Fall Fun

 Fall really delivered this year.  We took a weekend trip to Albequerque, NM to see some friends, some balloons, and a few sites along the way.  Here we are at the Monticello, UT temple.

 Daddy and Logan were in 4 states at once in this pic!

 We found an absolutely incredible children's museum called Explora.  Wowzer! Hands-on exhibit after hands-on exhibit brought delight to kids and parents alike.   I'd make the trek again just for another day there.

 Some of our besties from down south met us.  They have 2 (that is right... I said 2) sets of fraternal twins, with another baby on the way.  We didn't get a great picture of the whole group... shocker.  We spent the time chasing all 6 kids under 5.

 This was a great bubble exhibit where we caught a shot of most of the group.

 We woke up very early Saturday morning to see the Balloon Fiesta.  Logan and I are pictured above with the "dawn patrol" balloons.

Stockton was exhausted and mezmerized all at the same time.

 We were told there were about 5,000 balloons participating. 

 The owner of this nice stork balloon decided to take some kids up on a tethered ride.

 Logan jumped right in line!

 After getting home from our trip, Logan held his annual pumpkin sale.  We get mileage all year long out of this big day.  Logan plants, weeds and harvests his own pumpkins.  This year he sold about 80, and made a bundle.

 Here are two of his admiring customers, Grandma and Grandpa.  Note his darling homemade price list.

The evening after last year's pumpkin sale, I went into labor.  We thought it appropriate to celebrate Stockton's birthday at the sale again this year.  Happy Birthday, little buddy.

September Happenings

 Congrats to our big kindergartener, who was nominated for the first Jr. Husky award in his class. 

 His award was for learning all of his letter sounds and for being a kind friend.  Way to go, Logan!

 Logan loves science!  Lucky for him, his uncle John is a biologist, and I work in the science department of an online university with access to a bunch of smarty-pants science Ph.Ds.  Whenever he has questions I can't answer (or that he does not believe I know the answer to), he writes emails to his "Scientists".  Pictured above is one such scientist, Dr. Brenna Gillman (physicist).  She kindly invited Logan on a personally guided tour of the Utah Museum of Natural History to teach him all about the exhibits.

 

 Here are my two little buddies on the last irrigation day of the year.  Despite increasingly chilly temperatures of the water and air, Stockton decided to take a dip.

 After swimming, Stockton took off toward the garden, ate some dirt (one of his favorite past-times), and crawled into the strawberry patch.

These boys love mowing the lawn with their dad.  Logan often rides a-top, sharing the headphones with his Dad.  When I'm unavailable, or when he gets jealous, Stockton climbs on too.

More fall fun coming soon...

Logan in Logan

 We didn't mean to name our kids after citites, but we did.

 Last weekend, we decided to take Logan on a trip to Logan.

 He was very thrilled to visit the city that was named after him.  :)

 We snapped a few pics,

played in the woods,

watched Lilli run in her first marathon,

ate at a few delicious restaurants,

 and then headed back to real life after a lovely weekend.

Instead of a big family trip next year, we're going to head out on a bunch of little weekend getaways nearby.  Hopefully the breaks will do us good. :)

Kindie

In Fiji, Kindergarten was affectionately called Kindie.  I much prefer that name.  Cute, huh?

Logan started this week.  When I was a teacher of young children, parents and I often joked that I would only believe half of what their child told me about them, if they would believe only half of what their child told them about me.  My favorite comments about school so far are:

From Day 1 when we picked him up:

Parents: "Logan, how was your first day?!"
Logan: "Well, my teacher kicked me, and I fell and cut my knee, and I didn't get to play at recess because I was hurt."

From Day 3 when we picked him up:
Parents: "Logan, how was school?"
Logan: "I have the trickiest and nicest teacher of all, Mom.  All of the kids like her the best."

Yep, 50% sounds about right.  Lucky you, Logan.  Your teacher is tricky, nice, and not a kicker.  I hope your year is super duper!

Summertime Smorgesborg

 Our busy summertime has led to a poorly updated blog.  Here are pics of some of our latest adventures.

 Logan enjoyed his fishing trip with his Grandpa Affleck and Dad at Fish Lake.

 Logan caught the biggest fish of the trip... but he wouldn't hold it by the gills.

 Logan love his chickens. They have grown quickly, but have yet to begin earning their keep with egg production.

 Stockton is always happy to get some extra fiber in his diet. He eats everything he can get his hands on, even vines.

 We're teaching him early about the joys of irrigation day.

 This is Logan and his bestie, George. They'll be moving away before too long, so we're getting in as much cousin time together as we can.

 We've been picking these by the buckets.

 These three cousin cuties had a fun afternoon fishing. Thanks, Aunt Lizzie, for catching out only fish and giving Logan the credit.

 This one makes me a little teary. John is my favorite brother, and not by default. He's on his way to get his Ph.D in a couple of weeks.

 Logan hiked all the way up to Cecret Lake, up Albion Basin. No,  I didn't spell Cecret wrong. The dunken miners who named the lake a hundred years ago did.

 Logan and Grandma by the wildflowers.

 Stockton just loves smearing food all over his face.

 Stockton and Daddy at Cecret Lake.

 Logan was incredibly cooperative to take pictures along the trail.

 Stockton has been doing his duty, helping us grow the garden this year.

 Happy summer! Come stop by for irrigation day soon.