And just like that....

summer is over! Those 3 glorious months of sleeping in, playing in the sun, going for bike rides, going to the pool, bbq's, eating snow cones & popsicles...once again went by way too quickly and we find ourselves with mixed emotions with a new school year starting.

I'm THRILLED about getting back into a routine with life. I'm excited for Halle to start a new school year and see old friends and meet new ones, learn new things, eat lunch at school, etc. But I'm having a very hard time imagining a whole day without her at home with me. She's my BIGGEST helper and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worried about managing throughout the day without her. Poor Aidan is going to be lost. I'm going to have to get real creative with entertaining him in the afternoon...that's what Halle usually does.

We tried to fit in lots of fun activities for our last week of summer. Of course we didn't do everything on our "Summer To-Do List" but we never do.

We visited Thanksgiving Point Children's Gardens on their $2 Tuesday. Fortunately it's so big and spread out, that even with all the other Utah moms there it wasn't miserable. Mary and her crew joined us and the kids had a great time playing in the Noah's ark water feature, getting lost in the mazes, rolling down hills, climbing through bear caves and eating "snunch" together. Thanks for the good times, Mar!

Rolling down the hill...

Avery & Jane enjoying some fruit snacks.

Jane, Sadie, Halle, Aidan, & Scott

One of my old room mates was in town before moving off to a different state, so we jumped at the chance to get together again. (Wish you could have been there, Kath!) The kids played on the playground and ran through the water, and us girls managed to catch up and reminisce for a little while. It's never long enough!

We had our kids be our photographers....

Emilee, Rachel & 5 week old baby Grace, Me & Brooke

The kids
(Avery, Alexander, Annie, Brandon, Haylie, Halle, Madison, Caitlyn, & Aidan)

We couldn't let the summer go by without setting up the lemonade stand. We set up shop in front of Julie K.'s home and the kids had fun selling "yummy red punch" instead of lemonade. It's always entertaining. They each made a buck and some change thanks to some generous customers that stopped even when the red punch didn't sound so appetizing.

Halle, Kyra, & Jaxon doing a little advertising.

The favorite activity of the week was the movie night that the Cox's hosted on Friday night...a Grande Finale if you will! They set up a projector and screen in their backyard and we watched Hannah Montana with the Woodbury's and some of Kecia's family. They kids had so much fun staying up past their bedtime and dancing around in their jammies to all their favorite songs. We had lots of yummy treats including Kris's yummy popcorn and homemade rootbeer.

The girls were excited for the show to start!

All the kids
(Lucy, Ben, Adrie, Spencer, Emma, Kyra, Rayany, Halle, Bree, Aidan)

Kirsten, Kecia & I

Snuggling with my buddy. Sadly this boy knows all too much about the Hannah Montana world. I did watch Star Wars with him before we went over to watch the girly movie.

Halle & Kyra showing us the Howdown Throwdown dance they taught themselves by watching it on Youtube. They know the whole thing.

Halle also got to do some school shopping and go to dinner with her grandparents and on Friday we went to the school to meet her teacher and see her classroom. She was really excited to find out that one of her best friends from last year is in her class again this year.

Great end to the summer...