Labor Day Weekend

What a whirlwind weekend (week actually, since Travis has been home)!

The kids are into the full swing of things at school. We are doing homework regularly and trying to get back into reading together for 20 minutes every day. Nash is really loving the fact that he gets to go to a big school and learn things like his sister. Samantha, well, she's always excited about school (she's weird, like her mother). Caleb is a bit lost when both kids are gone. He wanders around the house following me around like a puppy. He's been really good, he's just become a hardcore "mama's boy." I have managed to get some fall cleaning done while the kids have been at school. The only time Caleb hasn't been exactly helpful is when I climbed up on the ladder to take down my light fixtures and he decided he wanted to shake the ladder while mom was on top. Next week I think I'm going to take him to my girlfriend's house for a few hours a day while both of the other kids are at school so he can play and I can finish up my cleaning!

This past Saturday we went to Bear Lake (or Brrr Lake if you ask me). We had planned to go to Flaming Gorge for the Labor Day weekend, but with Sam's arm and her missing so much school already because of it, I couldn't justify letting her miss another day for vacation. So, luckily I was able to convince my mother in law that we should go to Bear Lake. I thought we were going to go camping over there for the weekend, but it turned out that we only went for 1 day. This was good though because the day we went was supposed to be the nicest day and it wasn't that great weather wise. (Surprise!) I swear there was 4 million people at Bear Lake the same day as us! This is what we had to one side of us:

This was looking down the other side:
We were literally sitting at the edge of the water. I was sitting in my chair when I took these pictures so you can see how close I am to the edge. If we had backed up any further, we would have been on top of someone else!

Caleb loved playing in the sand and water and not hearing mom say, "No Caleb!"
Uncle Robbie was the hero of the day because get got down and dirty with my boys & built a major sand castle with them. They were so excited about getting to build a sand castle. And the fact that Uncle Robbie was doing it with them, well that was just the icing on the cake! It was fun to watch them run back and forth to get some drier sand and then hustle to the edge of the water and dump their buckets and build their castle up. They even dug a moat around it and found sticks to use as bridges.

On Sunday Travis, Robbie and Trav's dad decided it was time to put in a front yard. We've only been here for 4 summers and I've asked about it every summer we've been here. What results do I get with my requests? Weeds, weeds, weeds, and more weeds! What does Trav do when his dad brings it up? This:
Hopefully we will have grass sprouting before the snow falls. Otherwise, it will be spring. Meanwhile, I'm in charge of keeping the dirt wet.

He decided he didn't like how I had put my pavers around the tree a few years ago, so he dug them up and redid them so he likes it now. His justification was that "You should like it better, there's more flowerbed space." Uh huh. Thanks.
Nothing quite like laboring over Labor Day weekend I guess, right? I labored too. I made enough dinner to feed the small army we had at our house. That was a job in itself! Not to mention I had 4-5 kids running around my house that I had the privilege of entertaining in between! Oh well, it all worked out and now I don't have to listen to anyone ask, "When are you gonna put in a front yard Travis?"