Legoland

The boys had a couple of days off at the end of October so we asked them where they'd like to go for a long weekend getaway.  It was pretty unanimous that they wanted to go to Legoland.  I was extremely impressed with the Castle hotel where we stayed.  I loved everything about our time in Legoland!

                                 Levi's first lunch was his own turkey leg.  He was thrilled!!

         Walking around "Minitown" was one of my favorite things about Legoland.

We tried going on almost all of the rides.  Most of them were for little kids but we still enjoyed them!
                           Our average wait time to get on rides was five minutes.  It was great!

The park was very decorated for Halloween.  Lego ghosts and pumpkins were everywhere.  

I loved it!

                                   Our hotel room was really dreamy!  I loved our room!

This was in the dining room where we ate breakfast and dinner.  The dragon even snored.  So fun!!

                This is also in the dining area.  Kids can play while they wait for their food and they can
                                       even bring some of the legos to your table to create.

This is outside "The BIG Shop".  It's the biggest Lego store in the park.  We spent time here every day and everyone was happy here! 

While Nathan took Spencer and Benjamin on a few more rides, Levi enjoyed playing in the sand and discovering dinosaur bones. 

                     Almost every ride had a photo op that we all tried making the funniest picture.
                                                       This was my favorite of Nathan.

        All of the boys spent their evenings creating their legos.  I loved watching them be creative!

       
                         This picture was taken in our hotel.  We loved seeing the characters!

                                    I absolutely LOVED everything about our trip to Legoland!!!
                           
                       

For anyone who's wondering...Andrew stayed in Boise with Nonnie.  He had friends over for breakfast and made them waffles, he hung out with friends the entire weekend and loved his weekend of freedom!!

Back to School

I love almost everything that goes with going back to school in the fall. I love shopping for school supplies. I love hearing the funny dreams our kids have about the first day of school. I love shopping for new shoes and clothes. I love getting to bed earlier and I love getting back on a schedule. Don't get me wrong. I will miss the carefree, fun-filled summer days with our kids, but I do love sharpening pencils, filling backpacks and the challenge of making delicious lunches and nutritious breakfasts every day.
I'm happy to say that everyone was happy and excited for the first day. Andrew and Spencer were up especially early as they're both doing early morning seminary this year. Andrew is at Boise High seminary and drives himself and Spencer is at the Duncan Ln. building and Nathan drives him every day (BLESS HIM!!!).

The youngers could have slept in, but were awake when the big boys left. They were SO excited! I'm very grateful that all of our kids love school!

I love our tradition of talking about the first day of school while eating chocolate chip cookies (frozen dough per request from these boys). It almost makes me feel that I was with them.

This year felt different, of course, because Sarah wasn't here. Thank goodness she knows how passionate I am with traditions and truly how much this picture would mean to me, so she had a roommate snap this picture and send it to me on her first day. I miss her something fiercely but am over-the-moon happy for her that she is SO VERY happy at college!!

Sure do love these cute kids of ours and their love of learning! Here's to a great year!!

August

August was definitely the busiest month of our summer! With our trip to Colorado and Oregon we were gone over half of the month. Although, we were gone a lot, we were able to host our annual Hamm/Smith pool party. We spent the afternoon at the pool, played, caught up and enjoyed shave ice together. I'm so grateful for the Hamm family's friendship!


On our way back from Colorado, we spent a few days with Jayna and her family. Spencer wanted to celebrate his birthday in Provo.
We went to the BYU Dinosaur museum, BYU campus and had Creamery ice cream.






On our last day of summer, we wanted to have one last adventure. We went to the Boise Zoo and saw the display of Dinosaurs throughout the Zoo. The dinosaurs were very life-like as they moved and made sounds. When I took this picture I asked Levi to get a little closer but he told me he couldn't because the dinosaur would eat him.




Such cute kids!! I was very sad to think that our wonderful, care-free summer was coming to a close.


Then we went to get shave ice that also has soft-serve vanilla ice cream. It was SO yummy!!!


That evening we enjoyed a special Back-to-School dinner. The theme of our dinner was centered around owls and how they are wise. It is our hope that as we embark on this new school year that we will conscientiously make wise choices.





The first day of school pictures!


Sarah and Andrew go to school together because Andrew is taking an advanced math class at the Junior High. He goes every morning with Sarah and then I pick him up and take him to his school.


The second group!


A tradition of getting a picture by "the rock".

Standing in line while the principal welcomes everyone back to school.


Then mom and Levi went off to preschool.

After school we had our traditional-after-school-cookie-chat. I love hearing about their day! Here's to a great school year!!