Craft time

My kids are constantly wanting to color or make crafts. Dylan especially. He thinks really hard about what he wants to make and creates some very creative things. Things I had no idea he knew about. And he is very thorough at what he does. For example, I went to parent teacher conference a few weeks ago and his teacher told me that Dylan is the only student in her class who will add grass, trees, birds, and clouds to a picture. He even adds luggage and lights to an airplane...




Okay, so maybe that is normal. It is just weird that I have a child old enough to do these things. Silly kids, I sure do love them and have fun with them.


Dylan loves tape. He uses it for towing cars and holding anything you can imagine together. He also loves taping his projects to any wall or door space he can find.

Okay, so I am a slacker. Sorry. I will try to get caught up on here soon. For now, here is a picture of the cool tree fort in our back yard. Complete with a slide, rope bridge, climbing wall on the back side, and a picnic table underneath. The kids love it, and so does every other kid that visits us. Too bad this won't move with us if we ever decide to buy a house.

First days of school

Cassie started preschool last Monday and has been waiting for this day ever since Dylan was in preschool. The day finally came and she was a little hesitant to go. She didn't want her picture taken either, but I snatched one anyway. She is going to a preschool in a ladies basement, which is a lot different than the huge fun classroom that Dylan went to last year. Cassie has asked if she can go to the preschool that Dylan went too. I am sure this one will be just as good once she gets to know the other kids better and gets more used to it.



Dylan started Kindergarten on Thursday and loved it!! I think he liked the bus ride the best, which I thought would scare him the most. And I only shed a few tears as he stepped on it. A lot better than I thought I would do. I really can't believe how much he is loving Kindergarten since he didn't know anybody and he tends to be so shy around other people. Yay for him.

The bus stop kids. They are standing on a slanted driveway, hence the shortness of Dylan.

As if my life has just taken another step forward. Weird.

Family reunions

We have spent a lot of time with family this summer and even made it to a couple of reunions. Of course, my camera only made it to one of them and I still didn't take as many picture as I should have. But we had some good times. We have an annual "Fantastic and Fabulous Folsom" (or something like that) party every summer with whoever is in the area. I think they were expecting maybe 20-30 people and over 100 showed up. It was so much fun to see cousins and aunts and uncles that I hadn't seen for a long time. And especially, it was great to see my Grandma (in the last picture) and Grandpa. They have both been battling cancer and I hope to see them a lot more often now that we both live in Utah.

Some very serious conversations were had...

and laughter...

The Folsom family is the best. The times when we are together help me realize where I get all of my personality traits from. Aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, siblings, etc. We are one of a kind.

No more baby!

Claire turned 1 this week! I can't believe how fast that year went. And she is walking too. It has been so fun to watch and help her learn. Dylan has especially liked helping her practice taking steps. Claire gets annoyed with it, but the practicing has paid off...

She loved opening and playing with presents...

And she even liked her cake, even it wasn't very babyish. Come on, I had been craving a big chocolaty chocolate cake. And her birthday was a good opportunity to make it. Next time though, I won't put the cake so close to her while we are singing because shortly after this picture, she tried to grab the flame.

So after a few minutes of cold water on her fingers and some love and kisses, she was fine and dug into the cake. She liked the ice cream best.

And then we went to her real birthday party at the Logan aquatic center. We had a huge BBQ with over 200 people and then swam and Claire even went on the waterslides with her daddy. No pictures though, oops.

Okay, so maybe it was a Ward party, but still, we can pretend it was all for her.

Friends

I got to hang out with these 2 cool girls and their families a few weeks back. We were the cool D1 farmers and sure had some good times back in the day. And we still have good times! And our kids have fun together so that is nice. Poor Jennifer though, she has to see me more than she would like since we are almost neighbors now. Or close to it. Kind of.




We also had a great time with some of Nate's old roommates last week. We were all great friends and it had been so long since we saw them. It was so fun!!! And of course, someone hauled their Foosball table out and everyone felt like they were in F1 again. Good times, good times. I think Nate is still the reigning champ.

The kids and I visited our old stomping grounds at the Village in SLC. I was a little sad that Dylan couldn't remember hardly anything about it. We created so many memories there and I thought he would remember some things, but not really. Oh well. It was fun to visit Lindsay and Rebeka (the only ones left since we have lived there. So weird!). Sad that I didn't take a picture with them.

But I got Cassie on the swing...

And them playing in the sandbox with Tevin, Dylan's friend when we lived there. Dylan played in this sandbox for hours at a time when he was 2 and he still loves it. I just thought he would remember it, but I guess 3 years is a long time for a little boy...

That's all. I'm tired.

Montana

Alright, so I am going to try and play catch up here as quick as I can. I know I have been a big time slacker with the blog this summer, but what can I say, we have been busy having fun with friends and family!

We spent some time in Montana with my family and it was so fun! I love this place!!!! This may just be my new second home each summer. So much fun just relaxing, boating, wake boarding, knee boarding, fires on the beach, fishing, visiting, eating good food, etc etc etc, and the best part... never having to get ready to go anywhere. Just hanging out the whole time. I love it.

The view from my parents cabin... (so pretty!)

The kids spent so much time riding these coaster cars down the driveway...
(No, not the stroller, the little cars in the background. I have a better picture but can't get it on here!)

Eating the awesome donuts that the Griffeth family made...

Cute cousins...


The awesome cabin...






No close neighbors!!!.....

And the only picture I took on the lake... (Nate doing a 360 on the knee board)

Boating was fun since we were all learning knew things together.

We almost went up again this week since Nate had 5 days off in a row, but decided it was time to get back to real life. And school. I can't believe they start so early here, it has still been 90 degree weather and kids are in school!!! Not cool, not cool at all.