September/October

 I believe it was the beginning of September that we attended a farewell talk of a girl that I used to babysit. This family, the Fudims, used to live in Cameron Park where I grew up. They now live in Spanish Fork and their daughter Chelsea was soon to leave on a mission and was giving a talk in church. We attended her talk and spent the whole day with their family and had a wonderful time catching up and laughing with them. Their family is so fun to be around:)

 Noel started preschool at the beginning of September. She absolutely loves it! She goes 3 times a week for 2 1/2 hours at a time. She is learning a lot and loving the social aspect of it. My little girl is growing up too fast.

 The kiddos hugging before taking Noel to her first day of preschool.

 While Noel has been at preschool Sam and I have had some good snuggle time. 

 He has learned to take his clothes off and put them on, all by himself. Obviously in the picture, he was having issues:)

 He's always a goof.

 On my birthday weekend we went and got donuts and fed the ducks, before running errands.

Blowing out my candles on my Oreo Dream Cake (that my wonderful hubby made for me).

 Snuggle time.

Noel's first field trip was to the local Fire Station for a tour. It was fun to see Noel with her classmates.

 This was the only time I want to see my kids in an ambulance.

 Each kid got to take a turn spraying the fire hose and try to aim for a cone. 

 Sam even got to take a turn.

 Noel's preschool class and her teacher, Miss Heather.

 I've tried to get out and walk/jog more and on this particular evening the sunset was beautiful.

 Kareena and I have gone on a few walks with the kiddos so we made a boy stroller...

 ...and a girl stroller.

 Ty and Sam at a park.

 Silly Sam.

 Sam and Ty playing in the backyard, making Leaf Soup.

 My brothers and I were able to coordinate our schedules to go to the temple together. It was so nice. I sure love having my brothers close. I love them dearly.

We recently had a storm that produced some larger hail than we are used to.

The weather can't decide if it wants to be cold or hot. There was day soon after the hail where it was so hot we got the kiddie pool out.

 My sister Emilie and her family came into town last week and we went to the Bean Museum on the BYU campus. 

 Noel's cousins Myles and Charlie walked with me to get Noel from preschool on one of the days. They were so sweet.

 Grandma and Grandpa Watkins came into town as well for a couple of days while Emilie and her family were here. Grandpa got out a box of goodies from their travels and the kids just sat around it and munched and munched and munched.

 Emilie and I took the kids to a park. The kids had such a great time.

 Noel and her cousin Henry really enjoyed playing together. They were best buddies.

 Sam attempting to get on a swing.

 Sam is a climber.

 The kids found a Praying Mantis.

 They loved the climbing wall.

 Emilie with her cute lil' guy, Tommy.

 Henry had a birthday while they were in town and he had a cool R2D2 cake. We celebrated his birthday at a park with Emilie's hubbies family as well.

 Our church has a conference every 6 months where we get to hear from the President of our church (our Prophet), President Thomas S. Monson and the 12 apostles and other leaders of our church, through a televised broadcast. There were some fun activities for all of the kids during this time.

 There was a snack associated with each of the 12 apostles and First Presidency.

We had a blast with family in town.

The rest of August 2014

The rest of August was awesome. As a family we went hiking in a canyon in Salt Lake. We hiked to Secret Lake. It was beautiful!

 There were tons of wild flowers!

 There were tons of salamanders in the lake. 

 Noel was listening for the secrets from Secret Lake:)

 The Fam.

 Here are some miscellaneous pictures from the rest of August. Samuel hates getting gel in his hair and we usually only do it for church. On this particular morning, I found him fake crying/whining on the chair after we had put gel in his hair. This kid cracks us up!

 Noel ALWAYS gets distracted at any meal time and we ALWAYS have to remind her to EAT HER FOOD! It's quite frustrating! Morgan was brilliant to surround her with a blanket so she could just concentrate on her meal.

 Samuel took his turn putting a hanger on the Night Light which was plugged into the wall in the hallway. Noel did this same exact thing to this same exact outlet a couple of years ago. I was there for this one this time, and sparks flew! Pretty crazy. Samuel was of course stunned, and he may have been shocked (literally):)

 Noel's was the top and Samuel's the bottom:)

 We've tried to go to the park more often this year. The kids sure love the swings and playing on the playground.

 We've had some awesome thunderstorms here and there. These pictures were taken through our bedroom window screen. I love thunderstorms!! 

 Outside playing washing the car.

 Samuel loves to help with almost anything! Laundry, cooking, putting dishes in the dishwasher, and taking groceries into the house from the car. He is so sweet...and a cheeseball.

 Morgan and Samuel went on a Father/Son Campout one stormy Friday night with other fathers and their sons from our ward (church). They had fun. It was very wet and stormy but they had a blast. Noel and I rented a movie of her choice, ate pizza and candy. I love my girl time with Noel.