Monsoon Rain

We got up this morning with one goal in mind, get the lawn mowed. It was overcast and looked like it might rain but the weather forecast said there was only a small chance of rain today. Well after about 20 minutes of mowing it started to rain or more like down pour, so much for getting the lawn mowed, and since we were all ready wet we decided to go splash in the flood. These pictures were taken about 30 min after it started to rain and at about 8:30am. It was lots of fun but I felt like Ainsley was going to get washed away. After we played we went home for hot chocolate. I guess those rain boots do come in handy.

Turtle Song

Henry loves to sing this song.

Here are the lyrics in case you can't understand what he is saying.

I had a little turtle his name was tiny Tim. I put him in the bathtub to see if he can swim. He drank up all the water, he ate up all the soap, now he's home sick in bed with a bubble in his throat.
Bubble, bubble, bubble, POP

August in Review

 Esther and Henry started preschool on August 20th(Esther) and 21st(Henry). Esther goes on Mon, Wed and Fri from 12:45-3:15 and Henry goes Tue and Thurs from 10-12. They love it and argue every day about who's day it is to go.

 I am not sure how one can fall off a thicycle but if one can Henry would be that one. He was going really fast and went flying off the curb and fell right over and got pinned under the bike. This was about 2 weeks ago and the bruise is still there.

 We were just out moving the lawn and not swimming. I think we said that a million times but did they listen, NO. It ended up being naked swimming.

 Esther decided she was going to comb her hair by herself, which usually isn't a problem. I am not sure how she got her hair all twisted up in the comb but after trying everything we could think of we just ended up cutting it out.  :( 

Esther's Birthday

I know I am a little late posting about Esther's birthday but better late than never. Esther's birthday was on July 29th but because it was on a Sunday we celebrated later that week. We took Esther to see her first in the theater movie, Henry came along too. We saw Ice Age: Continental Drift. Esther was so cute sitting in her seat with her popcorn on her lap and pure anticipation on her face; I wish I took a picture. We all enjoyed the movie and had a great time. After the movie we invited Jennifer's family over and had pizza and cake. We then got out the piñata. Esther picked out a princess castle, of course. This is the best video that I took. I was trying to video tape and keep and eye on Ainsley. I wish I had pictures of Esther opening her presents from Michael and I but she and Henry decided not to wait for us. I had wrapped Esther's presens and left them on the counter top. Michael and I were upstairs picking up and Esther and Henry decided to help themselves to the presents. Next thing we know Esther and Henry are in our bedroom showing us what was in the presents. We got Esther her own CD player and a couple of books on CD, the old version with the beep that tells you when to turn the page. She loves them. I think we will have to get her more for Christmas. Over all it was a great birthday. I can't believe she is already 4.

Utah trip 2012

We spent 10 wonderful days in Utah visiting family and friends. Our first stop was Saint George to visit Michael's parents. Jennifer's family (Michael's sister) was also in Saint George for a stop on their way to Salt Lake. Here is Ainsley attempting to share toys with her cousin Spencer.

We went to a slash park while in Saint George and at the partk was this crazy teeter toter, even the adults got into the fun.

This is at a different splash park in Saint George.

After a few days in Saint George we drove to meet my family at Cherry Hill for a little camping and more swimming. We didn't take one picture the whole time at Cherry Hill. We did have a fabulous time sleeping in tents, playing with cousins, swimming to our hearts content and staying up way too late. The food was delicious and a good time was had by all. After Cherry Hill we drove to Carrie's(my sister) house to continue our fun filled trip. Esther, Henry and Ainsley had so much fun playing with Roxie, Peter and their toys that we were able to get in a game or 2 or 10 of Dr. Mario with Carrie.
We did catch up with friends Debbi, Monica, and Melissa for a Sunday afternoon lunch, where again no pictures were taken. We also had the opportunity to visit Esther's birth grandparents, Tammy and Joe. Heather was not able to make it, we wish her well and hopefully next time.
Here Henry is enjoying an ice cream bar at Tammy's and Joe's house.

Here is Esther with Grandpa Joe. It is always fun to show off Esther and talk about family traits.

This trip we made sure we took in the sights by taking a drive through American Fork Canyon. The canyon is one of the biggest things we miss most about Utah, besides family and friends. Esther and Henry were scared at first because they thought we were going to drive straight up the mountain but, after we explained that there is a road and we were not going to fall off the mountain the crying stopped. We parked and had a wonderful morning hike to Bridal Veil Falls.

I forgot how cold the water is, my feet felt like they were going to fall off.

After the falls we had lunch at our favorite Utah place,ZUPAS. We just found out there is a Zupas in Phoenix.

I am not sure why this picture looks the way it does.

We had to visit my grandmother, Grandma Roxie. She turned 96 this last June, WOW

Because we were in Utah for the 4th we were able to attend the annual Russon family 4th of July sleepover at my parents house. It starts the night of July 3rd with dinner then a water balloon fight, followed by a movie outside under the stars in our sleeping bags.

A little cousin on cousin trampoline rolling before the movie.

Adults and kids stayed the night sleeping under the moon. The next morning we were jolted out of bed at 6am with an explosion from my dad's cannon, and I do mean cannon. Fred is the cannon's name and it is a real cannon. When Fred goes off the bang shakes house windows for blocks. We had to get an early start if we wanted to see the Freedom Festival hot air balloons.

We left Ainsley at my parent's house, didn't want to wake her. She slept in the basement and Fred, the cannon, didn't wake her up. After the balloons we convened back at my parents house for a pancake breakfast. After breakfast we said our good byes and headed back down to Saint George for fire works.

One last day at the splash park before we headed home. We found a great deal on galoshes at the outlets and Henry just had to wear them to the splash park because that is what galoshes are for, SPLASHING.

As all good things have to come to an end, we headed home a little more tired than we left. Can't wait for next year.

Henry's 3rd Birthday

For Henry's birthday we visited an aviation museum. We miss read the open hours so we didn't get to spend a lot of time looking at all the wonderful airplanes, but we did get a picture with one of the helicopters. Henry was very excited.

 

 Henry and Esther loved this airplane tricycle.

 

 After the museum we got ice cream.

It was over 100 degrees that day and the ice cream was melting fast.

After ice cream we went home and jumped in the pool to cool off. We ate pizza and birthday cake for dinner. It was a good day.

The Girl Has Moves

Every time Ainsley hears music she gets her groove on. She starts with a little circle dancing then shoulder bopping and ends with monkey walking arms in the air. She will even do this at church when the organ starts to play. The girl loves to dance.

School Trip to the Farm

 We took a field trip with Esther's school to the local dairy farm. We saw over 2,000 cows.

 We took a hay ride and fed the sheep and goats

 We played on the tractor, which Henry loved.

We held Chickens

 This goat got a little to close to the girl with no fear and he learned his lesson, he had a hard time getting her to let go of his horn.

 The Chickens saw what she did to the goat and ran away

We played on hay stacks,...

 ...and ate ice cream and flavored milk. Esther choose chocolate milk, Henry blueberry milk, Michael pistachio milk, I got strawberry banana milk, and Ainsley shared. This is Esther with her BFF Sage. 

 Right before we left Esther stepped in mud and Michael turned to help her with her shoe. I turned to help Henry off the tractor and nobody was watching Ainsley who decided to get in the mud. She had a good time and got a bath when we got home because she stunk like manure.

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