She's One!

Halle turned 1 on August 17. Her 1st year has flown by. She has been such a good baby that I have thoroughly enjoyed having her in our home. Happy Birthday Baby Halle Jo!

She had so much fun opening presents. She never did lose interest opening them. Which was a disappointment to the other kids who wanted to open them for her.

1st Day of School

Jarren and Maya started school this week. Jarren is in 3rd grade and Maya is in 1st. They were both pretty excited for it to start. And I was too. I wasn't until 3 days before it started, and then the drama started while we were shopping for school shoes, and so after that I was pretty excited for 2 kids to be in school all day. I feel pretty lucky because Jarren and Maya both got the teachers I was hoping they would get. Hopefully this will be a great year!

Chicago

Jason and I had our 10 year anniversary in July and to celebrate we went to Chicago this last week. It was awesome! It was really nice to have some time alone. I am very grateful for good family and friends who were willing to take good care of our kids!

We stayed in downtown and enjoyed walking by the river, going on a river cruise and watching fireworks, seeing Buckingham fountain, eating some great food, going to the Lincoln Park Zoo (which is free, by the way), the aquarium, and a Cubs game (we sat on the first row, right next to the Cubs dugout; I personally didn't care where we sat, but Jason did, and I have to admit it was pretty cool to be close enough to see the blades of grass on the field).

This eyeball was the first thing we saw when we got off of the train in Chicago. I guess every city should have an eyeball like this.


We used the subway and buses to get around Chicago and I was surprised at how old and rundown the subway stations really were.

Cub Scouts

Jarren started Cub Scouts in August. I think he looks so cute in his uniform. He has already planted some herbs and made a wood boat.

Boating

Our family went to Idaho over the 24th of July (Utah's state holiday). We went boating with Jason's aunt and uncle and we had so much fun! The last time we took the kids out on a boat was when Maya was about 6 months old, so needless to say, it has been a long time. The looks on their faces while on the boat was absolutely priceless. Jason got to go water skiing, Jarren and Maya were pulled behind the boat on a tube, and Karli and Kate thought it was great to be in the boat when other people were getting pulled behind it. Maya wasn't afraid about much of anything, Jarren was a little bit more timid.

This last picture makes me laugh. The kids are smiling, but they can't open their eyes because the sun is so bright.