A beautiful morning in Manti

So, I have never been to the Manti temple and have been wanting to see it for some time. There is a lot of history for both of our families concerning the Manti Temple. Today we ehaded out after breakfast, and the fairly long drive was very worth it. The temple is actually closed right now, but there were a few other people walking around like us. I enjoyed taking some pictures, though i wish I new more about how to make things look just right.

The Temple was beautiful. I love the color of the stone, and it was amazing how it seemed to be cut right out of the mountain.

We took our traditional "touching the temple" pictures. This time, more than ever before, I can see the kids' personalities coming right through.

It was a wonderful and beautiful trip! Next time i go, we are going to arrange it so we can do a session.

A new favorite thing

I have been popping popcorn in a brown paper bag in the microwave for a long time now. (seehttp://chantrysix.blogspot.com/2009/07/microwave-popcorn.html) Well, this week I got this. The Westbend Microwave Popcorn Popper.

My sister has one and I just found it for about $13 and I think that over time it will sure pay for itself with all of the brown paper bags I would go through. Some people may hate it because it doesn't pop every kernel, but I am getting the hang of it and I love how easy it is. the bowl does get a little hot, but if I let it cool for just a minute I can eat the popcorn right out of this container. The only drawback is that it can't go in the dishwasher, but it is so easy to clean it doesn't really matter.

Girls' Night In

So when we found a great deal on football tickets the other night we wondered who should go to the game. We knew the boys would love it and knew Megan wouldn't make it through the game. But what would Liz want to do? Knowing that she would probably not be able to see well, and knowing that she doesn't have the excitement for football that the boys have we came up with something that she would love to do at home. We talked with her and asked if she would like to paint something. She was thrilled with this and so we headed to Roberts to pick out some projects.

I came out of the craft store with wood letters, sparkley metallic paint and one very happy girl. Liz was so excited to show Megan what they got to do.

Painting . . . turquoise, pink and purple

Then I helped Liz get started on some plastic canvas projects.

It will take some time, but she is getting the hang of it.

The finished letters, Megan loves pink and Liz loves purple and yellow. Everyone is happy.

Liz is so very creative. It is such a joy to work on projects with her and see her enthusiasm for creating.

BYU Football

We love BYU football, and still love it even though they haven't gotten off to the best start this year. One perk of the poor start is that through some deal we had access to $10 tickets. So Brian and I talked and then bought three tickets, for him and the boys. We surprised the boys the night before and they kept saying, "this is so exciting!" They headed tot he stadium nice and early, and Brian made me proud by taking so many pictures. Do you think they had fun?

At the stadium nice and early, but they couldn't have been more excited.

Michael watching the action, or looking for the cannon (George Q.). He never was able to see it when it was actually fired, but saw it after the game. He also loved seeing and doing the wave.

Nathan is a great fan. He would cheer loudly and didn't hesitate to stand on teh bleachers when everyone else in front of him stood up. When he saw the words to the fight song on the scoreborad he sang right along.

My guys, having a great time

the best part is that we won!

After the game they hung out and went down by the field for a closer look.

The Cannon

Two very happy Cougar fans.

The girls and I had a great time while the boys were gone. i will post pictures soon of our Girls' Night In.

My side kick is growing up

So Megan starts preschool next week and I really don't know how I feel about it yet. I will get back to this in a minute though . . .

Yesterday my friend and I took advantage of some free bus passes and took a trip down to BYU with our preschoolers. Between us we have five in school all day and three still at home. So this trip seemed very manageable. It was a great day. We caught the bus and had no problems making our connection and arrived at our destination.

We had a great time walking around campus, the highlights of which were a quick trip to the Bean Museum (here's Megan seeing how her feet compare to an elephant's footprint)

and getting doughnuts at Sugar and Spice.

Megan loved both adventures and it was so cute to watch her tromping around campus. She seemed to grow up overnight and I couldn't believe the little girl I spent the morning with. We had not a complaint and she was so interested in everything. It was just such a pleasure to spend time with her.

So today was Get To Know You Day at preschool. A friend dropped us off and we had some time to kill. We bought dad a doughnut and she carried it to work for him. She had her backpack full of things to do while she spends time at work, so she put it in a special drawer that Brian has for her. Then we went to see her teacher and her classroom. She had a ball on the playground

and she did the classroom searching activity where she found all of the items that were pictured on her paper.

She was so excited to meet her teacher who she has been hearing about practically since she was born (all of the other kids had him)

and she loved everything in the classroom. Leave it to her to find the laundry basket full of stuffed puppies! Anyway, she cried when we left but calmed down pretty fast. We rode the bus home, since our free trip card was still good and she looked otu teh window the whole time. I made it home with a darling happy girl.

So back to my original statement, I don't know what to think about my baby going to preschool. On one hand I am so excited. I see how excited she is and I know all of the fun experiences she is going to have and, I won't lie, I know I am going to have some free time with a quiet house for a few hours. But on the other hand, I don't know what I will do without this cutie tagging along wherever I go.

Is it really this time again?

So today is the first day of school. The strange thing is, this is the first year that I haven't been feeling really ready to send the kids back. We had a wonderful relaxed summer, with lots of little fun events, the kids have been so fun and a huge help, and I think I might miss them a little. On the other hand it will be interesting to see all I can get done with a quiet house and just Meg at home.

So excited for 1st grade and a lunch box

Ready to tackle 3rd grade. He didn't hang around long once we got pictures taken. he was off to line up with his class.

4th grade? Are you kidding me? 4th grade?

Love this picture of my three school kids! They are so good to each other. I can't wait to see them climb off the bus later today and hear how everything went.

Megan's artwork

So Megan brought me this picture the other day. She had drawn and colored it herself. And thsi is what she said. "This is my goose. The goose went to the stream and put his legs in. Four little chicks followed the goose in the water. And that's the sun and the sky." I was actually pretty impressed.