Mantis Moment

Cole thinks he is Jeff Corwin. He spends his days catching bugs of all kinds, his favorite being BEE'S! He played with this praying mantis all day, and was showing off just a bit by letting the little critter climb up on his shirt. While I was taking the picture the mantis went on the move, his face in the next picture says it all!

Apparently he needs a little more practice before Animal Planet will give him his own show! He was screaming and flipping out, and he was sure that the praying mantis was biting him. Hilarious!

Why is Brady pulling this face, and laughing uncontrollably?

This is why!

And then there was ONE!

I am writing this post from a place I have never been before. It is a place I have heard people talk about, but I was sure I would never live to see. This place is called "Home with only one baby ." No job, no noise, no mess. Well, there is some noise, and some mess, but it is small, and it has this cute little face. I dropped the boys off this morning, and Griff and I went for a run. Now we are going to take a long bath, and play blocks. This is a magical place. Thanks Matty for making it possible! We love you!

First Day Of School! Yes!

Seriously, I know I am biased, but these are good-lookin' boys! Especially when they are CLEAN! They were all so excited for the first day. They were even on time! I don't know who was more excited, them or me? I will miss them, but I will find something to do with my time. Ha Ha !

More First Day of School

I love Hyatt's face, it says " Mom, are you serious, I am too old for this!"

This is what he did immediately after we got to school. . . ditched us and ran to his group of buddies. I am so glad he has good friends, even if he does like them more than me.

First grade buddies

Look at this face. "Mom, you again with the stupid camera? Go home already!"

Last Saturday Night of Summer

We went up the canyon with our dear friends the Garcia's on Saturday night. The weather was perfect and the boys all had a blast. It felt so much like fall all of the sudden. The boys all played in the stream and got good and dirty. We love the Garcia's, they are always so much fun to hang out with!

Of course they had to catch something. This one didn't come home with us though. They funniest part of the night was when Hyatt came back from catching things in the stream, carrying a huge watermelon. He was so proud of himself , and he yelled out " Look what I found Mom!" We hurried and told him to go put it back, and explained it belonged to someone else, and they were just keeping it cold. Coleman was a little behind him and the people who they "stole" the watermelon from yelled to Cole to go and get that kid and tell him to bring back their watermelon. Hyatt was so embarrassed, but when He and Cole came back to us they were carrying big pieces of watermelon. I guess the people cut them off a piece and were really cool about it.

Ernie is Released Back Into The Wild. . . Sort of

We released Ernie back into the wild on the last day of summer. Wild-- well that may be a slight exaggeration. We took her back to the pond we got her from, where she will be fed by hundreds of small children every week and it won't matter that we domesticated her. (I have guilt, and I am trying to work through it, OK?) The boys were sad to see her go, but they were happy to see that she loved her new home. Lessons learned from this experience? 1. NEVER EVER EVER bring home a wild duck. 2. Duck poo is seriously gross. 3. Never tell the boys they can bring anything home if they can catch it, because Coleman will catch ANYTHING, by any means necessary. 4. I am clearly weakening in my old age. And number 5. We need a dog.

Good bye Ernie, we will miss you. (Let's be clear, the boys will miss you, I, on the other hand, will NOT miss you, and am so thrilled to have my patio back, I can hardly stand it!)

This is what they tried to bring home from the pond! Can you believe Matt even had the nerve to call me and ask me if I would mind if they brought it home! I just got rid of the duck, and now this? Needless to say, I told him no freakin' way! Boys!

This is what happens when you drive a duck clear across town without putting it in a box of some kind.

More last minute fun

After Lagoon, we stayed over at a hotel in Salt Lake that we love to stay in simply for the pool. It was the perfect ending to a long summer. The boys all swam for hours, and had a big breakfast by the pool. Cole fell down on the cement and got a nice shiner on his cheek, nice timing-- right before he starts school! We had such a blast just being together and relaxing, I don't know why we try to go on big vacation, the kids are just as happy with the hotel pool 45 minutes from home as they are 400 miles from home!

Lagoon

We took the boys to Lagoon for some "last week of summer" fun. I have not been there since I was little, and I was pleasantly surprised. It was really fun, and the rides have really improved. The boys were amazing, they all rode the scariest rides, and they did not even flinch. I woke up that morning with the flu, of course, ( I got the flu 2 years ago at Disneyland) so I thought I was going to die. I was really worried about the whole day because Matt does not do any rides that go upside down or side to side or fast or . . . Just kidding babe! So I didn't know how well it was going to work. Matt was a good sport and did most of the rides, and by afternoon I felt better and then we hit all the crazy rides. Good, cheap fun. Can't beat it! Hyatt even said he likes it better that Disneyland, I told him to keep that to himself, because I still want to go in the fall.

They loved Wicked! I must admit, I loved it too. I was a little freaked out when they made the twins ride in a booster seat, but it was fine.

Cole and Hyatt loved the water fountain!

They rode Collosus 6 times! Matt rode Collosus ZERO times.

Griff pretty much sat here all day, and had this same smile on his face, I know I am being rewarded for surviving the first three!

Last Lemonade Stand Of The Summer

The twins made a killing at what will probably be the last lemonade stand of the summer. They worked with their friends Sophie, Abby, and Esther and made over 20 dollars in under 2 hours. Sophie's mom Amy was a good sport to sit out with them! They have a system worked out, they split up and canvas the neighborhood ringing doorbells and telling people to come quick if they want to taste the "best lemonade in the whole world." Works every time!

This Is The Place

Matt worked on this monument that was just placed at This Is The Place Park. It was pretty amazing to see this huge crane lift this bronze statue that weighs about 1,ooo pounds like it was made of plastic.


The boys thought it was so cool that they got to help with the placement. There were a few people standing around watching, and they got to jump the tape and polish the monument up. They all felt so important, and they had big huge smiles on their faces!

I was so glad to have the thing on the ground, the day before at the foundry there was a little excitement. . . the statue FELL OFF the forklift as they were loading it onto the truck, and came crashing to the ground. It nearly hit Matt and his brother. Luckily no one was hurt, but it could have killed them both. Matt came home and told me the story and I almost threw up, he was laughing about it, but I could tell he was a little shook by it all. Can you imagine the headline-- "Sculptor killed by Joseph Smith and Brigham Young." Thankfully Matt and Jason have cat-like reflexes, and they are OK.