Zoo Day

My friend Jenn invited us to go to the zoo with her and her kids on Tuesday. I almost didn't end up going, and beside the fact that it cost a crazy $23 to get in, I am so glad we went! There were less people there than I have ever seen, and it wasn't crazy hot like it always is when we go.
Jace wanted a picture on the tiger statue.



Playing in the reptile room. It is so gross and humid and stinky in there, but the kids LOVE it!

Zoey, Leila, Cohen, Nixon, and Jace with some yucky snakes, lizards, and spiders behind them.

We rode the carousel, but I couldn't get any pictures since I was holding Leila. She loved it, and so did the boys. But Leila really loved it. She cried for about 5 minutes when it was over and I had to take her off.

Then Jace saw these weird horse things and had to get a picture. He's mad though, because there are two horses and he wanted me to take a picture of him on one and Nixon on the other but the other one had a line of kids. Every time someone would get off and someone else would get on he'd say, "Hey! It's my brother's turn!" He wasn't very patient waiting for those 3 kids to get off.

Finally it was free, and I got this awesome picture! Totally worth it right? Best picture ever! Ha!

They always love to play with the big black water ball. Again, Leila had a fit when we left.

For some reason, I thought the train ride would be free, so I asked the kids if they wanted a ride. Of course they did! Well, it's $1.50 each. Not horrible, but after spending so much to get in, I was a little bugged. Jace wanted to take a picture of us. He sat in the front row, and we were behind him. We had the entire train to ourselves! Not the best picture ever, but it wasn't Jace's fault.

Nixon's Green Giants

Nixon started soccer too. His first game was Saturday, and we had forgotten just how fun it is to watch 3 and 4 year olds play! They appropriately chose "Green Giants" as their team name considering they are almost all Nixon's size or smaller, so they're teeny! They sure are cute though! There are 4 girls and 5 boys on his team, and they are so fun to watch!

Here he is warming up.

He got to do the kick-off

He did really well following the ball, and staying with all the action.

Showing us his big muscles

It took about 10 minutes to get the teams lined up for end of game high fives. They didn't know why they were putting their hands out, and then we had to make them walk forward to meet the other team. It was hilarious.

Hustling over to us after the game.

Team cheer

Nixon's cousin Beckett had his first game right after Nixon's. I had to get a quick picture between games.

Leila was sad she couldn't play, and kept trying to run on the field during the games. Then she found a soccer ball to play with, and had fun kicking it around.

Bella's 5th Birthday

My cute niece Bella turned 5 on September 6th, and invited us to McDonald's to celebrate. The kids had a blast playing in the play place.
Here she is opening our present. She quickly set it aside and asked for the next present without even unfolding the cute shirt and skinny jeans. I guess that's what you get when you're the aunt who gives clothes as presents!


Leila was having fun trying to do the splits. She'd slide her legs further and further apart until she couldn't go any lower, and then try to stand back up. Uncle Justin and Daddy were getting a kick out of it!

Princess Bella

Cute cupcakes in the shape of a butterfly.

Jace and Nixon playing. For some reason, climbing up and on the slide is always more fun than just sliding down it.

Leila had fun playing too.

So happy!

Leila would always start on her bum going forward...

but then she'd get nervous and hurry and flip to her belly going backwards!

Happy Birthday Miss Bella! Can't believe you're 5!

Hair Cuts

Jace and Nixon were way over due for hair cuts. I took them to my cute neighbor Angie, and she did a great job. Jace was very particular, and only wanted his bangs cut, wait, scratch that. Trimmed. Just a trim. He loves his long hair, and isn't ready to part with it yet.
Before:



After: These pictures don't do it justice. It looks really cute. It was still wet, and not really settling yet. It looks a little 70's here.

Nixon likes his short, and it was getting too long.

Before:

After: Here's our cute little man!

I continue to remain hopeful that one day, Leila will actually need a hair cut. As for now, she still has no hair to cut!

Labor Day Weekend at the Cabin

This past weekend we had so much fun celebrating Labor Day, or at least taking advantage of the fact that we didn't have work or school on Monday! Saturday morning Brock, Dale, and Brett left around 6:00am to head up to Heber to go golfing. The ladies and kiddos headed out around 9:30 to the outlets in Park City and did some shopping. We then headed to Swiss Days where we shopped some more, met up with the men, and shopped a little more. We then went to Dairy Keen for a delicious lunch before going to the cabin for the rest of the weekend.
We got there, and had to get a picture of the grandkids on the swing. I was pretty surprised with how many good ones I got.
Jace, Leila, Nixon, Griffin, Beckett

We played, I got a puzzle going, we had dinner, and the boys even slept out in a tent! I can not believe I didn't get one picture of that!

The next morning Kallie, Brett, Griffin, and Natalie headed out to hike Mt. Baldy, Brock and I went on an 8 mile run, and Grandma and Grandpa K, Brenda, Chloe, and all the other kids walked to Bear River Station to get a treat. Brock and I are in the middle of training for a half marathon at the end of October, and I didn't want to miss my long run, but wow this one was hard! We were in a higher elevation, but the hard part was that we ran 4 miles out and it was at a slight downhill the whole way except for the very beginning which was a big down hill. What does that mean? Well, we had to run the last 4 on a slight uphill with a big uphill for about the last half mile! It was hot, and it was hard, but we did it. Here is how slow of a runner I am too. Brock would run ahead until he got to a mile, stop, do some push-ups, sit-ups, stretch a bit, and then run back to wherever I was. By that point I'd be at the mile marker. Then he'd do it all over again. He did this for all 8 miles. He's freaking amazing.

That day the boys had fun playing on Uncle Brian's car.

Then they all went to the river. I stayed back because Leila was napping. She took a nice long 3 hour nap. I tried to nap too, but maybe got a half hour. I don't know what was up. I didn't mind getting in some good puzzle time though while she slept and the cabin was quiet.

Then I painted Leila's toe nails. She thought is was really fun and would say "Oooooh" with each nail I finished. Then she'd try to touch it. I had to push her hands away a million times and hurry to blow them dry as fast as I could. I got them all painted except 2, when she crawled away and wouldn't let me finish.

Here she is saying OOOOOOOH!

We looked over and noticed these two digging around for something to eat. We don't even know how they got the fridge opened!

The boys opted not to sleep in the tent the second night because of how cold it got the night before. Nixon and Beckett were a little upset, but fell asleep before it really mattered.

The next morning Dale and Brock went to get a 4 wheeler from Bear River Station. We spent the next 4 hours taking turns going on rides.

Here's Nixon Brock and Jace

Leila playing while they were gone

I have a picture of myself at almost this exact age in a chair almost exactly like this one. I couldn't resist taking a picture of my Leila girl.

Then we had to get a picture of our family on the swing. It's tradition.

Nixon, Leila, and I getting ready to go for a ride.

The boys had fun playing cards with Grandpa. Slap Jack is always their game of choice.

Nixon got it!

Now it's Jace's turn. Grandpa is not quite as nice as he was with Nixon.

Jace said he won, but Grandpa said his hand was down first. Jace said, "But my thumb is under your hand." I had to get a picture for proof. Sorry Grandpa, Jace is right!

We decided to go on one more trip down to the river. We stopped at the swing first.

We made it down, and this was Leila's first time walking around. She was a little unsure of all the rocks.

Jace wanted to dip his hair in the freezing water.

And then catch the dripping water on his tongue. We told him not to swallow it, so he'd spit it out.

You can see Uncle Brett in the back ground walking across the river.

Pretty soon all the shoes and socks were off, and the kids were dipping their toesies.

Leila would pull her legs up because the water was so cold!

They each wanted to take a turn having daddy dip their heads in the water. Silly kids.

Cute hairdos!

Becks wanted a turn too.

A cute picture of the kids each throwing rocks in the water.

We had to stop on the way back and swing again. This time Leila and I got in on it.

She was loving it!

Another successful cabin trip behind us. We're lucky to have such a fun place to escape to a few times a year.