New Phone Photos

 Recently I have been having trouble with my phone, so we finally bought me a new one.  No more old flip phone for me:)  We had some fun taking photos with my new phone:

 Vay, me and Asher

 Asher.  What a handsome boy!

 My gorgeous girl!

 Emmet boy:)

 He's such a funny kid.

 Baby Kelen is all smiles:)

 This is my favorite photo.  Just check out those eyes!

 And of course Ryan!

Play Zones

 With our backyard getting done this summer, we wanted to make sure it was a place the kids could really enjoy and utilize.

Our first project was to put a slide on the retaining wall and build a sandbox.  I think it turned out really well.  I took the kids up to Morgan and had my dad take us up on the dry farm to get a bunch of rocks.  I love the rock border!

 Of course, since one side of our house is all cement, we needed a basketball hoop!  Asher loves playing basketball with the neighbor boys.

Right now they are just little kid hoops but we hope to get a really nice one someday.

 We also got the kids these wiggle cars so they can zoom around the back yard on the side walk and cement pads.

 The more there is for the kids to do, the longer they will stay outside, right?!  They love having picnics outside on our tables too.

The kids love to swing!  And I wanted a swingset with 3 swings:)

 The best purchase all summer was this swingset.  I found it on ksl for only $100!!!  I had been looking all summer, which was kind of pointless since we didn't have any money for a swingset, but I"m glad I did because I found this. 

It works so great for the babies because there is a bottom to climb on.

 When I first asked about it, they previous owners had already sold it.  Which was too bad because I called about 30 min. after they posted it.  Then the first buyer backed out so I was next in line.  It was perfect because they lived only 10 min. away from us and it in our price range:) 

The kids have so much fun playing and pretending on the swingset.  They actually use it for their very own 'home'

 After looking all summer at swingsets, I had decided that I didn't want a wood one, but a vinyl and/ or trex board one.  That's what I found!

There is even a zipline, that the kids slide back and forth with.

 I had my dad drive the horse trailer up and help us move it.  It took most of labor day, but it was worth it.  The main tower didn't come apart so we moved the whole thing.  It was pretty heavy, but we recruited some help and we got it home.

The kids love climbing up the bridge and sliding down the slide.

 The swingset was is a little dated, but we were able to fix it up and clean it off so it really looks quite nice. We got several new screws and bolts and it very sturdy now.

 There is also some monkey bars too.  We just haven't attached them yet since none of the kids can actually do them:)  Anyway, I am pretty happy about our swingset!

Our last project in the backyard was in this little back corner and make specifically for Vaden.

 We wanted to create a little deck for her and her little friends where they could escape from the boys sometimes. 

 Ryan and I were able to get the deck framed and laid out, but that is about as far as our skills took us.

So after my dad helped us move the swing set, he helped me finish our deck.  He brought his table saw, which helped a lot.  He fixed our framing, just a bit:)  Then put the floor down and framed in a railing.

Finally, I let Vaden pick some paint colors and she and Asher and their friends helped paint the rails.  Once they were dry, Ryan and I were able to finish our very last project for this year!  

Now the kids have a wonderful and fun backyard to play in, and we get a little peace and quiet inside our home:)

Kelen at 9 months old

Kelen is getting so big.

 Here are Kelen's stats:

Weight: 20 lbs. 12 oz. (75%)

Height: 29.5 inches (90%)

Head Circumference: 17.7 inches (50%)

 Kelen is getting around like a superstar.  At 7 months he started to pull himself around.  Now he has a really fast army crawl going on.  He can also get up on his hands and knees and he is climbing over anything low enough to the ground that he can get on.  He is trying to pull himself up on things, but isn't quite there yet.  He does like it when we stand him up and help him stay on his feet.

 He also got his 2 bottom teeth at 7 months.  Now his two top teeth are coming in.  He has one showing and the other isn't too far behind.  He loves to eat!  He is going to be a good eater like his biggest brother, Asher.  He still loves formula in his bottle but is loving eating baby food and rice cereals.  He also loves trying what we are eating even though he can't chew it.  Once he gets his hands on our food he doesn't let go!

 He got sick about a month ago.  He was really warm and was throwing up and had diarrhea.  He had a really bad rash for a few days too.  Poor baby boy.  He was a trooper.

 He loves his siblings and playing with them.  Though sometimes he is afraid of Emmet since Emmet hasn't perfected being gentle.  But they will be the best of friends as they grow up.  They already love seeing each other in the morning.  It's like they have been apart for a week and now found each other again, it's super cute and make my heart happy.  He loves being held and having attention.  He is a wiggler though.  He won't sleep anymore when we go places because he wants to see what is going on around him.  He sometimes has to be sitting up when we feed his bottle to him so he can see what's happening.

 He takes one nap a day.  He and Emmet usually sleep around the same time which is AWESOME!  He sleeps through the night.  He is a great sleeper, which I am grateful for.  He's a happy baby.

We are sure glad that he is our little boy!  We love him so.

Vaden's First Day of School

Vaden is going to preschool again! 

 She is so excited to go to school like a big girl.

 Her favorite color is pink.  Her favorite things are watching tv, playing games, princesses and dancing.

She wants to be a soccer player when she grows up.

Emmet ready for school? Not yet

 Emmet is really excited to take Asher to school.  He loves wearing Asher's back-pack.

 He acts like it's his and we're taking him to school.  He will wear it to the Kindergarten door and stand there like he is going to go inside.  After a little bit, he usually decides he would rather be with me and leaves the line.

 I know he would never make it inside the classroom since he cries and clings as tightly as he can to me whenever we try to leave him at nursery or daycare:)

This is more his level right now:

 He likes being our little boy.  He watches what we do with Kelen and then does it himself.  Lots of times he likes to be fed instead of feeding himself.

He's such a silly boy, but we love him.  Now if only he'll start talking.  The only things he says are "oh no" and "go."  Though he doesn't use them very often.

Asher's First Day of School

 Asher started Kindergarten this year.  He is such a big boy!

 He's 5 years old.  When he grows up he wants to be a 'backyard worker.'  (I think this is because we just got our backyard finished and he watched them working all summer.  He also tells us he wants to be a 'maker' when he grows up to.)

His favorite color is 'red' and his favorite things are 'cars, hotwheels, and monster trucks.'  I'm noticing a theme there:)  We're so excited to see how much Asher learns and grows this year.