Back to School

Damon and Tessa were so excited to go back to school. 

3rd Grade

5th Grade

Tessa got her braces off the first day of school!! She was very excited about it!

She loved getting to fill a cup of candy and trading in her Beach Bucks for a Target gift card.

Rockwell was not excited to go back to school, but I don't think it's been quite as awful as he thought it would be. :)

 Rockwell's favorite part of every day is cross country practice after school. He especially loves it on rainy days. 

Anniversary - 18 Years

 We decided to try out paddle boarding for our anniversary celebration this year. Theron let us borrow his paddle boards, and we drove up to Tibble Fork Reservoir. 

We've both wanted to try this for a long time and we both really loved it.

It's very peaceful to glide across the water in the beautiful mountain scenery.

We spent a couple hours there and enjoyed being together without any interruptions. :)

We ate some lunch at The Purple Turtle on the way home. It was a really fun way to celebrate. I've always loved that Paul and I both like to try new things, and especially like to try them together. Paul is still my very favorite person to spend time with and I'm glad we could have a fun day together. I sure do love love love you Paul!!

End of Summer Catch Up

We went to Dr Thompson's (our orthodontist) pool party and luckily the Loosli's went too.

They loved the flow rider and free snow cones and Rockwell and Wyatt entered the hula hoop contest. :)

Wyatt won his round and earned a Swig gift card. So fun!

I tried it out in the parent round, but didn't do so well. :)

The Cheney's were in town and came over for dinner. Liam was a fast fan of Tessa, which she absolutely loved!

Tessa loved playing with Asher and Liam outside, and Matt and Marisa loved that they were able to play Cover Your Kingdom with us uninterrupted after dinner. :) 

We love it when we get to hang out with the Cheneys!

Coach Benson had these shirts made for the team camp, and made sure to give one to the 8th grade boys too. Rockwell loves it!

Tessa made some peanut butter balls all by herself and they were delicious.

We went swimming at Katie's house with Al, Audrey, and Malorie. I can't believe we only went swimming there once all summer. It was a really fun day!

We found a snake in the backyard and Tessa loved holding it!

Our ward had the opportunity to volunteer at the traveling tabernacle. Rockwell signed up and enjoyed spending the afternoon with Audrey and Dhiren explaining the significance of the colors used in the clothing and the tabernacle. Jill sent me a picture of them, which I appreciated so much. :)

I took the kids and Vincent to Airborne one afternoon. They all loved it and didn't want to leave.

They begged to go back, so I took them once more before school started. This time we took Wesley, and Al & Wyatt met us there. Hallee was feeling sick and we missed her! It was great to get some time to visit with Al while the kids had a blast.

Hiking

 Grandpa Ham, Mel and I hiked to Grandeur Peak this month. It was a challenging hike for sure, but very pretty.

I can't believe our first hike together was in July this year! With my crazy schedule in June, this was the first time I was able to join them and it felt great to be on the trail again.

The views at the top were beautiful.

The next week we went to Gloria Falls, and Grandma Ham came too since this one is just over a mile long. The falls are roaring this year and just gorgeous!

Mel used her strength to lift a tree for us to pass under. :)

This morning I met Mel and Grandpa at Silver Lake in Big Cottonwood Canyon. We walked out on the boardwalk to see the two moose grazing there. Grandpa was so excited to see moose!! He didn't see any at all last year, and hasn't seen any before today this year. We were all glad the streak was broken!

We drove up the road a little bit to hike Clayton's Peak. It was overcast the whole time and rained on us for a while. It was nice and cool, and felt great to be up in the mountains. I'm glad I've been able to do a few hikes with them this month!