Fall-ing For You

See what I did with the title there? Although it is still technically summer, the nights are getting shorter and the weather is getting cooler which means fall is just around the corner. Here's a few of the things we have been up to this month: 

After waiting for months, Tyler finally got his glasses, but we all agree they look cuter on Brynnli. 

Speaking of Brynnli, guess who can tie her own shoes now? And do you want to know the crazy thing? She learned how to tie her shoes all by herself. Proud of this cutie!

We went up to The Land for Labor day. The whole extended family came up and there were quite a few of us there. We had fun playing games, playing with cousins, eating lots of food, and sitting around the campfire. 

Brynnli is our bug lover. In fact when there's a spider in our house, we call Brynnli to come and kill it. She is not afraid to touch bugs... as demonstrated here holding a dragon fly with a smile on her face. 

Dads who dress like their daughter do, in fact, still embarrass her.

I love the view at The Land. This was on our 4 wheeler ride up the mountain. 

It was pretty rainy Labor Day weekend, but check out this amazing rainbow. This picture looks perfect. 

Caden loves fishing by the river. Every night around dusk Tyler and Caden head out and this particular night Tyler caught a fish!

We played tournament style games all weekend and luckily we have Tyler and Caden in our family to actually win us some money. They were the big winners in our family 

Unfortunately Brynn had to get a cavity filled this month. She was so brave.

She said her mouth felt funny. She had this cute smile for a few hours while the numbing wore off. But Arctic Circle makes everything better. 

How cute are these two snuggled in our bed?

Late night run to Leatherby's for ice cream. We were celebrating that Caden made Student Council at his school. We are so proud of Caden. He came home one day and told us he was going to run for student council and he had already taken his paper to his teacher for a recommendation. He also had to write a paper explaining why he wanted to be a member of the student council and his ideas of fun activities for all the kids at the school. Caden is such a great kid and student and we are so excited to see the great things he will do at Elk Meadows Elementary this year. 

I seem to have passed on my love of reading to our kids. Tyler took this picture early one Saturday morning while all three of them were outside reading. 

You may be looking at this picture and wondering, "is that frozen salmon on the kids' bare stomach?" Why yes, yes it is. Is that weird?

Tyler always seems to come up with funny (and weird) games. The purpose of this game was to see which kid could leave the frozen salmon on their stomach the longest. Brynni was our winner. 

Bella loves me so much that she will put up with me putting fake Harry Potter glasses on her . She looks so cute. 

Check out that free throw form. Caden is so amazing. He practices basketball everyday. He is getting so good. I am so proud of how hard Caden works at everything he does. 

I love these three. They are so goofy and make everyday life so much fun. I am one lucky mom!

Makayla is only 12, but you would think she was much older. Makayla begs me to take her to Starbucks so she can buy her some sort of overpriced strawberry drink. She uses her own money, so I guess that makes it ok. 

I love this new stage of life with our kids. They play with friends constantly. I love the sound of kids playing and laughing in our house. This particular day each kid arranged (by themselves) to have 2 friends over. 

Makayla's friends love to go to Target. They all bought matching pajama bottoms. 

I hope she always stays little. Look at that beaming smile

Here's a lesson titled, "Do as I say, not as I do" I'll let you guess why with the following pictures all taken the same morning...

Oops. But how great are our kids because they all make their bed every morning without us having to remind them. 

My parent's house is framed!! It looks so good. 

Brynnli joined the school choir. They sang two songs at the school carnival to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Elk Meadows being opened. The choir did great!

Then Brynnli was gone the rest of the night hanging out with her friends. I did manage to get one picture of her with her friends before she was off again. 

We had a family day at the Bingham Canyon Mine. Can you believe I have lived in Utah all my life and have never been here... and to make it worse, I am married to a mining engineer who loves this kind of stuff. Did you know that the Bingham Canyon Mine is the largest man made mine in the world and can even be seen from space with the naked eye?

And yes, this is the actual size of the tires used on the equipment at the mine. 

Brynnli is doing her trio dance and their theme is Rosie the Riveter, so Brynnli had to get a picture

The mine was so fun to go to and so interesting to look at. Back in April of 2013 the mine had a huge landslide. Tyler said they knew the landslide was going to happen so they were able to get everyone out before it collapsed, but they lost a lot of equipment and the visitor center closed for a few years. 

Thanks to Tyler, we felt like we had our own personal tour guide. He taught us a lot about how they mine copper. 

The equipment is huge!

Fun fact: Tyler, Craig, Tyler's grandpa, and both of my grandparents worked at Kennecot at some point in their life. 

It was so windy that they evacuated us for safety. Good thing we were pretty much done with our tour guide. 

After that we took a little drive up Butterfield Canyon. The fall colors were amazing. 

Sadly, the Moffats are officially moved. Brynnli was heartbroken because her BFF's were gone. The cute thing is that they like to talk on the phone and face time. They have even figured out how to "play" while being on the phone. We can't wait for the Moffat's to move back and for Brynnli to have some friends in the neighborhood again. 

Our Dancing Queen Turns 9!

You know how Brynnli loves to tell us what theme she wants for her party months in advance, right? Well this year she had it narrowed down to a fruit party or a dance party. I didn't quite know how I would pull off a fruit party, so I successfully convinced her to choose a dance party and we had so much fun!!

Birthdays at our house last as long as we can. First we started out with Brynnli's friend party. She didn't have school on the Friday before her birthday, so we had all of her friends over for an afternoon party. 

Brynnli invited the Moffats and Keira from our neighborhood, Pearl and Arissa from dance, Audrey, Hazel and Paisley from school. We had pizza for lunch. 

Then they painted a sun catcher. 

Luckily Makayla and her friend Maddi wanted to help with the party, so we put them in charge of the dancing games. 

We played freeze dance, did the chicken dance, limbo, and the macarena. 

Then we opened presents. Brynnli got so many toys, stuffed animals, gift cards, art projects, and Barbies.

Brynnli doesn't like cake, so we had birthday donuts and she blew out the candle. 

The next morning was Brynnli's actual birthday. She got to open one present and it was a new outfit for dance. 

We had cinnamon rolls and bacon for breakfast. 

Then Brynnli had to go to her trio practice. We stopped on the way home for a little birthday treat. 

Check out the muscles on this girl! 

Then Brynnli opened the rest of her presents from us. She got a toy dog, clothes, and Barbies. 

Brynnli wanted Texas Roadhouse for dinner and she was so excited to sit on the saddle for her Texas sized Yea haw birthday shout out. 

The next day was Brynnli's family party, and do you know the best thing about Tyler's family? They all participated in the dancing. That's right... the cha cha slide, macarena, chicken dance, limbo... everything!

Then we opened presents. Everyone must know that Brynnli loves Barbies because she got a Barbie set from almost everyone. 

Hands down, best and most supportive family around.

We can't forget Grandpa Craig who also has a birthday, but is so great to go along with whatever Brynnli plans. He said he loves Barbies and dancing parties too. 

Cam also loves Barbies, although he probably wouldn't admit it if we didn't sneak this photo of him playing with Brynnli's new toys. 

Actually... all the kids love Barbies. They try to act like cool teenagers, but they are really just kids at heart. 

Oh Brynnli, where do we even begin? 9 years ago you gave us the best surprise when we found out our little caboose was a girl, and you have given us non stop fun since then. You are such a happy, sweet, sensitive, loving, and smart little girl. You know how to make us laugh, like when you drink a lot of water and then jiggle your belly to hear it swish around. You know exactly what to say at the right moment to make us all laugh with your witty one liners and facial expressions. You are so incredibly smart at school and are doing so well learning cursive and multiplication facts in 3rd grade. And there's nothing we love more than watching you dance with your cute facial expressions and full out dance moves. Even though you are the youngest in our family we all look up to you because you have such a positive out look on everything. You know how to have fun and how to make everyday a party. We are so lucky to have you in our family and can't wait to see what this year has in store for you. 

Here's Brynnli's birthday interview questions at 9 years old: 

What are some things that you like or are popular today? " Barbies... Of course. Oh and pizza"

What do you like most about yourself right now? " I like that I have talent and I am very creative... very."

What do you think your future job will be? "I want to be a teacher and an author ".

What are you good at? "Writing, dance, and barbies "

Do you have a crush? "Yes. Fine I'll tell you...Lincoln "

Who are your friends and what do you like about them? " Hazel because she's really fun and Audrey because she's kind of dramatic, which is fun "

Where is your favorite place to eat? " Texas Roadhouse or the one where they cook in front of you ( Tepenyaki)"

What makes you really annoyed? " Makayla farting at night"

What makes you feel proud? "Getting a new trick in dance "

Which of your nicknames do you like the most and why? " Definitely not Bryan. I like Brynnie because its basically my name"

What is your favorite subject in school? "writing and reading and math"

What do you wish you could do that mom and dad won't allow? "Jump on the couch and pin things to the wall "

What is your favorite thing about Makayla? "She is funny by doing weird dance moves "

What is your favorite thing about Caden? " He is kind and he always apologizes and he is honest"

What is your favorite memory with Dad? " When I was little and we went to an ice cream place together"

What is your favorite memory with Mom? " When she paints my nails."