Labor Day Weekend!

The end of the summer is coming....NOOOO! It's been so nice and warm here every day, we've loved it! I'm one of those girls that could live in summer forever. Labor Day weekend was a blast! The fun started out on Friday, getting a package from Grandma Di! The kids were so excited! Inside, school supplies for Emma, an outfit, and Littlest Pet Shops toy, gummy candy for the kids to share, and then a toy for Lucy and Cal. It was a blast! On everything, Grandma Di put a little sticky note with a fun message. Emma wanted to keep the sticky notes, and we had fun reading them all. Thanks, Mom!

Grandma also sent some outfits she made, well Lucy's anyways. She finished the other two kids outfits before we left, but didn't quite finish Lucy's. She's been on a mission to use up all of her scrap materials. She's so great at taking something like a scrap, or something old, and making it into something beautiful! So here they all are in their cute outfits. They look like little island cuties! My dad got the material for Cal's outfit when he went to Samoa.

My girls, so sweet!!

Grandma also sent a package of little gummy candies with hotdogs, hamburgers, pizza, fries, colas. On that sticky note, she wrote that they can have a gummy picnic. They were so happy and had so much fun doing that!

Later that night, Morgan and Kyle came over for a cousins sleepover (well, they're second cousins, but still call each other cousins. One day, Emma was saying, "So they're your cousins like Tayla is my cousin, but I'm still their cousin, too? Why are they so much younger than you, Mom?" I had to explain everything to her. I think she's got it now!). We grilled hot dogs and ate chili dogs, cheese & peas salad, fruit salad, and chips. Then we played like crazy, read some books, watched a short movie, ate snacks, and the kids actually went to bed at a decent time!

Kyle and Cal playing ball in the toy room. Cal idolized Kyle! And Kyle is so good with Cal!

Emma and Morgan playing with little princesses. They look like they're concentrating very hard here!

Having fun playing!! I thought it was kinda funny that the girls jammie style matched, and the boys matched as well.

They all do so well playing together, we never have squabbles or fights. They just start making up games, like this one below together. It's way cute!

Saturday, we woke up and made blueberry muffins and orange juilius, then we got all ready, rode bikes outside, and then went to the park to play for a while. After that, it was the BYU vs. Ole Miss football game at Dave & Suz's home. We had a yummy lunch and snack foods before the game. Dave was so excited for football to start. He's always following BYU football on KSL or Cougar Tracks. My Uncle Dave gets kind of into the games and yells a lot, which I've always known. It's always kind of made me giggle. I asked Morgan what she and her mom do when footballs on. "My mom and I usually stay upstairs while my Dad and Kyle yell," she responded. My Dave doesn't quite yell like that, but he still gets into it. So the Dave's enjoy watching the games together. The moms and kids watched some of the game, but we went for a walk around the block for a while, and just talked and played outside. Dave and Suz have been so good to us! We went over and had FHE with them one night, and went downtown last weekend to Rocky Rococo Pizza, and they're always calling to check up on us, and we get together quite a bit.

Saturday night, some friends in our ward who live a few houses away from us, Peperli and Derrick, invited us to go with them and another couple to Pig Out in the Park. It's a huge event at Riverfront Park they do each year, where food vendors from all over come and you basically do what the title says, pig out! They also have bands playing, the only band name I recognized was Marcy Playground. I think there were lots of local bands from the Northwest. Emma and I got Chinese food, it was yummy!

Lucy got baby food...which she's loving. Except for the meats. She gags on those sometimes. But can you blame her? Have you ever smelled that stuff?

Daddy got southern barbeque. On the little BBQ trailor, there was a sign that said "Life is to be enjoyed, not just endured." We thought that sounded familiar, and I immediately knew who said it! President Hinckley, of course. We had to support that booth after that. Also, there was a bee that kept coming around as we were eating on the bell tower steps. Dave kept trying to shoo it with his hat. It made me giggle, as it reminded me of the Toys 'R' Us experience a few years ago. He he! Some of you will know what I'm talking about. Luckily, he kept his shirt on this time.

Cal wanted pizza, so he gobbled that up. He loves pizza, but enjoyed playing with the extra pair of chopsticks I got even better!
Dave gets along really well with Aaron and Derrick. They are cool guys. Aaron is going to Gonzaga to get his Masters in Religious Studies, and Derrick is going to Spokane Community College for Radiology. The kids loved being by the bell tower, the color of lights on it were changing that night, it looked cool. They all wanted to get up on this ledge, so they all took turns getting up there.

Hello down there!

The kids were all so cute playing together. The park was so crowded though! And it was hard to get everywhere with our little stroller caravan!

We topped off the night by getting dessert. We tried homeade huckleberry (those berries grow in abundance here) ice-cream and chocolate dipped turtle cheesecake. Yum! It was a fun and tasty night!

Monday, actual Labor Day, we slept in, and then we went to the annual ward picnic for lunch. It was fun talking to some people and getting to know some more ward members!

Wheee....crash! The kids playing at the park during the picnic!

We topped off the weekend at a Peperli and Derrick's, the same friends who invited us to Pig Out in the park, at a BBQ. They made some tasty brisket, and we all brought things to share. Two other families were there, and they also invited the Elders that serve in our area, so that was fun to talk to them. The kids all had so much fun, they have a fun backyard with a swingset, slides, and a playhouse! And the other families are so great. We appreciate their friendship to us and making us feel so welcome here! It was a great weekend!