September 2015

There were several beautiful skies in September.  I can't get enough of them.

The boys and I went on a long Saturday bike ride and found some huge acorns.  Timmy's hair looked pretty cool when he took off his helmet.

The boys attended a friend's fun carnival birthday party.

Mark built more needed doors for the barn.  My job is to paint them.

One weekend Brian and Timmy thought it would be fun to clean up the yard and I couldn't believe they cleaned the whole thing on their own accord.

Timmy took some selfies on my phone while wearing a stick on mustache.

 Mark acquired a large hot tub for free and engineered a way to get it on our porch.

Much of our time in September was spent searching and searching for cellos for Brian and Timmy that would fit them, work, and not cost us a fortune.  We ordered online, borrowed from shops, sent back cellos that were not the right size or were broken etc.  Mark learned everything there is to know about cellos and became somewhat of a luthier.  He found some great deals on cellos online and he worked on them until they will work well for our little beginner cellists.

Our dining table was turned into a cello workshop for September and into October.

Brian and Timmy started cello lessons in September.  They are taking from the great teacher I had in high school.  I can't get over how adorable these boys are learning to play those tiny cellos.

I somewhat finished the mud room/office in time for all the weekday homework and Saturday morning music theory sessions.  I have plans for a world map on the middle window blinds in the future and painting the chairs white.  For now, I am just so happy it is now a super functional wonderful room with easy to clean floors.

Labor Day at Flaming Gorge

Our dear friends invited us to their family cabin at Flaming Gorge for the Labor Day Weekend this year.  It was one of our best vacations of the year!  We can't thank them enough!

We got there Friday evening in time to make dinner and for the kids to watch a movie in pajamas before bed.

The view from the cabin is spectacular.  Especially with the rainbows we saw each evening.

The next morning we relaxed and played for a bit and then headed to the river for some rafting.

I loved being on the river.  It was gorgeous!

We went about half way down the seven miles we were to float and stopped to play at a little beach.  The kids were in heaven!

Then we finished our rafting trip.  The last half Timmy was loving being at the front of the boat and Kevin kept pretending to throw him in the cold water.  Timmy thought it was so funny and he was getting so much attention that he decided to get even more attention by asking to jump in for real.  So I took off his top and Kevin dumped him in.

Despite the cold he was all smiles!

 After our river rafting we hung out at the cabin.  Swinging for the kids, bocce ball, and basketball were all part of our relaxing afternoon.

And more rainbows!

I sadly didn't get any good pictures, but each night after the kids went to bed we played some pretty intense games of mahjang.  It was beyond fun even though Kevin proved to be the best player.

Our little early riser kids would end up in front of the TV in the mornings while we got ready and breakfast going.

Wrestling with Mark is always a good time for all the kids.  I don't know how he manages to pin them all at the same time.

One day we went down to the Flaming Gorge Dam for a tour.  The boys thought is was very cool!

Then we headed over to Vernal to the Dinosaur National Monument to see the famous wall of bones.  This was a first for our family and perfect for two little boys interested in paleontology.

Back at the cabin it was another movie night for the kids as we were packing up and heading out the next morning.  It was an amazing fun weekend with the best of friends!