15

Kyle turned 15 on Saturday.  It is hard to believe he is 15, he is growing up so fast.  We are so proud of him, he is making good decisions and learning and growing so much.  We love him!! We had pancakes for breakfast and the girls gave him all kinds of cute cards and funny little gifts.

He spent the day playing catch with his new football, watching the BYU football game and hanging out with all of us.  We ended our night with cake and ice cream.

The Fair

Marc and I don't really love going to the fair, it is expensive and crowded and dirty, but the kids like it so we have taken them a few times.  This year Lydia has been talking a lot about it, she got a coupon from school to get in for a dollar, and her teacher had told them about the racing pigs and the petting zoo, so she really wanted to go.  The fair opened Friday and so we decided to go that night.  Kyle wanted to go to the football game with friends instead, and Hailey was tired and just wanted to stay home and watch a movie, so it was just Marc and I and Katie, Nicole and Lydia.  We had a really good time, it wasn't crowded at all, the weather was great and because it was the first day, it was clean.  We made sure to start out at the racing pigs, the girls loved it.

They also loved seeing the camels.

We had to get the big ice cream cones.

There was a big reptile show, they loved the turtles and thought the snakes were fun to see.  We saw part of a dog show, the dogs were jumping rope and riding scooters, they thought it really fun.  Then we walked through the barns and saw horses, pigs, cows, chickens and and rabbits, their favorite was the big Mommy pig with all her little tiny babies. We walked through the petting zoo, they liked petting the goats and cows.  We had a good time, and it was the perfect night to go.

September update

I cant believe it is the middle of September.  School has been going for a few weeks now, it is going well.  The kids all seem to be liking their teachers and classes.  They are giving all the kids 5th grade and above laptops.  The twins got theirs, and the older kids will get theirs in a few months.  It has been a little bit of an adjustment for them, they have to type everything, they will figure it out.

Kyle started seminary this past week.  I think he likes it, he hasn't said a whole lot about it, but he hasn't complained about it either.  We met his teacher tonight at a seminary fireside, she seems great.  There are 28 kids in his class, they are all freshman.  So I am sure he will make lots of new friends. 

Kyle is enjoying football, they have played 2 games, they lost 1 and won 1.  His games are fun to watch, Kyle is getting really good.

Hailey tried out for the volleyball team and made the top team.  She had her first game last week.  I wasn't able to go to it, but Marc said she played really well.

Kyle had to finish up his cycling merit badge so he and Marc did a 22 mile mountain bike ride last Saturday, they had to complete it in 4 hours or less.  They were exhausted when they got back, and sore for several days.

Today was the primary program, Kate, Nicole and Lydia all did great, it was a really nice program.

Family Pictures

Union Creek Falls

This morning we got up early to do a little hiking.  We hiked to Union Creek falls, the waterfall was beautiful. A friend had told me that if you keep going there is another waterfall further up the trail, so we kept going, and went for quite a ways but seemed to be moving farther away from the river and the kids were getting hungry, so we decided to turn around, later I looked at the map and we were probably only 1/4 of  mile away from the other waterfall, I guess we will have to do this hike again.  On the way back Kyle decided that he need to jump in the water, there was a really pretty pool at the bottom of the waterfall, so he did, he jumped in and jumped right back out, he said it was freezing.  Marc thought maybe he would try it too, but he felt the water and changed his mind. 

 Lydia wasn't so sure of this log bridge at first, but on the way back she crossed it by herself.

 Kyle stepped on a rotten log, it fell apart and he fell backwards