September (and the end of August)

Started 2nd grade.  So far he likes it, and loves his teacher.
1st grade was a little rough, so we are all thrilled.

Audrey started Kindergarten.
Bridget always has to take something wherever she goes, and keeps asking when she can go to Kindergarten.

We spent one night at Strawberry and had a blast!

We were excited to find a pick-you-own raspberry patch about 45 minutes away.
It was fun, but Grandma's raspberries are better.

The girls have entered major destruction mode.  They get into everything, and draw on EVERYTHING.
It's driving me crazy.

Did I mention she learned how to ride her bike this summer?
Now she's riding like a pro.

Dakota (and all the neighborhood boys) love riding their bikes and doing tricks on our dirt in the front yard.
I wanted to plant flowers there, but Adam wants to make the bike track even better.  He'll win.  And I'm OK with that.

MOAB

After the Twin Lakes run, I pretty much quit running.  Apparently I need to sign up for races to stay motivated.  (Even though I really love to run!)  Dakota has wanted to do a run for a while, so I decided to search for a 10k for me that also had a kids run.  I was pretty excited to find one in Moab at the end of September, and asked Adam if he wanted to go.  Then he discovered a century bike ride on the same day, and we decided to make a family vacation out of it.  We were so excited his parents decided to join us (and not only because they watched the kids while I ran).  We had a blast.  We plan on spending a lot of time in Moab in the future.

I was impressed with the kids run.  They had the cross country team lead the kids in stretches, and the 1k run.
Dakota had fun, and was really excited to get 3rd place!  He wants to sign of for more runs, and do a 5k sometime.

Apparently the bike ride was a tough one.  Adam, Vicki, and Rich all rocked it.
I'm so mad I missed the picture when Adam's arms were both held up high as him came in!  Stupid phone.

Adams parents, the kids, and I went to dead horse point hoping to find Adam.
Next time we'll know more about the ride route.  We enjoyed the views while there.

I just couldn't leave Moab without going to Arches National Park, so we stopped by on our way out of town.
We didn't stay long, but it was worth it.  Next time we'll plan better.

This boy turned 8!  He was very excited to get money for his birthday.
He is very, very excited to get baptized.  Even though he has to wait until November.
At 8 years old Dakota only weighs 40 pounds.  His pediatrician and I thought it was just genetics, but decided to do a bone age test "just in case".  The results were concerning enough that we scheduled an endocrinologist appointment for him... which isn't until the end of February.

Dakota wanted a Lego Birthday party this year.  He planned the party with very little help.
This is his "pin the lego guy on the tower" game.
I don't want to know what those guys he drew are doing.  This next phase of life is going to be interesting.