Last week of July

On Pioneer Day we went on a hike up at Albion Basin.  The wildflowers were beautiful and our kids were good little hikers.

Their favorite part of the hike was a little section where they could climb on rocks.

One of my favorite photos from the day.

Another favorite photo...Millie on Seth's shoulders and Phin trying to be like his Dad.

After the hike we went to cousin Eliza's birthday party.  The kids made masks and played and played.

 

 

Later that afternoon we met Carver and Jeff at the pool

We were planning to head to Nona and Papa's later for dinner...but we were slightly delayed.  Nona called to let us know there was a brush fire in their neighborhood and the Blvd up to their  neighborhood had been shut down.  While we were waiting at our house we sent off a few parachute fireworks.

We finally were able to make it up the Blvd and when we arrived we walked down to check out the action before dinner.

It was scary how close the flames came to houses. This is looking down on the spot where Seth and I got engaged...that is now filled with houses.

We watched this helicopter flying back and forth dumping water on the flames.  They had a spot just of Victory Road with an inflatable pool that they used to refill the water.

The next day we headed out to Lagoon to meet up with our Hatch cousins.

Phin and Millie rode Rattlesnake Rapids with their cousins.

Then we all went on the train.

Phin was brave enough to go on some of the Big kid rides...his favorite was the Bumper Cars.

Phin and Millie tried this one...which kept my heart pounding the entire time...I was so afraid Millie would fall out.

Phin and Gavin played a few games.

Then we watched Jamie, Hannah and Hyrum ride the Skycoaster.

Seth's work was hosting a party at the Bees game so we left Lagoon and headed right to the ballpark.  Our friend Dave was in town from Texas and was able to meet up with us.  After a yummy hotdog and hamburger dinner I took the kids over to ride the train.

Then they played on the playground.

Phin played with some older kids on this mini-field.  Here he is on 2nd base..

learning to pitch...

 and then up at bat.

The next day we headed back to Lagoon because Papa was exec of the day.  This has got to be my favorite picture of Millie at Lagoon this season.

This is likely Phin's last season on the boats...

Phin and Millie have been learning to clean up...and their playroom has become a nightly chore.  It cracks me up how much more they want to play once everything has been cleaned up.  It is like they suddenly remember that they have toys.

We spent a Friday morning up at Nona's house watching Carver.  He likes to be just like the older kids and climbed up to eat a second breakfast with them.

The Hatch family returned on Friday night for a little adventure.  We went up Mueller Park to roast hot dogs and marshmallows.

Beth, Eliza, Lily and Henry were also able to join us.

 

The Hatch family brought their Woof Em sticks aand made us a delcious campfire treat.

They stayed the night with us and the next morning we had an amazing time showing them around garage sales in our neck of the woods.

Phin has decided that he needs to lift weights like his parents....and he has decided that the 5 pounders are perfect for him because he is 5.

He was a chocolaty mess at Seth's softball game.  He loves to bring his monster truck along to games.

I pulled a little painting project out of the closet one afternoon. 

4 MONTHS

Silas hit the 4 month mark back in July.  He is 26 inches long which puts him in the 74th percentile for height.  He weighs 14 pounds and 8 ounces which puts him in the 29th percentile in weight.  This little guy has doubled his birth weight and has grown 7 inches.

Here are his weekly pictures...sadly he lost most of his baby hair this month.

He continues to be a very content baby.  When he is hot...he would prefer to just relax.

I took this video of his soft spot moving with his heart beat.

He is a perfect little snuggler...although we have been working hard to train him to sleep in his crib.  

He can go from being awake...

to being asleep very quickly.

He continues to think that his hands are his favorite toy...although his little feet may come in at a tie.

He is a talker.  We gave him the name CHEWY because he makes some serious glottal sounds.

He rolled over for the first time just about the time he hit 4 months.

He is still not a huge fan of tummy time..

He is my little sweetheart and gives his best smiles in the middle of the night...which means he is still getting up in the middle of the night but there has been improvement.

He laughed for the first time on the day he hit 4 months...Phin is the absolute best at getting him to laugh.  The real laughs start about :17 seconds in...you will also notice some of the Wookie sounds.

Millie update:  She seems to have grown so much since Silas joined our family.  I have convinced her to have "quiet time" in the afternoon...she usually ends up falling asleep.  She is doing great with potty training...although she has occasional accidents at the most inconvenient times.  She loves mermaids and constantly watches Little Mermaid and Blue Mermaid from Team Umizoomi.  She is a little mini-me and likes to be right by me in the kitchen or when I am doing chores.  She loves to wear dresses and always likes to show them off to Daddy and to her nursery class.  

Phin update:  Phin is ready for Kindergarten...although I told him he would have to get a flu shot after school starts and he has been obsessively worried about that.  He still has his yesterdays and tomorrows mixed up...but I am sure with daily calendar at school that will be sorted out quickly.  We did a sample Let's Play Music class during the summer and he is so excited to start music lessons in the Fall.  He was stung by some type of insect at Seth's softball game and has become quite worried about insects...to the point that our outside boy doesn't want to be outside.  He loves his little brother and is quite good at entertaining Silas.  He also loves his cousins and would be thrilled if he could play with cousins everyday.  When he gets bored he comes up to me and asks "What can I do?"