Swiss Days.

I think we chose to go to Swiss Days during the hottest time of the entire weekend.  Oh well, we spent less money that way!  The hit were these huge fresh lemons with the top cut off and a candy-cane in the middle to suck the juice through.

 We stopped by my parents new house - here we are standing in the future office with the HUGE garage behind us.

Grandpa, Enoch, Truman, me, Quinn, Tiffany, Anna, Addie and my aunt Christine.

Summer is over.

We had a crazy busy summer - mostly filled with house building stuff and the kids have been amazing!  We have seriously toted them all over the Salt Lake valley looking at sample after sample.

I think this is a really sweet picture of Truman - even though he is sucking his thumb ... still!

He always tells me "4-year-olds don't suck their thumb" but occasionally when I check on him this is what I see.

 My mom texted me this picture one night - Truman totally sacked out on the sofa at his cousins house.

And I like this one of Bodie - it looks like someone shot him!

I feel this way!

Helper.

There is a little helper bug on my desk at work today!

Book Club.

This month we read Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader by Anne Fadiman.  It is a collection of quirky essays showing you a glimpse at the life of Anne Fadiman.  It is an easy and quick read and I highly recommend it.

Thanks Pepper for hosting, and thanks for the yummy Kneaders treats and homemade ice creams!

Next we are reading The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster.

Red Balloons.

Today was Truman's first day of Let's Play Music.

This semester he will be in the Red Balloons class.

How appropriate, they each got a red balloon today at the end of class :)

He will have his same teacher as last year, Miss. Emily, who taught him and Bodie Sound Beginnings.

One of his first 'theory' assignments was to color these balloons red as they go up, up, up!

This is a picture of the solfeggio hand signs that the kids learn as the sing do, re, me, fa, so, la, ti, do.

In Red Balloons they are preparing to learn to play the keyboard.  They also learn to; correctly imitate and identify rhythmic patters, recognize steps, skips and leaps on the staff and sing ascending and descending patterns, keep a steady beat and sing in tune!

The Canyons.

We are packing it all in with the Quinn family in town from Michigan.  Today we went to the Canyons to wonder around and ride the gondola.

 The kids loved it.

 They were preparing for wedding at the top of the mountain - I thought this sign was cute. 

 Time to hike!

 

 

 

 

Cute Eliot stopping to smell the flowers.

 

 

 

 Back down at the base of the Canyons we played around on all their fund outdoor toys.

 Sharon and Anthony deep in a life-size game of chess.

 Grandpa and the boys in the sandbox.

Wall Lake.

Today we headed up to Wall Lake in the Uinta National Forest to do a kid friendly hike, but not without first stopping at the Chevron in Kamas for their amazing "bear claw" donuts.

Grandpa, Grandma, Truman, Ira, Anthony, Bodie, Sharon, Eliot.

 

There were a few rain drops when we first started the hike.

 

I adore this picture!

Grandma and Grandpa Quinn with the boys!

Eliot, Bodie, Ira, Truman.

My little hiker!  He almost did the entire hike by himself with his backpack full of snacks to share.

  Truman was super excited about this entire pack of Oreo cookies he packed in to share!

Grandpa was showing the boys how to skip rocks in the lake.

 Bodie and Grandpa.

 Group shot thanks to auto-take.

me, grandma, grandpa, Truman, Ira, Bodie, Anthony, Sharon and Eliot.

Isn't it beautiful?!

 Me and the boys.

 Quinn's

 Bodie and grandma were hiking buddies.

 Eliot really wanted to be big enough to hike on his own!

 Picture of me taking pictures.

My dad spotted a woodpecker in the trees which the kids all thought was pretty cool.

Here he is trying to help Bodie see it.

 

This is what I mean by, "hiked almost the entire thing" - with about a fourth of a mile left he asked me to hold him.  Within a minute of me picking him up he was fast asleep.

Good job little guy.