Back to School!

I can't believe it's that time of year again. I say this every year, but the summer goes by way too fast. Although I'm glad for school to start to provide some structure, I will definitely miss the kids. We had such a great summer together and did so many fun things. Tate will also miss them, as he will be alone with me all day. It will be fun to spend some time alone with him though. Hannah and Porter were both excited for the first day, mainly because they finally got to wear their new shoes they'd been dying to wear since we got them a few weeks ago. Porter has a really great 1st grade teacher and lots of friends in his class. He even allowed me into his room to take a quick picture. I guess once you hit 3rd grade, you don't want your mother following you in on the first day to take your picture, so I sadly gave up the classroom picture with Hannah this year. Hannah's teacher is new to the school and she didn't have any friends in her class, but she came home yesterday proud that she had made two, maybe three new friends and was going to make more today. We know that she will be fine and have plenty of new friends this year. We're excited for them to be at their new school, H. Guy Child, which we have been very impressed with.

Bird Trainer For a Day

Gone are the days of becoming an archaeologist, paleontologist, or the president. Porter has set his sights on a much grander career; bird trainer. He was picked from a large crowd to be a bird trainer for a day at the bird show at the Hogle Zoo. He had bird seed put in his hand and then a bird flew from across the stadium, perched on his arm, and ate out of his hand. He thought it was totally cool and decided then and there that he would like to become a bird trainer when he grows up!

Our Last Summer Hurrah!

We just got home from one of the funnest and greatest vacations we've ever been on. We were able to visit Allen's parents on their mission in Oakland, CA. They serve at the Oakland Temple Visitor's Center and it is so beautiful there. We were able to stay with them in their mission apartment and it was so good to see them again. We did lots of great things including Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco, Golden Gate Bridge, the zoo, the redwoods, and many other things. But our most favorite thing about this vacation was being in the Visitor's Center with Allen's parents and feeling the amazing spirit that is present there. They currently have a display of some amazing statues that were sculpted to depict the miracles of Jesus Christ and they are so beautiful. We were able to visit with the sister missionaries that serve in the Center and the kids had a lot of fun with the elders. Most of all though, it was such a testimony builder to see all of the people there that are willing to give up so much to serve the Lord. What an amazing place!
Our family on the temple terrace of the Oakland Temple. They have this wonderful terrace that goes around the temple that you can walk around and the views from the top are incredible. You can see the ocean and all the way to San Francisco.
The kids having a ball in the Pacific Ocean. When we flew home, we had to fly over the ocean during takeoff and it was so hard to leave the ocean behind.
This is a picture of the kids posing with the sourdough bread guy at Boudin's bakery on Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco. They have the most amazing sourdough bread and they create these cool things with dough, like these scissors. We had to eat there twice because Hannah had her first taste of clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl and fell in love with it and had to have it again.
Our little family on the pier in San Francisco with Alcatraz in the background. We spent one whole day on the pier and had such a great time that we drove back another day and spent some more time.

Finally!

We have been trying to take a day trip up the canyon all summer and it seems like something always comes up every Saturday. So when last Saturday rolled around and we were done with the yard work, we decided to go for it. We packed a lunch and drove to South Fork, which is just past Pineview Dam. We found a great spot to play in the river. The kids had a ball wading and throwing rocks (next time we'll bring tubes). After that we ate lunch and did some hiking. Allen led us on a trail to a really cool cave that the kids climbed through. The weather was beautiful and so were the mountains. After days like this, we always wonder why we don't do it more often. I guess life gets crazy and busy, but we are so glad that we seized the spare moments we had and enjoyed such a good time together. Allen, Hannah, and Tate on the way to the cave.
Tate took a dive off the rock he was sitting on and fell headfirst into the river. We think he only swallowed a little water, and we've crossed our fingers that he doesn't get giarrdhea, whirling disease, or any other nasty bugs from swallowing too much river water.

More Birthday Pictures!

Porter and his friends at his party. I think I can see more ribs than muscles. He thought it was pretty cool that all four of them were six years old.

Porter takes a pinata bashing very seriously. It's tradition to let the birthday child go first, and then you just cross your fingers that nobody else breaks it before the birthday child's turn comes around again.
This was my best attempt at an Indiana Jones cake. I think next time I will just fork over the money and order one, and save myself the stress. I worried so bad that it wouldn't be what he wanted, but in the end it was good enough for him.

Happy Birthday Porter!

Porter's 6th birthday was yesterday and we had such a great day! Allen usually takes the day of work on Porter's birthday and we go swimming, but he was unable to this year so I let Porter invite a few friends over for swimming and pizza. Because we are new in the area, we only knew of a few people to invite, but it was still a lot of fun. They had a great time swimming, slip-n-sliding, and having squirt gun fights. Allen did come home a little early so we could take Porter out to dinner. We told him he could choose anywhere he wanted because it was his special day. I thought he'd choose pizza, but he chose Wendy's, of all places. Then we came home for a party with our family at our house. We had cake and ice cream, opened presents, and had a pinata. The clouds threatened to move our party indoors partway through, but they only produced a few claps of thunder and then moved it. Porter got tons of cool presents, including a Build-your-own Lightsaber, clone trooper gun, Indiana Jones legos, Star Wars legos, etc. We will now spend the next few weeks trying to assemble and figure everything out. We are so grateful for Porter. He truly is an amazing child and we can't imagine life without him. Happy Birthday Porter!