Preschool boy!

Gracen's first day of preschool was pretty exciting!  

He couldn't wait!  He was up and ready for school before Brynlee left and his class doesn't even start until 11:45 a.m.  After we got Brynlee on the bus, he said, "Okay mom, is it time for me to go now?"

When we got there he just went in and started to play.  He told me he'd be okay.  Another sad day for me!  I miss having this boy around.  He's gone for 3 hours 4 days a week.  

The second day he wasn't so sure about it, and got a little sad for me to leave.  Once his teachers were able to play with him he was good!  

Doing his "cool" pose.

Sweet little face!

  I was so excited to get him into preschool!  He gets to go at Brynlee's school for free and they have a great program!  He loves his teachers, and they have enjoyed him!  On his 3rd day one of his teachers told me that if they were allowed to have favorites he would be one of them.  

He loves to tell me all about his day, and knows their class mission statement. 

Although I miss my sweet boy, he was more than ready to start!  

To celebrate Gracen's first day,(and because we had free tickets) we went to a Skysox vs. Salt Lake bees game!  We had a great time!

Now, if only I could figure out how to slow time down just a bit!  Hard to believe this boy is already a preschooler!

First Grader...

This girl is a first grader!! 

 Has been for the last month and a half.  I'm just behind on my blogging as usual!

Her teacher is Mrs. Strizich and she has enjoyed every minute of it!  She was so excited to get back to school this year.  

It wasn't any easier to let her go.  It makes me sad to see her growing so fast!  How can I have a FIRST GRADER!?

She is doing great!  She already knows all of the first grade sight words, and has been doing really well in spelling and math.   

To celebrate the first day of school, we went out for ice cream right after I picked her up.  

Every year I let her pick out one outfit on her own (with my approval) and this is what she chose.  She was pretty excited about it!  This girl loves school!

Fishing at Nichols Reservoir

The Saturday before school started (Aug. 13) Nate decided he wanted to take the kids fishing to Nichols Reservoir.  He'd heard that it was a good place to fish, and it wasn't far from Rampart Reservoir where we had taken the kids before.

Nate looked up how to get there and told me there would be about a half mile hike to get to the reservoir.  In my head, I pictured a trail and a little walk.  I was so very, very wrong!  We got there and parked at the end of a road, figured out which way we needed to go to get to the lake, and started hiking. 

There was no trail.  We made our own.  Through trees and weeds and bushes we went up a hill, down a hill, up again, over and down, before making the last walk up another hill to the reservoir.  Each of us were carrying a backpack with lunch and a water bottle.  Nate had the fishing supplies and I had Bridger in the front carrier.  He was sure enjoying the hike flapping his arms and legs all around making it even more fun for me!  

We got there, had lunch, explored, and fished for a bit....

Barbie had to come too!

It was a really beautiful place.  The hike may have been worth it!

Gracen caught a fish...the only catch of the day!

Can't go fishing without throwing rocks in the water!

Nate found some wild raspberries and the kids really enjoyed picking and eating them.  They were all over the place up there!

Lucky for me, I have a husband with a good sense of direction, and he lead us out a different way than we came in!  I was a bit worried, but we hiked up the mountain, and found the road our car was parked on.  Then Nate and Gracen walked down the road to get it and came back for us.  

The kids were pretty good about the hike.  Brynlee and I did the most complaining, but not much.  It was a lot of work carrying that bouncing baby up a mountain!  It was a lot of fun though, and I don't regret going.  Gracen absolutely loved it, and was on the heels of his dad the whole time.  He didn't slow down even once.