Labor Day camp out

Nate reading to Josh and Audrey.

On Sunday night I wanted to do something fun for the boys for Labor day. We really didn't have any major plans happening so I thought about a camp out at home. It was a beautiful night so to make it even funner I decided to set up the 4 man tent right on our deck! They LOVED it!!!! Nate, Josh, and Colton slept out there all night! They began with some book time then I tucked them in, I was leaving the tent door opened because it looked directly into the family room. Well, they zipped it up and I never saw or heard from them until the next morning. They did so well all on their own. I worried that they'd be coming IN and OUT all night before they went to sleep but not once did they ever come back in. I'd say it was a success! So, they'll definitely be doing it again.

still reading

Colton chose to read on his own.

Audrey's cheesy little grin

All done reading and ready to zip up and go to sleep.

Kansas City Temple

Temple presidents home. This is further along now since these are 2 weeks old now. It directly faces the temple.

This is the new Liberty Stake center. It will soon be finished so we can hold our stake conference there in October.

A side view of the temple.

Crazy kids-it's the best shot of them with the temple behind them.

A close up of the  name plaque

Front view of our new temple. We love taking drives there to see the progress that's been made. We are so lucky to have one being built 5 minutes from our home. We can't wait for it to be dedicated this coming springs.

School has arrived

The first day of school has finally arrived. And honestly I couldn't be more ready this year. Summer this year ended up being really long with lots of whinning, fighting, tears and boredom. On Monday we had a meet the teacher night so that's where I took the first pictures of the kids with their teacher and in front of the school. I was not going to mess with the first day of school craziness. As I sit here, it's really weird to only have 2 kids at home with me. I shouldn't say this but it almost feels easy right now. Colton's not doing to well with them going back. He was mad when they got on the bus, he wanted to go with his brothers. He wants to go to school. If I tell him that he'll go next year to preschool he gets mad and says NO! He wants to go now. But this will be good for him so that I can give him more attention. I'm hoping they have a great day at school at least lunch should be good. I made sure to include a surprise in their lunches. I wrapped a theater sized candy and wrote a note on it so they know that I'm thinking of them. And so another year of school begins!

Josh is ready to go in and meet his teacher for kindergarten.

This is Mrs. York. He did 1 week of school with her in the summer. We really like her. She'll be good for Josh.

Nate is excited to find out his new  teacher and find out if his friend Caleb is in the same class.

Nate's new 2nd grade teacher is Mrs. Kain. I got a good impression of her. I think it's going to be a good change for him after having the same teacher 2 years in a row.

Nate and Josh are excited to start school however, I don't know if I'm more excited or them.

The bus has finally arrived! Since we are the only one's at the bus stop again, the bus driver was kind enough to let us be picked up in front of our house from now on. What a relief that is, thank you bus driver!

Heading on to the bus. Nate is super eager. Josh is a little hesitant.

Nate's pointing to his mom with the camera.

My little Joshy is off to his first official day of kindergarten. I can't believe that boy is old enough for this.

Horse back Riding

Thanks Holli and Kellen for taking us horse back riding. We all enjoyed ourselves. It really was a rare little treat that my kids really enjoyed. These kind of things are priceless. We'll for sure have to do it again next time we come. And we'll have to go earlier in the day to have more time since the kids weren't ready to finish. Oh, and Cole was a huge help with all of us too.  Thank you for inviting us and taking us out with your horses!

Nate loved riding the horse with Uncle Kellen

Josh was not a huge fan of riding the horses. But he was one of the first brave ones to ride them.

Colton really started warming up to riding them but of course only wanted Aunt Hotdog.

Aunt Holli and Audrey. That girl absolutely loved the horses and enjoyed being up there.

I'm actually up there. I'm just a shorty and the stir up was pretty high up to get my foot into.

Of course Sofie enjoyed every minute of her time on the horses.

Wiatt had to have a turn too. I'm not sure what he thought of it though.

Grandpa even gave it a go on them.

Mom wasn't too eager or willing. But with pop by her side and Cole leading the way she went for  stroll.

Nate really warmed up to Cole and preferred riding with him.

A close up of Uncle Kellen and Audrey. I never thought Kellen would be a regular on a horse!

This Wiatt-boy is such a grandpa's boy!

Cowgirl Sofie is looking so big.

Josh on grandpa's shoulders. .

Cutest dang cowgirl and cowboy EVER!

He loved wearing that hat that grandpa lent him. Thanks Grandpa!

They actually wouldn't do to bad living on a farm.

I really liked this one of Audrey and Tilisa. I thought they both looked so pretty.

Yes, Audrey is literally grabbing and squeezing Wiatt. He really didn't know what was going on. And she kept doing it to him. She just wanted to give him lots of lovin

The next 2 pictures were on a completely different day

This was the night before I left. Great Grandma and Grandpa Moore are with most of the great grandkids, minus Ruby and Wiatt.

I just had to take this picture of Nate and his Grandpa. I find it to be so precious and honestly priceless. It was our last night there and we had been on the go all day getting things together to leave. It was late by the time were rounding things up and packing the suburban so the kids were still up. And by the time we were saying our good byes it was even later. But Nate loves to be around people so he had to stay up as long as I was up. He and pop went to lay down while mom and I were sewing some squares for a blanket. We take a look at the 2 of them and they had conked out together. I just loved it! Poor Nate would have given anything to just be able to stay there in bed next to grandpa too if we'd let him. But I had him go to bed so that grandma had a place to sleep.

Well, now I'm done with my Utah trip! Finally! Now I'll be able to put some more things up. But honestly I don't really have any pictures besides recent picture of the temple. So, look for that post soon. Other than that we've been kind of boring around here. Just trying to survive the last full week of summer break. I'm rather thrilled for them  to get back into school, it's hard to entertain them all day long.

Lagoon



Nate and Josh getting ready for bumber cars.

Colton is also ready to ram someone but he couldn't figure it out.

I love the determined look in Sofie's eye. She's ready to ram someone.

If you look close behind Nate and Josh, you'll find Sofie in a purple car. She is just spinning in a cirlce and I just had to laugh at her. Then there is Colton just stuck in one place. The ride operater did have mercy on him and let him go again with Nate's help.

First ride of the day and I got all 4 of them looking at the same time-success!

Aunt Erica and Sofie riding together. We couldn't have done it without Erica's help. We're glad she came because we needed an extra adult for all our kids.

Grandma and Grandpa leading the way. It was a nice day to be at Lagoon.

I'm not even sure what was down the well.

I think if I remember right, there was 9 of us in the raft. And most of us got soaked. The kids were not expecting to get wet-they were shocked.

She was so tuckered out. But she really was having a blast.

We know how to wear them out. Sweet Wiatt is snoozing good.

Josh having fun in the bumble bee.

Colton was really getting into the spirit of the rides.

Nate took Audrey on a lot of rides but this one was not one of her favorites.

Baby girl loved the carousel.

Oh, these 2! They sure are cute together but they can cause some trouble

Josh and Audrey enjoyed the boats.

We loved Lagoon. I was nervous about spending that amount of money but it was worth it. We got our money's worth and the kids didn't want to leave. They had so much fun that I'm actually considering buying some season passes at Worlds of Fun next summer. Just have to convince Danny of this.