The last few months...

In reverse order (most recent first):

My parent's came to visit.  We had a great time at soccer games, shopping, getting pedicures and celebrating my mom's birthday.  It was so great to have them visit.  Dan's mom and sister, Joanna, came a few weeks earlier but somehow I didn't get any pictures.  We love having visitors!!

Halloween 2012 Superheroes
My dad found some great costumes for the boys several months before Halloween so we thought we'd just go with their theme.  We already had Mr. and Mrs. Incredible and a friend loaned us Jack-Jack or Dash, (he falls right between in age). Mackenzie got to pick hers out and it was perfect...pink and sparkly but still a superhero.

Soccer Season Fall 2012
That's Dane in goal and and then Brice kicking the ball.

Our "new" swingset (minus the swings still to come).  A friend was moving and offered it to whoever would come pick it up.  It took Dan 4 hours one Saturday just to take it apart and haul it back to our house.  It was a bit weathered so it took another week to sand and refinish the whole thing.  Then a good day to put it all together.  Other than the sanding equipment and stain it was free and worth all the work!

Krispy Kreme had a "Talk Like a Pirate Day" where you got a free donut for talking like a pirate.  But if you dressed up like one you got a dozen.  Thanks to my enthusiastic kiddos we brought home 4 dozen donuts!

 

 Nathan, Amber and kids stopped for a visit on their way to Utah.  It was fun to spend time with cousins.  We took them to M&M World...my kids favorite tourist attraction.

Our last trip to the beach!  We spent a week or so in California towards the end of the summer...

 

 

 

The coolest "zoo" ever!  Well for different reasons than normal. This is a tiny zoo about an hour north of Las Vegas called "Roos N More" We went as a group and got a great deal.  They had all sorts of "weird" animals like sloths, monkeys, kangaroos, emus, owls, bush babies, and otters.  The best part was we got to touch and/or hold almost every one of them.  Here are a few:

 

 

 

 

 

Brice got glasses!  I was a little shocked when he told me he couldn't read the hymn numbers from the 2nd row at church.  He is actually really excited about them and thinks he looks "stupid" withOUT them.  I am thankful that several of his favorite friends wore glasses first.

We had an unusually wet month (August?)with several really rainy days (not just hours).  Its so unusual here that it warrants some dancing in the rain almost always.

It took Luke the whole summer, but by the end he actually liked to swim, would jump into whoever would catch him and eventually even wore floaties.

Luke turned 2
He's not my baby (technically) anymore.  We made Monkey cupcakes for my sweet Lukey Monkey.

 

Here he is opening up "monkey wiggles" one of his favorite Wiggles movies.

Playing on his new phone, just like his daddy.

Mackenzie likes bugs.  People are surprised by the way she will touch and hold and let them crawl on her.

Mackenzie loves puzzles and and almost always has at least one out on the table that she's working on.  Luke likes to do his own puzzle right next to her.

Dan brought home a few boxes of his old GI Joe toys from his parent's garage.  Luke seemed to like them the most.  Here he has a different vehicle but it has GI Joes in it.

Emptying the pool means summer is really over.  Boo!