First Day of School!

Today is the first day of school.  The kids sure jumped out of bed faster than normal.  I wonder if they will be as excited tomorrow!

Levi is now in 3rd grade.

Casey is now in 2nd grade.

Heston is finally in Kindergarten. He doesn't start until next week.

Dad waiting for the bus with the kiddos.

Last night we added another addition to our crazy house.  We picked him up in Nephi and didn't get home until about 10:00 pm.  I am still trying to decide if we are good parents because what kid doesn't want their own pony or poor parents for letting the kids stay up that late the night before the first day of school.  We have spent the last 3 weeks going to bed early so we would be used to it.

Cute...What is it?

Cute is walking outside and finding your boys shaded up under the tomato plants eating carrots.
Cute is looking out the window and spying Heston sneaking up on some chickens. 
Cute is walking outside to check on the kids only to find they are jumping on the trampoline in their birthday suits..........not their swimming suits.
Cute is when your oldest is trying to show how grown up he is by helping dad with mom's honey-do list. 
Heck, who needs words for this one.
Finally....cute is watching Heston talk to Whit like I talk to Heston when he is taking a bath. "Wash in your ears and wash your arm pits.". 

Whit is learning to climb trees.  He can't quite keep up with his older siblings.

The kids love helping snap beans.  

Levi is getting ready to find a snack before dinner.

Our chickens finally have a little freedom now that the garden is big enough to share with them.

Whit trying to decide the best way to eat this giant cabbage out of our garden.

Whit had his first B-day.  Uncle Tim made him an awesome cake.  It was yummy!

Grandma took us on fun four wheeler rides.

While camping Whit learned how to sit in a chair without falling out.

We love our cousins.

Casey riding a rare Norwegian Fjord up on the mountain.  

Harvesting has begun!

Last year Papa Ed explained to us how to grow cauliflower so we decided to give it a try.  

Thanks Grandpa!

It is hard to get the whole garden in one photo.....so.....I tried to get it in two. 

It still didn't work.

Sections will have to do!

The kids helped harvest the beets.

By the time we were finishing up harvesting they had pretty much had enough.

So...I brought out a big knife for each of them to help top them and they were all of the sudden interested in helping again.  These kids love using knives.  It makes them feel so grown up.

After all that work it was time to cool off.  

By the end of the day we had 31 pints of pickled beets.

That is enough to have a lot of yummy salads this coming year!

I had to add this even though it has nothing to do with the garden.  The kids practice with him several times a day.  He loves the attention!

Summer Fun!...

 

The kids rode their bikes in the Annabella town bike parade for the 4th of July.

We went to the parade in Richfield on the 4th.

Casey liked the pageant girls.

Heston liked the race cars.
Whit liked the treats.
Grandpa & Grandma Nielson rented a gigantic water slide for their birthday party.  The kids couldn't get enough!  Dad even gave it a try!

We inherited a new toy from our friends who just moved to Virginia.

So...we decided to give it a try at Maple Grove campground.
Mom caught a small fish.
Heston & Levi caught lots of small fish....

and some big ones too!

Casey was the best at releasing them back into the stream.
Whit liked hanging out in the trailer.
Casey & Levi have been working hard in their pumpkin patch!
Grandpa, Grandma, Leslie & Erin came for a visit so we explored the Big Rock Candy Mountain bike trail.  We had a blast!

Grandma helped us give Charlie another haircut.

This time he is not white underneath.  Levi is training him to not buck.
Camping at Maple Grove was so fun so we decided to give Fishlake a try.  
The kids had fun swimming and fishing in the Lake.
We didn't catch one single fish though.  I wonder why????

Levi can officially say that he has done a backflip off the diving board now.  He can also say that he has a hard time hitting the water.

We found an awesome park in Salina.  I am going to try to talk Grandpa Nielson into building one of these cool swings in his yard for the grandkids.