What HAVE I been up to?

August has been a good month for us. We have had lots of fun outside, started school with Jesse (here at home), watched Charlotte go from crawling to cruising, and much more! Following are pictures (some you may have already seen) but are some of my favorite from the month.

Jesse is always thrilled for one on one attention. Here he is doing one of his favorite things: playing games with Dad. Can you tell how happy he is?

Jesse is aspiring to be a photographer. Can you tell what it is?

A new chair that is a permanent fixture in our living room. Room for both Charlotte and Jesse.

Popsicles have been our treat of choice this month with the heat. Can you tell what color we were eating? Jesse had never seen his tongue turn a different color so he was very fascinated. :)

Jesse loves dressing up in costumes, and always with his goggles on upside-down. Never a dull moment around here!

More Daddy time. Here I convinced them to make cupcakes together. He is now obsessed about helping me in the kitchen and I end up usually letting him do the "dishes" which consists of him playing in soapy water with clean dishes. Oh to be a three year old!

Our tent we just purchased, and we get to use it this weekend!

Two happy siblings sitting together.

Of course I had to go blackberry picking with the fam. So fun! And I love the reward of hard work. :)

With school we are learning a new letter each week. He pretty much knows them but it doesn't hurt to go over the sounds and new words and concepts. He LOVES school and pretty much asks to do it all the time! What a cute kid :) (this is a cow in the picture by the way)

Jesse normally doesn't love vacuums and runs away when I get it out. This time I let it sit around for a while and he started playing and talking to it. Maybe it will cure him of his phobia? Maybe not...

More "school" but with colors and mixing. And his first fingerpainting experience

Oops, accidentally got myself!

mixing colors

Playing outside

more vacuum love

More school- what a smartie!

And Charlotte's Daddy time. I sure have a good husband who never hesitates to spend time with his little ones. The kids adore him and I am so thankful for him!

Enchanted Forest!

I had not been to Enchanted Forest for about 8 years. Andy and Jesse had both never been before so it was a fun trip! Jesse was really excited about all the fun things to see. These are only a few of the many pictures we took (i.e. my mom took).

Ab Lincoln was there! Jesse didn't know who he was but he was pretty convincing if you ask me! And Jesse got to hold a real-ish gun so he was pretty pleased.

The shoe slide! Jesse couldn't get enough once we forced him to go down.

Going down as a family. Charlotte-hahah

The crooked house, one of my favorites.

The witches mouth.

What a sport!

Ice Mountain. I think I was more nervous than Jesse was. I don't like roller coasters so I thought Jesse wouldn't like it. He seemed to do all right as long as dad was holding him. You can't see him in this picture but he is hunched down in front of Andy.

Me nervously waiting to see his reaction...

Moms can have fun too, right?

Hahaha, Jesse got turned around on the slide- it was pretty funny

We all had fun because there were activities for all ages. This game was controlling boats in a little pool.

It was a fun little vacation!

June and little vacations

Here are some odds and ends of pictures of what we have been up to this month. Most of the pictures will be of when we took a little vacation to my parents. While staying with my parents we traveled to the beach and went to a nearby theme park- Enchanted Forest. We also had a chance to play in the kiddie pool and enjoy the outdoors. Andy was able to take the vacation with us because he was in between semesters of school. School has started back up and we are busier than ever (thus the posting of these 2 weeks later...)

We have a stretch of grass in our backyard and it is wonderful for Jesse to play on!

He is becoming quite the little golfer. And like most boys/males he excels at most sports (not to brag or anything..).

Here we are enjoying a day outside on the porch in the kiddie pool at my parents. Charlotte is crawling now!!

Love this!

I took just a few pictures of the beach because I was preoccupied with keeping Charlotte close. Both the kids LOVED the beach! (And so did Andy as you will see...)

In the backyard at my parents. Charlotte is still not certain how she feels about grass....

While at my parents Andy volunteered to help my mom with the garden. I got ONE pictures of him doing it :)

Jesse keeping occupied by riding Papa's trailer.

The next post will be of when we went to Enchanted Forest. Stay tuned!

Poll Time!

Please vote on my poll!

Trip to Utah

My sister-in-law Lisa came home from serving a mission in Indiana for our church on Tuesday. We were lucky enough to be at the airport to greet her!!

Here is Andy waiting for Lisa to arrive:

Jesse "showing Lisa how smart he is" (by saying the ABC's)

The group that was there:

Andy, Grandma Summers, Laurie (cousin), Melissa (cousin), Grandpa Summers, Lisa, Christina, Theron, Jesse, Jesse, Terri, and me.

Jesse couldn't get enough of Lisa or "di-da" or "Katie" as he would call her over the next couple of days...

Jesse being a knight

Charlotte snapped out of her grouchiness to allow for periods of cuddliness (not long mind you)

Jesse LOVES his uncle Robert- he would get down and play with him any time!

I LOVE this shape kit- robert got it from a retiring pre-school teacher. I NEED one of these so if anyone sees one, please let me know!!

You put the shapes onto the color and pictures and Jesse was addicted!

We were able to visit my brother in Roy and it was fun to watch everyone spend time together. These three were playing games on the wii (I think). I got my hair cut. Thanks again Julie!!

Not so little anymore Lukie. He looked so good and happy after several weeks of medical problems. He has red hair and I just adore him!

Their game faces are ON!

Charlotte LOVED maggie! She doesn't let a lot of people hold her, especially when meeting them the first time but maggie just took her and walked away and she was fine! She rocked her and sat with her and cuddled her- it was pretty cute. :)

One of the last days we went to the Ogden Nature Center. All the trails were pretty much flooded and the kids were grouchy, but we had fun. :)

There was a bird-house contest and this was the winner. Check out a few of the other contestants:

They also had a bird exhibit but my camera didn't want to take pictures of the birds through the bars. This was the best picture I got and I don't even remember what kind of bird it is.....I am a disgrace to the family when it comes to remembering bird names. Ha!

It was a lovely trip! It was relaxing and fun. A few other memorable events: Robert got his kite stuck in a tree, climb the tree, and then fell out of it while we were looking the other direction. Haha. (He didn't get injure which is the only reason I am laughing). We also took everyone miniature golfing at a glow in the dark golf course. Jesse loved it of course, and Andy was the winner- even with Charlotte strapped to his front! I also got my first sunburn and am still recovering from it. We are trying to re-adjust to being back but enjoyed the time away and miss everyone already!

Look at the older posts because I posted a few other pictures!