her, so I had to sneak these.

She was nervous but very excited to be a kindergartner.

Here are her friends Gwen and Tressa on the second day of school.

Our Austin also turned four in July!

This was our third year making a Thomas cake.

We love our big boy!