Color Run

Yesterday (August 23rd) the kids and I did the Color Run

 in downtown Salt Lake near Liberty Park. 

It was the kid's first 5K.  I think they had lots of fun and really

liked the fact that they could get as colorful as they wanted.

 

This is our "Before" picture in our Color Run gear. 
 Notice how clean we are :)

Afton and I walking to the start line

We met up with a few friends from our neighborhood. 
Of course this is still a before.



At the finish line! 
Afton and Lilly did great.   
 They walked about 90% of the 3 miles with those little legs of theirs. 
 I am so proud of them for trying their first 5K.

Our group "After" picture

Lizzie really enjoyed getting colors on her.



At the end of the race there is a place where you count
 down and everyone throws their color up in the air. 
 It was fun, crazy and awesome!



A little more colorful than our "Before" picture :)



And of course to celebrate the kid's finishing their first 5K,
we stopped and got Slurpees!

 

 

7th, 5th and 1st

First of all, how can it already be back to school time? 

And second of all, how can my kids be old enough to be in 7th, 5th and 1st grade?

 

 Despite my denial, here we are. 

Another school year begins. 

 Early mornings, schedules, homework, etc. are now upon us.

 

So here is my attempt at a picture of all 4 of them

 on the first day of school-

 August 20th 2014. 

 

It is almost impossible to get a good picture of all 4. 

 So just enjoy the hilarious attempts.

Afton was being entertained by Lizzie's silly faces

Afton and Lizzie forgot to smile and Lucky decided to photobomb :)

 

Okay now let's do some solo pictures. 

These ones turned out a little better.

 

 Ethan

7th Grader at Midvale Middle School
Favorites:
Color: Blue
Food: Good food
Movie: Star Wars
Things to Do:  Legos, Wii, reading, eating
Be when grow up:  Don't Know



 Lizzie

 5th Grader at Altara Elementary

Teacher: Mrs. Easter

Favorites:

Color: Purple

Food: Spaghetti

Movie: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2

Things to Do:  eat and everything except go to school or dentist

Be when grow up:  Don't Know

 

 Afton

 1st grader at Altara Elementary

Teacher: Mrs. Spencer

Favorites:

Color: Pink and Blue

Food: Spaghetti

Movie: Woody the Woodpecker

Things to Do:  eat

Be when grow up:  mom and a teacher

 

Lilly

1st grader at Altara Elementary

Teacher: Mrs. Richardson

Favorites:

Color: Dark Blue

Food: Tacos

Movie or TV show: Twisted Whiskers

Things to Do:  color, watch TV, play on trampoline, play with Afton

Be when grow up: artist, singer, teacher, scientist, dog trainer, and a mom

 

The new 1st graders in the house

It is big news this year that my "babies" have started 1st grade.

 

Now ALL of my kids are in school ALL day!

 

  Luckily I have been very busy with work and haven't had a day alone.... yet.

 

 Starting tomorrow - Mondays, Tuesdays and half of Wednesdays it will be just me and Lucky hanging out.   Although I am ready to catch up on a few things, I am really dreading how quiet my house is going to be and that my lunch buddies will be gone.

They are in good hands though and I am excited to see all the fun stuff they will get to learn.

 

Here's to another school year.

Nickel's Worth of Fun

 

Last night (August 18, 2014) we went to Nickelcade as a family. 

 The kids had tons of fun and thought it was so fun to play games and collect tickets.

 

Lizzie started  to get so many tickets
 she decided to wear them as a necklace



Afton and Lilly liked being able to
 get in and start their own rides.

Afton on a motorcycle she found

See... Even Jim was collecting tickets

Ethan with his cup of nickels

For the final picture....
 a picture of everyone with their prizes from tickets :)
 Fake teeth, stuffed animals, candy, dice, rings, key chains, etc. came home with us.

It actually was a really fun night together.
 We hadn't been for about 4 years so the kids thought Nickelcade was AWESOME! 
 

"Back to School" Party

August 16th 2014

 

We just had our 4th Annual "Back to School" Party with cousins. 

 It is always fun to hang out and spotlight these cute kids.

Adults just hanging out

More hanging out

Elementary Age kids - 5th grade through Kindergarten
Lizzie (5th), Trevor (4th), Vince, Afton, and Lilly (1st) Grey and Shaelynn (K)

Representing the Middle School group-
 7th graders Ethan and Andrew

All the cousins-
 in chronological order ranging from 12 years old to 9 months old

 

Lizzie's Playgroup

Lizzie and a couple of her friends have been hosting a weekly play group every Tuesday this summer  from 10 to 12.  It was something Lizzie and her friends came up with.  They made fliers, delivered them around the neighborhood, had themes for each week and planned the activities.  It was fun to see Lizzie do something like this.  Those who know her well, know it is currently not really in her comfort zone:) She and her friends did great though.   The girls also made some pretty good money for 10 and 11 year olds. I kept telling Lizzie all summer she had more money than me :)

    They just had their grand finale of "Carnival Day" on the 12th. Here are a few pictures from the summer. Most of the pictures are from Carnival Day. I did remember to take a few pictures for the other days but not many.

Water Day

 

Teddy Bear Picnic Day



 Cowboy Day

 

 

Carnival Day

They had different game stations for each of the kids to go to.  They could earn tickets at each station and then they could be turned in for prizes, popcorn or Dippin Dots.  At the very end was an appearance by a couple clowns.

 

Action shots of the different stations

Lilly in the egg relay

Logan helping to set up cups for the next round of "Knock 'em Over"

Popcorn station

What's a carnival day without a bounce house?

The kids thought it was so fun to get their own tickets

Oh yeah, and there was a place where you could sign a
birthday card for Chuckles the clown :)

Most of the kids with Lizzie and Chuckles

The hosts- Sarah,  Clown Lizzie and Sophie

Lizzie and Sophie as the clowns for playgroup

These three are currently ALWAYS together. 
 They are such cute girls

 

Timpanogos Cave

August 11, 2014

 

To end our "Trail Tuesdays" for this summer we decided to invite friends and go to Timpanogos Cave.  We had to change it to  "March Monday" since that fit better with everyone's schedule. :) We got to hang out with our friends the Sierer's and Christensen's for the evening.  After the cave we all went to the BYU Creamery for some delicious ice cream.  All of the kids did great on the trail (it was much steeper than I remember )and it was a nice evening hanging out with friends.

 

The group-
 5 adults and 11 kids

Beautiful views along the hike

The Moms (and some of my favorite friends)- Stacey, me and Michelle

 

Jack, Ethan and Colin representing the 12 year olds.
Do you like how insanely tall our son is? :)

We made it to the top!

The heart of Timpanogos

Most of the kids taking a rest break

Our Ranger showing us the heart

Selfie with some of the girls

The pictures don't do it justice but it was awesome inside the cave.
  I hadn't been in forever.

And that ends our "Trail Tuesdays" for the 2014 summer season :)