Esther's first day of first grade!

 A few days late... here is Esther on her first day of school.  She was pretty excited to wear her new shirt she picked out all by herself (not my personal favorite but sometimes you have to let them express themselves right?).  Esther LOVES school so it was a happy day.  I was a little sad and the days have been somewhat long since she's been gone but it's fun to pick her up and hear all about her day at school.  She's growing up too fast!

 

Isaac is 2!!!

Isaac turned 2 last week but we didn't celebrate it until today.  We love him even though he is so often cranky and stubborn.  He likes me to hold him all the time and when I can't hold him he has a meltdown.  We are working on that...  He does love cars and Dora lately and those always seem to cheer him up.  He is a pretty picky eater--not too keen on the veggies or meat but he's always up for anything with sugar.  We are working on that too.  He got some cars, blocks, and books for his birthday--he was very excited and couldn't stop saying "Yay!!!" with every present he opened.  He especially loved his Cars cake--my neighbor makes amazing cakes so I've quit trying to make my mediocre ones.  Great Grandpa always loves to see Isaac and calls him his "little friend" and every time we get together he says, "He sure is a cute little guy."  Isaac's favorite thing in the world (besides me, of course) is his softie which he calls "mink".  I think that's his way of saying blanket...  it's adorable.  He's adorable even though he's sometimes.... two.

Bear Lake

 We went to Bear Lake for a few days with my family.  John had to go to Snowbird for an intensive week of school so we missed him but still had a good time.   We boated one day, swam, played games, went on walks, and visited.  It was nice to just hang out with the fam.  I only wish Isaac had been a little more cheerful.  Isaac is two now and it seems the "terribles" have arrived. 

 

This is how he looked most of the time we were at the cabin.  Fun.

 At least he cheered up a couple times--like when Papa started the fire.

 My kids couldn't get enough of the rope swing--I think they got at least 100 pushes each thanks to all the nice adults around.

 We definitely had some good food--dutch oven one night--my mom is an amazing cook!!

 We were glad we had the raft so we didn't have to swim through the reeds to get to water without any reeds or fluffy stuff.

My brother Dan insisted on giving him this soda can so we could get a nice "white trash" picture for the scrapbook. 

Ahhh.. Vacation...

 We had an awesome vacation last week to Dickey Lake, MT, and Fairmont Springs, B.C. 

It was so nice to have lots of family and extended family time.  A little piece of heaven...

Here are some pics in no particular order:

 Lucy's favorite part of the whole trip was the hot tub, in both places.  If she could, she would have spent the entire day "swimming" in the hot tub. 

My two year old niece was scared to tears of her older teenage boy cousins (SO FUNNY!) but Isaac was okay with snuggling up with Coleman for a little while in the hammock.

 The newest addition to the Thompson/Taylor clan, Harris.  This picture doesn't do him justice--he is adorable!

 Lucy loved having someone follow her around for a change (usually she is the one doing the following).  She and Flora were good little buddies in Montana.

 We had a fun little talent show and at the end Nana told a great story about John's grandpa and his brother.  The kids were enthralled!

 

 

 Isaac was pretty cranky for most of the week--I'm hoping it was just because he had a little cold.  The one thing that did get him pretty excited was the water guns.  Such a boy!

 We finally got Esther enjoying the boat this year.  The first ride we had to force her to try it and after that she was begging to go again.  Lucy, on the other hand, still found the boat less than fun.  She did, however, think the boat was a "very good swimmer" and wondered how it was such a good swimmer.  Was it wearing a life jacket?

She keeps us laughing.  The first lake we drove by on the way to Montana she asked, "Is that the ocean???" 

 Family kayaking.

 We also got Esther on the tube this year--she didn't cry but didn't love it.

 We tried wake surfing for the first time this year--it was SO FUN!  Can't wait to try it and be a little more successful at it next time.  

 Nana and Grandpa with all the grand kids (some not quite out of their jammies).

 The view of the pools at Fairmont Hot Springs.

 Hanging out in the hot tub--Lucy LOVED Fairmont the most because that place is all about the hot pools--there's a warm and a hot--no cold.  She barely dipped her toes in the lake but in Fairmont she was going jumping in and swimming her little heart out.

Esther was her usual fish self and Isaac was still grumpy.

I think we wore them out.

We definitely had a GREAT time!

Sweetness

Last night I told my girls we had a lot to do and I would really need their help in the morning to get cleaned up.  I tucked them in and went downstairs to clean up my kitchen.  It took me a while but when I went upstairs I heard scurrying footsteps and so I checked on the girls.  They were in their beds but they had little sneaky smiles on their faces.  They said, "Mom we have a present for you...  we cleaned the toy room and our room!"  I was overwhelmed with their love and kindness.  They even wrote a nice note that said "We luve you mom!"  I told them to get to bed and went downstairs again to finish some things.  When I heard more scurrying I went up again and this time they have folded all the laundry on my bed and put it away.  I may never find some of those clothes again but I was still happy for the second "present."  I hope that I can be a better example of compassion and sweetness like them.