Catching Up: September

Backward pictures again!!! I can tell I haven't updated for a while, I almost forgot how! Anyway, I will get on with it. Sam turned 4 this month. He didn't ask for much, but he knew he wanted a pinata', Elmo cupcakes, and a Little Einstein's spaceship for sure.
This face says it all about how he felt the day of his party. Like I said, he didn't have crazy expectation, just excited to be 4! I love this kid!
I can't believe my baby is so old. But not too old for Elmo! These are the cupcakes he took to pre-school. I thought they turned out quite cute.
The Cake was not quite the success that the cupcakes were, but he didn't care. He thought it was great!

We also started school the Tuesday after Labor Day. Emily is in 3rd grade and loving it. Jack is so excited to be in kindergarten, and loves going to school everyday, instead of just MWF. Sam gets to join everyone else in the world of school, going to Pre-school with Ms. Kim. He is loving it, and does "homework" like the rest of the kids, after school.

Catching Up: August

I did these pictures out of order. But I thought I would attempt to catch up on all the happenings since I have been away from the blog thing for a while. This first picture is of Jack. We were having a hard time getting him to even "try" taking his training wheels off. So, I decided a bribe was in order. I have learned that just the right bribe can work wonders. I just didn't know how well. The new "Star Wars: Clone Wars" movie was coming out in 10 days, So I told Jack if he learned to ride his bike without training wheels we would go see the movie. I thought 10 days was a big enough window to accomplish this task. Well, talk about just needing the right motivation. The kid learned to ride his bike without training wheels in 1 DAY!!! What can I say, the kid LOVES Star Wars!!! He spent the next 9 days asking if the movie was in theaters yet, and perfecting his new talent. He is now showing me all the tricks he knows. Things like "mom look no fingers". "Mom, watch me do this jump!" I wonder sometimes why I was pushing him to learn this dangerous skill in the first place, but it is also fun to see him so proud if his accomplishment.

I ran another 1/2 marathon with my sisters, Sara and Emily in Logan, Utah. It was a beautiful run through a canyon. It was downhill for the first 6 miles or so. I thought this might work in my favor, but I would be wrong! As soon as a hit the flat part of the race I began to feel all the muscles you use to run down hill, and it hit me hard! I didn't do as good as I wanted to, but it was still a beautiful race, and fun to do with my sisters. I just need to train harder for St. George!!!
Blake was so thoughtful and asked what I wanted to do for our 12th anniversary this year. He may have regretted that when I told him that I really wanted to go to the Idaho Shakespeare Festival in Boise. But he got tickets anyway, and we went and saw "MacBeth" in a really cool outdoor amphitheater along the Boise River. I made a picnic and we sat on the grass and ate it during the play. I thought it was really well done, but we were both wishing we had at least read the "cliff notes" before we came. The second half of the play was much better, partly because we finally knew what was going on in the story (sort of) and we rented the lawn chairs they had. It sounds so romantic to sit on the grass and watch a play, but not very comfy the second hour! We got to spend the night in Boise, and it was a quick, but fun getaway. I think next year we will need to go to a car show, or 4 wheeling in the mountains for Blake.