Young Love

Oh Ethan!  He has always been a bit of a Casanova when it comes to the ladies.  I keep waiting for him to feel embarrassed to talk to me about all of the girls that he loves, but at age 6 he has no guile and it totally innocent.  I thought I needed to record this funny conversation we had the other day so I could always remember my sweet 6 year old.  

This is the school picture Ethan brought home last week.  Oh it made me laugh!  It reminds me a little too much of his soccer pictures from last fall.  One of my friends said, "well at least he doesn't lose his eyes when he smiles."

As were driving to the church last Tuesday night Ethan said, "Mom, I think Noelle loves me."
I asked, "why do you think that?"
"Well, Aricelly told me at lunch.  She told me to guess who loves me so I guessed Tanna, but she said nope, so then I guessed Noelle.  I kind of already knew she loved me."
"So what did you say?"
"Kind of nothing."
I was starting to get a little nervous so I asked, "how did you know Noelle loves you?  Was it her words, her actions?  Do you play with her at recess?"
Ethan rolled his eyes at me and responded, "not recess, that would be more of a friend thing not a love thing."
Well that response really made me panic...I wanted to find out what a love thing was so I pushed him a little more.
Ethan replied, "I mostly know from her words.  Then in a high pitched voice he imitated her saying, "hi Ethan."
"So what kind of actions show she loves you, does she pinch you, hug you, I hope she doesn't try to kiss you."
Ethan said, "well she tried to hug me once, and no kisses yet but I'm sure they're comin'!"
"I certainly hope not!"
"Well, Noelle has the right amount of cuteness for a girl that loves me."
"What does that mean?"
"You know, I can kind of tell that all the girls that love me are cute...Stella, Avery, Noelle, Kylie and Katelyn."
At this point I was frantically trying to think of a way to turn this conversation into something positive so I said, "well Ethan, I think the reason all these girls love you is because you are so kind, you are fun to be around, and funny.  People like you because you are nice to them.  You're pretty handsome too."
Ethan groaned, "I don't really agree with that one."
"Which part?"
"The handsome part.  I think I'm more in the cute category.  I'm not old enough to be handsome."

At this point we got to the church, and he gave me his signature wink as he got out of the car to run inside.  I love my love struck Ethan!

Labor Day Camping in Estes Park

On Labor Day weekend we met up with Vaughn and Patty to give them back their daughter and stay for a camping trip.  We stayed right above Estes Park near an entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park.  Honestly, going in to it I figured I would probably stay one night with Quinn and then just come up during the days...but we had so much fun I stayed all 3 nights.  And yes, Quinn woke up a lot, and no, the nights were not at all restful, but everything else was so great it made up for it.  I wish there was a way to do camping that didn't involve sleeping....I would enjoy it more.
Here are a few pictures I took the first morning we woke up in the mountains:

Me wondering how I was ever going to get through the day after no sleep, Ethan still playing with his head lamp not wanting to get out of his warm sleeping bag, Caden woke up first and said, "rise and shine everyone."  He then excitedly ran out to see what was cooking and came running back to show us that there was a hot chocolate!  Quinn just sat in his little camp chair with a confused look on his face about the whole experience.

On Saturday we headed to the RMNP for a little hiking.  It was so busy that weekend.  We actually had to park and take a shuttle to the trail head.  We decided to hike a trail that leads to 3 lakes, Nymph Lake, Dream Lake and Emerald Lake.  I loved the hike, every corner was a new view that was picturesque.  The weather was perfect and it was a lot of fun.  The hike was about 4 miles round trip, which was perfect for our little guys, by the end Caden's legs were getting tired and he kept tripping...but after a little lunch he was back to new.

A good waiting seat.

Looking back down on Nymph Lake.

On top of the world!

A view of the Continental Divide from Dream Lake.

Looks like a postcard.

Quinn enjoyed his maiden voyage in his new ride.

Cool rock formations at Emerald Lake.

It was worth every step to sit at the edge of this lake.

Right as we got back to the park n' ride to wait for our shuttle, the rain started and then a crazy hail storm.  We were glad to be out of the mountains.

 On Monday we hiked up Deer Mountain.  We made it about half way before the clouds scared us back to the car.

Quinn kept peeking around saying "hi mom."

This was a different part of the park that we hadn't explored before, different landscape, but still pretty amazing!

Clark practicing some nature photography.  Do you see the fly?

The boys take their rest breaks seriously.

Sleeping on the way back down.

Let's gather round the campfire and sing a campfire song.

Caden is the craziest sleeper.  He would end up with his head pointing in different directions at all times during the night.  At one point he was totally wedged between 2 air mattresses, but didn't seem to mind.

The boys all wanted a picture with the BYU cougar in the Estes Park village.

We came home happy and tired!  Worn out from a great family weekend.

Delanie Visits

I always had a wish to have a little sister, but instead was blessed with brothers.  Thank goodness for that little thing called marriage; I've gained a whole group of sister-in-laws and nieces to help fill that void.  It totally felt like my little sister wish came true when Delanie came and stayed with us for a week...and we were mistaken for sisters several times throughout the week, apparently we look alike.    

On Saturday we had a fun girl's day out.  We started the morning with Zumba, went to high afternoon tea, to pedicures and then did a little college shopping.

We spent a lovely dinner picnic at the sculpture garden in Loveland.

We spent a day in Fort Collins visiting the Swettsville Zoo (no animals there), Delanie's first visit to Cafe Rio and a walk around the CSU test gardens.

His new "cheese" face.

Drinking fountains are hard work for little guys.

We had fun during the week being crafty!  Delanie made us awesome cupcakes one day...so I decided she needed a cute apron for college to accompany her mad baking skills.  She chose camouflage for the embellishments!  So cute!

We got away for one other girl's night out.  I had a Groupon to use at the Chocolate Cafe, so we got chocolate ravioli and molten lava cake.  Then we went and saw the 100 Foot Journey.  So good!

Such a fun week filled with late nights staying up watching movies and chatting.  Thanks for coming Delanie!  Good luck at BYU-I!

First Day of First Grade

Two missing front teeth didn't put a damper on Ethan's smile on his first day of First Grade!  He looked pretty dapper in his blue camouflage shirt and Mario backpack.  

He was excited to find his name just outside his door.

That night we had our Back to School dinner and talked about our goal to work hard this next year as we learned about how hard little ants work.

 And I guess our little ant lesson worked because Ethan's teacher called me a few weeks into school to tell me how proud she is of Ethan because he works so hard.  I was so worried about how Ethan would make the transition to being in school all day, but he has done great!  The hardest transition has been for me and the boys left at home.  As we were leaving the school after dropping him off the first day I said to Caden, "now that Ethan is gone all day you and Quinn can play together and be good buddies."  Caden replied, "that just doesn't sound right."  With Ethan gone I have gained a new shadow.

Ethan has an an awesome teacher that has made him feel so special.  He loves to go to school each morning.  He loves that his teacher rewards him with "silver falcons" that he can later use to buy things from their store.  Every afternoon as soon as Ethan gets in the car Caden asks, "how many peregrine falcons did you earn today Ethan?"  Caden is so excited to hear the classroom news each afternoon.  He asked me if I could start rewarding him with "wild dogs" instead of falcons.  So now when he does something kind or helpful all I have to say is "thanks Caden, you earn 10 wild dogs for that one," and he eats it up!

His school gave all of the kids summer packets to complete during summer break.  It was a big packet, and it was torture!  Ethan does not love doing worksheets, and I felt like gouging my eyes out because each page took soooo long!  Finally, I decided that I wasn't going to force it and we wouldn't worry about him completing his packet.  But shortly after that decision I got a letter in the mail saying that all the kids who completed the packet would attend a special swimming party field trip the second week of school, the kids that didn't finish would have to stay at the school.  Talk about pressure!  We kicked it into high gear and finished that darn packet!  Ethan said his swimming field trip was his best day ever, so I guess it was worth it!  I thought the moms should get a spa day or something from the school for all of our hard work.
His first homework assignment was an all about me poster...and it was a family affair.

And of course Caden needed a picture with the all about me poster, because even though it was all about Ethan...we all know any art projects are all about Caden.

I'm excited to see what first grade has in store for Ethan!  Recently it's like the reading fluency has just clicked, and it's a lot of fun to hear him read stories to his brothers.