a first

Our first baby had his first day of school this week.

He was very ready for pre-k and has enjoyed it a lot already.

Beautiful, the light was catching in the leaves in the front yard and I couldn't not take a picture.

It's been a refreshing temperature in the mornings, so excited for Fall.

right now...

Curt:

-about the same as last time

 

 

Carmen:

-changed callings at church, am now in the Primary presidency

-the house projects were completed as recorded here 

(yet since then I have repainted the master bath a light gray and we have rearranged the bedrooms such that Evie has her own room)

-I've been working on some family history and have been able to find some missing ancestors of Curt's. Surprisingly addicting. If you haven't explored familysearch.org, I would recommend it. 

Des:

 -starts school (pre-k) tomorrow and is so excited

-is as loud and intense as ever, but has become more helpful and in control.

 

 

Evie:

-is continuing to speak clearer and is not using many of her baby words any longer (like orange-er-ie for orange)

-is mostly even tempered, but if she does get going can sure turn on the water works

 -loves 'twirly' dresses and oatmeal

 

McKay:

-has been having lots of milestones. Got his two top teeth, has been standing by himself, and then three days ago took a couple steps on his own.

-doesn't sleep really well. I need to work on that. 

-has been imitating some word sounds

-gets into everything with his funny fast bug crawl

 

 

 

 As a family we've been spending some awesome time at the neighborhood pool, kind of regret not going more last year.

Utah: the horse property

I'm still trying to figure out what to call different places of my Dad's.

I started out titling this a visit to the farm, but that isn't quite accurate because his farm is actually a much bigger place in central Utah where they actually, you know, grow crops.

This is where Dad and Jann live and where Jann keeps her horses.

It is beautiful and we love to visit.

{Des brought a carrot to feed the horse, the plate was to keep fingers safe}

A short rain shower started so umbrellas were procured. 

Utah

So, this post is a long photo dump of our recent trip to Utah.

 The main point of this trip (besides seeing family) was to scan a bunch of old slides that my grandparents brought up and left at mom's for me. 

I was able to digitize them all, now I still need to go through and edit and clean them up. Fun project.

Utah summers I love you.

Mom has purposefully made her house a grandma house with many fun things for the grandkids.

They are safe, welcome, and happy there.

{cousins playing with play dough}

 

{beautiful girls, 4 months apart and good friends}

I was able to spend a fantastic chunk of time with my cousin Sharee and her kids. 

{mama is so good with kids}

Curt flew out to spend 24 hours with us on the weekend.

Got together with the Topham clan for the baptism of my cousin's oldest.

I can't believe we're old enough that stuff like that is going on.

 

I drove up to Midway one evening to see some good friends who were visiting from Michigan. 

{Sharon and darling new baby Esther}

{oh Utah, you are so pretty}

The baby was cutting two top teeth this trip, making for some sleepless nights and a sometimes zombie me. 

Shaners got his wisdom teeth out. He had a good recovery though, hardly any swelling.

Lane and Kinsey got back from their summer in Boston.

 

 We spent an evening up at my Dad and Jann's, but I'm going to do a whole post on that because I have too many pretty pictures of it.

The day before we left we joined my cousins Sharee, Camille, Alisha, Shannon, their kids, and Lane and Kinsey at the Sandy splash pad. 

The kids had a blast.

{Evie mooching off of Kinsey}

{Des got a little cold}

{adorable baby cousins}

And then mom dropped us off at the airport before she and Shane headed down to Phoenix. 

I ended up spending several more hours at the airport than anticipated, but {thank my lucky stars} the kids were pretty awesome so we made it to Curt in Atlanta without tears.