Jared is Home!

Nathan's youngest brother, Jared, just returned from his mission to the Dominican Republic. We're so glad to have him home and safe! He'll be speaking in church on Sunday, and I'll post pictures of the airport and visiting with family after that. Jared, we love you and are so proud of you! At the airport when Isaac hugged Jared for the first time in two years, Jared said "Hey, buddy!" and Isaac replied, "I just haven't seen you for such a very long time." (Isaac was barely four when he left)

Isaac, the Thinker

Just a little tidbit into Isaac's ever-expanding vocabulary. We were sitting around the dinner table tonight, and Isaac was asking about the food. There was rice, a zucchini-mushroom-onion stir-fry, corn, and teriyaki chicken. He asked what was in the sauce. I replied, "There's soy sauce, brown sugar, rice wine vinegar, garlic salt." He twisted up his little lips and said, with a little nod of his head, "Hmmph. Impressive."

First Day of School for Isaac

When Isaac came out to the car after his first day of first grade he said, "This whole day was GREAT!" I was so relieved. His favorite parts included a story they read, getting his own locker, having two recesses, and eating lunch in the cafeteria (mac n' cheese, his favorite). He was so hyper all day afterwards, but I was so glad he had a GREAT day...
Jacob was so excited to be in the picture with Isaac.

We made a pencil cake for Family Night. I would like to blame the terrible decorating job on the fact that little children helped me...well they did help me, but I am well aware that I am not a cake decorator. Wilton would be ashamed. (It is Wilton, right? The Wilton method?)

Ava has pig-tails!

I finally dared to experiment with Ava's hair. Cute little fireworks, that's what they look like, shooting out of her adorable baby head.

Playing at the Park

One Last Hurrah on Friday as summer ends - I cannot believe that Isaac is in first grade starting tomorrow, and Jacob starts preschool in a couple of weeks! My sweet boys are growing up.


Three cute kids!


Mommy caught this sweet little heart-to-heart at the bottom of the slide. Isaac was saying, "Jacob? I want to follow Jesus. Do you want to follow Jesus?" Jacob exuberantly replied "Yeah!" To which Isaac said, "Yeah. I won't eat or drink bad stuff."

Aviation Day!

My friend Alison White, who is always so together, knows about random holidays and likes to celebrate them. She planned an adorable party for Aviation Day, which was Tuesday. Okay, so maybe her husband being a pilot may have led her to knowing about that one! But the boys had a blast, given their obsession with paper airplanes. Thanks Alison! (As a side note, the next day was Lemonade Day, so she combined the two and made lemon muffins for a treat at the party. Someday I will have her energy!) Showing off their paper airplanes
Painting pictures on the grass (lesson learned: acrylic paint is water-soluble when it is still WET. After it dries....well, you're out of luck. And a set of clothes.)
The trampoline - hose washing machine after painting.

Ivory Homes 'Summer of Love' Party

Nathan's dad and brother both work for Ivory Homes, and this year they could invite family to their annual summer party - and it was really fun. Between the snow cones, brownies, lemonade, sodas, and buckets of candy on every table, I think Isaac and Jacob had enough sugar to last a lifetime (or until Halloween at least). We loved the sixties, tie-dye, hippie, fun atmosphere and I especially thought the tie-dyed wagon covering was very creative. One picture shows Ava with two wads of tissue in her ears to keep her from going deaf - the band, although talented, was really loud. It was at This is the Place state park across from Hogle Zoo. Thanks for inviting us, guys!

fashion show

The boys were so excited one day this summer, saying they wanted to put on a fashion show. Oh boy, I thought. I don't know if I agree with little boys enjoying fashion shows. But we'll see what happens. I was relieved to see that nothing girly of any sort went on, in fact all of Isaac's poses were quite aggressive, and Jacob was just having fun. Silly kids! I love the photo of Jacob with the shirt on backwards.

Memories

My friend Mandy was doing this on her blog, so I decided to join in. Anyone can leave favorite memories with either myself or Nathan by clicking the comments link under this poat. It was fun to read the memories on Mandy's, so we'll see if anyone remembers anything funny about us (because I never do anything stupid that people would remember for years...oh, wait).

The boys are really into folding paper airplanes lately, but as you can see from the picture, to Isaac that means precision cuts and interesting designs (his little mind is amazing), and to Jacob it means get a piece of paper and twist one end into a nose. Both irresistably cute!
Ava loves her big girl toy
Since Isaac turned six this summer and is going into 1st grade, Master Yong Woo Kim told him that he gets to advance to the older boys' class. They switched out his Little Tiger belt for a solid yellow one, and he is on top of the world right now! Go Isaac!
How cute and official. And I know he will never wear it, because he is just not like that.
Actually, this is usually how it is like with Ava's toy. If she is in it, the boys are drawn to her like a moth to a flame. Or like boys attracted to any toy that is unreasonably loud.

Nathan's Pride and Joy: Part 2

It's now later in the season and I thought I would share some of the fruits - and vegetables - of our (well, mostly Nathan's) labors. And a few flowers, too, since Nathan says that's my category in the planting area of our relationship!
Nasturtium
Those ever-vigorous zucchini
grapes
Perilla 'Magilla Purple'
Lantana 'Pink Caprice'

Cherry tomatoes
Eggplant
Lettuce - it's late in the season and already bolted, but the colors are still so pretty that I can't bring myself to take it out of the garden
Meyer Lemon (eventually they will turn yellow)
Asian Pears

Nathan Is Totally, Officially, FINALLY the Manager!

Yes, to our great relief and satisfaction, after a year and a half of his bosses teasing him with the idea that he would be promoted soon, his hard work and patience and perserverence has paid off! So now he is the manager of Superior Care Pharmacy! Yea Nathan! I am so, so proud of my newly crowned Drug Lord...

And on a side note, we had a splendid time at Bear Lake with the Harmon clan - I have the best in-laws ever! (Really. I really do mean that. I heart them) But of course I was retarded and forgot my camera, so please any of my dear in-laws, please email me photos (or else I will steal them from off of your blogs anyway - especially embarrassing Wii tennis moments and the very impressive sand castle built by the boys). I am so sad! I forgot the camera last year too. Geez.

Random Bits

Jacob was eating a plum one day and said "It's Mickey Mouse!" I just had to take a picture of this silly, proud boy.
Ava was such a trooper on our trip to Flaming Gorge. In a carseat most of time, in a cabin and camping and in the car for sightseeing and museum visiting, she was still so sweet and such a joy, as always. She did get a little overheated I think, her cheeks were pink like this most of the time!
Here are Nathan and the boys standing under the main dinosaur skeleton at the new museum in Vernal, Utah. (I am just now realizing that I always have the camera and am never in any pictures! Note to Self - approach strangers to take pictures of all of us, Holly!) The experience made quite the impression on them, and Isaac now loves to point out rock formations and make his guesses as to which layer holds the bones in it. Isaac's favorite part of the museum was digging for bones, and Jacob's favorite part was a collection of glow-in-the dark rocks. At the end of the museum, you exit through a bunch of life-size dinosaur models, and Nathan had them hold out their hand to pretend like they were feeding them, and well - Isaac was not convinced that they were really dead.
Isaac has been really into treasure hunts and clue games and books (especially anything in the I Spy category), so I planned a treasure hunt for them through our house. They were so excited when they found their treasure!
Isaac has now advanced to Orange Belt in the Little Tiger program at Tae Kwon Do. Here he is on testing day, sitting next to the board he broke with his front kick. It took him approximately 20 tries to do it, but he never gave up and his "Hi-YA!" go louder every single try.

Flaming Gorge Trip

We took a last-minute trip to Flaming Gorge on July 9-11. Here are some of our photos. The first is the view from in front of our cabin as the sun was rising. Amazing! Notice how close the deer is to Nathan and Isaac! Animals were all around, it was very peaceful...