First Day of School- Mark

Here is our little man ready for the first day of kindergarten.  He had his shoes and backpack on ready to go out the door at 7 in the morning.  The worst part of the day was waiting all the way until 8:30 to leave.

Benny enjoyed his first experience at the playground.  He was wearing his new school outfit too.

Megan was not so keen.

I jumped in to snap a quick picture and then hurried out to go home and cry.  I can't believe he is in kindergarten!

Three Kiddos

Benny

Megan

Mark

Peas- Bleh

Benny is getting used to eating "real" food lately.  He has tried many different things and likes eating almost anything that is room temperature or warmer.

However, his first bite of peas did not go over very well. (Quiet honestly the other kids haven't liked peas at all for which I don't blame them. Try them- they are nasty.)

He actually shivered.

Then tried to swallow.

Then looked at me and seemed to say, "Why mom? Why this nasty taste?"

So I said, "I'll go get the blueberry, pears and apples mix instead."  To which he smiled.

In a Galaxy Far Far Away

Mark has been asking all sorts of questions this summer about how the world and sun and stars all work.  It was getting too hard to keep explaining it all over and over again so we went to the library.  We got a couple of books on earthquakes, volcanoes, and the solar system.  Bill Nye was also available at the library and we enjoyed watching those immensely.  At the end of it all we painted a solar system.  Don't mind the lopsided sun- it was dropped.  My earth is also more on the impressionist side rather than the accurate one.  We fit the inner solar system on our fan downstairs so it rotates- so cool.  The outer solar system is just lame by comparison.  The kids loved it and now every time Mark has another question we just hop downstairs and talk about it. It so much easier to discuss planetary physics when you have a visual.  Who knew, eh?

Bad Day!

Hair

Megan has been asking me to curl her hair a lot lately. She looks way too cute.

Weekends

Swim Lessons

The kiddo's took swim lessons again this year.  Their teacher was great.  Both Mark and Megan gained some skills and confidence.  About three weeks after we finished Mark was able to swim all by himself for a bit.  Its an amusing sort of dog paddle but its all him.  He will also jump off the diving board all by himself.  Swimming is a pretty important skill here because the only way I can stand to be outside at all in the summer is if I am in a pool!

Vermont/ Girl's Weekend

This year our pilgrimage back to Vermont was not one that could be made by all so we decided to just send Mark and Mike.  Grandpa joined the party and they all headed out to Vermont for a quick weekend.

Mark was able to catch a fish just like his daddy and grandpa had.  However, he was not about to touch it.


Mark had the time of his life re-meeting so many fun people to play with.  One of the first things he asked when he got home is when do we get to go back.  Mike had fun too and wished that they had been able to stay a little longer.

Brey Family Reunion Again

So the Brey Family decided they hadn't had enough of each other in Pine Valley and we got together again in St. George at the condo of some close friends.  The kids played, played and played.  The adults ate and ate and ate.

Whenever we are going to see grandma and grandpa, Mark requests that they bring either their duplo collection or the "cowboys and indians".  Here they are playing with the cowboys and indians.

Uncle Ty teaching Mark some mad diving skills.

Uncle Bryson teaching Ben some mad chilling skills.

When your child looks like this you know its time to go home. Ha! We actually went to the rodeo in little Gunlock, Utah for a bit.  Mark was barrowing his uncles hat and glasses.  It was a great trip!

Preschool

Just a few pictures of all the fun things Mark did with his preschool this last year. We had a class of six rotating through everyone's home. We also did quite a few field trips which were awesome. Thanks to all the other Moms!

Pine Valley Family Reunion

My family had their reunion over Memorial Day weekend. We stayed in Pine Valley in this awesome cabin and had a great time playing, eating, laughing and eating some more.

We toured this awesome old church in the valley. Its the chapel the been in use the longest by the church.
The kids enjoyed their uncles so much. Mark learned how to give wet willies.
It was a great weekend.

Fathers and Sons

No pictures on this one Mike or Mark didn't want to bother with a camera. They headed up to the camp out, eating dinner on the way. They had a program that night. The ward made breakfast in the morning and they played a little. Megan and I took the baby and went to target to spend her birthday money. Boy can she shop! It was a great weekend for everyone.

San Diego

I can never get the pictures to post in the right order so this will be a little out of order but still cute. Grandpa got tickets to the San Diego Zoo for Christmas and Santa brought enough for everybody to go. So we loaded up on a Thursday afternoon and headed to California. Friday we spent an awesome day at the Zoo. I think we covered the entire thing on foot and saw everything there was to see. The pandas were cute, the hippo would only show us its hind end and the monkeys preformed wonderfully for the kids. Saturday we walked around on the beach, built sand castles and then loaded up to go home. It was seriously short and totally awesome.

Grandpa and Mark climbing trees.

Grandma and Megan watching and giggling but not about to get up in the tree.

Megan and Mark playing in the sand.

The totally awesome sand castle we built.

The elephants were my favorite.

Megan wasn't into posing.

Ben enjoyed the trip too and did pretty good traveling.