First day of Preschool

My "baby" started preschool last month. My boys are growing up so fast! Owen loves going to school and learning new things. Everyday when he comes home and I ask him what he did at school he says, "played." What could be more fun than that?

Are you ready for some FOOTBALL?

We are well on our way into the football season and it has been a great one. This is Ryan's first year playing and he has really liked it and learned a lot. Zach learned a lot last year, worked hard and made it on the "A" team this year. Ryan is #22 and Zach is #32. For some reason Zach didn't keep the same # he had last year. I've had to retrain my brain to look for a different #. Both boys are doing great and having lots of fun.

As you can see, we all have fun at the games.

Maybe Jason most of all!

Of course for Zach posing for pictures isn't cool..he just wants to play the game.

Ryan's Baptism

Ryan was baptized the first Saturday in September. It was a special day and also a very hectic day because it happened to be the day of the first football games of the season. The baptism was originally scheduled for 2pm and Ryan's game was at 3pm in Woods Cross, which meant that we wouldn't be able to do both. We gave Ryan the choice to miss his first game and get baptized or play in his game and wait a month to get baptized. He decided he would rather get baptized and miss his first game because as he said "there would be other games." What a good choice! As it turned out the baptism was changed to 1pm which gave us enough time to have Ryan baptized and make it to his game by 3pm. So we went to Zach's first game at 9am in Centerville, came home and had a luncheon with family, went to the baptism and then went back up to Woods Cross for Ryan's game. Like I said it was a hectic day but a good one too. Thank you to all of our family members who came to support Ryan on this special day.

Grandpa and Grandma Manning

Papa and Grammy

Happy Birthday Ryan!

Ryan turned 8 in August. He celebrated by having a late night with a few friends. They had pizza, watched a movie, got Slurpee's and basically just ran around being crazy, so they had a fun time. Ryan gave me a break this year on his cake. He didn't want anything special (like a guitar), just a basic chocolate cake with white frosting and sprinkles. That's an easy request. Happy Birthday Ry, we love you!

Two Wheelin'

In August Owen learned how to ride his bike without training wheels. He's keeping up with his brothers who learned when they were 3yrs old too (Ryan was actually 2.) Owen's little 12" bike was perfect for him to learn on, but he's now graduated to a bigger bike. He loves it.

Christmas (Meadows) in July

Over the 24th of July weekend we went camping with the Howes family. We have been going to a campground in the Uintah's called Christmas Meadows for many years now, but for the 3 years that Ralph and Edy were living in the Philippines we didn't go. It was great to get back there this summer and experience the beautiful Uintah mountains. It's such a wonderful place that some of my family decided to come along too. We had a great time with lots of cousins and grandparents to play with.

On the way we decided to stop and fish.

Owen had all the luck. He caught 2 fish and the rest of us were skunked.

We usually have the same sites every year with trees near the table and the men are easily able to put up a tarp over the table. This year we had 3 different sites and the trees weren't quite close enough to tie the ropes to. So most of the first day was filled with creating this elaborate system to keep up the tarp. It involved a lot of time, ropes, branches, bungee cords and clip ons. The men finally succeeded and we were very happy because it kept the sun and rain off of us.

Working in the axe yard is the most popular activity while camping, but this year is was extra fun because Papa brought his jungle bolo from the Philippines. The kids loved it. Of course, the little kids needed closer supervision. There were a few cuts, and 2 people needed stitches, but those cuts came from pocket knives.

Who knew a knife could be so much fun?

Near our campsites was a large pile of twigs and pine needles which happened to be the home of many a chipmunk. Another favorite activity was to catch those chipmunks, (they really like trail mix).

Aunt Mimi helped the kids go on a nature walk and find the many colors found in the mountains. They painted each hole of an egg carton a different color and then walked around to find things in nature that matched the different colors.

We had such wonderful time being in the outdoors and with so many of our family. We look forward to next year and the adventures it will bring.