Go Cougars!!

Lately Paxton has developed quite an obsession with BYU!  It is getting to the point where he carries around a BYU magnet and has to wear a particular blue and white stripped shirt on game days (and any other day that we let him!)  As you can imagine this is causing quite a little rivalry in our house between BYU loving Paxton and his die-hard Ute fan Dad! 

We were given free tickets to the BYU game this week and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to futher cement Paxton's love for the cougars!

 These boys never cease to amaze me!  I was prepared to walk the stadium with Tegan or be constantly getting treats and drinks for Paxton but besides the need for some pizza when we first got there they were awesome. 

 Paxton was glued to the game, clapped along with the cougar fight song, and now exclaims "Gooooo Cougars" multiple times a day! They made it to the bitter end...all 4 hours and 47-0 of it and were sad to go home!  We had a great time and can't wait to go again (maybe if Paxton continues loving BYU we will be able to convince Andy to leave his beloved Utes and cheer for the other team!!)



Preschool Fun (September)

Paxton had an awesome first month of preschool!  We are so excited about the progress that he has made in a month!  He knows how to spell his name, what letter it starts with, almost all of his colors, and is now naming and pointing to shapes!

Here are some of the fun activities that they did this month (thanks to Miss Nicole for putting together a class blog so I could steal these pictures!)

They helped trace their names in glitter!

 We had a fun speech activity where we got to feed our big bear different vegetables.  Paxton picked the purple eggplant and since then has been obsessed with looking for purple eggs!

 They started making letters for their alphabet book. 

This month they made C is for cat and A is for apple!

 They also worked on shapes this month and for one of their projects they made a shape mouse!

 During the last week of the month their theme was apples. 

Paxton was excited to find out that he is 14 apples tall!  Now he likes to tell everyone that he is a tall man!

 

Payson Lakes

We didn't have church on Sunday because of the temple dedication so we decided to go on a trip up the canyon to Payson Lake to get out of the canyon and have a picnic.

Of course we the boys both fell asleep as we were pulling into the parking lot!

 Luckily it wasn't too busy so we decided to start with our lunch hoping that it would energize the boys so that they could enjoy their time at the lake. 

 Paxton ate a total of 2 bites of his sandwich and 2 chips before he realized that we were at the lake and that why should he be sitting at a table eating when there were rocks to throw and water to throw them in!

 Tegan just wanted to play in the dirt!  Everytime I would set him down or take my eye off of him for a second he would make a beeline straight for the mud and the water! 

 Paxton had a great time collecting rocks...

 and throwing them into the water! 

 About a half hour and a hundred rock later we decided to take a walk around the lake.  Paxton insited on walking by himself and with his short little legs I was afriad this walk was going to take us hours! 

 Once Paxton found himself a walking stick I was afraid it was going to take all day because he has to stop an poke every tree and leaf along the path.  Luckily about a third of the way down the trail Paxton found a fuzzy orange and black caterpillar and decided that he didn't want to run into anymore bugs so he got in the stroller!  The walk was so beautiful and we say a lot of great scenery!

 After our walk we drove through the rest of the Nebo Loop enjoying the beautiful fall colors (until I fell asleep!)  We found lots of little hikes and camping spots that we look forward to visiting in the future!

I LOVE this time of the year and am so greatful to live so close to the canyon so that we can enjoy the beautiful colors whenever we want! 



Fall Ride

We have been trying to get together with Andy's brothers and sisters to go for an ATV ride through the canyon.  Finally we found a free weekend and decided to make the best of it!  We went up Spanish Fork Canyon and rode up to a place called Smith Reservoir.  It was a beautiful fall day which made me so glad we waited until now to go!

At the start of our ride it was a little cold so we were totally bundled up!

 

 We stopped half way up the mountain to take a family picture!

Anita & Jared, Andy & Jalizabeth, and Salena & Jacob

 We made it to the reservior!!

 

 The boys goofing off (of course!) 

They may be in their 30's but you get them on their ATV's and they turn into little kids again! 

 Another group shot!

LOVE this man!!

Jessicca and Trevor Tie The Knot

Jessica and Trevor finally got married!!  I say "finally" but in all actuality they have met, got engaged, planned a wedding and gotten married all with 4 1/2 months...all while Jessica was living at our house!  We are so excited for the Van Nosdol's as they begin their life together!  Here are some pictures from the big day!

The Wedding...Manti Temple

 Jamie holding Meilani, Jalizabeth, Julie, and Jerika

 The Hamberlin Family

 The Cousins (plus a few of my kids' 2nd cousins)

 The Reception...My Parents House!!

 Mana, Paxton and their Aunt Jerika!

 Paxton with Uncle Jeffrey!!

 The Open House...Salem Main Street Church

Fire on the P

We live right under the P for Payson...we have heard that before we moved into our house the mountain started on fire and everyone had to be evacuated.  I was really afraid that with the dry weather this summer it would start on fire again and we would be evacuated...luckily that didn't happen. Well I was laying on the couch watching a show with the boys (let's be honest I was catching a quick nap) when all of the sudden the biggest clap of thunder I have probably ever heard happened.  It was so loud and massive that it shook our whole house, light fixtures were swinging, things were rattling...so so loud.  Paxton yelled "it's raining" so I got up and went to the back door and opened the blinds.  I looked up and lightening had stuck the P mountain and it was on fire!

Talk about terrified...at this point it was still pretty little but fire spreads fast and all I could think about was evacuation!  I called my neighbor Deb and luckily they had already called it in.  Right when I hung up with Deb it started pouring.  I think a few prayers had been answered in that instant because it rained harder for the next five minutes than it probably had all summer!  By the time it stopped raining the fire was smoldering with just a few hot spots.  The fire department came and had to hike their way up the mountain to make sure it was all out! 

This little adventure has motivated me to take a little action for emergency planning like 72 hour kids, home inventory, emergency plans, etc.  Hopefully we won't have to use it but better safe than sorry!

Paxton's First Day of School

Paxton is starting preschool this year!  I  have been so excited for him to start preschool because he will be at my school (East Meadows) so I will get to teach his class twice a week!  I love watching him learn new things and can't wait to see how he is in a classroom setting!

On Tuesday (September 4th) we had his preschool open house!  He was so excited to wear his new school clothes and to bring his backpack!

He got to make a caterpillar for his cubby!  He was super excited that he got to have a cubby next to his best buddy Teague!

 

 Paxton's Preschool Open House!

Right when we got home from school Paxton opened up his book order and went to work circling all of the books that he wanted to buy.  He would circle books that he wanted and then circle girl books that he thought would be good choices for me!

 The night before preschool started I had to get my haircut so I sent Andy to the store to pick out some treats to sent in Paxton's lunch box.  Earlier that evening I had Paxton go through the grocery store add and circle a few things that he wanted for his lunches.  I told Andy to take the add with him and buy Paxton some of the things that he had picked out.  Well apparently Andy thought I said buy him ALL of the things that Paxton had picked out!  They came home with quite a haul!!

 Paxton's First Day of Preschool

September 5, 2012

He had such a great first day and LOVES going to preschool!