Wow, time flies. Lincoln and Marina had a great summer visit to Maine and Virginia. Lincoln's favorite thing from Virginia was all the swimming, and his favorite thing in Maine was attending YMCA camp. Marina's favorite thing in Virginia was going swimming, and her favorite thing in Maine was also going swimming (I sense a theme).
The last month has been very busy! We had weekend visits with both the Pauls and the Terrys, started school (Ryan teaching at SUU, and the kids starting 5th and 2nd grades), and just generally had a good time. We got chickens right before the kids left for the summer, and they recently started laying eggs. So, the kids' latest fun is finding the eggs every day. The chickens like to lay in different places, so luckily we learned a trick to make sure an egg is still fresh before we use it. Our three chickens, named Artemis (named by Lincoln), Savannah (named by Marina), and Kara (the only name they could both agree on), give us about a dozen eggs a week, so it is working out quite well.
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| The Egg Hunters |
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| Artemis |
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| This is the flower that Marina planted in May. It grew and bloomed with over 30 flowers. Marina definitely has a green thumb! |
Marina asked for pictures of all the flowers in our yard that bloomed while she was gone. Here are some of them. We really love our new yard!
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| Ryan and I had tickets to see Million Dollar Quartet in Las Vegas. Ryan loved it - he was ready to buy tickets to see it again the next day. |
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| Our trip to Las Vegas included a stop at the Mob Museum, which of course had a mug shot photo op. |
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| Marina channeling Juliet with the 'balcony' at our house. |
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| August also brought the dedication of the Hunter House, a restoration project at Ryan's museum (Frontier Homestead State Park). There are still projects left, but the inside looks really great! |
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| One of the other new additions at Ryan's museum |
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| How embarrassing! |
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| Marina channeling a wagon driver. She has a great imagination! |
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| Marina and Kara at the museum. |
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| Marina's back to school haircut, well hair trim. |
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| Ready for the first day of second grade and fifth grade. |
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| Off they go! |
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| We attended a concert with Elvis, and Lincoln got a scarf and definitely rocked out in honor of The King. |
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| They taught each other some moves |
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| Adoring Fans |
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| Security Detail |
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The Whole Family
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We spent a weekend with all the Terry cousins at a cabin near Springville. The kids had such a good time. They played games, crafted, and just had fun with the cousins.
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| Lincoln, Ella, Marina, and Carter |
Lincoln celebrated his 10th birthday. Instead of a cake, he asked for birthday cheesecake squares (which also happens to be my favorite dessert). We still found a way to make sure he had a cake on which to blow out at least one candle.
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| Lincoln loved his Lego birthday presents! Our sun room should now be called the Lego room. |
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| Fabulous Marina |
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| The Greenshow at the Shakespeare Festival - Marina asked to go for a full year. Since I work there, I rarely sit down and watch the show. But, we made it happen. |
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| The Greenshow is not complete without a lolly |
The best part was watching Marina watch the show.
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| Marina and Will are good friends. |
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| Marina is a goof ball. |
We spent a great weekend with the Paul (and Halvorsen!) families too. We jumped at a trampoline park - a brilliant way to use up kids' energy.
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| Petra is the pink and blue blur and Marina is the green and blue blur. How silly to think that I could get a photo at a trampoline park. |
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| Almost |
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| There we go. The poser is back. |
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| The foam blocks were a favorite |
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| Lincoln loved doing tricks and dodgeball. |
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| He is the blur doing the flip |
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| Ready . . . |
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| Go! |
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| Grandma and Grandpa Paul volunteer at the Church History Museum in Salt Lake City. They showed us all around the museum, and this was one of Marina's favorite things. There were sparkles sewed all over the quilt. She does love shiny things. |
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| The kids pull a handcart at the museum |
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| More of Aunt Melissa's mean face painting skills. Marina is the summer fairy. |
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| We celebrated lots of birthdays on Labor Day. I did not need to worry about Lincoln having a cake. |
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| Happy Birthday! |
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| We saw the play Les Misérables as a family, and Marina wanted to pose with King Lear before the show started. Marina's favorite song was Master of the House, and her favorite part was "when Cosette meets that other guy." Lincoln also likes Master of the House and "all the songs where they were waving flags." His favorite part was when everyone on the barricade died. |
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| Marina's egg hunting boots. She named her outfit The Blue Monster - blue skirt, blue leggings, blue shirt. |
