Clothes

Coen has been setting out his clothes each night to get ready for school.  He puts out his shirt, his pants, his socks and shoes...and his face.  Just doesn't quite look right without a head on there.  He was making a new head every day until I suggested he put his head in a special place, like the piano bench, each night so he could use it the next day.  You just can't get much cuter than an eager Kindergartener people!  

And that's what we've got here.  CUTE!

Nice outfit, Coen!

And let's zoom in on that triangular head:

You see what I mean?  

CUTE!

Back to School Boys

August 27 was the first day of school for the boys!  I got their hair cut and they picked out their clothes the night before and we talked about what their day would be like.  They were all 100% excited.  There were going to be a lot of "firsts" this year.  Coen's first year of school!  Kindergarten here he comes!  It will be the first year that Dallin is the "oldest" at the school and he would get to go to Coen's room for pick-up.  He is a big 3rd grader!  And Austin starts his first year at a new school!  He is now in Intermediate School and in the 5th grade.  He is so excited about having his own locker.  He practiced and practiced his combination and could do it in his sleep.  Then he lost it two days before school started and had to get a new one and start all over.  Kids....

Austin's school starts at 7:45 am and the other boys start at 8:00 am and their schools are completely opposite directions with plenty of road construction in between.  Wow.  We went to meet the teacher a couple days after we got back from our Utah/Wyoming trip.  Coen has Miss Leal.  She was Dallin's Kindergarten teacher so we know her pretty well.  Dallin has Mrs. Beavers who was also Austin's 3rd grade teacher so we know her, too.  Austin found out where his home room is and who his teachers are.  He switches classrooms this year.  His homeroom teacher is Miss Hunter and his other teacher is Miss Kiker.  His wish came true and he got one of the last "top" lockers.  He really didn't want to be on the bottom.  We checked out his new school and got familiar with where everything was and that was it!  These boys are ready to go to school!

Our three handsome boys all ready for school.

 Austin-5th Grade

 Dallin-3rd Grade

 Coen-Kindergarten

Crazy boys!  Time to get going!

 And they made it!  Welcome home boys!

 Giving their little sister a hug.  Boy did she miss Coen.  It's just Beckham and Claire at home now.  She's going to have to get used to being the oldest and coming up with ideas for play now that big brother isn't here to be the boss.

Cute little kids!

Tory took Austin to school the first couple days.  It was crazy!  And it was making him almost an hour late for work because then he'd hit the bad traffic time.  I picked him up both days and had to get there an HOUR before school got out just to be able to get far enough up in the line to make it back to Dallin and Coen's school to pick them up!  It was cutting into Beckham and Claire's naps and definitely just not working.  So after just two days we signed him up for the bus route.  We have to pay for our kids to ride the buses here but it's worth it.  Life is peaceful once again and Tory's not late for work.  Plus, it was another one of Austin's dreams to ride the bus.  Can anything be better than 5th grade?  I think Austin would definitely say no!  :)

Celebrating Birthdays!

We got back home from our trip on the evening of August 21.  We just barely missed Dada's birthday which was the 20th.  Since we didn't get to really have a celebration for Claire in Utah and she didn't even open her presents we decided to do a combined birthday party for them.  We rolled it into all the "Back to School" festivities on Sunday night, the day before the boys started school.  We got home from church, made two cakes, had a party, cut 5 boys' heads of  hair, and then had back-to-school father's blessings.  Whew!  Poor Tory.  He had to share his Father's Day with Coen this year and then share his birthday with Claire.  Nothing just for him.  He was a good sport about it though. ;)

The Two Birthday People

34 and 4

Pretty Claire

Claire really wanted a Rapunzel cake.  This is what I came up with.  Dada made the tower out of a paper towel tube but the top and everything else was edible (well except for the doll!)

 Happy Birthday Girl!

 What a pretty princess.  She bought this Rapunzel dress with her birthday money LAST year!  She loves Rapunzel!

 We decorated with a princess tablecloth and plates and her pink boa on the table.  She even got her own Rapunzel glass to drink out of.  You can also see the cute little Webkinz wolf that she got from her little birthday celebration with cousins in Utah.  She loves it!

 Four years old!  Where did the time go?  

OK...if you want a good laugh then you have to watch this video clip.  First of all, Beckham really gets into his birthday singing.  He had lots of practice singing at all the birthday parties in Utah.  Cracks me up!  And secondly, watch what happens to the cute little boy.  All caught on "film". So funny!

 And Tory?  He opted for a pumpkin cheesecake.  OK...maybe he didn't choose it but he was very happy with it!

Even better inside!

 Scoot over Claire!  It's Dada's turn for a song!

 Claire opening presents.

And poor Dada opening his present.  He's showing off the fine wrapping.  He got stuck with the purple sack that had carried Claire's present all the way to Utah and back.  Sorry Dada!  We still love you though!

And this video clip.  Life in our family.  All peaceful present opening...until the brothers move in for the candy.  That's the way it goes around here!

We sure are thankful for Tory and for our Claire.  They make our family so much better!
Happy Birthday Claire and Dada!

The Final Day of Our Vacation

Monday was our last day.  Dad had to go up to Idaho and we had to get back to have a couple days to get ready for Meet the Teacher night and to get all ready for school to start!  And of course to be reunited with Dada!  It had been a long vacation!  Twice as long as we had originally planned when we set out!  

So we headed to the dental office nice and early one last time and finished everything up.  We came back and checked out of the hotel.  

 Grandpa and the kids outside of our hotel.

Grandpa Mac promised Austin he would show him the dental office since Austin had never been there in all this time since he was the designated Beckham watcher at the hotel.  So we went back and let all the kids check out the office.  Dad recently sold his practice so he won't be there for very much longer.  So this will most likely be the last time they get to see it.

It's a beautiful building.  It's listed as a historic building.  When Dad first moved here it was in poor repair and he fixed it all up and even got the restaurant on the main level going again.  His office is the upper floor.  It used to be an old hotel back in the day.  It's got it's original wood beams everywhere.  Beautiful!

I didn't have a very good lens on my camera and couldn't zoom out to see the building but you can kind of get an idea of the front from this picture:

And here is the back and the side.  His office is the upstairs part.

Smile!

(Wow!  And yes, those boys of mine got haircuts as soon as we got home!  They were already overdue when we started the trip and then it was even longer than we had planned!  Whew!)

I still can't imagine my Dad NOT in a dental office!  It's just one of those things you never think will ever really happen.  Especially when he's so good at it...and it's so him!  Crazy!

I wish we could have had more time but it never is enough.  I'm so thankful for the time we did get and for the fun memories we were able to make.  It was a wonderful vacation.  I'm so thankful for my family and for the occasions we have to see them even though they are few and far between.

We started our journey back home that afternoon.  We got to Colorado Springs and I was feeling great and it was still daylight out so we kept going and ended up staying the night in Amarillo, TX!  

Beckham in our last motel room in Amarillo.  I can't believe I never got a single picture of our 3 nights in Wyoming!  Oh, well!

It was pretty great waking up the next morning knowing we only had six hours left until we were home!  We got home before Tory was home from work.  Boy were we happy to see him!

Out In the Wilderness of Wyoming

The next day we had breakfast together again at the hotel and went back to the office for more dental work.  His assistant couldn't come in that day so he just did what he could do alone and worked on my new MAGO mouth guard    After that we went to pick up some groceries and supplies for a picnic lunch.  The boys really wanted to fish AND shoot guns so Dad drove us far, far, far away to one of his favorite secluded spots where you could do both.  It took almost two hours just to drive out there and I think we passed one vehicle the entire way...and that was in the first 20 minutes of the drive.  We are talking REMOTE!  It makes Western Kansas look like a busting metropolis!

Remember this map?  You see Riverton in the middle...well where we drove was all the way over on the bottom right side of the map in the white area  by Devil's Gate.  Far!

I loved it!  I loved the drive, I loved the scenery, I loved the quietness of it, and I loved the company.  It was a fun afternoon.

Unfortunately the water was pretty mush all dried up except for a little trickling stream from the drought so fishing was out.  But the boys were happy to shoot.  And everyone was happy to explore.  They had so much fun climbing rocky hillsides, jumping over in water, and letting their imaginations run wild.  They were sad when it was time to go.  They would have been happy to stay there forever.  I have to admit, I wouldn't mind staying in my own little oasis like that for awhile either.  Sometimes it's nice to just be away from people and all the craziness.

The little rock climbers:

Originally, the plan was to drive back to Dad's house and have a bar-b-que. The boys were so excited to get to eat antelope which is what was on the menu.  But we took the scenic...yes, even MORE scenic than the two hour drive...route home and it was too late by the time we got back to town.  We would have had to drive all the way out to Dad's, cook the food and eat it, then drive all the way back to town.  The boys were pretty bummed.  They really wanted to see Grandpa Mac's house, too.  We opted for KFC in the hotel room.  Dad came up and ate with us.  We were originally supposed to go home this day but we needed more time for dentistry.  So we got to stay one more night.  It was a fun day!

Sinks Canyon

We started out the morning with a nice breakfast at the hotel.  Dad drove in to town early to eat with us and then we went to his office so he could get started on my dentistry.  I am sad to say it's been too many years since my last dental visit and I no longer can say I am cavity free.  I blame my pregnancy with Claire.  Throwing up an average of three times EVERY SINGLE DAY for WEEKS can't be good for the ol' teeth.  But that's OK.  At least I know a good dentist, right?  I can't say I enjoyed that morning.  Nope.  Not a fan of being on that side of the dental chair.  I wasn't too sad when the dental assistant said she had to get going. Because if she hadn't said it...I might have!  Austin was a trooper and had stayed back at the hotel to watch Beckham.  He played with him, fed him, and even put him down for a nap.  He was a lifesaver.  It would have been a disaster with Beckham at the office.  We went and picked Austin and Beckham up and then Dad took us for a drive up to see Sinks Canyon in the Wind River Mountains.

Come on girls!  Say it one more time!  You know you want to!  

"Shoshone National Forest!"

(An inside joke in my family.  We used to go backpacking as a family here several summers when we lived in Kansas and Colorado.  My sister Heather started saying Shoshone National Forest really funny and now we all say it.  Tory even knows how to say it like that because we do it so often.  Heh, heh!)

 Where it's located...in case you're ever up in that part of Wyoming and want to check out a beautiful place.

It's where the big old Popo Agie River just vanishes and actually goes underground.  Pretty cool.  It is a beautiful place.  We checked out the little visitor's center first.

Sinks Canyon

 Checking out the interesting facts in the Visitor's Center.

 Dallin sees a bear!

 There were lots of nature scenes set up behind glass with "stuffed" animals (like the bear).  Very cool.  

Grandpa told the kids that on this trip he would make sure they all found an arrowhead or other artifact.  They are everywhere around here!  Dallin found the first one right at the visitor center.  Can you see the big smile on his face when Grandpa Mac told him what it was?  He was very happy!

 Unfortunately, since it was in a State Park he couldn't keep it.  He brought it back to the ranger though and the ranger confirmed his discovery and thanked him for leaving it.  We took a picture so he'd always remember it.

 Claire checking out some feathers from a bird.

 Grandpa Mac and the kids.

Austin and Dallin down where the river "sinks" underground.

 Coen and Claire exploring.

Hiking back up the trail.

 We then drove down the road a little way to where "The Rise" is.  Here the river reappears.  The fish like to feed here and there is a place to buy fish food.  Grandpa bought some and let the kids throw it to the fish.

 Getting fish food.

 Feeding the fish.

Beckham loves Grandpa.

Grandpa picked some wild chokecherries for the kids to try.  They were really good!  We had to stop eating them and save some for the birds!