PRESCHOOL

Grayer started Preschool this week!!! 

He goes on Tuesday and Thursday mornings for a few hours.

His teacher's name is Mrs Poulsen. 

He is doing great so far! 

My favorite part is the car ride home after preschool, because he is excited to report on his day at school!!!

Birthday Fun!

At the end of August Andy surprised me with a Birthday trip to Toronto, Canada!

Toronto is about 3 hours away from us so we left the night before my Birthday and stayed in a hotel that night, where we went swimming and had pizza and chocolate milk for dinner. 

The next morning I woke up to Andy and Grayer decorating my hotel Birthday door!!

 

Our plan for the day was to go to the "African Lion Safari" but before we went we wanted to quickly (although it was so busy it wasn't quick) drive through downtown Toronto. WOW!!!     

 After passing 2 Ikeas and resisting the urge to stop and shop we finally made it to the Safari.

For those of you who have been to "Bear World" in Idaho the Safari is like that only A LOT bigger. It took us 2 hours to drive through it. 

It was way super cool!!

The Cheetahs where one of our favorite animals to see. We got a good view and stopped and watch them for a while. (Some of the pictures have a glare because I had to take them through the car window -- sorry).

 

The Baboons got lazy and hitched a ride with some of the cars:) 

Grayer having the time of his life sitting in the passenger seat and watching all the animals.

This was an animal that neither Andy nor I had seen before, it is called a Sichuan Takin.

 They come from China and India

 

After the Safari there was more fun awaiting us... 

We went to a Bird show and to an Elephant show.

 

Then Grayer jumped into a ball pit that was by the playground on our way to the ginormous splash pad!

 

It took me forever to convince Grayer to take off his shirt. He didn't want to be "nakey", but his shirt wasn't slippery enough to slide down the slides so he was getting upset. I pointed out that all the other boys didn't have shirts on and that must of convinced him because he took it off a few minutes later.

 

It was a long day of fun together as a family!! I was one lucky Birthday Girl:)

Girls Camp

I went to our Stake Girls Camp this past week as a year leader!! I had a lot of fun being with the girls and even more fun being with the other leaders!!!! It is amazing how grown women can laugh and giggle like we are back in Junior High.  

All the 3rd year girls with us leaders

girls and leaders in cabin #2 

Sick Boy

GRAYER IS SICK:(

He woke up yesterday with a cough, runny nose, and fever. We stayed home from church so he wouldn't spread his germs. Today he woke up fever free but still has a cough and runny nose. 

It is hard to explain to a 3 year old that he is sick so he needs to stay home, not play with friends, and just take it easy.

So, besides our game of hide and seek this morning we are trying to do quiet and calm activities today:)

Here's one of them...

Finishes product out to dry!

Pageant Time

We got to go to the Hill Cumorah Pageant again this year! The week that it was being performed was one of the hottest weeks we have had so far this summer and to top it off the humidity was like 50-70%. So we were a little worried that it would be miserable to sit through the performance. But, the day that we planned to go ended up being a cooler day which made it a perfect evening to sit together under a blanket and watch the Hill Cumorah Pageant!!!!

These girls are two of my Mia Maids
(We don't know the guy on the left but he played Lemuel in the Pageant)

After Pageant a man that was directing traffic (both cars and pedestrians)
 let Grayer help him by holding the glow stick thing:)

Visitors from Indiana

A couple weeks ago my sister, Megan, and her family drove clear from Indiana to visit us here in New York!!! I had been asking Megan to come and visit for a long time but the timing just never really worked out, but one day she called me and asked if they could come visit... I think I screamed/squealed in the phone because I was so excited!!! So they safely made the long drive, and we began our week of fun!

The first day they were here we mostly stayed at home and let the kids play, play, play. Then that night we got a baby-sitter for the kids and the adults headed out to do a session at the Palmyra Temple. It was really nice to be in the Temple with family!

The next day I took Megan to Zumba and then we headed to a salon to get Megan's hair cut!! She was brave and got a pixie cut, it turned out super duper cute!!! After we got home and revealed her "new do" (which everyone loved) we headed back out to Palmyra for lunch at the famous "Chill and Grill" and then on to the church sites!

Sisters!! 

 Chill and Grill is mostly known for their huge portions of ice cream. The cone that Grayer is holding below is  half a kiddie cone... yes you read that right, it is HALF of a KIDDIE CONE!

  After lunch we went to the Grandin Building where the Book or Mormon was first printed and published. 

Most books back then were paper bound (white books) but Joseph Smith chose to have the Books of Mormon leather bound (books on left side on the bottom).

 This was Mr. Grandin's (the owner of the print shop) office

 Grayer with cousins Maggie and Eva 

 One of the original Books of Mormon, next to the Bible

 

Grayer and Maggie in the printing room 

Now with Eva 

 I thought this was way cool, the Ink marks on the door and wall are original!! 

                            

 Andy and Grayer in the room where they constructed and bound the books.

 

The next day we headed to a beach on Lake Ontario, and it was such a hit that we went back to the beach again the next day too!!! 

 

Grayer loved having Baby Beau at our house

p.s. the band-aid is Grayer's way of accessorizing:) 

He is not really hurt.

Digging tunnels in the sand with Uncle Justin

Sandy Bum!

Grayer was having some swim suit troubles.
Good thing he has a cute bum:)

Sandy Toes!

A fun day at the beach finished off with some ice cream sandwiches, what could be better? 

Oh, and Megan and I went one morning to pick Strawberries, this is one box of two that we picked.

Thanks Whiting Family for the fun week, we are so glad you came!!!