Happy 4th Birthday Max

 The kids love to celebrate Max's birthday so, I made Max a whole wheat cake so, he could have a piece.  We lit some candles and sang to him.  The picture above shows Max literally smiling while we sang to him.  He loved his cake and ate a piece in one second.  After that, he would stare at the counter and bark at the cake!  He wanted  more and knew it was for him.

Max sometimes gets on my nerves and sometimes I think how nice life would be with out worrying about a dog.  But, I always go back to the spiritual prompting that was given to me when we were shown Max as a puppy.  The spirit said " that is your dog."  who would have ever thought that the Lord would want our family to have a dog but, he does.  Max loves our kids and provides something to our family that only a dog can give.  Happy Birthday Max!

Mary Poppins?!

 On Saturday, Mike said there was a really pretty yellow bird in our garage.  He spent the next little while trying to get the bird out of our garage.  The bird finally got out and then was sitting on our grass.  Mike put our his hand out to the bird and it hopped on to his finger!  We were all amazed!  Mike was like Mary Poppins in that this bird was totally happy on Mike's finger!  The bird eventually flew away but, man he was a pretty sweet bird.

Labor Day

 On Labor Day, we headed up to the canyons to enjoy our last day of Summer.

 The kids had a great time with their cousins exploring the mountain.

 Bradley was telling us about something in a cave.  His face!  So cute!

 Sweet Hayden!

 We roasted hot dogs and had smores.

Anne then found the first official Fall leave and we knew Summer was coming to an end.

Mike and Jason had to fit one more fishing experience in.  They headed over to Silver Lake and caught some fish.  I love that Jason and Mike enjoy fishing together!

Good bye Summer!  We had a great one and will miss the lazy days of no school and the amazing Summer nights.  We always welcome the change of beautiful Fall though!

Thanksgiving Point Gardens

 Anne and I were so lucky to go on a Mother/ Daughter activity for Activity Days.  We went to the Thanksgiving Point Gardens and ate a picnic dinner there.  We had a lot of fun being together and enjoying the beauty that surrounded us.  I love this place and it's a crazy to think that I-15 is right by it but, you do not feel like you are near a freeway at all!

 Anne with some of her Activity Days friends.

 Our favorite garden was the secret garden.  Anne and I just got finished reading that book together so, we really enjoyed this garden!  Isn't Anne so pretty?

Heavenly Father blessed us with the most wonderful daughter and I was so happy to spend some time with her for an evening.  Love you Anne!

First Day of School

 The first day of school was on August 22nd.  Anne was super excited for this school year.  She was the first to be ready and out the door!

 Anne 3rd Grade

 Jason likes school but, is never super excited about it.  He was a little nervous because he didn't know anyone in his class.  But, he has a great teacher and he is happy about that!

 Jason 5th Grade

 Eliza started Kindergarten a week later.  She said she was a little nervous about her first day.  She really likes her teacher and has friends in the neighborhood in her class!

 Eliza Kindergarten

 Lucy has to always be in on the action and she really wanted her picture taken.  I love her standing there in her shirt with no pants!

 Lucy Mommy School!

The girl's picked out coordinating outfits for their first day.  I think they look so cute together!

It seems that all went well on their first day and I think it will be a great year!

Armed With Righteousness

 Our Back to School dinner was awesome this year.  The theme was Armed with Righteousness and we talked about putting on the Full Armor of God.  We read the scripture in Ephesians were the apostle Paul talks about all the armor we need to have to stand firm against Satan.  We also showed the kids the old Seminary video about having the full armor on at all times.  I hope my kids can always stand strong and firm when faced with any kind of adversity in their lives.

 We set a fun table and had the kids favorite dinner... Sweet and Sour Chicken, rice, and salad.  We enjoyed some sparkling grape juice with the dinner also.  For dessert we had warm peach cobbler with vanilla ice cream!  Yummy!

 All four kids ready to conquer the 2013 school year.

 After dinner we enjoyed hanging out in the back yard.  We usually spend our evenings out there and enjoyed one last evening with no worries about homework.

 Jason and Mike showing off their skills.  Jason is the rip stick king!  Mike has just learned how to do a flip on the tramp... very impressive!

I hope this is a great year for the kids and know that if they always keep there Armor on that Satan will have no power over them and they will always be able to fight back strong!

Piano Recital

 On Young Family Sunday we had a little Piano Recital for Anne, Jason, and Hayden.  Jason and Anne worked so hard on their pieces.  They memorized them all Summer and did a great job performing them for the family.

 Sweet Hayden is a piano genius. He started piano at 5 and he is now 6.  He is right now writing his own music and hopes to submit it in the reflections contest.  Watch out world because this kid is going to do great things with music

 We cheered on Joe to play the Entertainer.  Every morning for about 3 years Joe would play this song before we went to school.  He would play it fast, slow, loud, soft... it went on and on.  It brought back some great memories!

Thank you Mom for teaching my kids.  They both love piano and enjoy learning from their Grandma.  She has taught them a lot and has been patient with them even when they sometimes don't listen or practice very well.  I love the piano and I am grateful I was taught by my Mom also.  Sometimes I can sit down and play and I enjoy it so much.  I hope my kids can do to that too.