We like September

 I don't remember why but Henry wanted to try out Sarah's bike. I thought he'd be embarrassed to ride a girl's bike but all he commented on was the difference in the placement of the handlebars.

So Sarah tried out his. After this she tried my bike and liked it so much that's what she's riding to school now. I think it's weird that I have a child big enough to ride my bike.

Most mornings James lies in the middle of the kitchen floor while we are getting ready for school. It's like the room is so crazy that he might as well just lie down and make it even harder.

"I'm not going to feel bad if you get stepped on," I say everyday.

He's getting really good at his new bike. He saw a real live motorcycle that looked just like this and he was so excited.

He's tried it without the training wheels a couple of times but didn't like it so I put them back on. We'll try again soon.

I bottled 21 jars of pears. I like bottling pears much more than peaches because 1. no bugs or worms 2. easier to peel and no pits, just seeds.I don't remember why I took this picture. Maybe it's because she's dipping ritz crackers in cottage cheese.

And at the other end of the table James was devouring a peach.

Sarah bought some air dry clay with some money she's earned babysitting for the neighbors. Erica did not like the texture.

Since it's not so blazing hot around lately the kids can actually go outside more. James made a rollercoaster out of sidewalk chalk.

Here is demonstrating going down it.

This is James's job chart he made up. Erica helped him. If he cleans his room 16 times he gets a Kong Kone at Macey's. I couldn't say no to that.

One morning I found Erica asleep in the recliner in her room. We don't have anywhere else for my recliner so it's still in there. I've fallen asleep in it many a time feeding my babies in the middle of the night.

Henry's football season is coming to a close. They played their last regular season game on Saturday.

They didn't win but they played really well. It's been fun to see his team get better over the past few weeks. Henry plays his heart out every game and he is so fast! 

Erica and my mom drawing together. Erica drew a house and asked my mom to draw one too.

Sunday evening Justin asked who wanted to go for a ride up the mountains. James heard him first and didn't want him to ask anyone else. So the two of them went. (The other kids and I rode scooters around the neighborhood and played Life.)

Kindred mountain spirits, these two.

Yesterday the kids got out at noon so Justin decided to leave work early too and we drove up the canyon to eat dinner and go on a hike. 

How does Henry get so dirty??

Erica fell in the water and got drenched from head to toe. Luckily she had extra clothes in the car.

And James was just happy to be in the mountains just like his dad.

My neighbor/friend/Sarah's piano teacher dropped of this little bouquet of flowers she grew in her garden. It makes me so happy! Maybe I should try growing flowers besides tulip bulbs.

Labor Day Weekend

James got a real bike from Papa's yard sale shopping. This was his first bike with pedals. Even though he dominates his balance bike and can pedal a trike, for some reason it took him a couple of days to get it down but then he was off! Next step is to get those training wheels off.

Saturday we went to the Hill Aerospace Museum at Hill Airforce Base near Ogden. I wanted to go all summer and it finally opened back up in August so we planned to go Saturday. For the record, Sarah and Henry had the worst attitude about getting ready that morning. "I really don't feel like going to look at airplanes." and "But I had plans today" (Plans?? You're 11. You don't get to have plans.) I tried to guilt them into being nice, you know, the I-do-so-much-for-you-and-how-often-do-we-do-something-I-want-to-do shpill. When they still pouted and dragged their feet I finally said I didn't care how they felt about it. I. Don't. Care. I don't care if you're bored or you're missing time with friends. I don't care if it is physically painful for you to be so bored and uninterested. I want to go and we're going. And if you're going to be a jerk about it, I'll remember this next time we go somewhere you want to go and make it miserable for you. Okay, I didn't say that last part but I was thinking it.

Guess who loved every airplane? Every single one of them. Henry even read all the plaques to find the fastest ones.

The big planes are outside the building. And by big I mean tires taller than my nearly 4-year-old.

And taller than my nearly 12-year-old

This plane is parked over the sidewalk so we limboed under it.

Pretty sure we're not supposed to hang on that.

Pretty sure we weren't supposed to be on there.

I liked the face on this one.

Inside they have super old planes (think Wright brothers and Indiana Jones) all the way up to drones.

James liked this one because it is striped like a tiger.

This can go mach 2. I think it's the fastest plane we saw.

We saw the whole collection in an hour. The kids loved it all so I win. Now I want to watch Top Gun.

From there we got lunch and drove through a sketchy part of Ogden to find a not-so-sketchy park. 

I wonder how I can make a tree grow this way.

I want my backyard to have shade like this.

James had some fun with my camera.

Then we drove up Ogden canyon because I had never been there before. It is a very pretty, narrow canyon. 

We continued to take the "backway" passing Pineview and Echo reservoirs and coming home through Provo canyon. It is a very pretty drive but would have been even prettier in the early summer when it's greener or maybe in a couple more weeks for the fall leaves.

Sunday we had dinner at Justin's parents house and were lucky to see his grandpa. He turns 95 next week!

Monday morning Justin and Henry went grouse hunting and his dad and brother. 

This is such a pretty view but all the smoke makes me sad.

That evening we heard that the mountain by Hobble Creek canyon was on fire so of course we had to get in the car to get a better look. Fire season is always so sad and scary and I get so tired of the smoky skies. A huge storm came in this night and the rain put out the fire but it will be sad to look at until spring.

Then James got stung by a wasp so we left in a rush. Kind of a weird end to the holiday weekend.