A couple activities

Alright, I haven't done well keeping this up to date so we'll take a little trip to early August.  

The month started out with Kayda's activity day.  It was lego themed and had some really fun activities.  A favorite was making derby cars that the girls got to race on the pinewood derby tracks!  

 Kayda won!  They also got to race speedorz, decorate lego cookies, build bridges etc.

 The last 45 minutes of the day was family time so the boys got to play too!


Another day we made our way over to a local creek.  People have made a dam so there is an area that gets a pretty good pool for the kids to play in.  They had a great time exploring, floating and swinging from the bridge rope swing.

Carson tried the rope swing too but he wouldn't let go until brother went out to help him!


Besides South Dakota and camping it's actually been a really hard summer to get the kids to actually DO anything.  They have just wanted to be home. They've spent some time in the pool and sandbox but they have wanted to be inside playing with legos more than anything.  It's been really frustrating actually.  Unfortunately for them I'm dragging them out a bunch this week before school starts in just over a week!

Ward Christmas Party

Also yesterday was the ward Christmas party.  There was good food, a good program (provided by the primary) and the kids had a BLAST wandering around the gym... especially Carson.  He was running around like crazy!  We're sad that we'll have to leave this ward but we know good things around in store.

 Carson found Kaitlyn right away.  She babysits the kids most Fridays and he has latched onto her pretty well.  When he saw she was holding Tally he made her pick him up too.  Heaven forbid she give her attention to another baby!  He and Tally don't really get along, they kind of bully each other.  It's kind of weird actually.

 Here they are!  Kayda is in the red dress on the far right, Dillon is on the far left sitting in the front.

 Carson wanted to be held and played with... mostly by Daddy.  I had to WORK to keep him happy and with me.  He wanted DADDY.

 The bishop sang with another three brethren from our ward.  I don't know all the names and if I did it would be their last names so I won't share!

 After the program Santa paid a visit!  Dillon rushed up there as soon as it was our turn.

Kayda was a little more timid.  Eventually she went and sat on his lap though.  Carson's picture will have to wait.  They had a volunteer photographer there last night so I can download the picture later.  He was crying so we didn't get our own.

Day of Service

Last Saturday was the Regional Day of Service.  Daddy and I were our ward's representatives and we put a lot of time into getting ready for the day.  Needless to say we are glad it's over!  It turned out well.  Our ward was in charge of 3 seperate projects.  We could only attend one so I only have pictures of one!  This was the largest project with about 60 people.  We loaded up the kids, Grandma H joined us and Jennifer and Ryan joined us! 

 

 Our task was to clear out black berry bushes to make room for some new planting.  Unfortunately we weren't dressed quite right to be wading in among blackberries and stinging nettles... OUCH! Here's most of the crew, a few more people came in after we got out instructions.   See Kayda and Dillon listening so attentively!

 Carson wanted to MOVE!  I spent the first hour chasing after him.  He kept running back to the walking trail.  He didn't really want to hang out around anybody.  After the first hour Grandma H took over.  He seemed to enjoy his time with her for sure!

 Dillon, Kayda and Leone.  This seems like a "My tool is cooler than yours" moment.

 Ryan and Dillon were IN there ready to cut everything.  They were so serious!

 

 Here's my runner!

 

 Eventually Kayda lost interest and found this hill to go play on.

 

 After 3 hours of work it was time to head to the picnic.  Carson fell asleep on the way.  Unfortunately he didn't sleep for very long.

 

Carson was having a great time with the hula hoop.  The only problem was when he was running along like this and tripped.  Needless to say he couldn't get his hands out there to catch himself... total faceplant.  It was a great day.  We were glad to be out there with everyone!

Off to the beach!

We headed off to the lake with some ladies from the ward and some of their relatives on Wednesday.  We had 6 moms and I think 22 kids or so as well.  It was crazy, unfortunately I wasn't able to get a picture of all of them together.  Let me just say my kids are fantastic.  Carson got a little fussy as it got later and later in the day but my kids stayed close and didn't go wandering off.  It was really nice to be able to talk some.  We headed down to the beach about 10:30 and it was chilly in the shade.  There weren't very many people though.  The sand had been freshly combed and it was nice and loose so they could actually dig and play with the sand.  That's what they spent the majority of the trip doing.

 Dillon was having a good time running out of the water making the biggest splash he could.

 One bucket of water?  No, give me TWO!

 Carson is discovering the wonders of standing and playing, and walking!  Last Friday we were at Grandma and Papa H's, they were watching Aunt Anna and Uncle Scott's kids which means Brett (who is 6 weeks older than Carson) was there.  Well guess what, Brett is toddling around everywhere.  This interaction made Carson suddenly interested in walking.  He has been going ever since.  So yesterday (at the lake) was his first time walking on lumpy, bumpy sand.  Today he was walking all over the grass and in shoes!  He has decided that he likes walking better than crawling and will even get up to walk again if he falls or sits down.  He gets better everyday.  In the picture about he is throwing sand into that bucket, he would squat down, get a handful then stand back up and toss it in.

 The first thing Kayda did there was start digging a canal.  By the end of the trip the big boys (including Dillon) had turned it into a whole water way.  They would put the spouted buckets at the top and keep them full so the water was constantly running.  It was pretty clever.

 Kayda and Olivia.  They're in the same Sunday School class and I've decided that Olivia's mom and I are good friends so it works out great.  Unfortunately they won't go to the same elementary school.

 Dillon did this several times.  He thought it was very entertaining.  The only problem was that then he decided it was fun to dump on OTHER people too so we had to have a little discussion about that.

 Dillon and the big boys.

 Perfect example of what they were using our spouted buckets.  Carson loved playing in the puddles Kayda kept creating.

 Carson and Buster are right about 2 months apart and were playing great together.  This is Olivia's little brother so again... it works out perfect.  They kept trying to give eachother baby kisses.  SUPER cute.

 Then they kept playing together.

 ...and kept playing with eachother.  Pretty good for two kids right around a year old.

 This is Kayda and Olivia's cousin.  Nothing like matching swimsuits to instantly form a bond.  They played together pretty much the whole time once she got there.

 Whenever Carson wanted to get to the water he would do the bum scoot.  He would stretch out his legs and pull himself forward on his bottom until he got close enough to the water to kick it.

Two little mermaids...

It was a great time at the lake and I'm totally excited to do something like that with all the ladies again.  Tomorrow we're headed to the splash park.  Hopefully we'll have some pictures of that as well!