Temple Square

While we were in Utah we got to go to Temple Square to be with Mallory for her first time to the temple.  I had never been inside the Salt Lake Temple so it was pretty neat for me too.  It is amazing to think about the pioneers and early church members who struggled for so long and then came to Salt Lake and spent the next 40 years building a beautiful building.  It is amazing inside!   After the temple session Brandon and I walked around Temple Square for a few minutes (really we were trying to take a "shortcut" to our car, and it ended up taking us around the whole Temple Grounds)...but we did enjoy being there together and having a fun night out.

 

Princess Garden Party

Ella got invited to her friend Katie's Princess Tea Party Birthday.  It was so sweet!  All the girls dressed as princesses and brought their babies to this garden party where they sat under the trees to read some stories and have a fancy lunch on fancy plates.  It was adoreable!  I love that Ella has such good little girlfriends to grow up with.

Grandparents Day

On Friday September 16th Monaco Elementary School hosted Grandparents Day for all the students and their Grandparents. Brody was a very lucky boy to have all 4 of his grandparents able to go with him. They went and had breakfast and then he was able to show them his classroom before school started...it was really early! We are so thankful for wonderful Grandparents!

First Day of Preschool!

The Little Princess started Preschool this morning and loved every minute of it! She was up and ready to go when we took Brody to Kindergarten and kept asking when it was time to go. She is a cutie pie and I wish she'd slow down and not grow so fast!!

Ella showing off her school backpack and new outfit

Ella with her two good friends Taelee and Isabella

First Day of Kindergarten!

We were up early (for us)! Brody was happy when he woke up, although he did tell me I was waking him up too early. Both kids got dressed and had breakfast and we hurried to be out the door by 7:30. He did great! He remembered where his classroom was and he was so excited to see his friend Jacelyn sitting next to him. He saw her and said, "Ok, bye mom, bye dad." And we left. Ella was the one who was the most upset. She was bummed to have to come home with me, she said that would be boring. We will have to figure out this routine, but we'll get it and hopefully I won't be boring.

Last Friday Brody said to Brandon: "Dad in two days you and mom are going to be old because I am going to start school...but, if you have another baby then we will pretend like it never happened." We were laughing so hard!

Brody all ready for school.In front of his classroom also known as the lady bug room Sitting at his desk next to Jacelyn.

We can't wait until 3:00 to hear about his day!

Back to School Feast

To end our fun weekend we had a back to school feast with treats and crowns. We decorated our crowns after church and all of us had one (even Brandon and I - although we didn't manage to get any pictures of those!) We had some of the kids favorites, along with a new recipe I tried of Spicy Peach BBQ sauce and topped it off with Rice Krispie Treats. After getting everything cleaned up Brandon gave each of the kids a Fathers Blessing to help comfort them as they start this school year. Brody went to bed full of questions and you could tell he was getting more and more nervous! We were glad we could end the summer with so many family memories.

Great Wolf Lodge

After leaving the museum we went and checked into the Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine, TX. Mom, Dad, Steph and Matt met us there to have a great time! You walk in and it is like a Casino-type resort for kids and tweens! There is a giant indoor water park with all sorts of slides and toys, and a wave pool. The highlight for everyone was that it was mostly INDOORS! That meant no sunscreen, and they kept it at 84 degrees...a whole lot better than the 107 it has been outside! This was a HOT summer (hottest we've ever had since moving here), and we were grateful to have the chance to play in the water without being in the heat! There was a giant tree house with water spraying in every direction, and above it was a giant bucket that held 1000 gallons of water. Once that bucket filled up it dumped on everything beneath it! Ella coming down the slide all by herself! Grandpa Mullin and the kids

Our group (minus Stephanie and Matt)

Brody would go on any slide he could. He was a brave boy! He was barely tall enough to go on all but two of the slides. We took him on one slide where 4 people sit in a raft and it would slide up the sides of the tube...around the first corner we slid so far up on the side that Brody's little body fell forward towards the center of the raft. After that the ride wasn't nearly as fun for me - I kept trying to hold Brody in the raft. We didn't take him on that one again! But, he did try all the others and he loved them (and he stayed in the tubes during the ride!) Ella LOVED this blue slide! She would go up the stairs and wait in line all by herself. She'd do it over and over! Ella loved all the independece she found climbing the ladders and going down the slides by herself.

Part of our crowd lounging in the wave pool. This was a favortie of Brody and Ella. Ella even curled up with Brandon in a tube on Saturday and fell asleep - in the water! On our way out we were wet and tired. It was a GREAT time!