Lynnli...FINALLY!!

I finally took some pictures of Lynnli, who is 2 months old now! She's a cutie, and keeps Jojo and Joey quite busy!

STUDENT FREE REXBURG!!!

Every August we have four wonderful student-free weeks. No worries of ruining someone's marriage proposal in the grocery store because you need to interrupt them to grab some milk. No playing chicken with carts in the aisles of Wal-mart. No fearing for your life at 4-way stop signs when you arrive at the same time as a car with a California, Arizona or New Jersey license plate.

Best of all? NO students in the BYUI gardens! The kids throughly enjoyed it:

The kids wanted a crazy pose.


Amelia holding Cooper's head so he'd look at the camera.

My Child Is Brillant....

...or I'm just dumber than a pre-schooler.

Cooper had been especially, ahem, spirited today, and I was looking forward to bedtime immensely. He was constantly calling, "Mama. Mama. Mama." while I was washing my face and I finally said, "Cooper, if you say "Mama" one more time you'll lose your new truck." He was really quiet for about fifteen seconds and I thought I'd won.

Then I heard his sweet voice say, "Jill. Jill. Jill."

Sigh.

That round goes to the 4-year-old.

Zoo!

Friday we took our first trip this year to the zoo. As I was loading the kids up I realized it's our first trip without a stroller....I got a little choked up that my children are growing up so fast! I quickly got over it when I turned to see BOTH of them with their hands on hips and impatient looks on their faces.

Inside the zoo, accompanied by a favorite stuffed animal.


We ventured in and went straight to the monkeys:




This is when my camera's battery died. Sorry. After the zoo we had a picnic at Tautphaus Park and played on a huge playground toy. I have pics on my phone, but can't figure out how to get them on my computer. So until I get help, you're out of luck. When it got too hot to play we headed south to our home away from home--Blackfoot! The rest of the weekend the kids had a ball playing in the "flood" (irrigation), running around, taking rides with "Bompa" and having Katie Call paint nails. (Guess which child did which).

Now we're heading into a hot, hot, HOT week. Autumn is 48 days away, people. Hang in there.

Just Another Day of Summer...

Amelia only outweighs Coop by about 3-4 pounds, so they're pretty equal on the teeter-totter. Cooper thinks it's hilarious to trap Amelia at the top.

Amelia's Food Day

Amelia and Cooper have daily goals, and when they complete a week, two weeks, three weeks, etc., they get rewards. One of Amelia's three week rewards was choosing what she ate all day. Here's what she chose:

Breakfast: 4 Oreo cookies
Bowl of Cocoa Puffs mixed with Fruit Loops

Lunch: Turkey and Dorito sandwich
M&M cookie

Dinner: Chicken noodle soup w/ crackers
Maple bar

Amelia eating her turkey-and-Dorito sandwich for lunch.



After seeing her "choices" I think I may scratch this reward. It's almost all sugar! She's definitely my daughter!

We also had Cooper try chicken noodle soup. He "wiked" it, and as long as I get the soup with the "Cars" picture on it, we have another food to add to his menus!

Amelia's Had a Good Week!

Amelia has had a lot going on this summer, and this week especially was packed. We began with her second week of swimming lessons. A new pool has opened here, so lessons were much easier to find. Here's a few pictures of my fearless daughter:





She also had her first horse-riding lesson yesterday--something she had been talking about for over a month and at least every two minutes yesterday. Let me just add that I'm soooooo grateful Ben and Kim have horses, so the lessons are free. If the horse infatuation sticks, Amelia's gonna have to get a job. Here are a few picture of Cowgirl Amelia:

Peeking under the horse as Kim explained how to saddle the horse.


THRILLED to be on Missy.


Rocky and Mister. They were neighing and pacing the entire lesson because they couldn't be with Missy.


And if Amelia does it......Cooper must, too!


We decided Cooper needed twice the supervision.


Matthew came out to watch.


After her lesson Amelia chatted non-stop (she doesn't know how to chat any other way) about barrel racing, jumping fences and roping calves. She did point out to me that to do all those things she'd need some cowboy boots and a hat. I better start saving up; it looks like gymnastics leotards may give way to cowgirl gear soon.

A HUGE thanks to Ben and Kim for taking an hour to fulfill a young girl's dream. Just so you know--she's planning on a weekly lesson!!