August: First Half

More splash pad fun with cousins and a neighbor.

Hayden and Katie both got a chance to "put out fires" during sharing time. Brian is a regular go-to on the substitute list, so he was there to take these photos

 Got to take a picture of the dead glow in the dark flower so we can throw it away...

 Weeding in the back yard.

 Katie participated in a summer reading and math program that our city offers. At the end of the summer, participants and their families are invited to this super fun carnival party at the park. The kids had a great time!
Kick ball...

 Knocking over milk jars...

 Ring toss...

 Fishing for prizes...

 Bean bag toss...

 Three legged race (Katie found her friends, Courtlyn, Ashlyn, and Madilyn to play with!)...

 Sack Races...

I took Hayden out to Swig. That has become the go to parent-child date. The kids request it almost every time. 

 Katie and Hayden went to Aria's Barbie Birthday Party and had a hard time choosing with Barbie to choose, at the end, as their party gift. Katie knew which one she wanted and was waiting through to whole party to hurry and grab it. Then, when the time came, she suddenly had second thoughts. "This one has prettier hair and ear rings, but this one has prettier shoes" she said. Sounds about like her. What a dilemma.

 There have been so many wildfires, this year. Nine active wildfires in Utah at one time. Plus the smoke blowing in from all of California's wildfires, has made the air quality unbearable. So we decided to head up the canyon and see if we could find some slightly cleaner air.

 We found a little bench that the last people had made from stumps and a slab of wood.

 Katie just inherited some hand-me-down tennis shoes so she wanted to get some running in. She convinced her siblings to run races around the camp site.

 Then the kids went to play in the river. SO FUN!

 Wore them out pretty good.

 Hayden likes to include the Hulk in everything he does. Even eating. He got this Hulk from his friend Cael who has a matching one, and he brings it EVERYWHERE!

 We went to Hayden's Upstart orientation meeting and he earned a badge!

 We went home and he started right away. He took a test to see which letters he already knows and he knew 21! I knew that he knew a lot of letters, but I didn't know he knew that many! He also passed off being able to spell his name right away. The program is going through each letter with him, anyway, but he is definitely spending less time on each individual letter than I think any of my girls did.

 Katie did a little dance camp with some of the tween girls in our neighborhood. She really enjoyed it, but I didn't get any pictures, just a video of their performance on the last day.

Maliya was invited to an end of summer party that her friend Aunna was throwing in a park. We all joined her at the end.

 KATIE'S BIRTHDAY!!! She requested cereal for her birthday breakfast.

 After opening Katie's presents, which included a mermaid barbie, a Lucky and Spirit action figure, American Girl Doll cowgirl outfit, an alarm clock and some new dresses and shoes, Hayden and I slipped away to get his haircut.

 Then we had Mia, McKell, Jenavee and Bradley come to the splash pad with us! I didn't get any pictures, but they a had a great time. Then we took them all to Swig!

 And then back home to play Barbies.

 While Aunt Alisha was here, Maliya showed off her recorder skills. It was adorable to see Evelyn just stand there and watch her. The kids all gave Evelyn so much attention!

 That night, I took the girls to the back to school pool party. It was freezing. I had zero desire to get in, but Katie insisted that I had to get in and go down the slide with her at least one time. So I did. After that I got back out and stuck to just taking pictures.

Meanwhile, Brian took Hayden out and got him a cookie and soda. 

 Happy Birthday to my baby girl. She is fun and classy. She is so quiet and can entertain herself for hours. She is strong willed and commanding. She is sweet and nurturing. She is best friend and worst enemy to each of her siblings. She is the fashionista in a house full of people with no fashion sense. And all she wants is for someone to play Barbies, or Poly Pockets, or House with her! I sure love this girl!