"Da one with a handle on it"

For over two months we have heard about "the one with the handle on it" and today it came. Two months ago she saw a suitcase that she thought she needed in a catalog, and every day she would pull it out and show me her suitcase. There were a few different suitcases in the catalog, so she made sure to tell me she wanted "the one with the handle on it." We thought if we threw the catalog away, surely she would forget about it, right?

On both trips to Texas and California of course she didn't have her suit case, and there were a few tears. She never even came close to letting it go, so while in California it was ordered for her. Today, sitting on our front porch was a box, and inside the box was her suitcase. She was so excited to have it. Everywhere she has walked this afternoon her suitcase has followed. She has packed it a few times with toys, her blanket and sippy cup, and anything else she could find to put it in. She even took her nap on the couch this afternoon with it next to her. We have already talked about packing it on our next trip and she was very adamant that SHE was pulling it through the airport.

Soaking Up Another Day at the Splash Park

I really am going to miss how much fun she has at the Splash Parks as Fall comes, but we still have a few more weeks until it is too cold so we went to play yesterday. She was extremely tired, but she still had a fun time. For some reason she decided to wear her sunglasses around her tummy, she sure makes me laugh. After about thirty minutes she started to get tired and she decided to lay down in the middle until one of the sprayers went off and got her tummy, she thought that was pretty funny. Nolan enjoyed being outside and watching Rylee. It is fun to think of the two of them running around out there together next Summer.

Kitchen Toys

Lately Nolan has been playing with the kitchen toys a lot. Today he found out that the pan makes noise when you scoot it on the floor. (I swear our house doesn't seem this noisy until I hear it on the video. Rye was watching cartoons this morning!)

Rylee's Flip

Rylee found a new, creative way to get off the couch while we were at Grandma's house, a back flip.

Splashing

Nolan loved splashing in the hot tub. He was soaked from head to toe, and even made himself cough by swallowing some water, he was splashing so hard! The video is a little dark but you can still see it!

He's Everywhere!

Nolan has mastered his army crawl/scoot. He is constantly on the move and exploring every inch of the house. The kid has incredible eye sight, therefore I have to vacuum every day or else he will find some string of fuzz from the day and put it in his mouth. He loves to chase Rylee everywhere she goes and pretty soon he is going to be able to keep up. He has started to get interested in the stairs and has pulled himself up on them, and I dread the day (here soon, I am sure) that he starts climbing them. Nolan is so much fun right now and it is fun to watch him explore and take everything in.

Bubbles With Grandma

FHE with Uncle Jason's Family

On Monday night Uncle Jason invited us to join them for FHE, and we were happy to join. They went to the park and had a picnic. We had pizza and watermelon for dinner, and then the kids got to play together. Rylee is always excited to see Kami, so throw in a Splash Park and she is even more excited. Thanks for a fun night, Uncle Jason and Aunt Heather.

Chillin before dinner

Nolan enjoying some watermelon

Giving Mommy a Smile

Getting Soaked

Kami and Rye

Funderland

On Monday morning Grandma had a Doctor's appointment downtown, so she suggested we come along and go to Fairy Tale Town afterwards. Fairy Tell Town is a discovery park for kids based around different Fairy Tale's, but when we got their she spotted rides and that is all she wanted to do. The rides are across the street from Fairy Tale Town at Funderland, so off we went. She had a great time. There were lots of little rides designed for younger kids and she loved it. She got to fly an airplane, drive a car, go on a log ride, ride a jumping fish, spin the tea cups, ride a roller coaster, and go on the Carousel with Nolan. By the end of the day we thought she would crash after we ate lunch, but she was too excited and talked all about the rides the entire drive home.

Eskimo Pies

For dessert on Sunday Grandma got all the kids Eskimo Pies. From the looks of these pictures I think the kids enjoyed them. Wyatt's daddy has a, "Whoa, big owie," as Rylee calls it, so Wyatt did not get to go swimming, but it did look like he wanted to join.

The Entire Group

Grandma wanted to get a shot of all the cousins together in hopes of using it for her Christmas card, sorry Grandma this is the best that I got. There are 9 grandkids these days ranging in age from 8 months to 8 years old, and it was a bit of a challenge to get them all to hold still and look at the camera. We weren't even going to try to get smiles out of all of them - we aren't crazy.

Walker

Nolan loved being in Grandma's walker. It took him a little while to get it figured out, but by the end of the evening he was cruising all over in it. Shortly after I put him in it, Rylee let him play with her computer and he had a blast.

Bryson and Trevor's Soccer Game

Bryson and Trevor are in there first year of soccer and they were so stinkin' cute out there, it made me excited for Rylee to start next year. Before we even left for California Trevor called me and asked me if we would come to his game, so of course we did. Rylee loved watching them play. She did ask a few times if she could go play, but luckily she did not run out to join them. Nolan stayed in the car seat for most of the game, because it was very sunny and we did not need a sunburned Nolan.

Kami and Rylee

Kami is such a great cousin to Rylee, the two of them have so much fun together. Kami was in school Thursday and Friday, so when school got out Friday afternoon they came straight over to Grandma's house to play with Rylee. Rye was most excited to see her. The two spent time playing inside and then went swimming when Grandpa got home from work. Rylee decided she needed to wear goggles too since Kami was wearing them. After swimming we had dinner and then they went swimming again, where Kami and Rylee negotiated a sleepover out of me. The girls had a great time!

Splash Park

Friday morning we were dying to see our cousins, so we arranged to meet at the Splash Park for the kids to play. Alyssa was already in school, so we met up with Bryson, Lucas, Trevor and Kylie for some fun. Rylee, Bryson and Trevor had a blast together, it was really fun to watch. Rylee made sure Lucas was taken care of the whole time and she chased Kylie around, but the two of them were still warming up to each other. They all shared some grapes, and by the end it was lunch and then nap time.

First Stop, The Swimming Pool

As soon as Papa got home from work last Thursday we all headed out to the swimming pool. Rylee did so well with the floaties, she was cruising the entire pool by herself. She had a great time practicing her kicks with Grandma, jumping to Papa, dunking Papa, and shooting Papa with the squirt gun. Nolan came out too and had a great time floating in the baby boat and pulling funny faces.

Trip To Temple Square

A few weeks ago we went to Temple Square with some friends that were in town, and we had a great time. We took the tour of the Conference Center and it was really interesting, I highly recommended it if you have not done it before. We took a family picture, I think it might be our first one since the hospital. Rylee was such a good girl during the entire tour, she even let me snap some pictures of her on the top of the Conference Center.

8 Months

It does not seem like eight months ago that we had Nolan, time has sure gone fast, but it is true today he turned eight months old. This afternoon at Grandma's house we tried to get a picture of all nine grandchildren, and after that fiasco was over Nolan was so cute sitting there I took a few pictures of him - isn't he adorable?

Water Park

The last week has been a little chilly for August, but Thursday warmed up a little so we took Uncle Scott to the new Water Park. Rylee was a little tired, so she took a little while to warm up to the park, and she tired out faster than normal, but it was still a fun time. She asked for a snack when we got there so I gave her a pack of crackers to munch while she played. Well, she decided she would take a bite (bites were distributed by Uncle Scott, of course) run and play in the water for 10 seconds, run back and dry her face off, and then repeat the cycle. It was pretty entertaining to watch, because she was trying to go fast without running--no running at the water park--and she came up with the high step run/prance and it made us all smile.

Freeplay

MyGym has Freeplay on Mondays, so we brought Uncle Scott along for the fun. Freeplay is a lot more fun with Uncle Scott there. These two had a great time all around the gym. The two things they did the most were bury Rylee in the ball pit, and play 'Log Roll.' Log Roll was Rylee laying in the 'log' and Uncle Scott rolling her all over the gym. She had so much fun showing off her Uncle to everyone there--thanks for coming Scott!
This was also the first Freeplay we have been to since Nolan has really been an active, playful little guy, so it was fun to see him having fun too. We made a "baby" ball pit that he and one other baby played in most of the time!

Brunch With Uncle Scott

Sunday morning we went to the golf course and had brunch with Uncle Scott. Rylee and Scott finished a little sooner than the rest of us, so Uncle Scott was sweet enough to take her to the pond and skip rocks. These are a few shots of them walking back to the clubhouse to go to the car.