Finishing up August

On August 17th the boys were off to school minus Kayden. I still can't believe school is already here. Summer did not feel like it was long enough. Didn't help that the weather was not as hot as usual. The boys were excited to start school though. Wyatt and Emmett were really excited about their teachers. Ethan was not as excited about school starting but he was a little excited. 

Wyatt and Emmett start earlier than Ethan. So they got ready and then I sent them off on the bus which is in a different spot again this year. Then I jumped in the car and drove to school to see them head off to the first day of school. 

The boys bus was late so I was glad that I had gone. Wyatt barely made it to his line with his class and Emmett's class was already in the building. So I walked with him in the building to make sure he got where he was supposed to go. 

We met up with his class and I said one last good bye. 

Ethan stayed home with Kayden so I could just head to the school really quick. When I got back it was time to take Ethan's picture and get him off to school too. 

He is looking too grown up these days. 

I didn't walk him to the bus this year. I let him go off on his own because he feels like such a big kid now. I can't believe this is Wyatt's last year of Elementary school and Ethan's last year of Middle school. It is so crazy!! 

Kayden and I then got to go out to lunch with Dad now that the older boys are in school. It was a fun outing. 

Wyatt got a letter in the mail. However, it was marked as a package. We got a letter saying that it could be picked up at the post office. So I took Wyatt and we went to go get his letter. It was from Tate and apparently because he put a candy in it that was too thick it didn't fit in the regular mail. We had to pay 4 dollars for 2 pieces of candy. It was the most expensive candy I have ever paid for. 

More progress on our house! They are starting to frame the basement. 

We love going to the house to look at the progress. Although this made me nervous. Kayden would just run around and I was worried he would fall off one of the drop offs. So I was not loving Kayden being on the main floor with all of the drop offs around. 

Then we went to Jason's Deli with Papa and Gigi. Their ice cream maker wasn't working so we went to Dairy Queen right after to get some ice cream.

Papa bought the ice cream for us and we sat on the table outside and enjoyed it before heading home. Of course the boys decided they needed to play on the bike racks which is closer to the road than I would like. It is never a dull moment with a bunch of boys. haha 

Wyatt also started Soccer. He had been really wanting to try soccer this year. He asked me last year too but I forgot to sign him up until it was too late. I ended up getting him on the wait list and right before the season started I got a call that there was a spot for him. He was super excited. 

Wyatt enjoyed his first practice. He said it was a lot of running but he did a great job. For only playing at recess at school he did a great job for his first couple of practices. 

More going up at our house!! Yay!!!

Emmett found this massive caterpillar in our house. haha It was huge and super fluffy.

Look at all of that framing going up on our house. We are getting walls! SO EXCITING!!

Kayden wanted to wear his backpack when we were going somewhere. It looks so big on him. 

Then we were off to Colorado Springs for Pipers baptism. It was a quick but good weekend. We got to enjoy some yummy sodas, eat yummy food, play games and watch Piper get baptized. 

Pipers Grandma and Grandpa Borders came too and they had their dogs with them. Emmett couldn't get enough of their dogs. He wanted to sleep with them every night. Grandma Borders also became Emmett's favorite. He wanted to talk to her and be with her all the time. It was pretty cute and she was very kind to him. 

Out door movie night!

The weather cleared up enough for us to have a movie night outside. Nothing better than a nice evening with some popcorn and candy watching a movie. It was a late night because we can't start the movie until the sun goes down. So Kayden was exhausted during the movie and wouldn't sit still. He kept getting up and walking around. So eventually Brandon took him to bed. So he missed out on probably half of the movie but he was so tired no one else was getting anything out of the movie. He kept standing up and walking around and talking to people and going in and out of the house. He didn't even fight going to bed. That is what happens when you are around cousins and stay up late and are up early.

 After getting home we let the boys play at the dirt hill again. 

They all made some kind of sitting or laying creation. Kayden just laid on the dirt and said it was his bed. haha 

Just hanging out with Batman!

My Dad took me and Kayden out for breakfast. Gigi was in California and since it had been a long time since me and my Dad had been out together he thought it would be fun. Kayden loved it! He said while we were at the "Original Pancake House", "Mom, I know when we have pancakes for dinner at home. We can just come here!" haha  

Then Kayden and I went on a walk around our block. Well Kayden rode the 4 wheeler and I walked. He found a crab apple on the floor. So he picked it up and handed it to me. He then said, "Mom! We should break it open and see if there is a crab in it!" haha Why wouldn't it have a crab in it? It is called a crab apple! haha So got home and broke it open to find that there was no crab in it. Kayden was just a little grossed out with how it looked inside and I think he was bummed that there was no crab! 

Framing up the boys rooms! The kids were so excited to see where there rooms are going to be.

Went to the car wash and Kayden wanted to do the vacuuming. He did a great job and was so helpful! 

Bowling with some friends. Kayden and I went with his friend Theo and a new friend Liam (who is in his preschool class this year). Kayden actually bowled the whole came. Then we walked around the arcade with him whinning that he wanted to play the games. None of his friends moms were paying for them to play so I didn't want Kayden to be the only one actually playing. So I kept telling him that he needed to just pretend. He was not having it and got pretty upset. I brought our card so I was able to get him a little prize with the points that we had on the card. 

On our way home I decided to stop at Wendy's. My heel was hurting really bad. I didn't do anything to my heel. I just was doing my physical therapy exercises like usual and all of a sudden my heel started to tingle and then it started to hurt. It was really frustrating. So after walking around and it hurting me so bad I did not want to walk around the kitchen and make lunch for me and Kayden. So I went through the drive thru and got us lunch instead. When we got home Kayden and I just relaxed and watched some TV for a little while. I borrowed an ankle brace from my Dad to help. It did help but it still hurt really bad to walk on it. I really feel like an old person. I feel like I can't catch a break. First my back for so long. Then as that starts to get under control I hurt tailbone, then my shoulder or peck just wiping the counters. Then I hurt my heel doing the same exercises I have been doing for months. It was super frustrating. Starts to make me feel like I am always going to be in pain with one thing or another. Someday I hope to be pain free. Anyways, that was how we finished up August! 

Bell Reunion in st George

On August 89th after Brandon got done with work we took off for our trip to St. George. Brandon got off work early so we could drive to Grand Junction and stay the night in a hotel. I didn't know how well my tailbone would handle the 10 hours of driving. So I was glad we were breaking up the drive down to St. George. The other thing that was lame is that I hurt my upper peck muscle just wiping down the counters as I cleaned up. My whole shoulder hurt so bad. I was not very happy about that. I had been looking forward to bike riding and playing some pickleball with everyone. Instead I was in a lot of pain and couldn't do much. It was cruddy timing. Other than that we were excited for our trip. We packed our bikes so that we could go bike riding at some of the trails with the kids. They were super excited about that. So we stayed in Grand Junction Tuesday night and then drove the rest of the way Wednesday morning. 

Kayden was a sleepy boy. He kept arguing with Emmett to lay on his pillow. Eventually Emmett let him and Kayden fell asleep like this. I don't know how he did it. It looked super uncomfortable. 

Wednesday we stopped at the Creamery Kitchen in Beaver. I was really excited about it because it was so yummy when I stopped here with Vandy and the girls on our girls trip. Sadly, they have gone down hill since then. The ice cream was not good and it cost more this time. The kids complained about all the food we got for them. So besides getting out of the car and the time Kayden had in a pretend tractor it was a bust. 

The highlight of the stop. haha 

After our mediocre food and ice cream and lots of money spent we made the last little bit of drive to St. George. Our first stop was the Viper bike park. The kids were super excited. Although, it was really hot! So they did not last long at all before they looked like they were going to pass out. haha 

Brandon fell with Kayden on the bike. He was trying to go up a hill and did go fast enough with Kayden on the front. So he had to jump off quick and throw the bike the opposite direction that it was falling. If he hadn't Kayden would have fallen into a bunch of boulders. It would have been way worse if that had happened. Thankfully, Brandon is a quick thinker. It was not fun watching it happen though. After a few minutes Kayden was ready to go on more jumps. 

A few minutes away from heat stroke I do believe! They were all dying and they were complaining that their tummies were hurting them. So I made them drink water and poured some water on their heads as well to try and cool them off. 

What better way to cool off than with some tasty swig! 

After grabbing some cold beverages we went to Brandon's cousins Deirdre's house. They have twins Wyatt's age and a younger girl that is Emmett's age. The boys couldn't wait to go hangout with them. They remembered them from the last time we were down in St. George. We chatted for a while and then the kids went swimming in their shorts at their pool. They had a blast. Then it was time to go meet Papa and Gigi at Wingers for some dinner before heading to the house we were staying at for the next few days. 

That night David and Hayles as well as Weston and Hayley and their kids arrived. I was in charge of dinner the next day and Brandon wanted me to make lasagna. So I got to work making the lasagna's so I wouldn't have to do it the next day when we were wanting to play and have fun. The house we stayed at was right behind the pickleball courts. So Brandon was able to get some good pickleball time in with some of my family. I was bummed that I hurt my shoulder wiping the counters. It totally ruined the fun I had planned on having. So I just watched others play when I had the chance to do so. 

That Thursday morning Brandon took of bright and early with Ethan and Wyatt to go play golf. Brandon had given then a challenge to read the entire Book of Mormon before our trip. He told them that if they did that he would take them to a nice course in St. George. They worked really hard and finished with time to spare. They were so excited to go golfing with their Dad in St. George and they sure did earn it. I told Brandon that he could only golfing the one time because we only get to see all of my family every other year. So he got a tee time for that first morning we were there. He figured that would work best because not everyone was there yet. They were gone a long time but they had fun and they had worked so hard to earn it. We were proud of how hard they worked to get that reward.

The rest of the crew got there the next day and we had lots of time at the pools. 

Since Brandon wasn't there and I am a total invalid Kayden shyly asked uncle David if he would go down the slide with him. It was so cute! He really wanted Uncle David to go with him. He just took to him so fast. David was a good sport and went down with him a couple of times. 

Having so much fun!!

Then all of a sudden Kayden was whining about be cold and wanting to go back to the house. He ended up saying he was tired and he climbed in his bed, took off his glasses and fell asleep. I wasn't sure why he was so tired. I figured maybe it was just all the travel and the heat that did him in. 

Fun times playing Pickleball. Oh wait sorry watching my family play pickleball. haha 

Friday we tried taking a family picture. It was the first time we were all together in years. Q was not originally going to make it because his boss said he needed him to fly him somewhere. Thankfully that got changed and he was able to make it. 

Look at that fun cute crew!!! 

I tried taking quick pictures of my boys with all the pretty red rocks. They turned out ok!

I sure do love these cute stinkers!! They are all growing up too fast!

After some pictures we got to hike around and explore the rocky area. The kids all loved it and some explored really far and high up on those rocks. 

These two cousins are just best buds. They sure do love each other. Kayden was so excited to see Harvey! 

It was a fun outing before it got super hot. Then it was back to the pools! haha 

Then Kayden started acting tired again. He started to act sick too. I couldn't believe hew as getting sick. He was not feeling good. Poor buddy! He kept wanting to take naps and when we would go to the pool he would play for a little bit but then want to go back to the house. It was a bummer that he wasn't feeling well all of a sudden. 

Ethan has been practicing magic tricks these days and he performed for my side of the family as well. They all got a kick out of how good he did. It was fun to watch. 

So cute!! 
We went to Handles for some ice cream too. It was really good!! I was surprised how yummy it was. Kayden was obviously not feeling well and said he wanted one type of ice cream and then as soon as we had gotten it and he tasted it he wanted a different one. He was so grumpy it was not very fun. 

The last thing we did was go to a place that was like Top Golf with the crew. Everyone had a fun time and it was nice to do something other than just go to the pool or be in the house with so much tile that it was really loud all the time. haha 

The kids all had a blast. Kayden had little spurts where he seemed to feel fine and then he would crash. So we went and played at this golf place called "Hot Shot" I believe and then we grabbed some IN N OUT on our way back to the house. Then Kayden was exhausted again and kept telling me he wanted to go to sleep. I tried to get him to stay awake a little longer or to play with Harvey for a little bit. We have no idea when he will get to see Harvey again. Yet he didn't feel good and didn't seem to care. He laid on the couch and just kept saying he wanted to go to sleep. He had developed a nasty sounding cough and he did not sound or look good. I felt so bad for him. He had been looking forward to playing with Harvey for so long. Sure he played with him some but he didn't get to play with him as much as he would have if he had been feeling his best. 

What was really sad is that in the morning when we got up to leave Kayden asked where Harvey was. I felt so bad! I had tried lots of times to get him to even just go say Bye to Harvey but he hadn't wanted to. So his time with Harvey was over until we get to see them again. We had been having fun but with Kayden so sick I wanted to get home. I wanted to be able to get home and use a humidifier in his room to help his poor croupy sounding cough. Plus it isn't fun being around a bunch of cousins and other people when your baby is so sick and you don't want to spread it to other kids. 

Dog Pile of Matt! Matt was so good with these kids. He loves to say positive things to the kids and make them feel good about themselves. Emmett really took to him. In fact Emmett went with them in their car one of the times we were driving somewhere. Matt had to stop for gas and took Emmett inside and bought him a massive gaterade and a candy. Emmett was smitten! Matt was officially his favorite uncle! haha He loved to show Matt any talent he has and wanted to hang with Matt. He just wanted to be around him all the time and Matt was such a good sport. It was very sweet to watch. Ethan enjoyed playing pool and shuffle board with whoever would challenge him. Wyatt had a blast with Ryan again. They are such good little friends too. It was a fun trip. It was sad that it was over so fast. If my shoulder had been feeling fine and Kayden hadn't gotten sick I would have been more sad that the weekend was over. I was very ready to get home though and take care of Kayden at our own home and rest my shoulder more. All in all it was a fun time and it was fun that everyone was able to make it this year. 
The one thing I do have to say is I was not ready for our long drive home. haha 

Oh, I forgot to mention that they had some Hawaiian BBQ places in St. George. We went to one and it was really tasty. We went with David and Hayles one afternoon. It was fun to chat with them. They are currently trying to start a family through surogacy. Interesting concept. It was interesting talking to them about the whole process. So we shall see how that all works out for them. Hopefully they can have the family they are hoping to have. 

The last night before leaving us girls wanted to go the Harmons grocery store one last time. They have some really cool things there and I wanted to get some more of this Grandma something bread that we used to get in Idaho. It is so good as toast. So all of us girls except for Hayles went after the kids were in bed. We were there way longer than we had anticipated but it was fun to just be out with the girls for a little while. We were there for at least an hour and I bought way more than I thought I would. In fact we all ended up signing up for a loyalty card for Harmons so we could get a discount on some fairlife protein drinks. haha It was quite the eventful evening. Once we got back to the house all of us adults chatted for a while before calling it a night. It had been a good time with everyone! Until next time we see each other!! 

Back on the road! We got up nice and early to make the 10 hour drive home. What is crazy is that because of when we left we hit some major traffic going through Vale. In fact my parents made it home almost the same time we did. They left hours after we did and because we stopped and rode bikes in Grand Junction for a little while and then hit traffic it took us a lot longer to get home than we had hoped it would. Thankfully the kids handled it pretty well. 

Then we had to stop by our lot to see what progress had been made. Our floor foundation had been poured!! So exciting!!!! 

Anyways, we had a great time in St. George. Now time to get everything ready for school to start!! Goodbye summer vacation, hello school!!