Farewell

Well the event that we had been dreading all summer happened on Thursday the 18th- my baby brother Brett and his wife Chels left to start their 3 year adventure in Connecticut for Brett to attend Physical Therapy school. My family has been so lucky and beside Brian and Brett serving their missions, we have all lived in Utah. Good-byes really do stink and this good-bye was not fun. The gals and I spent as much time as we could hanging out with Brett and Chels before they left. My parents had a BBQ for them on Sunday and an open house for friends and family on Monday. The gals and I had to say our good-bye on Tuesday (because we were going to Lagoon on Wednesday)- I held it together pretty good until Chels was saying good-bye to Brooklyn and they both started crying- well any hope of holding it together was lost and Brooklyn and I cried the whole way home. It is even harder seeing how hard it is on her- she realizes what them moving means- Gracie doesn't. Brett and Chels took about a week to make it there and took in the sites. They were welcomed to Connecticut by the earthquake that hit the East Coast and right now are bunkered down in their apartment (that they had unpacked and had to pack back up and get their stuff off the ground) as Hurricane Irene is going to go right over them. We can't wait until December when they get to come home for a couple weeks! Good Luck Brett and Chels we are going to miss you like crazy and love you guys!!

The day of the BBQ- Ella also rolled over for the first time that day

The kiddos enjoyed playing dress-up

The day they left, Sean's cute grandparents took all the Maynard family that is around to Downata. We had a blast!! And then me and the gals headed to Yellowstone with my mom and Nat and her kids.

First Day of 2nd Grade

Brooklyn started her first day of 2nd grade today and she (and I) was very excited to get started. She has Mrs. Nielson this year (she is my cousin) and is SOOO excited about that plus she is in my mom's old classroom. She picked her outfit out and looked darling and had a great day!

Summer Happenings part 2

For the life of me, I cannot keep this blog current. Maybe when school starts- that is my excuse for everything! :) We continued our busy summer by taking the Frontrunner down to Salt Lake and letting the kids play at the splash pad at the Gateway. I have never rode the Frontrunner and this was something that I wanted to do before school started. The kids had a blast!! When a storm started rolling in, we walked to Clark Planetarium and watched a 3-D movie and let the kids play.

We enjoyed spending time at the Cache County Fair and Rodeo. Sean and his brother Keith had a booth at the fair so we spent a couple of days there. Brooklyn loved Big Blue and got a couple pictures taken with him. The second day she even planned her outfits- the first one was a Utah State shirt for her picture with Big Blue and the second outfit was one of the shirts Sean was selling- to support him she said. Gracie wanted nothing to do with Big Blue- the gals LOVED playing at the gymnastics booth. The gals and I went to the rodeo with my mom and dad, Brett and Chels, and Nat, Greg, Garrett, and Abby. It was a lot of fun. Brett and Chels moved this week to Connecticut so we were trying to squeeze as much in with them as we could before they left.

Gracie was thrilled to get her first haircut. Sad to say she will be 4 in December and just got it, but her hair actually has grown pretty even. We just trimmed a few inches off- nothing major.

Sean and I braved it and took the gals to Lagoon. I haven't been to Lagoon for over 10 years, but we had a blast!! There was a lot more for kids to ride there than I remembered. We spent time at Lagoon-A-Beach when we first got there and then hit the rides. We gave the gals a some money they could spend there and they decided to get their faces painted. It was so fun watching how much fun they were having and watching them on the little bumper cars was so funny! Another funny thing happened when we stood in line to ride the Puff rollercoaster, the gals got in a car together and so I decided that I wouldn't ride, but Sean still did. It was so funny to see a grown man riding in the little car all by himself on this tiny rollercoaster. Thanks to the Andies for watching Ella!

Fun with Cousins

My aunt Patt recently returned from a mission. My cousins Tara and Ashleigh came to town to visit so we got together at Patt's cabin in Bear Lake for a day of fun! It was so fun to visit and catch up and see our kids interact and play together.

Miss Willa does not like the camera so trying to get a picture with all the kids was quite funny.
Ashleigh, Willa, Guimo, Mirabelle, Gracie, Ella, Garrett, Brooklyn, Hudson, and Abby

The kiddos had a fun time playing with each other, the pool table, and the fun toys outside.

I love these gals!

Mirabella doing some awesome posing!

Guimo was quiet upset at this moment and wanted Tara- so the cousins with Guimo.
Tara, Jan, Kami, Marlee, Marijka, Ash, Em, Nat