Here's what we have been doing the last two weeks:

Tammy took us to Arctic Circle for dinner and playland amusement. Faith had come across a dollar store kitty costume (ears, bowtie & tail) in our Halloween stuff and decided she wanted to dress up for the occasion. She was a great helper with her brother taking him on the slide again and again. It was lots of fun!

It was Faith's turn to take home the reading bag which contained the puppet dog "Danny" and a notebook. The kids are supposed to do lots of things with Danny and then (with a parent's help) write a story about what they did. We took a lot of pictures of Faith & Danny's weekend adventure. Christian was enthralled with Danny, too.

One day, Christian came across my stash of extra binkies and decided that one is just never enough!

Faith got her turn at being VIP at kindergarten for a week. We got to make her this poster with her family, her favorite toys & games, pictures of when she was younger, her favorite things to watch and her favorite things to do.

Last Friday I had a party with my friends from my old neighborhood. It was awsome to see all of them!!

We ate soup in bread bowls and pumpkin log roll, showed pictures of ourselves when we were younger, told our favorite fall memories and chatted until late. Since my house was nice and clean, I took the time just before they arrived to take some pictures of my house.

Here is the kitchen (with an extra table set up).

Here is part of the family room and looking up at the "loft" hallway to the play room.

Here is my nearly empty formal living room complete with blue tape, ready for painting (who knows when I will ever get to it).

Here is our bedroom.

Here is Faith's room (just a little girly, huh?)

This past weekend we went to Lagoon. Christian loved borrowing his daddy's sunglasses while waiting to trick-or-treat at the "Spook-a-Boo" attraction they have there during Frightmares.

Tony and the kids tried out some costumes there. And the kids had tons of fun on the rides. Christian even got to ride the cars, baby boats, train and the Kontiki!

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Also this weekend we went to Gardener's village. Unfortunaely, my camera battery was dead so I'll report on that next time when I get the pictures from Tammy.

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The other exciting thing that happened is that Faith started dance lessons. She loves it and is trying to talk us into putting her in tumbling classes starting next month.

Not a lot going on around here the last couple of weeks. I thought I would change things up here on the blog and get a new template. Hopefully then more of you can see the layout as I do on my screen. Apparently only certain screens show the stretched layout the way I want it to look. I also updated the pic of our house to a newer one with GRASS!





Here is Faith just out of the tub helping out her little bro.






Last Tuesday, September 25th I was trying to get a few things done and I found that a certain little stinker pot had thrown most of the items out of the cabinet under the master bath sink and climbed right in! I got him out of there, got the stuff replaced and went back to my laundry folding.









And what do you know? That same someone had found a new "car" to play in! These pictures weren't staged and were taken within five minutes of each other!


















Here are Faith and Christian engrossed in some very interesting T.V. Buddy is holding a rice ball - Tony's favorite autumn snack made with puffed rice and jello.








Here are the kids on Friday at the dollar store trying on cowboy hats. Earlier that day my mom took us to eat at the Greek Festival in South Ogden. Yummy!! Christian ate almost an entire tyropitakia (triangular cheese pie made with phyllo and feta cheese)




And on Saturday when Faith and I were at WalMart she saw this little dog dress and knew that Crumpet just had to have it! We later went to PetsMart and got a new collar and leash so she could be completely decked out.










On Sunday we stopped by Eric's house to see his new bedroom set. It is very fancy with black marble dresser top and marble columns on the bed and dresser front.



















We're so excited for fall to be here and are looking forward to lots of upcoming Halloween activities!

Just a few highlights this past week. Here's Faith sporting braids with her horse shirt looking so cute for school. She loves kindergarten and is having fun. She did say to me the other day, "Mom, I know all the stuff there. Is she ever going to teach me something new?" She's a smartypants!

And Christian doing one of his favorite activities--popsicle scarfing!

It's been pointed out to me that there are tons of pictures of the kids on this blog and even some of Tony, but none of me. Faith expertly took this picture to remedy that.

Here's Buddy enjoying a patch of sunlight with his doggy and kitty.

The kids enjoying some bike riding on a beautiful day.

Christian LOVES to get into the pantry, fridge or freezer and get everything out. He's figured out how to open cupboard doors, too. Time for some major childproofing!

On Tuesday the 18th Christian took his first step!!! It was to me and he wasn't happy about it at all, I kind of tricked him into it, but it was a step! Here is a picture of Faith trying to get him to do one for her.

Yesterday Faith had to have two teeth pulled to make room for her front bottom permanent teeth to come forward. She was so brave!

Faith made me some beautiful drapes for the family room. They have a jungle animal theme with a maccaw, aligator, tiger, anaconda (snake), giraffe, lion, elephant & monkey on each with fringe at the bottom. I bet you wish you had paper drapes made by such an artist!!

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Here is Faith last night doing the dance to the music video "Nobody's Perfect" by Hannah Montana. She does such a cute job!

Sorry this entry is over a week late, we have been busy around here!



August 28, 29 & 30 Tony took off work to finish the sprinkler system and finish grade the yard. He worked very hard on it, but still had to have Tyler and his friend rake most of the day on the 31st.



On Thursday, August 30th, I packed my things, well I tried to pack around the baby in my suitcase! Christian and I headed off to Park City to stay the night and Faith got to sleep over with Jordan & Sierra.



Friday morning we drove into Midway early for Swiss Days, which is a giant outdoor craft fair. It would have been more fun if Christian had gotten more sleep and didn't scream for the first few hours of it. Still, I got a few things and had fun with my mom, Joy, Sarah and her kids Alaura & Noah.



On Saturday, September 1st we layed the sod for our front and side yards! We had lots of help: dad, mom, Eric, Brad, Jordan and even pregnant little Joy. Oh, and I have to mention that Faith was also a cute little helper, dragging the heavy rolls of sod and tucking the edges like a pro.

It was hard work, but only took about three hours!

Since we were busy with the lawn on the 1st, we had Christian's birthday party on Monday. We had a barbeque with chicken breasts on the grill and lots of salads brought by the family.


Christian got tons of cute toys, books and clothes and thoroughly covered himself with chocolate cake!

Tuesday the 4th Christian had to go to the doctor for his one year checkup and shots. Here he is enjoying the fish tank in the lobby.

Thursday was an exciting day, Faith's first day of Kindergarten! She absolutely loves school and also riding the bus. I can't believe how grown up she is!

Saturday evening Faith went bowling with her aunt Tammy and her cousin Zach. She slept over at Grandma & Grandpa Braegger's and had lots of fun. Tony, Christian & I went out to eat at Lucky Buffet. They have two cement Chinese statues that resemble lions at the front door and when we walked past them Christian pointed and said "Dog!" and then panted like a dog. He's hilarious, he won't say "dada" and says "mom" all the time, like it means almost everything, but he can say "dog," pant like a dog, and meow like a cat.

I've been busy a couple of days last week and every day this week babysitting for a lady in my ward. She has two boys, 8 & 5, and I watch them from 6:10 am (youch, way early for me!) until they leave for school at 8:25 and then the younger one after kindergarten until 4:00. They are cute kids and Christian loves having a playmate while Faith's gone to afternoon Kindergarten.

Hopefully it won't be more than two weeks until my next update!

Christian learned to crawl down the steps last Monday! He has been going up for quite awhile, and we have been showing him how to go down on his tummy, but he finally braved it and can handle them all by himself now. Also, quite a few times this week we have seen him standing unsupported. When HE notices that he's standing up by himself, he quickly grabs on to whatever he is standing by or sits down, but we still think he's a big boy!

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On Tuesday, Grandma & Grandpa Braegger took Faith and her cousin, Zach, out to breakfast and to the mall for a fun outing before school starts. Zach started the 22nd and Faith's first day is the 29th! I can't believe she is so big already :(

Faith's obsession is 'High School Musical 2" and we have been watching it at least once a day since it came out Friday before last. At this point I know not only the words to the songs, but the dance mooves as well! (her favorite guy in the film is the one with the afro on the left)

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On Thursday my friend Ann came over for a play date with her kids Brody, Ella, Lilly & Kynan. We had a blast!

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On Friday evening, we went to a baby shower for my dad's half sister, Holly. She had her baby boy, Owen, a couple of months ago but was on bed rest before he was born and then we waited for my aunt Sandra to get back from China to have the shower. It was a lot of fun chatting with Holly, her mom, Sue, her sister, Jill and my cousins Hillary, Lynette, Sandy & Sarah who I don't get to see very often.

Saturday morning Faith made blueberry muffins for breakfast. Tony even got a quick bite before he went out to work all day on the sprinklers. I feel so bad for that guy, he's working himself to death! At least the end is in sight.

On Sunday at mom & dad's we celebrated my brother, Eric's and my Grandpa Quinn's birthdays which both are on Aug. 27th, the same day as Tony's sister Tina's!!!

Eric will be 28 this year (and a very eligible bachelor with a great job and nice house), Grandpa's 82 (he says that at this point in his life he doesn't buy green bananas :D) and Tina will be 41 (I know she'll LOVE seeing her age announced).

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Have a great week everyone! We will be busy with school, a birthday, and hopefully some sod.

Another exciting installment is here! Tony has been enjoying his new route delivering to the Logan area. He has to be to work at 6:30 am and doesn't usually get off until 8 pm and sometimes later. Not only has he been working tons of overtime, he has been working his butt off trying to get the sprinkling system in. At least the temperature was better this weekend than last.

On Monday, Joy and Sierra came over for a visit. We had lots of fun with them--here is Sierra pushing Christian in his car.

On Tuesday, Tammy took us, Tina & her son Zach to the zoo for her 40th birthday party! It was insanely hot, but we all still had a lot of fun. I think Christian loved it the most, he was too little to notice the animals when we took him for the first time in the early spring, but this time he took it all in.



Some favorite animals were the white alligator "The Ghost of the Bayou," the elephants, and the rhinoceros which was right up to the window eating hay. Christian loved the rhino so much that he kept waving to it and cried when we moved on.

That evening we were pretty wiped out and were just hanging out playing with the T.V. on in the background. A show called "L.A. Ink" came on and we found ourselves watching. I know, I know, I'm probably a bad mom for letting my daughter watch a show about a tatoo parlor, but I used it as an opportunity to talk to her about what I DON'T want her to do. Faith decided that she would only want one if it washed off and didn't involve needles, and here is the result of her artwork.

Faith's favorite activity is playing video games with her dad. As late as he gets home, he promised her one game a night. They play Halo, football, or crash-up derby and Faith loves it when her dad lets her win. In this picture Misty seems to be interested as well :)






On Friday I finished decorating Christian's shelves and changed the pictures out in the ark frame. I'll have to show the new ones next time, but for now look at the teeny tiny Faith!!! Tony and I hardly remember her being so little!






By Friday evening, Christian had finally figured out how to move his car himself with his feet. Faith was riding this three-wheeler around the house all week and that night kept crashing into Christian and making him squeal with laughter.

Here is Joy with her adorable 3 month baby bump and dad with his little buddy. Every Sunday we visit Tony's parents and eat dinner at my mom & dad's where we meet up with my brother & sisters and my mom's parents. It's so fun to visit and I love that the cousins are so close!

In my ongoing series of house pictures, here is our playroom which is in the bonus room over the garage. I LOVE having a playroom where toys can be out and messy and you can't see it from the rest of the house.

'Til next time!