UEA weekend!

UEA weekend was a much welcomed break.  Our days have been VERY busy lately so to have a few days off of school to just relax was very appreciated.  Here are a few things we did over the break.

Wednesday October 14th-

To kick off the long weekend Jim and I went to go see the play of one of my very favorite movies!!!

Thursday October 15th-

I took all of the kids on a bike ride.  We drove over to Draper Park to hook onto the Porter Rockwell trail for our bike ride.  Putting all the bikes into the Yukon was a little like playing Jenga.  We may need to invest in a bike rack soon.  We did a 3 mile bike ride.  That was long enough for our 7 year olds legs.  It was so nice to get out and bike with all my kids.  I think I could really like bike riding. 

 Friday October 16th-

Ethan and I woke up and did a 10 mile bike ride.  It was gorgeous.  It was so fun and nice to hang out with Ethan for a little bit.  The weather and scenery were perfect.   He is definitely is in much better shape than his mom though.  I kept asking if he was tired (because I sure was) but he never was.  Later in the day all of us went and saw the movie Inside Out.  It was really cute.  

 Saturday October 17th-

Jim and I decided to be brave and kinda impulsive and painted our main floor walls.  It is a color called French Silver.  I love it!!!!  Depending on how the light hits it, it can look blueish or grayish.  But now we  have decided to add many more things to our "to do" list like paint the kitchen cupboards, paint molding, replace the floors, and on and on...... :)  

We are now back to home improvement projects.  

BUT our walls look great and I love them!!!!

Really good example of how the same paint looks different at different times of the day.  

Even Lucky seems to approve. 

Picking Pumpkins

Last night we met my parents at

 Peterson Family Farm to get some pumpkins

Goat just hanging out

Cute Lilly with her big pumpkin

Jim with his favorite pumpkin

Selfie Time

Grandma and Liz on the wagon ride

With the grandkids.
 Lilly is watching a drone that is flying overhead

Family picture at the farm

Gardner Village

Yesterday (October 9th) the kids didn't have school so we headed over to Gardner Village with our friends the Sierers.

Cute girls!!!
Afton, Lizzie, Savannah, Greta

Greta, Afton and Savannah posing by the dancing witches

Our group of kids (well minus Jaren who did have school)
So glad these guys get to grow up together
Ethan (13), Afton (7), Greta (4), Lilly (7), Lizzie (11), Savannah (10), Colin (13)

Glasses ad aka school pictures

We got school pictures back.  I think Standard Optical or LensCrafters would be proud :)

Bike Riding

Latest news in our house is we now have TWO 7 year olds that can ride their bike without any training wheels!!!!  Big moment!  Now all they want to do is ride their bikes every day, all the time :)  We are so close to being able to go on a family bike ride.   I currently am the only one without a bike but hopefully we can remedy that soon.

 October 1st- Lilly was bound and determined to
 figure out riding her bike before going in for bed

-The next morning, (October 2nd)
 big sister (Afton) was out helping Lilly a little bit.
I just think the sequence of these pictures is so cute!

And she's off!

Our new 2 wheeler bike rider Lilly!!!!!

Afton just loves riding bikes all the time!

September

Here is a little bit of what we did the rest of September when we were not up in Island Park/ Yellowstone.

Proof of what a rough life Lucky has

 Polynesian Festival- A couple weeks ago we went to a Polynesian festival up at Thanksgiving Point.  Although the festival was kinda a bust the girls really liked these trampoline things. 

Lizzie loved it and got pretty high above the yellow posts on each side 

Afton also loved going way high.....

Lilly didn't like to go high but LOVED going back and forth

Afton learned to ride her bike!!!!  We are so proud of her.
Now all she wants to do is ride her bike every day all the time :)

Lilly brought this home from school.  I thought it was hilarious.
 Raising a girl with confidence is good right? :)

One day we had a huge rainstorm followed by the most beautiful rainbow!!!!
  Downfall is this picture reminds me how tall my kids are getting.
  Ethan passed me up over a year ago and Lizzie is almost there. 

Monday night for Family Home Evening we went down to the Conference Center and had a tour guide give us a tour.  It was so nice there.  I felt the spirit so strong there.  There was a statue of Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father appearing to Joseph Smith.  When you turned the statue around you could see Heavenly Father with his arm around Jesus.  So touching. 

Stunning as usual

One night Jim and I decided to take just our son out to ice cream.
 He is such a good kid and we are so proud of him.
It was nice for both Jim and I to have some one on one time with just Ethan.

Jim and I went with some friends (Tim and Maria) to the Full Moon Chair Lift Ride up at Sundance.  It was amazing!!!  So beautiful to go up a chair lift in the dark and see the canyon and stars and full moon.

Island Park/ Yellowstone

We just got back from a amazing weekend up in 

Island Park/ Yellowstone. 

 It was so beautiful up there and so nice to be together.  I think the last time we were up there was 2011 and 2012.  It is fun to see  that I took pictures in some of the same places this year (not on purpose) and to see how much the kids have grown.

Group Picture in front of the cabin

Jim and Afton near Madison picnic area.

Almost the same spot but with Lilly in 2011

Oldest and youngest posing for a cute picture

Even the bear at our cabin had
 a nice time being tucked in :)

Gorgeous Mesa Falls with a rainbow

Jim with his ladies.
  One (Lizzie) who sometimes forgets to smile for pictures :)

Lilly- 7 years old

Flashback to same picnic area
 (Madison) and almost the same spot-
 3 years earlier :)
Lilly 2012- 4 years old

Back to 2015.....

Grand Canyon (of Yellowstone) waterfall

Me with two adorable 7 year olds

Afton and Lilly in front of Old Faithful

Gibbons waterfall

Our three beautiful daughters

Running of the bison in Yellowstone.
  It was the coolest thing to watch!

Lilly really wanted a picture with just Mom and Dad

Near Mesa Falls.
So breathtakingly beautiful

It was good for our souls and fun memories made.
 Hope to get up there again soon.