September extras

We took a trip to the zoo to take another look at the new exhibit. The polar is so fun to watch! He comes right up to the window then pushes off backward and jumps up to the window again. It's quite the show! 

 
Luke loves playschool! He's been having a lot of fun and it's nice for him to have his own things to do and look forward too. We had a field trip to the farm at Thanksgiving Point, as you can see it tuckered him out! 

We got a Cougar Kids Club membership that included 4 football tickets. Kevin took Violet to one-- and she asked when it was over before it even started! But she did enjoy the treats from the concessions stand. 

Kevin took Cora to the other game-- and she did a bit better. She was disappointed when she thought the end of the first quarter was halftime, but that was because she was promised a treat at halftime. She had fun watching a bit of the game and playing on Kevin's phone. Might have to wait another couple of years before we try taking kids again!

Kissie ran the Big Cottonwood Canyon marathon this year (among many others). We were excited to be able to go cheer her on! We saw her twice in the middle of the race and then again at the end. She did great! 

Grandparent Letter

Dear Grandpa and Grandma,

How are you doing? I hope all is going well for you there! We think of you often!

We are finally settled into our fall schedule… school, preschool, playschool, two gymnastics classes, playdates, trading babysitting to volunteer at school, and volunteering at school! Life is busier than ever, but o-so-fun too.

Cora lost her 6^th tooth a few weeks ago. Violet lost her first tooth this morning! I guess we are early tooth losers around here, she’s just 4.5 years old! In other teething news, Evelyn is working on her first tooth, but it’s still a week or two away from breaking through.

Kevin ran a 5k, and is excited to run another one this weekend. I have been busy filling our freezer with jam, fruits, and veggies, taking advantage of the yummy fresh produce from the farmers markets. Cora got moved up a level class at gymnastics and is excited to perform in December. Violet is doing really well with her reading and is learning so fast! Luke is learning a growing more each day and now likes to play simple games with his sisters, riding his tricycle, and climbing high (and scaring mom!) at the playground. Evelyn can sit up now and loves the  new view! She doesn’t like being on her back and will roll over to her tummy as soon as I lay her down. She also started eating solid food, and likes her rice cereal and bananas.

We took a pretty drive up in the mountains on the Alpine Loop to see the fall colors—it was beautiful! We managed to go at just the right time to see lots of colorful leaves. Cora and Violet both attended a football game with Kevin. Kevin found out 4 is a little young to go to a game when Violet asked when they could leave before the game actually started J.

The kids are all so excited about Halloween!! We’ll send you some pictures next month! 

Fall Leaves

Our afternoon trip to the Alpine Loop turned out wonderfully! No whining or complaining, just fun family time. The kids loved shouting out the colors of the leaves they saw, loved collecting leaves at Cascade Springs, and loved having a picnic lunch. I also introduced the kids to the "My Turn on Earth" soundtrack and it was a hit! Just as catchy and fun as I remember it way back when I was little and riding around in the car with my parents. "The Golden Rule is a terrific tool, to help you decide what to do! And did you know, though it doesn't show... there's a Golden Rule inside of you!"

It was a tad bit chilly, but we hit the fall colors perfectly. The last couple of years we've been on the late side, so it was nice to see such variety of color this year.

Evelyn at 5 months

Here's a few pictures of sweet Evelyn at 5 months old. She's now doing successive rolls, wants nothing to do with her binkie (which she never was all that attached to, but used to go to sleep sometimes), and easily gets distracted while nursing. She wants to see those siblings of hers! She's got her 'loud' switch turned on and growls, screams, and grunts. Evelyn is working on some bottom teeth, but they are still a few weeks away I think. She's little miss grabby and will toss your plate on the floor in a second if you aren't careful! Evelyn is a great nose massager. Miss Grabby will also happily knead you lips and cheeks too as a special extra. 

She just loves her siblings! Gymnastics tricks make her giggle so hard!

She's also loving bathtime and kicking her feet!

Bowling!

It's our first family bowling night! I was pleasantly surprised at how well it went. We all had a lot of fun! It helped a lot that Luke (and sometimes Violet) had these kid friendly bowling aids to use. And that the bumpers could be set to go up by individual, so Kevin didn't have to bowl with them. It's definitely  something we'll do again.

Look at Luke carry that huge ball by himself!

He was so cute-- after his ball rolled down to the lane Luke would put his hands on his cheeks waiting in anticipation to see it hit the pins.

Violet loved her pink bowling ball!

Cora had a discus style throw to her bowling technique that a great thud upon release. (I wonder if they reserve certain lanes for families?? :) )

Luke ended up as the big winner of the night!

Evelyn and I hung out and watched. 

Visit with Grandmother

We were so excited to see Grandmother during her trip to Utah. She got to meet her newest 

great-grandbaby! We'll probably never be able to make a trip to Alabama, so we feel pretty lucky to see her in Utah when she can visit. She mentioned it would probably be her last trip to Utah, so the time was all the more precious. 

Quilts and kiddos

Aunt Debbie asked for pictures of all the kids with the quilts Grandma Ellis made for them. Pretty cute, huh? both the quilts and the kiddos!

 And this kiddo in particular had a very great day yesterday-- his first day of playschool! There are 7 kids in the group, and the moms will take turns teaching. Luke is so thrilled to have his very own activity to go to!

We also fit in another trip to Jungle Jims and Kevin got some good action shots of the kids (pretty unusual for these fast rides).