End of summer - Back to School

We had just a few days of summer left when we got back from vacation. Thankfully I planned ahead and did all our back-to-school shopping before we left so we wouldn't have to waste time doing that. Plus I hate shopping in crowds. 

 Brennan loved his break dancing class this summer! He was really sad when it ended. 

He had the most awesome teacher! He also took art, which he enjoyed. 

Tyler took graffiti art (this was his final project in that class), advanced art and drama. Graffiti art was his favorite!! Dallin also took drama. We really love those free classes at PRYAF, but we just get too busy with school, sports and music, and we had to take a break this fall.

 First day of school!                                       Spencer is in 10th grade this year.

Middle school: Tyler (8th) and Dallin (6th)         Elementary school: Brennan (3rd) & Levi (K)

It's still hard for me to believe I only have two in elementary school this year! Brennan has Ms. Yarborough, and Levi has Mrs. Berry. We love both of these teachers!!!

I drive Tyler, Dallin and Peter to middle school every day, which I really enjoy, and Kristen drives them home. We were greeted by a Leopard on the first day of school. Dallin was nervous about starting middle school, but he quickly got used to it. He likes all his teachers, and he earned straight A's his first semester!

A couple weeks after school started, Chloe started preschool! She goes to Bearkittens at the high school twice a week, which is where her older brothers went. She was SO excited! 

She was a little shy and nervous when I dropped her off the first few times, but now she is a pro and can't wait to go. Her best friend is also named Chloe.

Another new thing this year is that Spencer is taking band. He plays saxophone for marching band and just started playing the bassoon for concert band. He loves learning new instruments. Things are calming down now that cross country and marching band are over - he was so busy!! Life sure switches gears fast when school starts. We are all excited about being off all next week for Thanksgiving!

Last day in Utah

It's amazing how many things we were able to cram into our last day in Utah. Everyone wanted to do something different, so we did it all!

Remember how we were going to go rock climbing but couldn't because it rained? Well some people still really wanted to do it, so we did that first thing in the morning. Dave found an awesome place in Draper called Red Rock. 

Unfortunately, I forgot my good camera that day. All of these pictures are from my phone.

There were tons of good handholds on this craggy rock. And what a view!

It's quartzite, which is a different kind of rock than they usually climb. A dentist set it up, so the names of the climbs are things like Baby Teeth, Bad Case of Gingivitis and Always Leave a Generous Root Tip. Funny!

It got pretty hot there, so we were happy to have lots of morning shade.

We were right next to the Draper temple!

Emily and her kids came to join us after she got off work, and I went to pick up my nephew Caleb (he lives in Draper, after all!). We were glad we packed all our rock climbing gear and chose to do it - that was a fun experience.

Next we rushed to Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake City before the front gate closed, and we made it JUST in time!! 

Troy and Emily were able to get us free tickets through their health insurance! It was a one-day thing, so that worked out great. Troy met us there after work.

It was SO hot there, which was crazy because it was after 5:00. The nice thing was that they had lots of water sprayers everywhere, so we were all soaking wet the whole time. 

The spraying dinosaur was a huge hit.

This was the highlight of the zoo! The lions were very active and starting pacing and staring down a dog on the other of the glass. It was awesome.

After the zoo we picked up pizza for dinner and headed over to temple square. This is one of the main things the kids wanted to do in Utah. Spencer took this great shot of the temple.

Thursday happens to be the night the Mormon Tabernacle Choir has practice, and we were able to sit in for a bit and watch them for free. That was really cool!!

Spencer was so tempted to go up and play that organ! He has started playing the organ at church, so he actually knows how. 

We could have spent more time looking around; but it was a long day, and we were exhausted!

We drove home the next day and saw this nifty little tornado near Las Vegas. What a great family vacation!!

Lagoon

After we left Idaho, we drove to Utah and stayed with Emily for a few days. We had a bunch of things we wanted to do there, and an amusement park wasn't on the list. The first day, we went shopping at D.I. and Deseret Book. Then Spencer joined Andrew for a youth boating trip while the rest of us went to the dollar theater. That's when it down-poured! The storm came out of nowhere while Spencer and Andrew were in the water, and the wind blew the boat on top of them! That sounded scary, but they were okay. The rest of us were living it up watching the movie Home with cheap tickets and cheap snacks. The plan was to go rock climbing the next day, but of course we couldn't do that right after it rained. So we had to come up with a plan B: Lagoon!!

We LOVED it!! We had never been there before, and we were so impressed. It was super family-friendly, clean, attractive and fun. 

Chloe went on her first little roller coaster, and she loved it! NO fear. 

We split up a few times, which is why most of my pictures are just the little kids. There was a such a great range of rides there - plenty for everyone. 

It turned out to be a beautiful day - there were threats of more storms, but they never happened.

In fact it got quite warm, and the kids cooled off in the sprinklers every time we passed by.

Brennan was especially happy that day because he was able to go on almost all the rides! Even the big roller coasters! They even had a booster for him on one of the rides. He was thrilled!! 

Chloe's favorite ride was the train, so we went on it a couple of times. The big kids joined us the second time.

It went past a bunch of animals, which was cool. 

We stayed until after it got dark. What a fun day!! 

I got these last couple pics from Spencer's phone. 

Then it took only 10 minutes to drive back to Emily's house. We usually have to drive hours to get to an amusement park, so that was just awesome. Not bad for plan B!