Adalin's first day of 1st grade

Pajama Party!

End of summer.  Lots of friends.  Why not?

That a long green bean! And the grape tomato freaks...

This is my first year growing green beans and it has been so awesome haveing them fresh out of the garden! They can be a little difficult to find off the bush, giving this baby plenty of time to grow ginormous:
Adalin and Kira LOVE the grape tomatoes that I planted for them. They literally picked an entire cereal bowl full a few days ago and ate all of them in 5 minutes. Talk about 600% vitamin C for a day.

Uncle Nate's Hockey Game

We went to see my brother, Nathan, play roller hockey a few weeks ago. The girls were pretty excited and eager to learn how the game is played, since they had no idea. Ava kept pointing to Nate, saying "D!" and clapping. It was very cute.

I do have to say that my brother is pretty impressive. Not as a goalie, necessarily (sorry Nate, you said it yourself, though he did have some pretty good saves), but how he has turned his life around. This is a kid who used to eat {only} easy mac and ravioli out-of-the-can and play computer games for 8+ hours a day, but now works out like a maniac and buys broccoli in bulk and asks me how to season it. He has lost a lot of weight, is majorly fit now, and is planning on maybe going into the army. Love ya little bro.

CRIM and carnival

What a busy day this was!  8K for Adam, 5K for me, and teddy bear trot trot for the girls, followed by a carnival at our church! Whew!  It was pretty dang fun though!

The blondes

Isn't this just a stunning picture of all of these beauties?  Ah, love the summer blonde hair!
The cute boy is our friend Braden, who's dear family we know from church and med school.

Mom and Dad's birthday

Uncle Ray's

There really shouldn't be, but there is a homemade ice cream shop 6 minutes down the road from our house.   (yes, I've times it.) If you know me, you know that this is not good at all.  Well, their chocolate malts sure do taste like they were made in Kolob, but you know, not good for the thighs.

We were watching some friends of ours for a few hours and I got brave and did what should be done on a hot summer's afternoon.

The John

Sweet babies

Just a month or so before this, some (now) good friends moved 2 miles away from our house.  Ava seemed to really fall in love with their little baby boy, Blake.  Isn't this just the cutest thing you ever did see?  Ava sat with her arm around Blake for quite a while!