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Walking to a Waterfall

Squish has my whole heart! He's so much fun and is close to standing up. I seriously can't believe he's almost one. 

After a little over a year, Lydia finally got her braces off. She has a permanent retainer on the bottom but  says her teeth feel so much better. Happy day! Love that beautiful smile. 

Cute kids on our Sunday walk. Atticus, Livy, Allie, Tessa, Aaron, Hudson and Lydia.

Allie made a pirate costume during quiet time. Pretty creative!

The kids and I went to save seats for the Children's Theatre and as we were walking back to the car, remembered Nibley City's Chalk the Walk event. So we stayed for a while and drew pictures all about The Misfit Pirate.

We finished up and walked to our car. It was then that I realized the keys were no longer in the stroller. I had put them in the cup holder and remembered I let Hudson push the stroller all over the park. He even tipped it over a few times so they could have been anywhere. I started to feel a bit of panic as the sun was setting and I had no idea where to look. I told the kids to start looking on the grass while I combed the wood chips. After 40 minutes we still hadn't found them. I was almost in tears by this point and the boys were starting to melt down. I called Loren and he came to help look. We really needed to get home. 
  I said a prayer but was still feeling angry at Hudson for losing the keys, even though it wasn't his fault. Lydia came over and started crying thinking we'd be stuck at the park forever. I told her to say a prayer because Heavenly Father knew where the keys were. She quieted down and after a few minutes ran off towards the amphitheater. I had already thoroughly checked that area so I went back to combing over the wood chips for the tenth time.  All of the sudden, Lydia came sprinting down the sidewalk with the keys in her hand! I couldn't believe it! She was beaming as she told me that after she said a prayer, a thought came to check the stairs by the amphitheater. She did, and there they were!
I kept thinking how amazing it was that Heavenly Father took the time to answer my nine year old's prayer to find some missing keys. It strengthened both our testimonies and helped us remember that Heavenly Father is always there for us and truly loves us.

We had a lovely afternoon up at Stokes Nature Center the other day with my mom. Being in nature is so healing for me.





Lydia in her element. She brought her nature journal and drew everything she saw. Different types of plants, rocks, flowers, hummingbirds and even the water. I absolutely love it. 


Allie's masterpiece on my hair.

    This year's Children's Theatre was called The Misfit Pirate and I can say it was one of my favorites so far. Allie was a twinkling star and Lydia was Melucine the Mermaid. Lydia sang a special part of the mermaid song and got to be more a part of the show. She loved it and can't wait to try out for a speaking part again. There were 230 kids in it this year, which is the most there's ever been. It was a really cute show. 



Allie is in the front row second from the right.


Lydia and her friend, Ruth.



Our neighbor put on a concert the other evening. His band plays classic rock from the 80's and 90's. They were really good!

Lydia fractured her elbow jumping off the tramp. Sigh. We'll get a cast on tomorrow and will find out how long she needs it on for. I'm hoping only four weeks but I guess we'll see. Poor girl. 

Allie's first love note from the neighbor boy. At least he has ambition. 


One of our favorite places to go in the summer is Denzil Stewart Nature Park. So many places to explore!

Lydia LOVES grasshoppers and has collected quite a few. I think they're gross but don't have the heart to make her get rid of them. So there they sit on the counter.

Squish is 11 months!



On Saturday I was feeling spontaneous and told Loren I wanted to hike Richards Hollow. We called Chris and Kristen and they were in too. I hadn't been there since before I was married so I had completely forgotten how to get there and what the trail was like. Turns out we had to drive three miles on a super rocky dirt road to get to the trailhead. Which doesn't sound like much but when you're driving 8 mph, took us 20 minutes. We finally reached the trailhead and started on our way. The trail was pretty steep and I kept expecting it to level out but it never did. We crossed three heavy flowing streams and actually made it 1.8 miles to the waterfall. I was so proud of the kids! It was really hard but they kept going. I was grateful Chris, Kristen, Aaron and Landon were there too because I don't know if we would have made it all the way without them. The trail itself was beautiful with wildflowers and green trees and brush everywhere. We only had one mishap where Livy fell in the river, but thankfully it was a warm day and she dried pretty quick. It was a fun memory and I hope we make more like it. It's good to push our kids a little bit and show them they can do hard things. They were really proud to know they hiked four miles on a steep trail. 








I was proud of Lydia for doing it one handed! She never complained at all. I sure love her.


Aaron






We made it! I remember going on lots of hikes with my cousins during the summer when I was a kid. It's fun to be able to create those same memories with mine. 









 

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