Last bits of Summer

 Maverick does not like Taylor Swift.

Summer hail storm

Autumn being a mother hen during scripture reading.

Maverick drew this picture of his dad.  Maverick doesn't like to draw/color as much as Autumn did so this picture is rare.

My brother Noah was driving from our family reunion in Idaho back to his home in Washington D.C. and stopped by our house for a night.  Autumn took this top picture and skillfully cropped out Violet because Autumn didn't want her in the picture.

After we grocery shop the kids get to ride the 1 penny pony.  I give them 3 pennys but they still like to share and make good use of their money.

Autumn and I playing "pictionary" on a cold summer day.

We visited the new botanical garden and found a new boot.

Maverick and Violet at the Children's Village

Patrick and Elizabeth came for a visit before heading out on their honeymoon.  Patrick and Evan also went over to the ninja gym in town after putting the kids in bed.

We went to an eclipse viewing get together at a friend's house.

a little eclipse face painting

This is pretty much what these two did during the eclipse.

Lark figured out how to open the back yard fence.  So I had to add a bungee cord.

Lark loves playing in the backyard.  She loves to climb to the top of the play set, but she is too afraid to climb down on her own.  She often gets happily "stuck" up there for a good amount of time.

Playing dress up

We went to the children's museum in Fort Collins with some friends.  Autumn didn't get to come though, because she was at school. Maverick liked this train table, but mostly he just liked hanging out with his buddy Hyrum.

Violet liked the music area

These two decided to be "matchy-matchy"one day.

I took these two grocery shopping one Saturday.  Autumn kept asking me to bury her in the groceries.  We had a big plan to scare the check-out guy, but the T.P fell off her face so she didn't get to yell "boo", plus all my laughing probably gave it away.

Autumn starts school

August 29th was Autumn's first day of kindergarten.  She goes full day and her teacher is Ms. House.  Autumn was very excited to start school, not even a tad nervous.  I expected her to come home from school the first day very tired, but I was wrong.  She comes home from school most days demanding that I make up some sort of homework or project for her to complete.  She has a hard time falling asleep at night now because she's been so hyped up all day.  Autumn is definitely an extrovert.  She does not like P.E, but really enjoys art and library "specials".  She is also learning how to code in computer class, but I haven't heard much about that.  The other kids don't seem to miss Autumn too much, but are glad when she is home.  

I do not enjoy having to take her to school and pick her up everyday, but mostly the later.  Maverick and Violet hate getting in the car at the end of the day and then I have to unload all of them since I physically have to pick her up.  I'm not looking forward to when the weather gets cooler.  I also hate not knowing what is going on during Autumn's day.  She was told on the first day of school she wasn't allowed to eat part of her lunch since it was a "snack" even though I packed her snacks separately and I told her as much.

"Do I have to take a picture?"

OH, and nothing like a stack of papers mom has to fill out and a typo that makes mom look like an idiot.

Elizatrick

Evan's brother got married! We traveled down to Estes Park, Colorado for the shin dig a couple days early to spend time with family.  We stayed in a three bedroom cabin at the YMCA of the Rockies, which may not have been the Ritz Carlton, but they made the dish clothes look like flowers.

The got their Saturday afternoon and after we checked in we explored a bit.  I took the older kids to the playground, craft center, and the museum.  

Patrick stayed with us that night and in the morning they made up a game of "TV".  They pretended the large picture window was a television and they pretended to "act" on TV and "watch" TV.

Later that day Evan and Autumn went on a hike, but Autumn ended up puking after the bus ride to the trail head.  So Evan and Autumn sat at the trial head for three hours for their ride to finish the hike and bring them back.  I stayed with Lark, Maverick, and Violet and we checked out the game room and took naps.

When all the hikers got back we did a huge kickball game.  The "Norby" team was getting creamed since we let all the little kids play until Evan's cousin showed up with their 4 teen age kids.  We tied up the score and then got rained out. It was a real nail biter.  Then the bride's family hosted a cook-out and s'mores.  I stayed behind so all the kids could get a good nights rest before the big day.  Autumn went to bed at 5 PM that night.  I read lots of Calvin Hobbes (since that is the only book I brought.  Well it was luckily randomly left in my car) and ate popcorn.  

Autumn woke up at 7 am which a bit of a sleep in for her.  She ate breakfast than went back to bed for another hour.

Linda and Meagan putting the finishing touches on the reception site.

I don't naturally appreciate the beauty of the earth, but I'm working on it. Patrick and Elizabeth (Elizatrick) got married in a meadow in Rocky Mountain National Park. It was beautiful!

 Maverick and uncle Patrick "Twinning"

We were really concerned that it was going to rain during the ceremony since it rained every afternoon we were.  Luckily it was overcast!  We didn't need sunscreen or an umbrella.

Evan's sister Meagan.

Evan's youngest brother Cameron and his girlfriend.

Evan's aunt and uncle

Shark loved all the flowers? Weed? Brush?

Evan's parents.  Evan's mom wore this same dress to Evan's residency graduation. Except she dyed it blue for the event.  Genius.

Since they got married in the national park we weren't allowed to bring in seating.  First time I sat on a blanket at a wedding.

Lark was easily entertained by my feet and shoes during the ceremony.

By this point Violet, Maverick, and Autumn were all not feeling well.

Sara and Cameron sang a beautiful song accompanied by Evan's dad as part of the ceremony.

At the end of the ceremony all the guests surrounded the couple for a celebration with bubbles.  Also a first at a wedding and I feel like everyone should do bubbles at a wedding this way.

 This pretty much sums up our weekend!  Weddings with kids is super hard and stressful.  Weddings are just not designed for children.  I can't imagine what it would have been like if all of them were feeling 100% all weekend.

The Norbys

Sara was so helpful during the reception with Violet.  They are good buddies.  (Violet ate a mint and looked like she lost a few teeth)

Now this one was a handful and all over the place during the reception.

Evan was master of ceremony for the reception and also gave a toast to the groom.

This was during the daddy daughter dance.

Mother- Son dance

Autumn fell asleep during dinner, but the music woke her up.  She "danced" for one song then went back to sleep.

I'm so thankful the venue had a couple of random couches so I didn't have to leave the reception early.

Now Violet on the other hand was a ball of energy all night.

Each table was named after a different national park the table runner (that apparently was moved-probably to keep out of my kids' reach) is from Peru, where Patrick and Elizabeth started their "love story".  I love when couples put their own personal stamp on their weddings. 

I finally found something that kept Lark busy during the reception (she also refused to sleep).

The next morning we quickly checked out of our cabin and headed home.