Collin and Megan started school this week on Monday, August 18th. Megan is in 2nd grade and Collin is in 4th grade. They are excited to start a new year. This is their last year (hopefully) at Snow Springs Elementary - as they are in the process of building a new school that is really close to us. That will mean no more busses - they can walk or ride bikes to school next year. Caleb and Mom are trying to adjust to having it much quieter here at home.

Dad's New Grill

With the help of parents, we got Ryan a new grill for his birthday. He loves to BBQ and will have lots of room to cook for a big crowd. We would love to have anyone come visit and let Ryan treat you to a delicious BBQ treat. This one even has a rotissery feature. It will be fun to try it out.

Collin's 9th Birthday

Before officially turning 9, Collin received his Wolf Award in Cub Scouts. He was excited to finally recieve his award after such a fun year in Cub Scouts. Some of his favorite achievements and activities included building a birdhouse, starting a rock collection, going fishing, earning various belt loops, and just being with his friends. As the den mother, I am sad that he won't be in our group anymore. He is excited to be in the Bear den now.

Collin helped plan his own birthday party this year. He is very into Pokemon and wanted to play games that had a Pokemon theme. Collin came up with a poster for pin the tail on Blastoise and for a "Dug Trio" ball toss. He and Megan did the coloring, after I did my best at sketching the characters. I also did a Star Raptor on his cake. (notice the picture on his invitation). His friends enjoyed playing a "who knows the most about pokemon" game and making gadgets from ordinary junk (these are things that pokemon trainers use to catch a pokemon). Some of the boys played the Pokemon Card game. They also played a Pokemon Nintendo game and watched a movie. What a fun party. It is amazing what the boys memorize about all the hundreds of Pokemon there are.

Mesa Verde

We took a trip to see Mesa Verde National Park. My mom came with us. It was so fun to have Grandma Bogue there. We stopped at a few sights on our way - Natural Bridges National Monument, Monument Valley (where they filmed some of Back to the Future 3), Four Corners, and Dead Horse Point on the way back to Lehi. Mesa Verde was so neat. We took 3 tours of some of the cliff dwellings. We enjoyed learning about the ancient Anasazi or Puebloans who inhabited the area many hundreds of years ago. They have evidences that these ancient people dwelt here between 700 to 1300 bc. Collin and Megan both earned their Junior Ranger Badges, which is a fun way to learn more about the history of the park. That is now 3 badges a piece for the year so far.

Caleb's First Stitches

Caleb got his first stitches in July. He was playing at a park and slipped on a log he was jumping from. Thankfully Megan was right by him and helped him find me right away. There was an EMT at the park and he helped us put a bandage on his head until we could get to the emergency room. Well, I ended up taking him to his doctor's office (right near the hospital) and they were able to take care of him quickly. It was a little traumatic for the kids, but mom was calm as it was nothing compared to Collin's incident a few years ago. There was a lot of blood, but that is normal for a head wound. He got 3 little stitches. He hasn't seemed to slow down very much since his accident.

By the way, Caleb had also just started using the potty instead of diapers the week before. Wow, what a big month of firsts for Caleb.

July 2008

July is a great time to take a drive and have a picnic up in the Uintas. That is exactly what Ryan did with Megan and Caleb one Saturday when Collin and I were at Cub Scout Day Camp. Since I forgot the camera, we don't have any pics from Day Camp. But Ryan took lots of beautiful pictures of the Uinta Mountains - namely Bald Mountain. He was also trying to find a good camp ground for us to camp at some time this summer. We hope to make it back up there soon. Collin and I had a fun time at Camp Jeremiah Johnson for Day Camp - making a boat for a raingutter regatta, making foam noodle swords for a den sword fight, learning how to shoot a bb gun, bow and arrow, and sling shot, and other fun activities.

4th of July Fun

What could be more fun than playing with cousins, splashing around in the water, putting on a play, eating watermelon, BBQ hotdogs and chicken, playing Settlers of Catan, watching the fireworks and staying up late on the 4th of July. Well, we did it all. We had the Moore family come over and we had loads of fun. After watching our little ground fireworks show, the Lehi City's firework show just happens to be right by our neighborhood and we always get the best view from our driveway. It made for a fun day and night. Collin was able to light his first firework - a tank. Cousin Garrett (15) and Uncle Kyle were the ones to light most of our fireworks. This has been a fun tradition for years.