Back to School!

We are finally back to school and loving it! Nathan started first and headed off to his first day of Joy School on September 1st. He has two girls - Brooke and Ashley (the one with pigtails who, incidentally is the girl he is going to marry! They already have it arraigned!) and two boys - Easton and Everret in his class this year. I don't think he knows what to do with boys around! Anyway, he loves it and asks everyday if it's Joy School today! Maddie and Jeni started a week and a half later on the 10th. Maddie is in fourth grade this year and Jeni is in first grade. Jeni was very excited to go full day and to be able to take a lunch. I think that's a big event in a child's world.

It is nice to be back into a routine again but I had the strangest thing happen the other day. The three older kids were off at school and then Grace unexpectedly went down for an early nap. I had almost 45 minutes all to myself! I had no idea what to even do with it other than sit still and listen to the quiet!

Camping at Dahlgreen Valley

We decided to celebrate the last weekend before school started by going camping in one of our favorite places - Dahlgreen Valley. It's on the north slope of the Uintas and it isn't an organized campground. You just find a spot you like and pull off the road into it and set up camp. There is a spring in the valley for water but other than that you are on your own. We got there in the dark on Thursday night. Friday morning the kids had fun playing in the trailer while we cleaned up breakfast. Grace discovered this little stroller and had so much fun pushing her baby back and forth and learning how to navigate around obstacles.

Nathan had his new Sco0by Doo bag that he made with Sandra and he used it to carry everything everywhere he went. We never left home without it!

While we were there we went on lots of different walks. The valley has a couple of small streams wandering through it and there were signs of beaver everywhere. We found one of their dams but we didn't ever see a beaver.

Later Maddie and Jeni put on a concert for us singing Scooby Dooby Doo (they are obsessed with it right now) or Hannah Montana songs. Nathan was suppose to play the guitar too but got distracted.

Grace loved having her new pink shoes on and being able to go outside and explore with the big kids.

This was a hike where we tried to bushwhack from one side of the valley to the other. We got most of the way across but then it got way to marshy, at least for whimpy I-don't-want-to-get-my-shoes-wet me. By this time Jeni had developed a blister on her foot (that happens when you don't wear socks with your shoes) and Maddie being the gallant big sister she is gave her a piggy back ride most of the way back to the trailer.

I want you to notice two things about this picture of Grace. First, see how her shirt and hair are dirty? That is because I guess she would get tired and decide she needed a little rest so she would lay down in the dirt for a few minutes and then get up and off she would go again. Second, see the rock she is happily gripping in her hand? She almost choked to death on the dumb thing a few minutes later! She put it in her mouth and wouldn't spit it out and being the paranoid parents that we are we put a finger in her mouth to try and scoop it out but instead ended up accidentally shoving it down her throat. It was the scariest few seconds ever until she was able to cough it back up and started bawling her head off. Sometimes that is the BEST sound in the world!

After that scary incident we decided we'd had enough of the great outdoors, packed up our stuff and headed for home thankful to listen to Grace crying because she was stuck in her car seat again!