Our first grader!

Bryan was SO excited for school to start!  He'd been counting down the days until the first day of school for over a week.  I'm glad he's confident and anxious to try new things, despite how sad I am at the thought of him being away from me for so long...

His teacher this year at Cherry Creek is Mrs. Cooley.  He didn't end up with any of his friends in his class, but he loves being able to see his old friends at recess and lunch, and he's excited about being able to make new friends.  He thinks having his own desk is the coolest thing ever!

Here he is on his first day, making his cool-guy poses. :)  He's wearing the new shoes he picked out - his first pair with laces that he can tie himself!

He picked out this backpack and matching lunchbox.  He took it with him everywhere he went for the first couple of days after he got it. :)  He's hoping to get lots of cool things throughout the year to fill all the pockets!

I've decided to drive him to and from school instead of having him take the bus right now.  That may change in the future, and he's certainly hoping it will.  For now, I want to maximize the time we have in the morning before he leaves, so that extra half hour means a lot.  And David can take him on his way to work, so it works out just fine.  Before he leaves we have family breakfast and scripture study, we review the Articles of Faith he's memorizing, and he practices the piano.  In the coming weeks I may work on some phonics and reading skills with him before he leaves, since he's totally a morning person and is up for about anything the moment he wakes up.  I've noticed he's definitely worn out when he comes home from school and doesn't want to do much of anything.  Hopefully he'll get used to the longer schedule so we can do some things as a family when he's home in the afternoon as well, or at least so he can play with Matt and Ari without being as grumpy as he's been this past week! 

Despite his grumpiness, I'm glad he loves school so much and is such a hard worker!  I'm sure he's going to have a great year!

End of summer

It's always both sad and exciting when summer comes to an end.  Sad to end the lazy summer days of swimming, playing with friends, and not having to worry about schedules.  But it's also exciting to start a new school year, buy new outfits, collect pencils and folders and notebooks.  I do have to admit that it was mostly Bryan feeling excitement about the new school year.  He could hardly wait to start up again.  I really struggled, though, with the thought of him being gone all day!  I spent a lot of time researching homeschooling throughout the summer (I'll have to do a whole separate post on that along sometime), but I decided that this just isn't the right time.  With upcoming changes ahead it may be more feasible in the future, but for now I decided to send him to the elementary school he attended last year.  He was thrilled at the thought of seeing his old friends, going to recess, eating school lunch, and so on.  So I guess I was mostly sad at the thought of summer's end, and Bryan was excited enough for all of us.

We did try to make the most of our last couple of free weeks.  We mostly swam, since that's the kids' favorite thing to do!  We went to the Provo Veteran's pool once or twice, and met up with my friend Becca and her kids at the Scera one afternoon.  We did take advantage of one of the Two-buck Tuesdays at Thanksgiving Point and went up to the Children's Garden with friends.  The kids especially loved the Noah's Ark and the other water features there.

Matt and his best buddy, Michael. :)

The Friday before school started, Jana put together an end-of-summer pool party for Janie and her friends.  It was at a little pool in a nearby condo community, and it was perfect for all the kids.  We loved spending one last afternoon in the water.

This past week it's been extremely hot - close to 100 - so I guess summer's not really over.  But once school starts, it's just not the same.  I have to say, I'm ready for Fall!

Caribou County Rodeo and Toone Dairy Farm

On our way back from Island Park, we made a little detour over to Grace to visit the farm and see the Caribou County Rodeo!  I used to go to the rodeo in Grace when I was little, and I'd been telling the boys about it all summer.  Of course, they were thrilled for a chance to wear their boots.  In fact, David and I got some and wore ours as well!  It was the perfect little rodeo for our boys with that great small-town feel.  Ari loved seeing all the animals and the boys like the bucking broncos and bulls!

 Here's Cam copying the boys. :)

 It was especially fun to watch a rodeo with Grandpa!

That night we stayed in Soda Springs and then spent the next day down on the farm.  We always love visiting with aunts and uncles and cousins, and Steven's tours of the farm never get old. :)

Matt could not get enough of the tractors!  But Ari was a lot more wary.  She much preferred being with Grandma and staying a little closer to the ground.

The boys also love playing in the cotton seed pile!  Ari wouldn't get near it, but Cami and Carter joined in the fun!

Here are several more pics of Matt on the tractors.  He was in little boy heaven!

While Matty couldn't get enough of the tractors, Ariana couldn't get enough of the swings!  She wanted to stay and swing the day away!

I love these pictures of Matt and Grandpa enjoying the swings as well. :)

Bryan decided this trip that he didn't love the farm as much as he used to.  Apparently tractors and cows aren't his thing anymore... So after the tour he mostly played inside with the marble run toy.  (We were amazed that David, who had a bad headache, could sleep through all the noise!)

In the evening we got to go to a yummy BBQ dinner with my dad's Uncle Morris and Aunt Marilyn and their family, and then we decided to head home that night.  It had been long week and we were pretty beat.  But I'm grateful we were able to do so many things and have such a great time!  It was a fabulous week!

West Yellowstone

The Yospe cabin is about 20 minutes from West Yellowstone and this year we wanted to take time to walk around and get to know the town a little bit.  We had a yummy pizza dinner there the night we were coming back from Yellowstone, but then we went back the following evening as well.  It was just our little family and Bree and Cassity.  No one else was up for any more driving...

We were all excited to walk Main Street and look in all the fun souvenir shops.  The boys couldn't resist trying on silly hats with Aunt Bree.  (Nice face, Bry!)

We loved the cute old-fashioned candy shop and the boys were fascinated by the taffy-pulling machine.

Taking a quick break...

I really wanted to find a cute girly stuffed animal of something from Yellowstone Park for Ari and was thrilled when we finally found "Dee-dee!" :)

I was really tempted to get her some of these...  Could those be any cuter??!  If she could have actually walked in them I would have really considered it.

We did actually get some for the boys, though!  They've wanted some boots for years, and it seemed like a good place to get some.  Bryan took forever to pick his out and finally settled on these red ones. :)  You gotta love a little boys' fashion sense!

After we'd found all our souvenirs, we ended up at a yummy BBQ place for dinner.  We loved the funky rustic decor, and they even had Gordon B. Hinckley quotes on the walls inside.  It was cute and quaint!

Sitting on the bear out front...

We headed for home right in time to see the most amazing sunset!  I can understand why they call Montana "Big Sky Country."  It was gorgeous!  Pictures don't do it justice.

And just for fun, here are some pics of the boys the following morning showing off their boots.  Love the poses, boys! :)