Back to School

 Ah, back to school. Sigh. I am the only one in this little family that did NOT go back to school! Bill is taking a finance class at SLCC and is loving it. It's Mon., Wed., and Fri. Each time he comes home he goes through our statements and figures out what else we could be doing better. I have often said he should have been a financial adviser. It's something that clicks with him. He gets numbers and money.

Stella started 3rd grade with Mrs. R. Olson. Her first day she was pretty nervous. It helped having the open house at school so she could see that there were quite a few of her friends from last year in her class already.  Bill and I walked her to where her class lines up, kissed her goodbye and off she went! When I called her from work later that day to see how her day was she said, "It was AWESOME!!!" She went on and on about her day which is very rare for her. I was glad to hear she had such a great first day.

Tristan started Kindergarten with Mrs. Morris after Labor Day. He was not nervous at all. At least not until we got to the school. He looked a little apprehensive as they were waiting to go in with their teacher. Which in turn made me that much sadder. It hit me as I was ironing his shirt the day before for his first day of school how sad I was going to be! I got a little nostalgic I have to admit. Watching him nervously enter the school building Bill and I looked at each other with some pretty pouty looks on our faces. Even Bill said it was harder this time around because he is our last to go to school! I didn't want to be that mom that cries when they drop those kids off, but I came pretty dang close!

He enthusiastically told me that he "loves Kindergarten!" so that makes me happy. Now if we can just get him to be a little quieter in class...Oh well. And so it starts. Again.

End of Summer

Less than one week left of summer vacation. At least it is for Stella. Tristan still has 2 weeks since they don't start Kindergarten testing until next week. I am looking forward to meeting both of their teachers and seeing where their classes will be! Stella is getting a little nervous and I don't think Tristan has even given school a second thought. I don't worry about him other than he can't not talk and ask a million questions! A real quick update (mostly for myself so I don't forget the rest of our summer).

We had a nice evening at Silver Lake with Emily, Cole and their boys. We even got to see a moose family! Yay!!!

The kiddo's started swim lessons. This is their second week of swim. They have both improved greatly in just the past week and a half! It's amazing to watch them! Bill and I love to just sit and watch their progress. Tristan was so timid at first and wouldn't even put his face under water and now he won't stop! And Stella I call my water baby. She has always loved swimming.

Stella Bella got glasses today. She is super excited! It's weird to see her with glasses on. She looks pretty cute though. She kept saying "Everything is so much clearer!" while we were at the store today! Maybe math will make more sense to her this year! (Unless she's anything like me. Then it will NEVER make sense!)

We went to the Sweet's Candy Shop today. The kids have been obsessed with Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and so have Melissa's kids. She was kind enough to arrange for a tour! The kids thought it was pretty cool. No Oompa-Loompa's though. We left with our own little bags of delicious taffy! Yum.

I just love this picture of Stella and Emma. They are so sweet. I had to take a picture of them reading together and snacking while their brothers were being boys racing up and down the sidewalks. 

Boys and Girls are so different.

Busy, Busy, Busy!

These past few weeks have been so much fun! We have crammed as much summer fun into them as we could! My poor kids were exhausted. After our amazing trip to Yellowstone we took the kids to Lagoon. They had been working around the house to earn "Lagoon Dollars" and they had finally earned enough. They had so much fun! Tristan would have gone on every ride had he been tall enough. Stella gets more cautious as she gets older (much like her mother) but she did love the rides she actually went on. We stayed til the park was just about shut down. It was a long and fun day!

That same week we went to the zoo for Bill's work party. It was pretty cool because we got to stay after it was closed to the public. Our favorite was the bears. They were so much fun to watch! The polar bear just swam laps for about 45 minutes. We watched for probably 30. And the sibling bears were extra feisty after their nap! They have so much personality. Tristan said at bed time to himself, "Dads work party was awesome." It was.

 No trip to the zoo is complete without a train ride!

 Off we go

 Bill's work hired a face-painter.Here is our pretty peacock.

 Seriously how cute is this tiger face on T?

 Posing

 Luckily they do not measure up to the Ape species

Even the bear will pose for our family picture. She's so cute I wanted to take her home!

The next day we went to Utah lake and did some boating with my parents, Emily, Cole & Dylan. We have yet to get them out on the boat with us so it was fun! My parents got taken for a pretty wild ride and then it was Bill and Cole's turn. That was great. I was nice and didn't flip them off the tube. Tristan has a new fear of water, but was brave enough to try swimming in the lake with us a couple of times. Hopefully he can work through it. We had a lot of fun with them!

What do you really think Dyl?

We like to hang tough!

This was the only time Emily was actually in the seated position. 

The rest of the time she was flying in the air!

Our co-captain

We still have a few more short weeks of summer left. I am so not ready for it to end yet! I have really enjoyed having both my kids home and having no set schedule. Hopefully we can fit a few more fun summer things in (including swim lessons next week) before they go back to school. Things that won't break the bank preferably!

It was so hot we needed a ride to cool down on.

Yummy (expensive) ice cream

So much fun at Lagoon!!!

Yellowstone

Right off the bat I am going to give you fair warning that there will be MANY pictures on this post. These are just a few of my faves from our trip. It was so BEAUTIFUL in Yellowstone. Just. Beautiful. Bill and I had both been there over 20 years ago (gasp).  Well over 20 years. There was so much that I did not remember. I remember being less than enthusiastic about Old Faithful which I thought was cool, but should not be the main attraction. I remember seeing the famous fire as we left the park. I remember the nasty smell of sulpher. What I loved this time around was the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. Amazing!!! The water is so strong and powerful with beautiful mountains surrounding it. 

Bill of course loved the wildlife. Don't get me wrong, I did too. However, I am more into the sights. We did see a mother bear (who had 2 baby cubs in a tree but we couldn't see them), 2 huge bull elk, cow elk, deer, lots of buffalo (not Tristan's favorites), antelope and an eagle. I wanted to see a moose, but no luck. 

Our first day we didn't get there until around 4. Later then planned. Our campground was off of a beautiful little lake which had paddle boats to rent for way cheap so we did that in the evening. The kids loved it! Quite possibly their favorite part of the whole trip. We spent the next two days in the park just driving, looking, and driving some more. The kids did great but were getting pretty restless and bored towards the end. The last full day in Montana was all about the kids. We went to a cool Bear & Wolf Museum, shot guns, more paddle boating, shopping and ice cream. They couldn't have been happier! Anyways, here are my pic's. Do not adjust your computers. It really was this spectacular and then some! 

Checking in at our campsite! Finally there. 

The 4-man paddle boat. Pretty exhausting I must say. 

Yummy, messy s'mores. A camping MUST! 

Excited to explore Yellowstone! 

A little waterfall

Some hot pots at Artist Paintpots. So many cool things to see in this little area. 

These little blue pools were so pretty. One of my favorite things there.  

Stella getting tired on our little hike. 

Lucky for her she has a strong dad who will let her ride on his shoulders! 

Norris Geyser Basin overlook 

Tristan was getting a little tired of posing I guess. 

This hill was gorgeous! I wish we could see more of the purple flowers in this picture. 

Doesn't do it justice. 

Mama Bear 

This was another one of my favorite things there. This was by where 

we stopped for ice cream. If we hadn't stopped for food we would have drove right

past it! Reminds me of Superman for some reason. 

Big 6 by 6 elk 

Traffic jam caused by buffalo 

Day 2 in the park! 

Old Faithful 

By Yellowstone Lake so the kids can throw rocks. 

Stella is already a good little photographer. Plus its nice they are old enough 

to take pictures so Bill and I can be seen together!

Rawr. Here at the Visitor Center. 

Goofballs

We got a little rained on here! This was my favorite. 

The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. Pretty awesome. 

So happy to finally be shooting his BB gun! 

The Bear & Wolf Museum. No animals were harmed in this picture. 

Another museum on our way out! Such a fun trip. Can't wait to do it again!!!