My babies are growing up...sniff!

 She was just fine sitting in the wagon watching daddy do some weeding until she saw me. She is QUITE the momma's girl and don't mind that one little bit!

 Taj took this picture and he made sure to put my necklace around her before he took it. I love this pica;)

 Haivi showing off her crawling and swiping skills. You can tell she is PRETTY proud of herself!

 She loves driving daddy's truck.

 She cannot get enough of this toy and likes to be pushed around the yard on it.

 Brannon just cannot help himself. He can't just push her nice and slow across the lawn, he has to do wheelies with her. I was freaking out. Her? She was loving it!

 Check out this awesome solid wood highchair I scored at a garage sale for 10 bucks! I am going to paint it robin's egg blue. I don't know if you noticed Minnie's head popping out above the tray on the highchair, but Haiven is absolutely in love with her Minnie. Wherever we go, Minnie goes too. Haivi has done SO much better at daycare because of Minnie. I actually ordered a duplicate off of Amazon (because you can find anything there for a great price!) so that she can have one for daycare and one for home. I am really kind of, well, A LOT, weird about germs and I'd rather she didn't spread daycare germs all over our house with her Minnie. I do throw Minnie in the washer once a week, but still, Minnie smelled like a butt yesterday and I recoiled at the thought of what germs were colonizing on Minnie's ears. PLUS, if we ever lose one, we will have a backup!

 Taj's first day of his second year of preschool. I LOVE this picture because for the first time, LIKE EVER, he smiled for me. This is his best attempt at a smile and I'll take it! He is really weird about having his picture taken and this picture melts my heart.

 He wanted to show off his new Buzz Lightyear backpack that picked out.

 Taj has had an increased interest in helping me cook dinner. Whenever he see me chopping vegetables, he wants to help, so we pull the step stool up to the counter and I give him the leftover bits of veggies that I'm not going to use and he cuts them up with a butter knife. He feels so accomplished when he gets done and it's so cute!

 Taj burns some major rubber on his "modosykal" on our back patio.

Brannon does NOT like these overalls, but I think he looked super cute in them, especially when he paired "papa's boots" with them.

I don't know why, but ever since I started teaching school again, it seems like my babies are growing up way too fast for my liking. Taj is in preschool again this year and little Miss Haivi has finally learned how to crawl and is saying more and more words and looking more like a toddler and less like a baby, which is breaking my heart. How has it already been almost one year since I had Haivi and almost FOUR years since I had Taj?! Here are some pictures to show how big they are getting. I love my babies!

Mountain Man Rendezvous

 Check out that guys' beard! How awesome is that?!

 Brannon's dad decked out in his full mountain man regalia. I think Taj wasn't too sure about it.

 This guy is legit!

About three weekends ago, Brannon and Taj headed up to the mountain man rendezvous in Wyoming with Brannon's dad Jim. Haivi and I stayed home and took care of the grocery shopping. I didn't think she would be too keen on big hairy men wearing hairy things and big hat or nothing on under their chaps. I heard there were A LOT of sunburned butt cheeks, yikes! Judging from the pictures, I think they enjoyed it!

Golden Spike Museum

Lately, Brannon has been quite the planner of family activities. A couple weekends ago, he planned a trip to the Golden Spike Museum. Where is it? I'm not sure, but it's almost to the the Idaho border and clear out past the middle of nowhere. I cannot imagine laying down rail in the hot sun, not a tree around for even a little bit of shade. We spent about an hour there watching a re-creation of the day the railroads met. Haivi did not enjoy it in the least because the trains kept tooting their incredibly loud horns. Taj liked the part where they did a demonstration with one of the trains and we got to see it go backwards and then forwards on the track.  Then we all got bored and hot, so we left and hit Brigham City on our way back. This was over Labor Day weekend and we thought we would go to the temple open house on our way back. When we drove by the temple, the line was so long, it wrapped completely around the temple. We heard that it was a three hour wait and there was no way in you know where I was going to subject myself and my babies to 90 degree weather for three hours! (We went back two weeks later and only had to wait about 40 minutes, much better! Taj and Haiven were completely awed by the Celestial Room. Both of their heads were turned upward and Haivi kept pointing and smiling at the ceiling. Taj could not stop saying, "Momma, momma! Wook! Pwetty wights! I really wanted them to be able to go through the temple and it was so worth it! Taj's favorite part of the evening was riding the shuttle bus to and from the temple, haha!) So we ate at a crappy Chinese place instead and prayed that we wouldn't get food poisoning. Taj ate a GIANT battered and fried shrimp thing and we were so thankful because they didn't have anything for kids there. He thought it was chicken and we didn't tell him otherwise. We stopped at a little frozen yogurt shop on our way out of town and got fresh peach shakes made with Brigham's famous peaches. They were amazing! I love doing little things like this with my little family.

Five Guys Goodbye

About a month ago, our good friends who lived right across the street from us got the wonderful news that her husband had been offered an awesome job as CFO of a hospital in their home town. I think they had been wanting to move back home for some time now, so it was wonderful news for them. For me? It was NOT so wonderful news! Every since we moved up here it seems that all the friends I make move away! It was tougher this time because we were really good friends for almost three years. They also have a little boy who Taj LOVED to play with. In fact, while saying prayers with Taj the other night, he said he was thankful for this boy and this boy's house and his toys. (When we say prayers with Taj, either Brannon or myself will say, "I'm thankful for..." and then Taj fills in the blanks with one word responses that summarize the events of the day in his little mind. Papa's jeep, Papa, and Papa's house are always on the list:)) I was really good friends with this boy's mommy Erin. I remember getting in the car to go to church on Sunday and looking across the street and seeing the "For Rent" sign up in front of their duplex. I told Brannon there's no way it was them that were moving out, but when we got to church, I cried when they told me of the sudden job offer and that they were moving in a few weeks. They will definitely be missed, but we were so happy that they scored such a good job and they bought their first home too. We have many good memories with the Toolson family and I'm just glad they only live a couple hours away!

Pipin' Hot Heber Creeper

 Taj and Livy tore up the backyard a little bit the day before the train ride, aren't they cute?!

 I think Brannon's mom and her friend were the only ones (besides Taj and Livy) that didn't complain about the heat.

 These two melt my heart. I really wish we lived closer because I know they would be best friends.

Cameras can never catch what the human eye really sees. The sun was a more more vibrant red. There was a forest fire off the side of the highway and the air was thick with smoke and ash.

About three weekends ago, well I guess it was precisely three weekends ago, Brannon's mom took us all on the Heber Creeper. "This will be a grand day out!" we all agreed, that is until we boarded the train and realized that there would be absolutely no A/C for the entire ride. Nope, our only hope of a breeze was jamming an old, creaky window up through the rafters and praying for a crosswind to blow the sweat off our upper lips. I wore my hair down, what was I THINKING?! I changed seats, back and forth across the isle, desperate to get some kind of breeze in the 93 degree train car. I was on the verge of a heat-crazed frenzy and was ready to ambush a family next to us and tear the lids off their ice cold drinks and dump it all over my head and down my gullet. Taj and Haivi's cheeks were blooming red, as were mine and everyone looked, dewy and hot and slightly miserable, well at least the adults looked that way! Taj and Livy quite enjoyed the two hour ride. Haivi did not enjoy it so much. I think she too was like her mama, hot, sweaty, and a little more than slightly irritable. While on board, to distract us from the heat, we were serenaded by a fiddle playing, department store cowgirl and we were ambushed by "robbers." The kids didn't mind the fiddle playing, but the robbers scared the living daylights out of them. Livy started screaming and it took us nearly 20 minutes to calm her down after they had gone. Note to Heber Valley Railroad: If you are going to have robbers ambush the train, at least tell them NOT to wear bandannas over their faces! So you can imagine we were even MORE hot and sweaty after the robbers left. I believe that I would enjoy this same train ride in October. We all agreed that next time, we would go in the fall, BUT at least the kids enjoyed it for the most part and watching them enjoy the ride helped me hang onto my last shred of humanity for that long, hot, sweaty ride on vinyl seats that tried to claim one's rear-end every time one stood up.  So if you are ever up in the area and are cold-blooded, definitely book a ride on the Heber Creeper!