So much

So much has happened in the last month I will just briefly show what's been going on.  First of all there was a daddy daughter campout.  They talk about this all year long and always have such a good time.  This year there was a friendly bunny there too. Don't worry, Josh and I look forward to have a mommy  son date too when they're gone. 

 There's always puddle jumping after the big rainstorms....

 We hiked up Baer Creek Canyon, which is the same creek that is in our backyard.  It was such a gorgeous hike.....I can't believe we hadn't done it before.  It will definitely not be our last time.

 I must be really good at brushing my teeth because my smile is just shining.  And I don't remember Rach washing her face so good either. 

 Then Rach had a pool party with her soccer team at her coaches house and the entire family was invited.

 Yes, Trav was the only parent that swam.  He really is the best daddy ever.

 We went to the Kaysville firestation open house.  We got to have treats, spray the hoses and even watch a helicopter take off.  It's always fun.

 Kate was right in her element.

 Here's the best buddies.  Okay can I start a blog petition to help keep these buddies from moving away?  They are moving in about a month and we cannot imagine not  having them next door anymore.  How are we going to survive?

 Oh, and we also got a new van!  It's very fancy and we love it!

 It's also has a lot of space to grow.....

 We also went up to snowbasin to see the leaves and take a few pictures.  It was so gorgeous up there.

Happy fall!

Some Firsts....

Well we'll start with the first day of school.  We now have ourselves a 2nd grader,

 

And a kindergartener.   They were both so excited and so far so good.

  It was funny because when we were eating breakfast that first day of school Rachel says to Kate, "Okay Kate.  Now me and Josh are going to be at school so you need to be nice to mom.  You can't just boss her around all day.  Instead of saying "I want my milk!"  You should say "Mom, can I please have my milk?"  Me and Josh aren't going to be here to help so you have to be nice.  Got it?" 

I'm not going to lie, I loved that conversation.

We also had Kate's first hike up Ensign peak.  

 My first time ever bottling peaches.

 And once or twice a year we get hot air balloons at the park across the street from our house.  We had it 2 days in a row this year.  They are a spectacular sight!

 Josh came up with a new method over plugging your nose.....

 We went to the Natural History Museum for the first time.  It was so cool and we could have spent so much more time there (if it hadn't had been naptime).

 We went to the State Fair.  Okay, this one isn't a first but we still had fun!

 We went to the zoo and saw all the new Polar stuff for the fist time.  It's awesome!  They did a great job on that remodel.

 The whole crew waiting for the bird show.....

 And this is the biggest first of all.......Rachel scored her first goal EVER!  I can honestly say that was one of the happiest moment of MY life.  She was so excited and it was a totally awesome goal.  We always told her that if she scored a goal she could get a giant ice cream cone. 

 Ahhh, the sweet taste of victory.  I'm so proud of her!

 And after 2 floods in 2 weeks we decided to get a new toilet.  Yes this is  a first.  A potty on the deck.  Or should we just call it Trav's new "mancave."  Hope the neighbors don't mind...

And I don't have a picture for this last one but we were having a bbq outside a couple weeks ago and it was smoking like crazy.  Okay, this was not a fire but a little charcoal bbq and our whole yard was full of smoke, and the neighbors yard, and the street.  We kept thinking there was no way that our little bbq was producing that much smoke but apparently it was.  Well, a few minutes later our neighbor came over to check and make sure that our forest wasn't on fire and he said, "The fire department just showed up."  What!?!  We had a fire truck, and 3 firemen come and investigate our house because of all the smoke.  It was pretty embarrassing, but so so funny.  They were cool about it and checked around and just laughed.  Well, about 10 minutes later our bbq stopped smoking and there was still a ton of smoke everywhere.  We had been framed!  Our neighbors had a fire and must have been burning totally green stuff because of all the smoke.  We didn't realize they were having one earlier because of all our smoke.  I just hope we don't have a black mark by our name at the fire department. 

That definitely was a first!

Summer and soccer moms

Summer is almost over.  Seriously, where did it go?  I'm not ready for school to start yet, but at least we have one more week of R & R before my kids are officially old.  We had to  hit one last Raptors game which are so much fun to go to.

 

We also had one last trip to the cabin with some cousins.

 When we first got there Rach was a little nervous about feeding the squirrels but was very excited to do it.

 Josh would try to "get" the squirrels another way......don't let grandma know.

 This is what Rach and I would do most of the time.  This girl LOVES skip-bo and we play it all the time.

 She got up to use the potty and someone jumped in and took her place.  I think he peeked at her cards.

 Before long Daisy (the squirrel) and Rach were best friends, to the point where we'd all be holding peanuts and she would run around us all to go find Rachel. 

 Rach also lost another tooth while we were there.....

 Kate tried to feed Daisy too but wasn't too sure about it....

 There's nothing better than jumping on a tramp in the middle of the forest.

 And now here's the best part.  Soccer has started again!!!  Can I just say that I LOVE being a soccer mom.  I love watching the kids and seeing how excited they get.  It is the best feeling in the world.  I hope they love it as much as I did growing up.  And this year I have 2 kids in soccer!  I know, complete bliss.  Here's Rach's uniform.  Her team name is the Tiger Leopards (don't ask) and she is loving it and doing so well.  I was voting for the name Highlighters but Tiger Leopards won out with the girls.  Still so cute....and on a side note.....why haven't the uniform companies figured out that some kids are just really skinny and YXS is still way too big?  Seriously folks.

 And then there's this boy. His first game ever this past Saturday.  He is so cute.  His team is named Lightning Flash.

 Even though he's the one on the outside of the bunch, we were just thinking he was the only one playing a position.  He may not be the most aggressive one out there but he watched the ball the whole time and had a blast.  He thinks he's pretty tough too.  I love that boy!

 We did have a fan club but Kate and Grandpa didn't even know what was going on around them.  This moment was too precious to pass up.

For the next 5 weeks our Saturdays will be full of soccer games and running from one to the other.  I can't think of a better way to spend those days.  

Yellowstone

So the Maughan reunion this year was at Yellowstone.  But we did it a little bit different and drove across the whole park staying in different places rather than just staying in one place.  So the first night we were in Jackson Hole.  Awwww, that's where Trav and I met.  Now look what we've done! 

 You gotta get the antler arch shot when you're there.

 We went looking for animals but the only one we saw was a fox that walked about a foot in front of Kate.  She could have pet it if she would have stuck her hand out but she didn't really care.  Of course I didn't have my camera.

 The next day was geyser day. 

 This is how Josh spent 90% of the trip. 

 His favorite buddy and cousin Tyrel was so awesome to carry that boy around.  These 2 are like brothers and I'm so grateful that Tyrel loves it just as much as Josh does. 

 Rachel tried to pull if off too, but that didn't last too long.

 This was too cute to pass up.  After 55 years of marriage they're still in love.  I have awesome in-laws.

 The crew waiting for Old Faithful.....

 There she blows!

 Josh blowing dragon breath......

 Then we stayed in this tiny little cabin in West Yellowstone.  Awww, cute little cabin.

 This day was dedicated to animal spotting.  It's so funny because when you see the first animals you get so excited.  I can tell there aren't as many animals there anymore.  We had to hunt for them.  But we finally made it to the right place and found some buffalo.  Here's Uncle Gary getting a good shot.

 Then they start walking right up to the car....

 Kate how big is the buffalo?

 Okay, this is starting to get ridiculous....

 Then Trav says to me, "I just saw that buffalo sit down.  I don't think they do that."  So I grabbed the binoculars and yep, that buffalo was a bear!  He started walking down the hill.....

 And kept getting closer....

 And closer.....Now, the kids and I were all huddled in the back of my brother in laws truck (because bears definitely can't reach you in there....I'm sure he's thinking "sack lunch")  Trav was across the street to take these pictures.  I couldn't see where he was and was starting to flip out a little. Josh was crying because he thought daddy was going to get eaten by a bear.  Finally the bear got close enough that we all crammed back into the cars.  He was just on the other side of the road.  I have never seen a bear like that before in the wild.  It was insane!  And totally scary.  Afterward Josh said he liked seeing the geese a lot better than the bear.

 Here's Annie Oakley Kate...

 At our last "cabin" a bunny lived right by it and the kids kept trying to sneak up to it.  Luckily it was a friendly bunny.

 And with all that driving (and no we don't have a DVD player in the car) you'd think the kids would have been awful and naughty.  Oh no.  Not these kids.  They had more fun on the road.  I took this picture on the trip HOME.  Yes, after 4 days and several hours in the car that day they were still having a blast.  What little cuties.