The Little Ones

I spend a good portion of my days just hanging out with my little ones now that Weston and Davin are both in school all day. Some days they make me crazy and they whine non-stop, but I love being home with them. I wouldn't trade it! I've mentioned good mommy days before on my blog. Well, here's another one. :)

We blew off cleaning and went to play at the dino museum. They both love it so much. Beckett even went in the middle of the erosion table to play. He doesn't like the water or the sand, but he loves the little plastic dinos and the fact that the lip of the wall is the perfect height to play with them. 

Later that day we also busted out the watercolors. Talia loves to paint and asks all the time, but she rarely spends more than 15 minutes actually using the paints, so I don't always get them out for her. She was pretty happy I said yes. And in case you're wondering, the spots where her blue colors once were are completely empty. That girl loves her blue!

One thing I love about Utah are the summer rain storms. The blow through in a matter of minutes sometimes, but they are so cool! There is thunder and lightning and heavy rain for about 30 minutes. Then it's gone and were are back to sunny skies. I always like to go out on the porch and watch the storm. The kids usually join me. 

My purple flowers finally bloomed! I didn't think they were going to make it this year! So pretty.

I kept laughing at Beckett's face every time he heard the thunder. 

Soccer & Football

Nothing says Fall like college football! We have been pretty excited for another BYU football season. Ian got season tickets again this year with Steve Smith. He gets to go to all the games and sometimes he gets to take a guest. I got to be his guest for the home opener on September 11th. It was such a great night! I loved all the patriotic tributes. I may have teared up a few times. BYU pulled off a win and the weather was perfect. So much fun!

Fall also means another season for soccer for Weston! He had his first game on September 4th. He played awesome and has a fun team of friends. I'm glad that he enjoys playing soccer even though it's kind of hard for him. He tries his hardest and is learning new skills every season. Go Weston!

A few "for fun" pics. Ian getting daddy loves from Tal and Beck before he left for work in the morning. We love Daddy!

Beckett loves babies and when he found Talia's baby doll downstairs he snuggled it and kissed it all morning. He's such a sweet little guy. He will have to snuggle the dolls though cause there are no more babies coming to our house.

Weston finished up his drawing class at the end of September. It was such a great experience for him! He got so much better at drawing and really developed a passion for it. Ian and I laughed for a good long while at this drawing. Not because it isn't good just because it's SO eight year old boy!

We watched a BYU away game at our neighbor's house with a few other families. It was so much chaos with all the kids but still pretty fun. When the ice cream came out the kids swarmed.

One Week

I don't think I will ever get over my amazement at how slowly the days drag by yet how quickly the weeks pass as a SAHM. Even though the exciting outings and such deserve their posts I can't completely skip over the everyday things that happen in a week. Here's one week.

Friends come over to play. Almost every day. I love our neighborhood.

We take a family bike ride over to the "big" park a couple blocks over. Talia and Beckett think it's the greatest ever.

Talia doesn't feel good for about 24 hours. Poor girl.

I get Beckett loves in the morning.

Auntie Mel comes over to hang with us! We love on Baby Wilson, play dress ups, and make a sticker alphabet.

Weston and his friends catch a disgusting spider in a very cool web in our backyard. I allow him to keep said spider in a tupperware on my kitchen counter for three days so he can take it to school for Bug Week. I think I should maybe win a mom award for that.

We end the week with a family date night at Spaghetti Factory. The $4 for balloon animals is totally worth it.

Labor Day

For Labor Day this year we decided we really wanted to get one last day at the pool in before Summer was gone. The weather wasn't super warm, but just warm enough and sunny. We went to our new fave the Lindon Aquatic Center. It was a blast. 

I couldn't believe that it wasn't crowded! Really just not a lot of people there. It was so nice! The boys practiced their swimming skills in the lazy river and even Talia finally would do the lazy river in her floaty without hanging onto anyone! We did the water slide a few times and hunkered down in the baby pool when we were cold. Beckett could have happily gone on the kiddie slide over and over the entire time. He pretty much did too, except when we dragged him away so we could all go in the lazy river together.

At the end I made the kids all get in the big pool to practice their back floats, freestyle stroke and back stroke. They were none to happy about it. Davin cried the entire time I worked with Weston because he didn't want to have to do it. I made it quick, but I'm determined that they don't lose everything they learned from swimming lessons this winter! It's about time for another trip to the indoor pool and swimming lesson refresher!

The New Museum

After Ian got back from SF we decided to do something fun as a family, so after dinner we headed over to the new Museum of Natural Curiosity to play. We did the jungle area, Kidopolis, and the outside play area. Davin practiced his sloth skills. I was impressed with how long he hung on that rope!

In Kidopolis I finally explored a bit with Talia. Usually I stayed by the baby area with Beckett. Talia like the laundry room where you could turn on the washing machines, which lit up and spun. She also liked the giant bubble maker. It was pretty cool.

In the magic shop you could do the floating head trick, but Talia wasn't quite tall enough, so it was more like the floating eyes trick for her. Still pretty fun. The boys ran off and did their own fun things too, but I wasn't following them so they aren't in the pics.

The outside play area was a blast. Weston did the big zipline! So cool. Everything there was too big for Beckett though, so I took him for a little walk through the children's garden. We stopped and hung out by the fish pond. Beckett loves the fish. It was a fun little outing. It's SO nice having awesome things to do so close to our home.

Aquarium Take 2

While Ian was in San Francisco I took the kids to the new Living Planet Aquarium. We went when it first opened in May, but since a lot of the animals hadn't been moved in yet they gave us bounce back tickets to use before August 31st. I really didn't want to let a free trip to the aquarium go to waste, so I braved it by myself. It was super fun. The kids were great and I didn't lose anyone. Success!

The tank of huge South American fish was a favorite. Everyone liked sitting and watching them. We also really loved the penguins and the sharks. The kids wanted to play at this dumb play area. It was crowded, but I figured if they wanted to brave it that was fine. Talia got grumpy that she had to share the whale. Every time I look at her "grumpy" face I can't help laughing. She's such a stink! lol Happy as a clam when she got what she wanted though. :)

Swimming & The Dentist

Davin and Talia did another week of swimming lessons after school started. I was a little frustrated that Talia still was whining about doing a back float. I bribed her every lesson and had resigned myself to her not getting it this summer. But at our very last lesson . . . she did it! She finally did it! I think having the same teacher work with her for 4 lessons in a row helped build trust that he wouldn't let her drown. Also she just knew she wanted to pick out a toy at Target. :) I was SO excited for her and proud! We went to Target that night and she picked out a stuffed fish called Squeakers from Doc McStuffins. Hopefully we can practice a few times through the winter so she can remember how to do it by next summer. 

Ian went out of town to San Francisco the second week of school. We kept plenty busy. I took all four kids to the dentist by myself. It was Beckett's first official visit. He did awesome! He hung out it in the chair and watched the movie on the ceiling and gnawed on his toothbrush. Davin had a first too. During his cleaning he lost his first tooth! It was very wiggly. He was super happy that it came out! No one had cavities and no one cried until the very end when I made them leave the toys in waiting area.