Swinging!

Alton has a new favorite backyard activity.

For most of the summer, he has enjoyed swinging

on the big swing with one or more of his siblings.

But last week he asked me to boost him up

and none of the kids were right there to swing with him.

I expected him to sit there and get frustrated,

but he took off! He can do it himself!

And he can do it for a LONG time. 

He loves it.!

This little guy is growing up so quickly!

(and Ruby loves to pose) :)

Random

Some random shots from the past couple of weeks.

Alton eating breakfast with Dad.

Alton's first time helping me teach PE. 

The 2nd graders loved having him there.

Cute Ruby all ready for school.

I got my hair cut! And Milo kindly posed for a picture.

Alton has moved some of his ball collection inside.

Ruby went to a "makeover" birthday party.

She got a fancy hairdo, makeup, and her nails done.

The contractor laid some new cement in the basement

and someone (Bentley) left their hand print.

It looks like the contractor discovered it - that must be

his "Ha! Ha!" with the circle around it.

The new carpet should be put in today, 

so the hand print will be covered up.

Maxwell, Jonah, Ruby, and Milo had their first BYU

math class last Saturday! They participated in the math

circles that are held each week during the school year.

Ruby and Milo's class was awesome!

The kids got Starbursts and learned about odd and even numbers.

Maxwell and Jonah took a long, hard math test.

It was super boring and frustrating. :(

The little kids want to go back next week

(they missed today for a race),

but the big boys don't want to go again.

I'm hoping that the older class gets better. Maybe they were

just trying to see where everyone was? I don't know.

It is supposed to be a fun way for advanced math kids

to play with math. We'll see.

Job Shadowing

Bentley's Jr. High had a career day this week.

Each grade did something different, and the

7th graders got to job shadow someone.

Bentley is thinking about being a lawyer,

so we asked our friend if he could take Bentley

along with him for the day. Our friend's 7th

grade daughter also job shadowed her Dad.

They went to 4 or 5 trials during the day - 

in several different cities. When they were 

between trials they went shopping, ate lunch,

and looked around the law office.

I think Bentley had a great day. He had fun

with his friend and her dad, he liked riding

in a mustang convertible, and he ate an entire

Costa Vida burrito (and some other junk).

That night, just before bed, I got a text from

a number I didn't recognize. My phone is really

small, and I could barely make out a photo

of two people in Simpson masks. It seemed really

odd until I saw the next two photos -

Bentley and his friend "job shadowing."
I'm so glad he had a great day. :)

Colors!

Each year, the kindergarten classes at our school spend two

weeks spotlighting colors. Each day the kids are supposed to 

wear something in the color of the day. 

Here's a collage of Milo's two weeks of color.

red, blue, yellow, green, orange

pink, purple, brown, black, white

Here's a link to Jonah's color collage.

A Wedding Celebration

Our good friend and photographer, Raquel, celebrated

her wedding a week ago. Maxwell was also invited to

a birthday party at the same time and at the same park,

so he didn't dress up and only made it for the wedding dinner.

Here he is playing games at the birthday party.

There were some problems with the sound system at the wedding,

so we had lots of time for the kids to explore the pond,

take walks, to try to keep cool, and to pose for funny pictures.

The ceremony was lovely, and Raquel looked beautiful

and so happy. It was awesome.

Bentley's fashion sense was praised by the bride

and the women-in-the-know, but was lost on his Dad.

We had to leave just as the photo booth and dancing

were getting started. It would have been so fun to have

been able to stay a little longer, but I'm glad we were

able to be there for most of the wedding.

I'm also happy that Raquel and Jose won't be moving

away from us and that she is taking pictures of the 

kids this fall! 

Crazy Kids

While the basement is under construction, our living

room hosts the TV and the Wii (and a lot of other stuff).

The picture above is of Ruby playing video games with

John while Milo bosses her, Alton pretends to play,

and Bentley lounges on the couch with my computer.

I left Alton with John a couple of times last week

while I went to school to help in Ruby's class.

I came home to a sleeping baby both times.

He crashed on the floor next to John's desk.

I love this cute kid. He loves to sit on the bench

at the kitchen table like the big kids.

Maxwell and then Milo joined him on the bench,
now Alton really is one of the big kids.

Another example of Alton copying the big kids -

he grabbed a Game Cube controller and sat on the

couch with Milo and J* while they played the Wii.

Milo and J* are in kindergarten together this year.

They've known each other since birth. You can see them

sitting together as babies in the top corner of this collage.

And last but not least, we got to see cousins on Saturday!

Laura is in Utah waiting for her newest nephew's birth

and she came to see us with Ella, William, and two

of their cousins. It was great to see family!

Ruby's Week

Ruby has charmed the contractors who are working on

our basement. Earlier this week they brought her a box

of Cutie Pies. She shared them with the rest of us. :)

Ruby started her new dance class this week!

It is a company class, so she meets twice a week

and has a different teacher each night. On Tuesday 

she met Miss Jana, and on Friday she saw Miss Debbie.

The teachers said that the girls will work hard this

year and should improve a lot. I hope she does!

It is so fun to watch her dance. 

Hopefully she will make new friends, too.

We didn't see any girls from last year's class,

so she has a class full of girls to get to know.

Saturday

Yesterday was one of those crazy, non-stop Saturdays.

John had an early service project, and I attended part

of a scout training. Then we went to the track and Milo

went to a birthday party for a friend. Maxwell and I went

on our birthday lunch date (a couple of weeks late).

The contractors let the kids help with texturing the ceiling,

Jonah had a soccer game, John and I got one last snow cone

at Yuki, Bentley hung out with his friends, and then we

started to get the kids ready for bed. 

At least the day was full of good things. :)

Utah State Fair

Alton and I went to the Utah State Fair with Jonah

and his 4th grade class on Friday. Jonah got permission

to skip the bus and rode with Alton and me.

The teachers gave us a list of booths they wanted 

us to visit, and we had two hours to see the fair.

The little people's farm was pretty fun - even Alton got to participate.

Alton wasn't sure about the guy on stilts, or his juggling.

Both Jonah and Alton liked the fish.

This gigantic butter sculpture was on our list of things to see.

It was pretty cool.

Jonah and I were our own "group," but we joined up

with my friend Stephanie's group. Here are the three boys.

Alton liked the goats, but the cows were a little intimidating.

I think his favorite part of the fair was the horse statue.

Just before we left, Jonah got to try his hand at cattle roping.

Photo op with the fake horse. :)

It was a beautiful day for the fair!