Joy School!

I've decided to take on Joy School again. Maybe I'm crazy, I don't know. But Evan loves it, so it's worth it! The difference between Evan's maturity level last time we did Joy School and his maturity level this time is amazing. He's SO good and the lessons are just his speed. There are three other kids in his class. One little boy is 3 but the others are 4 and it' such a difference from last time when three of the kids were not even 3 yet!

Here's my handsome little guy on his first day of preschool:

In contrast to my last post.....

I noticed a trend with Asher yesterday. See if you can spot it, too....

Helping Mommy with laundry:


Getting ready for bed:




Silly kid. He's not so terrible after all. ;)

It's tough being two!

Asher is a pretty mellow kid, as far as toddlers go, but he still has his fair share of two-year-old tantrums and meltdowns. He also gets into his share of mischief. I am going out and buying a toddler-proof latch for the fridge FIRST THING tomorrow, because I can NOT keep the kid out of there! He also has a bad little habit of climbing up onto the kitchen counters and playing with or eating anything he can get his grubby little hands on.

I took a few photos this afternoon to document this two-year-old stage of his life.

He was having a tantrum over a board game.... and he had a messy face from getting into the chocolate chips when Mommy wasn't looking.






It's a good thing he's so darn cute.

My guys

Both the boys insisted on sitting on Ben's lap during family night on Monday and I realized that I don't have a recent picture of my three boys, so I grabbed my camera. Aren't they cute? :)



Tickle monster!

Peach Days!

We had lots of fun at Peach Days in Brigham City last weekend. On Friday night, Ben had his 10 year high school reunion. He's the most handsome guy in his class, in my humble opinion. :) We had a yummy meal and some laughs with friends.

On Saturday, we made it down to Brigham in time for the parade. It was fun to see a "real" parade with actual floats! All the parades that we've been to so far this summer are full of old cars and advertisements, and not much in the way of fun stuff to look at.

The boys enjoying the parade (I think Evan is in the middle of saying "cheese" LOL!):


An actual float!


We all look forward to seeing Boyd riding down the street in his "throne" (he's a plumber).


After the parade (and a quick trip back to Logan to clean up our booth at the farmer's market), we went to the car show with Brandon and Jess. Evan was being a total Brat, so Jess let him play with an old school transformer and he was in heaven! It kept him occupied for the rest of the day.


Asher was a trooper. He was a good boy for most of the day and he didn't even get a nap.


After the car show, we visited with family, ate some yummy burgers, checked out the craft booths, let the boys ride the train (left my camera in the car!), and got some peach ice cream. We were all exhausted by the end of the day, but it sure was fun!

New ride

The truck just wasn't cutting it as a family vehicle anymore, so we've been looking for a new family car for a little while now. We weren't having any luck in Logan, so on our way up to Rexburg last weekend, we stopped in Pocatello and found this beauty:



It's a Chrystler Pacifica and it has so much room, we don't know what to do with it all! We were frustrated when it had to go in the shop two days after we got it (the engine light was on), but it's all fixed and good as new, so we're happy. Especially since we didn't have to pay for the repairs. :)

Labor Day Fun

For Labor Day weekend, we went up to visit my parents in Rexburg. Even though it was a bit short (we had to be back here for an event on Monday), it was a fun visit.

We arrived on Saturday evening and I was able to take Thomas' senior pictures that night. I can't believe my little brother is a senior!! Then, after church on Sunday, we had a nice visit with my friend Heather, whom I've known since high school. It was so fun to catch up with her and to see her cute family again.

In the evening, we all went outside and played with the potato gun that Sam built. We shot everything from potatoes to G.I. Joe figures to flour out of that thing, and the boys succeeded in breaking part of the fence in the back yard.

Tamping it down with the golf club:


Ready..... aim.... fire!


Ben gives it a try:


While all this was going on, the boys had fun feeding the horses.






About .25 seconds before he dropped it for fear of getting his hand bitten off:


And a shot of cute little Kylie


Grandpa Johansen also made it up for a visit and brought his lady friend, Josie, who is a singer from England. When it was too dark for the potato gun, we all went inside and had a fun time singing songs in the living room.

What a fun trip!

Too funny to forget.

I almost forgot about these pictures because they were on my other camera, but I can't leave them un-posted. We went down to the Box Elder County fair Saturday before last, just for something to do. The boys were given these headbands with a feather in them to wear. Both boys were so tired on the way home and I thought Evan looked so funny with his headband down around his eyes. :)





By the end of the drive, it was all the way down around his neck.

Biker boys

You may remember this post, in which I reported that Evan is able to stay up on his bike without training wheels, but hadn't quite figured out how to steer or stop.Well, we were working on it again yesterday, and it seems as though the steering part is coming along quite well. We're still working on the stopping part. ;)

I took a little video because he's so cute speeding around the parking lot on his teeny bike. Every time he watches it, Evan proudly says "Look, I didn't run into that big black truck!" You'll know what he's talking about when you watch it....



Right after I took that video, Asher came riding past me using his pedals. I'd never seen him do that before! So, I quickly caught that on video, too. Here's my other big boy, pedaling his bike.

Summer is coming to an end....

.... so I'm trying to take advantage of what's left! :)