Last Bit of Summer

We've been enjoying the nice weather around here. We set up the slip 'n slide on the hill at the side of our house. Carson loved it. Blake wasn't so sure about it. We also got a trampoline. It's been a lot of fun for the kids (and adults). Below are some pictures of when we put the sprinkler underneath it.

Camping

We decided to go camping at Willow Flat (near Preston) last month. It was an awesome trip. We did a lot of fishing and the boys loved playing near the water. Mike took his hammock and we set it up and that was a big hit too. Mike's parents came for part of the time and so did his grandparents. Unfortunately, I got very few pictures, though! Below is a picture of the boys playing in the stream with Mike's dad. Mike brought some string and tied stuff to it and then the boys would let it out and pull it back. It entertained them for hours. Literally. Who knew that some string, old toys, and pop bottles could be so fun?

Temple Square Visit

In August we had the opportunity to visit Temple Square in Salt Lake City. It was really fun. We spent a lot of time at the Church History Museum in their children's exhibit.

Carson finishes playing T-ball

Carson's T-ball season ended on a very high note. Mostly because his coach gave each player a trophy with their name on it. Carson was so excited about that trophy!

Here are some links to videos of Carson playing T-ball. There is also a video of Blake playing in the dugout.

Carson at bat

Carson at bat again

Carson in the field

Carson running bases

Blake playing in the dugout

Temple Groundbreaking

We attended the Brigham City LDS Temple groundbreaking ceremony in July. It was really neat to be there. We sat on the lawn of the Box Elder Tabernacle. We feel very blessed to be getting a temple in our midst. We love driving by the site and seeing the progress.

No trip to the Tabernacle would be complete without playing in the ditch that runs in front of it.

A Sod Story

This story begins a year ago when we bought our house. We knew that we would have to put in a yard. Couldn't be too big of a deal, right? This past spring we had a few landscaping people come and give us bids on the project. Turns out it was a lot more expensive than we were hoping. So, after some help from my family, we decided we Mike could do most of the work ourselves himself. It was TONS of work and took TONS of time, but it saved us a lot of money and we really like the way it has turned out so far. Mike literally spent hours upon hours working to build a rock wall, install a sprinkling system (that works great, by the way!), prep the ground, and get ready for the grass. This past weekend we installed the sod (with help from my brother and our ward) and we love the way it looks!

"Before" and "after" pictures:

Front of the house:

The "during" pictures:

The sod truck arrives:

King of the sod: Installing it:

We hope to enjoy it for many more years to come!

Family Pictures

We went to Target last night and got some family pictures taken. Carson was wonderful and Blake didn't really want to be there. Oh well! Here are a few of them:

Carson and T-Ball

We signed Carson up for his first organized team sport-- T-Ball. I think he likes it. But, I'm pretty sure he doesn't understand what's going on half the time! Here he is taking a swing at the ball and heading to first base.

Ahhhh--Safe!


Here he is in the outfield. After playing two games, I believe he has yet to touch the ball. Mike and I were watching him play and noticed that he does not move to get the ball. He just stays in one spot. And I mean one spot. No shuffling his feet or moving anywhere. So, I pulled him aside and asked him why. He explained, "Mom, if I move to get the ball then I will lose my place." He's so cute. Apparently when the coach assigned him a place he didn't want to get in trouble by moving and losing his "spot". I guess we'll work on that one!

Blake's Hanging Skills

Blake loves to hang from things. When we go to the park he always wants to hang from the monkey bars. We went to visit some friends who moved into a new house and they taught him that he could hang from the closet rods. This week I caught him hanging from our countertop. He grabs on, lifts his legs, and swings away!

Lagoon

Mike's grandparents took the whole family to Lagoon two weeks ago. We all had a good time. Before we went we thought that Blake would love going on the rides. The first picture is the first ride he went on. He was okay until it started moving up and down and then he wanted out! He did better with rides that stayed on the ground like the cars in the picture below:

Later in the day we met up with some of Carson's cousins and Carson loved having them go on rides with him.