veggies = muscles

Saxon discovered that eating his vegetables was the secret to having big muscles.
See for yourself:

Dinner on the Roof

Grandpa and Grandma invited all of us up to their place to have dinner on the roof.
The email Grandpa sent out to invite us went something like this:

"Grandma and I would like you to be at our condo by 5:00 p.m. on Sunday.
We would like to take a picture of all of you together.
End of discussion."

We all laughed and made sure to be there by 5 and ready for a picture :)
So, here it is:
(Grandpa, Joy, James, Saxon, Bridger, Nate, Caitlin, Jeff, Meg, Grandma)

Saxon was so excited to go see them that he couldn't sleep the night before.
He had so much fun and cried when it was time to leave.
He kept begging Grandpa to at least come over to our house.
Grandpa promised him that he would come over and take him to Chilis.

This is the view from the roof:

Thanks for having us over Grandma and Grandpa!

The Greatest Show on Earth

Mike took us (along with Amanda, Mandy, and her 3 nephews) to the Ringling Bro.'s Circus last night. It claims to be "the greatest show on Earth." I thought it was a little long, but my kids LOVED it. Bridger even got his own seat which he was pretty thrilled about.
Luckily they had about a dozen elephants, which made it the greatest show on Earth for Saxon.

I wanted to get a cute picture of me and Saxon, so I kept re-taking it and trying again.
After the 4th try, Saxon says:
"Ok Mom. This is getting kind of silly now."
Very true :)
So, we ended up with this one:

I kept trying to get a good picture of Bridger's face during the show.
He was mesmerized.
This is the best I could get, but it was so much cuter in real life...

We were lucky that Nate could come too!
My kids are so lucky to have Mike.
Mike likes to have fun and always knows whats going on and like my kids.
And...he doesn't mind hanging out with us even when Nate is at work. Gregor reminded me several times this summer when he had to help out with the kids, that it's a lot of work to go anywhere with us. So, thanks Mike for the fun night, and thanks for being willing to hang out with us even though we are a lot of work!

Dishwasher

I cannot seem to keep this child out of the dishwasher.
If I lock it, he starts it.
If I don't lock it, he climbs in.
I find toys, food, and all kinds of things in the dishwasher after Bridger is done.
And I find clean dishes all over my house.

Sleepy

Bridger was too tired to fight it anymore...
Gregor helped him hold his head up.

Saxon emptied out my nightstand so he could have a hiding place.

They must be so tired from all of the energy it takes to destroy my house everyday.

Pumpkin Cookie Dough

Well...I've been postponing doing "Fall" things because I don't want it to be fall yet.
I can't complain too much, because it has been in the high 80's, and for Utah, that's practically still summer.
However, I finally broke down today and made pumpkin cookies.
And Bridger licked the spoon...

YUMMY!

Earlier today, we got to spend the day with Brittany. I've missed her so much! Saxon pretended to be shy for a second, then he didn't leave her side. She took a bunch of cute pictures that I'm going to steal from her blog as soon as she posts them.

The truck...

Andi and I decided that we should have a little party for the kids before the pool closed this year. Andi brought El Pollo Loco, Holly brought a pizza for the kids, and I brought cupcakes. We let the kids watch a movie in the clubhouse and then go swimming.
(Andi has the pictures from it...)

Afterward, Caden was begging to come play at our house.
I think he envisioned our house being a lot more fun than it really is.
He walked upstairs and tells me:
"Is this all the toys you have because none of these are very cool."
And later:
"I wish we could go to Chuck-E-Cheese because at least that would be fun."
I laughed and texted Andi.
When Nate got home, we decided to do something really cool...finally.
We got out the truck:

Caden negotiated with Saxon to let him drive on the condition that he would share his new "I-phone" and let Saxon watch movies.
DEAL!
So, Caden zoomed around our neighborhood on high speed until Holly came to get him.
I realized watching him, that he drives EXACTLY like Andi.
I laughed so hard watching.
He cried when he left because he had so much fun :)
I guess our house is cool after all.

Utah State Fair

Yesterday morning, Saxon woke up and asked me if we could go ride a horse.
So, we went to Farm Country, because those are the only horses I know of.
Saxon fed the goats, and then tried to feed the Llamas.
He can't say his "L's" so he called the Llamas by saying,
"Here Mama Mama Mama..."
It was so funny!
He even got nibbled a couple of times because he doesn't let go of the corn fast enough.

That evening, Mike took us to the Utah State Fair.
This is Mike and Saxon on the giant slide:

Saxon kept begging to ride the "doctor" ride.
Doctor?
Finally he showed us that me meant the rescue helicopter.
He knows what they are now because of Kasen's accident this summer.

He was even brave enough to ride the roller coaster and put his hands in the air :)

He used up all of Mike's tickets and LOVED every minute of it.

Here's Bridger wishing he was big enough.
Mike took him on the giant slide also so that he could at least ride one ride.

We asked Saxon if he wanted to ride the swinging pirate ship with Mike, but he said it looked too scary. Once the tickets were gone, he told Mike that he would ride the pirate ship (he must have been desperate to ride on one more).
I was nervous, watching my baby swing that high in the air!
When it was over I asked him if he liked it:
"No, it's a little bit scary."
So, we finished off the night with an elephant ear while Saxon danced to the band that was playing and Bridger tried to run away. On the way home, both kids fell asleep. Saxon kept muttering in his sleep:
"So fun...that so fun...Saxy loves that!"
Thanks Mike for such a fun night!!!

Practice makes Perfect

I think the coolest thing I inherited from Brittany when she moved was this easel.
Saxon loves it!!!
We practice letters, shapes, colors, and every kid that comes to my house goes straight for it.
This week we've been working on his name.
I spell it out in yellow dots, and he writes on top of it.
Here is one of the better attempts:

We obviously need some more practice, but he's pretty excited about he idea of being able to write.
(You should see his attempts at his name without my yellow dots, it's very artistic).

Labor Day Weekend

I hope everyone had a fun Labor Day Weekend!
This is what we were up to:

On Saturday morning (Nate was working), I woke up feeling like I should go to the temple. Not should go, had to go to the temple. I called my friend Andi right when I woke up to see if she would want to go to. She did, and we set up to meet at 11:00 a.m. The only problem left: I didn't have a babysitter. I tried everything! Gregor was is Salt Lake, Mike was in Chicago, Joy was watching her sister's kids in Bountiful, Megan had school, James was working, and Jeff (I assumed) was sleeping. I even broke the cardinal rule of never calling Jeff before 1:00 p.m. on a Saturday. I was getting desperate. I kept feeling like it would work out in the end, so I cried, and ironed my dress, and put my church clothes on, and hoped for the best. At 10:45 Jeff called to say that he got my message and would come head over right then. THANK YOU! Andi showed up just after 11:00 and we were able to go to the temple. When I came home, Bridger was napping and Saxon was so excited to tell me about his day. While I was gone, Megan had come over too and they took them to McDonalds (a toddler's heaven on earth). Today on Megan's blog, she posted these pictures of the kids from their trip to McDonalds:
Thank you so much Jeff and Megan! You guys are the best!!!

I love the picture of Bridger wishing he was tall enough!

On Sunday, we had dinner down the Canyon with Brian and Karen. We hadn't seen them in a while so it was a lot of fun! Saxon loves going down the Canyon and asks all the time to "go campin'." Karen brought s'mores, so my kids were in heaven!

On Monday we went shopping with Holly and Bryn (who Saxon has started calling "B".) We bought paint to finish the makeover on my house. I can't wait to start! At bedtime Saxon said that he wanted to say the prayer. He did it all by himself and thanked Heavenly Father for "mom and dad and bubba-chubba and Bryn and Vienna." It was so funny!

Happy Birthday Nathan!

Happy Birthday Nathan!

We hope you had a great birthday. We were thinking about you!

Family Pictures

I got the CD in the mail today of our family pictures.
I love them!
Here's our family...

Thanks Andee for taking such great pictures!