Utah State Hey...

Aggies all the way! A couple weeks ago, Sean and I took the gals to the home opener football game and we had a blast! The Ags played Weber State and although the first half was close, the second half was a blow out for the Ags! It was the LOTOJA so my dad wasn't there (we missed him), but Nat and Greg brought their kiddos too. We are so excited for the upcoming season!

Preschool

I don't know why my computer is underlining and I can't get it to turn off.

Miss Gracie had a big week this week- she started her first year of preschool. She has been so excited all summer for preschool to start and asked weekly if it was time. She is going to Little Star Preschool in Hyrum. This is the preschool Brooklyn went to and we loved Teacher Paskett! We went packpack (backpack) shopping and Gracie was thrilled to get a Dora packpack. Gracie is a very tenderhearted little thing and I was a little nervous of how she would handle me dropping her off and leaving her. But she did just fine and loved it. I really can't believe that my little Gracie is going to preschool- I may have had a tear when I left her. And her day wouldn't have be complete without celebrating with a trip to McDon's- as she calls it. It was also Garrett's first day so we met Nat and her kiddos and Grandma and had a great celebration!

Oh Give Me A Home...

Where the buffalo roam. Me and the gals, my mom, and my sister and her kiddos made an impromptu trip to Yellowstone. My aunt Paula and her family were going and we were bummed that we weren't joining them. So the morning that my brother left, my mom was sad and Nat said to her, "should we go to Yellowstone?" My mom asked her if she thought we could find anywhere and Nat quickly got on the phone and my some miracle was able to get 2 nights in the Park- which is unheard of on that short of notice. Nat awakened me from my slumber to see if the gals and I would be in and of course we were. It was the day that we were meeting Sean's family at Downata- so in a couple of hours I had us packed for the day at Downata as well as for our Yellowstone trip. My mom and Nat pulled the rest of the packing off and picked me and the gals up at Downata and we drove to West Yellowstone and stayed the first night. A few of our family members already in Yellowstone knew we were coming, but Paula didn't and we had made plans to surprise her. We pulled into the Bridge Bay campground just as the crew was heading to their cars- Paula's back was to us and my mom pushed on the gas and honked the horn. My cousin Jan said, "crazy driver!" Paula whipped around ready to give the crazy drivers a piece of her mind- the look of death on her face was classic. It took her a good 10 seconds to realize it was us and then her jaw dropped and a scream came out of her mouth. I was so bummed I didn't have my camcorder going because it was priceless.

We loaded up and went on a drive and had a picnic. I have got to say that I LOVE Yellowstone- I have such priceless memories of the many trips we made to Yellowstone with my Grandma Ila and Grandpa Mar. I love to be able to start to have my kids get some of these same memories. We love to go on drives looking for animals- the gals never get tired of seeing buffaloes, we saw elk, deer, and we were even lucky enough to see several bears. On one drive, we saw a black bear, a grizzly bear, and another grizz with her 2 cubs. The next day as we were driving through one of our favorite places called Hayden Valley, there were about million cars pulled off. We got out to see what was going on and found out that there was a dead buffalo in the river and bears were feeding on it. At one time there were 7 different bears including the mama and her cubs. It was quite the sight- the kiddos were even able to see what was going on and could clearly see the bears- it was a highlight.

These 3 deer were hanging out at the campground during our hotdog roast

My gals love Old Faithful so we headed there one day. We pulled into the parking lot at 12:21 and noticed that there were tons of people gathered around. My mom jumped at of the car to see what time it was predicted to go off and it was to go at 12:26 so my mom, Nat, and I started scrambling getting strollers out and unloading the kiddos. I am sure we looked a sight. We were able to get them unloaded, my mom and Nat go and park the cars and get back just in time to see Old Faithful shoot off! Perfect timing! It is 90 minutes in between it going off so it would have been a brutal wait with the kids. And seeing Old Faithful isn't complete without enjoying some yummy ice cream. By the time we got the ice cream and had it eaten we were actually able to see it shoot off again!

This was the story of Ella's trip-blow out after blow out!!

The crew minus me at the cabin at Lake Lodge- what a great trip!! THANKS mom for drowning your sorrows of missing Brett by taking us to Yellowstone- we had a blast!

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