Fall is fast approaching

I know I have said this before, but we love our local library. The kids always have a great time at the library activities

 Sometimes we take the kids to WalMart in the evenings and let them run loose in the toy isles

 This cute little girl LOVES band aids. She can always find an owie that needs a band aid. She got a little scrape on her face and has insisted that she have a band aid on it. 

We joke that she is our little rapper

She looks even more cool with a unicorn bike helmet

 I think this mask suits her well

 What a baller

 Lyza invited her primary teacher to go to the library and the park with her

 She really loves sister Mitchell

 Last weekend I went to an estate planning conference in Sun Valley, Idaho. It is a little ski resort town two and a half hours north east of Boise. It was nice to see a different part of the state, but I don't like being away from my family.

 Kim has started doing pre-school activities with Lyza (and of course Nixon). They focus on a single letter and have lots of activities based on that letter

 She is doing a good job learning how to write her letters 

 Elmo starts with E

 We had a dryer malfunction this week and as I was in the laundry room fixing it Nixon was watching and talking to me underneath the door. Silly boy

 We had a great family home evening lesson this week on reverence at church. Lyza really enjoyed it

 Cute kids

 Nixon got his Halloween costume this week. Recently he has been crawling around and barking like a puppy all the time. When Kim had the kids in the store looking at costumes Nixon saw this puppy costume and FREAKED OUT. When Kim got him home and put it on him he was so happy. He was barking and crawling all over the place.

 Kim got crafty this week and made this new bow holder and stained a little Ikea book shelf to put Lyza's hair accessories in. This is now hanging in the bathroom out of reach of Mr. Nixon.

Kim babysat for some friends while I was away and Lyza and one of the girls who is 5 had the silliest conversations together. Here they are telling "jokes" to each other

Sometimes these kids get their second wind right when we think it is time for them to go to bed

That's all for now. Take care

Keeping Up With the Keyes (KUWTK)

We always enjoy when these two play nicely together

This is me doing one of my favorite things with Lyza. Lately reading books has been going a  lot more slowly because Lyza always has lots of questions about what is going on

Here is our little girl with one of her rescued earth worms

Here is Lyza wearing the new dress that her Mom and Grandma made her

Lyza gave this scripture in Primary and did a great job

Lyza also gave a talk in primary recently and did an amazing job!

What a handsome little man!

One adorable thing that Mr. Nixon has been doing recently is covering his mouth with both hands when he laughs

Sometimes these kids wait until just before bed time to play nicely and calmly. I think they do that to really test us and our commitment to consistent bed times

On Labor (or Labour) Day I had an unexpected project building a little bench for our garage for a place for the kids to put on and take off there shoes for the winter season when it gets wet and snowy. With the help of my beautiful foreman/forewoman and a design on Pinterest, this is what we came up with

That same day Kim cleaned out some cupboards with kids activities and found these sticker pages. She gave them to Lyza and she happily played with them for about three hours. I guess it is true that absence makes the heart grow fonder

We are having a bit of a tough stage here at home because Nixon can open all of our doors. He got into some of Kim's lipstick and drew all over our carpet in the family room. Luckily we got most of it out. Our solution of child proofing the door knobs isn't perfect because that keeps Lyza from being able to open the doors. So when she needs to go potty or wants to play in her room she needs help opening the door. Hopefully something changes here soon because it is getting a little bit ridiculous.

Cookies taste the best when these two help

We had a couple of my coworkers and their kids over for a beach day. Here is Nixon pulling one of the kids around in his wagon

Two things Nixon does when he is playing is somersaults and pretending he is a puppy. This video shows some of both

This is his newest trick on the swing set

Nixon also loves getting thrown into the air

Nixon also loves this game with his mama

That's all for now. Take Care.

Summer Fun in Welling

A couple weeks ago Kim and the kids took a trip to Welling to see family. This was Nixon's first trip with his car seat facing forward

 They made a stop at Sparwood on the way up and saw "The World's Largest Truck"

 The kids had lots of fun running around under it

 Lyza took this picture, she might have a future in photography

 All of that fun tired them out

 When they arrived in Welling they were treated to a yummy birthday dinner for Kim's birthday the day before

 Nixon had no problems warming up to his grandparents

 They made it just in time for the end of the corn harvest. Lyza enjoyed helping Grandma pick the corn.

 She also made a little furry friend in the corn patch (caterpillar on her arm).

 The kids couldn't wait to try out Great Grandpa's toys

Lyza was helping Grandma work on her puzzles

Nixon was really impressed with this toy

 Excited to sit with Grandpa when he got home from work.

 Meanwhile, I got to enjoy some time to myself. Photo credits go to Lyza on this one.

 Love these beautiful fields!

But Nixon wasn't impressed with how poky the wheat was.

 There were many hours spent jumping on the trampoline

 Kim's cousin Krystal made it out for a visit

 This was Nixon's first ice cream cone (that he got to eat all by himself from start to finish), he thought it was pretty fantastic.

 Lyza is a pro with these things

 Pj's on, reading some scriptures, and then bedtime!

 Thanks for the fun visit Krystal! Looks like Nixon has his bedtime shoes on?

 Lyza was allowed to bring one friend on our trip to sleep with. Sharp Tooth would naturally be the first choice of any little girl 

 Grandma and Grandpa's house is exhausting

 The kids had a fun day at the Coaldale splash park/wading pool

They had to keep a close eye on this little guy, he was fearless in the pool!

He even jumped into the pool all by himself when no one was watching, but of course that one didn't make it on video ;)

 Some snacks at the pool

 Goofing around with Grandma and Great Grandpa

 Kim was really sad to miss her good friend Annie's wedding earlier this year but had a great time catching up with her and her husband during their trip

 Lyza made a special order of moose pancakes for breakfast

 Our newest niece Hailey! She sure is a sweet little girl, Kim enjoyed all the snuggles

 New born yawns are super cute!

 Nixon was fascinated with her 

He had to point out all of her body parts

 He was pretty excited about "holding" her. He even snuck in a little kiss after this picture. Since Hailey doesn't have an older brother I think Nixon will gladly volunteer to fulfill that roll. 

 Happy grandma

 Playing at the park by Kevin and Amanda's

 Lyza thought Hailey was pretty great too

Stop for dinner at Dairy Queen on the way home from Calgary. Lyza always has fun eating at "restaurants" 

This lucky girl sure got spoiled! 

Lyza had been playing outside one morning. At one point Kim looked out the window and couldn't see her anymore. After going outside and looking around Kim found she had been hanging out in the garden with Great Grandma. Can't blame her :)

Making some play doh with Grandma

 Of course Lyza wanted it to be green

One of our favorite things to have at Grandmas is her homemade rolls. It didn't take Nixon long to figure out what a treat they are. 

 Checking out the cat tails

 Sun flowers

 Our beautiful girl

Lyza was so excited to get up on the quad with Grandpa. Although, once she got up there she didn't want him to drive...she just wanted to talk. Typical Lyza

 Lots of different books to read.

 It's nice to get a few snuggles from this boy when you can convince him to stop running around.

Kim and the kids celebrateGrandpa's 89th birthday! Kim's birthday is just 6 days before, but he's got 60 years on her. Doesn't he look great!

 Picture with the great grand kids

 Grandma gave Kim this beautiful plate for her birthday. It was given to them for their wedding.

 More sleeping with sharp tooth 

 Kim looked in my rear view mirror on the drive home at one point and saw this. <3

 Stopped and played at a park in Fernie on the way home. They had this awesome train there 

 All good things must come to an end. Kim came home to smoky Idaho, but it did rain the next day and help things clear up a little 

It is pretty obvious that they had a great trip. But its good to have them home

Take care