August 2014

The end of summer is always bitter sweet. It was a little extra bitter this year because I had a hard time letting my kids go back to public school. After a year of doing home school I felt like our family had grown closer and I also felt like I had become a better mom! After MANY hours of emails, phone calls, meetings, medical training, legal document writing, and hard work....I finally got the staff at the elementary school up to date on what my boys would need to make sure they were safe and happy at school this year. I have my fingers crossed, and a constant prayer in my heart, that the kids will have a successful year at school! 

We tried to fit in a lot of fun into our last month of summer. 

This is "George" the horse that lives on the corner where we enter our subdivision. The kids and I went to visit him with carrots and an apple. The next sequence of pictures make me laugh....

Lilly was happy to have a turn to feed George...

...easy does it....

...George takes the bait....

...and Lilly totally freaks out when his mouth touched her hand!!!!

She did NOT get bit by the horse, just startled I think. Nonetheless, she was traumatized!

Grandma took us on an adventure to go see the new tunnel under 1300 East in Sugarhouse. We started off at Sugarhouse Park where we watched some people drive a remote control boat on the pond. Then we went through the tunnel, 

went on a "nature walk" through the trails on the other side of the tunnel, 

and then back through the tunnel. Good times!

Our family got to go on a SECOND family trip to St. George this summer! This time we went with Matt's side of the family and all stayed in my brother-in-law's boss's mansion! 

This is just a glimpse of the amazing backyard. That blur of yellow is Sam jumping off of the rock cliff and into the pool! He remembered how many times he jumped off of the rocks (from the last time we went to that house) and kept adding on to his total. I think he was well over 100 by the time we left at the end of the week. 

We enjoyed going out for breakfast all together at a Cropper family favorite ... The Bear Paw.

Sam came prepared with his Extreme Dot-to-dot book to keep him busy while we waited for our food.

(A selfie that I took to prove to Robyn that I was in at least one picture during our trip!)

(Tyler's straw looks like it's going up his nose!)

This silly boy ordered waffles and then only ate one bite. I was happy to help him finish them off!

Cheryse, Aymslee, Kara, Berklee, Mark, Henlee, and Kazi (too cool to turn around for a picture).

Miranda, Ben, Jenna, Mary Ann, Will, and Jessie.

Dave, Megan, James, J.D., and Kathy.

Lilly declared the scrambled eggs that she ordered to be the BEST eggs she has ever tasted!

Tyler is by far our best eater! He cleaned his plate and also had room to taste Dad's food!

Why can't I have eyelashes like my kids have?

After our big breakfast outing, it decided to rain. But the kids didn't care! They went and swam in the pool anyway!

Will was cracking us up! He thought playing in the rain was so much fun!

It got COLD sitting out by the pool, even though it was covered where I was sitting. I needed Tyler to warm me up!

Kara had the same idea...she borrowed Miranda for some warmth!

Cheryse and Berklee keeping warm.

Megan and Ben (aka Meggie and Ben-ben) getting smiley for the camera.

The next morning was much warmer...so Matt and I recruited some people to come play basketball with us. Tyler and I were on a team with Jessie....and Matt, Ben, and Dave were on a team. I had forgotten how fun and how tiring basketball can be! We had a sweaty good time!

(That's my "Shawn face".... from the show "Pysch.")

The pool was a never-ending source of fun. Charlie finally got over his issues with putting his head in the water. He was jumping off the side to Dad like a true champ!

Lilly loved being tossed up in the air!

I love Charlie's cheesy face!

One night we went out to play tennis and we noticed the pink "cotton candy" clouds in the sky. This picture just doesn't do it justice...it was a beautiful sky!!!

One morning the women-folk went shopping together and left the dads in charge of the little kids. I guess the dads got busy playing a game while the little kids were watching a show. When Matt realized that it was a little TOO quiet he went to check on them and found this:

Berklee Aymslee, and Charlie had found the bag of Doritos and were helping themselves to a snack!

There was a trampoline park just across the street from where the mansion was located. The cousins had a blast!

We found this fun telephone booth just outside of The Pizza Factory and just had to stop for a photo op!

We celebrated Kara's birthday by going to the Fractured Prune donut shop for a treat! The "French Toast" flavor is my favorite!!!

 We also fell in love with Swig during our stay and went there twice for treats and drinks! 

The kids thought I was a pretty cool mom to let them order a flavored soda! Oh yeah, "Mom of the Year," baby!

Before we had to leave we had a family photo taken just outside the front door to the mansion. We had wonderful week of family fun, swimming, sports, shopping, eating, going out for treats, playing games, and not getting much sleep.

Speaking of not getting much sleep....

...thankfully Charlie fell asleep for part of the drive home!

Another interesting adventure this month was Sam's participation in an autism research study at the University of Utah.

 
I took him for 3 different sessions of testing. I would sit in the room next to where Sam was being tested, but I could see him through a 2 way mirror and hear him from a speaker. It was quite interesting to watch him during the process. He was such a TROOPER too!

Another part of the study was having an MRI done of his brain. The researchers let Sam try a simulator MRI machine that they had. He was VERY skeptical of it but we eventually got him to try it! It's kind of hard to tell but he is watching a screen (which was playing "The Garfield Movie") while he was in the simulator, which made things doable. 

When I took Sam for the real MRI I was a little worried that he would not cooperate! But he totally, and pleasantly, surprised me and did GREAT! The real MRI machine was very loud but he had a headset on so that he could watch his movie and didn't even flinch when the machine made it's series of noises. I did end up having to stand next to the machine and hold his hands still (he was moving them while he watched his movie). It wasn't the most comfortable of all positions that I could have stood in for 35 straight minutes, but I survived! When Sam was done they gave him a prize and a treat....but the best part of all is that he is going to be compensated for his participation. We told him that he could have half to spend and he would need to save the rest in a bank account. Sam was totally ok with this deal and already has several ideas of what he would like to spend his money on (when the check arrives, that is).

Since I couldn't take the camera into the MRI room, we took a selfie outside of the Neuroscience Center before we left.

I gave Sam the option to go out to eat after we were done (and while Grandma had the other kids)...so he took me up on that offer and we went to McDonalds (one of his "happy places"). We ran into my Aunt Denise while we were there and had nice chat with her.

Soon enough it was time for the kids to go back to school. The boys started back a lot earlier than we have been used to in years past, but they were both excited to start up!

This handsome fella' started THIRD grade!

And this stud muffin started SIXTH grade!

Crazy, I know!!!!

This sweetie girl just couldn't resist being a part of our photo session, so she posed for me on the front porch too! Lilly actually got to go to a kindergarten meeting on the first day of school (for the boys), so it was a special day for her too.

Luckily Grandma was available to get a group shot of all of us before we departed for the first day of school fun! 

Love it!

Lilly's official first day of KINDERGARTEN didn't happen until a week after the boys started.

She picked out her Olaf shirt ("I Like Warm Hugs"), skirt, capri leggings, and hair-do. I was able to resist the urge to pick everything out for her...and let her do it. She did look cute and she was such a cutie when we arrived at the school and were waiting for her teacher to come out to get the kids!

All three elementary-aged kids are doing great so far! They all have amazing teachers and other staff that are taking good care of them!

So, Mr. Charlie just so happens to be old enough to start PRESCHOOL this year! What the?

Yes, my baby....going to preschool. 

He was so pumped on the morning of his first day. He let Tyler get him dressed and we spiked his hair. He loved having his picture taken outside with his backpack, just like his older siblings got to do  on their first day. When I went to drop Charlie off to his preschool he all of a sudden got very nervous and shy. He wouldn't even let me take a picture of him with his teacher, like all the other kids/moms were doing. He clung to my leg but his teacher caught on quickly and calmly took him by the hand and walked him into her house. Charlie didn't cry but I could tell that he was very anxious about the entire situation. I worried a little bit during the next two hours (which I managed to use to run six different errands without ANY kids in tow!) but when I went to pick him up his teacher said he did just fine! She admitted he was quiet, but I expected that. I think in a few weeks Charlie will have loosened up and will be more talkative!

I took Lilly to shop for school clothes at our favorite Kid-2-Kid store. I knew beforehand, but didn't tell Lilly, that the store was having Anna and Elsa (from "Frozen") come to greet the customers!

This was Lilly's face when she realized why all the other girls in the store were lining up!!!

Lilly was very patient while we waited our turn to meet the princesses. She made a new friend in the line too! The princesses were very cute and even signed an autograph for Lilly to take home! It was a successful afternoon....school clothes (check!) and princess sighting (check!) all at the same location!

I guess preschool has really taken it's toll on Charlie....we found him fast asleep, curled up in a ball, with his favorite blanket in the hall. Beds are for wimps!

I took the kids to celebrate their first week back at school...we went to a fabulous place called "Straws." It is very similar to "Swig" in St. George, but A LOT closer! :)

Lilly got a snow cone the size of her head! Charlie was perfectly happy with a cup of Powerade. Sam chose some vanilla ice-cream (he is purest). Tyler was adventurous and got a shake. I was perfectly happy with a cherry vanilla diet coke and a frosted sugar cookie!! If you haven't been to Straws yet, I highly recommend it!

My kids looked at me weird when I told them that I look forward to Swiss Days more than Christmas and my birthday!!! It's TRUE, people!!!!

My mom and I have a standing tradition to go to Swiss Days every year and we go EARLY! We shop all morning long and then stop for a scone-y! Hello??? Can I get a woot-woot for the scone booth!

I love to cover my scone with honey and cinnamon-sugar! Yes, please!

After our Swiss Days adventure we went to Park City and shopped some more. My dad couldn't wrap his head around the fact that we were shopping ALL DAY LONG! He thought for sure we had been up to no good and just wanted him to "believe" that we were shopping all that time! I left home that morning at 6:45 am and didn't get back until 5:15 pm! It was awesome!!!!!

The day after Swiss Days, my cute parents came out to our house to help us with some much needed yard work. I decided to do away with some of my flowerbeds in the front yard and put some sod in instead. My Dad is a sprinkler AND grass expert, so he was a big help!

My mom, the kids, and I worked mostly in the backyard picking up rocks and digging out brick pavers that the previous owners of our house and put down by an above-the-ground swimming pool that they had. We should have taken all of that out SIX YEARS AGO, but we didn't. Argh. We worked our tails off all day Saturday (with my parents' help) and then again on Monday. We filled an entire green waste dumpster too! Can I just say that I LOATHE yard work? But I am so grateful for my parents who helped and for a hardworking hubby!!!

For family night we thought it would be fun to take the kids to explore the Conservation Garden Park in West Jordan. We drive by it all the time but have never taken the time to actually go see it. So, of course, we get there and are having a great time...when a huge, dark, fast-moving storm approaches. We thought we had a good 10-15 minutes before the storm would get to us...but, no! It was more like 5 minutes. We got stuck in a HUGE DOWNPOUR!!! The kids were screaming (some sad, some excited) and so we made a mad run for the van. By the time we got to our car we were soaked through! It's hard to tell in this picture, but we were literally dripping like we had just been through a car wash! It was too bad that we didn't get to finish our adventure, but we still made memories!

Sam and Lilly have become sweet little buddies lately. I caught them just hanging out together one night at bedtime on Lilly's bed. I don't know what they were talking about but I couldn't help but want a picture of THAT:

Somehow the kids got word about the ALS Ice-bucket Challenge. My brother Jason, nominated Matt to participate....so the kids got EXTRA excited to help with a challenge. Matt was a good sport....he let Tyler and Charlie fill up the bucket with water and ice. Then the kids climbed to the top of our playground set to get in bucket-dumping-position. I got to be the camera-woman and we had fun making a video of Matt doing the challenge.

However, we weren't done. Tyler then wanted to do the challenge. So we did. Then Lilly wanted to do the challenge. So we did (well, kind of, it was more like a cup of water). Then Charlie wanted to do the challenge (again, a cup of water...and he was NOT happy about it when he got wet). Then they wanted ME to do it. So I did. We didn't post any of the bucket dumping fun on Facebook except for Matt's version....but we had fun doing everyone else!

August was fun.