Labor Day Weekend

Because Shay doesn't have school on Friday and doesn't have a class to teach either, our Labor Day weekend began at noon on Thursday. It was wonderful to have a 4 day weekend as a family. Shay still had lots of studying to do and editing on videos, but it was very nice to have him home for 4 whole days. Here is what we did...

While mom was away surprising Kerstin at the finish line of her half marathon, Emilie was doing this...

The kids were having a snack of cucumbers in vinegar. Emilie really is enjoying it, she was just making a cheesy face.

On Sunday, we went and enjoyed sitting on the lawn of the temple.

Nicholas took this picture and I just thought it was too funny.

And he took this one too.

And this one.

And this one.

Here is our cute Em standing in front of the temple. I think this would be cute to include in her wedding video someday.

I was trying to get them to stand apart holding hands, it sorta of worked.

Then Nicholas decided to be silly.

Oh, this is out of order. We hung our curtains on Saturday. Not a very good picture, but I am so excited to have them up I had to include it. It makes our home feel a little more complete and makes those windows not look so bare.

On Labor Day we spent the morning a little more low key. Nicholas has discovered the games on daddy's ipod touch and loves to play them. Emilie has caught on to what Nicholas is doing, but since we only have one ipod touch in the family, she uses daddy's phone to play "games" instead (she even touches the screen just like Nicholas does, it is super cute).

Nicholas had two of his neighborhood friends come over to play and he read to them.

In the afternoon, after rest time, we went on a hike as a family up to Battlecreek Falls. We had not idea this was even so close to our home (the young woman who sits by me at church had told me the day before that their family had hiked up there). The hike was labeled as "easy." Maybe it was easy for adults, but it was a bit harder for the kiddos. They had a great time regardless (until we got to the waterfall for Emilie).

Emilie even got to hike in style.

Nicholas loved to pose by the side of the trail for mom. He even did it himself and then would say, "take a picture of me."

Here are the waterfalls. They were beautiful.

Proof that I was along. Usually I am the one with the camera so there are no pictures of me.

Emilie was not a fan of the waterfalls, we think because it was misting her.

Not sure what Nicholas and Shay saw.

On the way down, this is how you would have found our kids several times, because of....

...these little guys. They were everywhere. I think we stopped at least 100 times to look at every single caterpillar on the trail. It was cute to see their excitement over each one (as if they were completely different, which they were not).

Even the big kid had to get down and look too!

If you have not noticed yet over to the side, under Nicholas' quotes, there are Emilie's Words and Phrases (I need to come up with a better name than that, any suggestions?). I hope they will bring smiles to your faces as much as they do ours. She is a little firecracker and keeps us laughing just like her older brother. One of these days I need to take my camera in the car and get her car dancing on video. It.is.hilarious.