Out and About, the Idaho addition

First, we had to go to the Village.  Of course we had to go the the chocolate store!

 

 

 

We walked around downtown Ketchum

 

And we walked around the Sun Valley golf course looking for golf balls.

I remember doing this when I was younger and Pa would buy the ones we found from us.

We didn't find many,  but it was a fun walk.

 

 

 

Swimming!!!

We went swimming almost every day.  The weather was perfect and we basically had the pool to ourselves every time we went.  The kids had so much fun.

 

Here is a shot of the Olympic pool.  This is where we went almost every afternoon.

We were actually lucky it was still open.  I think they usually close it right after Labor Day.

They used to have a kiddie pool where this splash pad is, but as you can see, Aiden was excited about it.

Can you see Dallin under the water?  We bought him a swim mask and he spent a lot of time under water.  He can actually swim under water now!

Here is Brooke and Nate!

 

Dallin jumping in

Aiden swimming with Daddy

Brooke and Daddy

 

Grandpa flew in Wednesday night!

Here is Grandpa, Brooke, and Aiden in the hot tub on Thursday.

That thing that Aiden is playing with is a spout with cold water coming out of it.

It was the highlight for him.

 

Seriously, my kids loved the pool.

Some of the days they even went twice.  The Olympic pool in the afternoon and the Inn pool in the evening since it was heated. 

 

Sun Valley Day 1

On September 9, we left for Sun Valley Idaho!

We love going to Sun Valley.  We go about every other year.

This was our first time going without Pa, and it was a little weird.  We miss him all the time and we are grateful for him and MeMe making these Sun Valley trips possible for us.  MeMe was able to come up for the first part of the week with us. 

You will have to excuse my pictures.  I got a new camera and I am still trying to figure it out.

This year we decided to have a Traveling Outfit competition (although we still haven't awarded prizes yet.)

 

Amanda (she will probably win best ensemble!)

Animal print pants out of control!

Nate

Bummer, this one is way too light.

Aaron and I in our traveling outfits.

 

I didn't get a picture of Kassie in her school teacher shirt, or my mom in her formal wear shirt.  Both were just lovely!

 

We got in our cars and got on our way!

Amanda and Brooke singing in the back!

We stopped for lunch in Berley(I think) along the Snake River.

 

The kids were awesome in the car and we only had to stop once (for lunch).

 

We all made it safely!  We got unpacked and started to enjoy our vacation!

Brooke and Grandma playing Pollys

Aiden exploring the fun stone pathways that weave through the complex

 

Dallin taking Aiden for a stroll.

 

After dinner we decided to take the kids to the pool.  The Sun Valley Inn has a heated pool that is open year round. 

Dallin!

Brooke!

Aiden loves the water!  He didn't like his floatie that I bought for him though.

 

We had a fun first day!

 

 

 

Back to school!

Dallin started 1st grade on August 21.  He's been going for a month now and LOVES it.

He loves taking his lunch.  He doesn't want school lunch.

 

First day of school picture

Waiting for school to start!

Dallin's first lunch!

 

Dallin has already taken 3 spelling tests and has done awesome on all of them.  He is a good reader, it is just usually a fight to get him to do his 20 minutes a day.  Hopefully this is only something he does with me.  We already have parent teacher conference coming at the first part of October.  I can't believe it.

 

Brooke started preschool a few weeks later on September 4.  She goes on Tuesday and Thursday for 3 hours each day.  She is loving it.

Here is her first day of school picture!

Here is Brooke at her preschool.  Her teacher is so cute and fun!

 

It is so crazy to have both kids gone at school.  It's nice to have some quiet time around the house.  Too bad I'm too busy to really enjoy it.

Ward Camp Out (well the first part anyway)

We had our ward campout on August 17.  It was at Spanish Fork campground and it was AWESOME!  There is a reservoir and beach for the kids to play in.  I got pictures of that and then I kind of didn't take anymore pictures.  Since it was camping in a tent, we left the baby with Aaron's parents.  It was a lot more fun without chasing him all over the place.

 

Here is the view from the reservoir looking up to the camping area.

Aaron and the kids.

All the neighbor kids.

 

After we were done playing in the water, we went up to the campground and had dinner.  It was potluck, and we couldn't have a kind of fire so we had to be creative.  After dinner we just spent the rest of the night playing and talking.  It was so much fun!  In the morning, the ward provided a pancake breakfast.  We love our ward and loved the chance to spend more time with them!

Davis County Fair

A few weeks ago we drove up to meet our friends at the Davis County Fair.  Now that we moved so far away we don't see our friends as much, so this was extra fun.  The kids love the fair.  And we love that is is free!

 

Best friends!

Aiden was loving all the animals!

They had stingrays that you could touch.

Aiden's first haircut!

After we were done at the hospital we drove up to my parents' house for back to school haircuts.

I also had Amanda cut Aiden's hair.  He had a little mullet.

 

Here is the before. . .

 

 Here is the after. . .

Aiden and his stylist, Amanda

 

The experience was traumatic for both Aiden and Amanda.  Aiden cried anytime she touched his hair and it was making Amanda sad to be the one making Aiden sad.  We had to be fast and she didn't get to do as much as we would have wanted.  He could still use another trim.  But, we got rid of the mullet, so that's good!  So glad we have Amanda to do our haircuts!

Service Project

I decided I wanted to have the kids do a service project this summer.  I decided we would do something for Primary Children's.  My mom works there and Dallin had surgery there when he was only like 3 months old.  We love Primary's and are so grateful we don't have sick kids that are there all the time.  I got on their website and got some ideas of donations they needed.  I also talked to my mom and asked what would be good.  I decided we would make some craft kits.  It was something easy that the kids could help with.  I had them watch this great video so they knew what they were making these craft kits for.  Then I bought supplies and we got to work.

 

First we made card making kits.

I made some cards out of plain colored paper, bought stickers and crayons, and included envelopes for the finished cards.

Brooke made the girly ones

Dallin made the boy ones.

 

While Dallin was at a friend's house one day, Brooke and I assembled the bookmark decorating kits.  I didn't get pictures of it though.  I just bought foam bookmarks at the dollar store and included stickers for the kids to use to put on the bookmarks.

 

Here are all the assembled kits

Bookmark kits

card making kits for the girls

card making kits for the boys

 

Then, we drove up to the hospital to drop of our donation. 

Here are the kids with the kits outside the hospital.

 

Because of all the privacy issues, you can only drop the donation off at the front desk.  It would be cool if you could actually take the kits around to the kids though.

 

Anyway, my mom was working so she came and met us.  She showed us the playroom (just from the door), she showed us the lab, which is where she works.  And we got to ride the elevator, which Aiden hated.  The kids loved the big fish display by the elevator (in picture below).  Then we got lunch from the cafeteria and at lunch with my mom.  It was a fun little outing!  I just hope the kids at least understood a little bit about the service they were doing for the kids.

The kids with Grandma Carrie and the fish display.