So This Is Love: A little catch-up

So we'll start with Labor Day weekend- we went to St George to have an impromptu family get-together. There are so many cousins and it's so much fun!

It was super hot and we spent a lot of time in the pool, getting drinks, cookies, and dinner. I love cousin time like this:

The girls painted nails and the boys rode bikes

Then Rose did some tricks, and all the other girls wanted in on the action

Girl outing to Sally's Beauty!!!

It was quick and fun.

So on the first day of September we had a little back-to-school dinner. I made little hats for everyone and we had fruit and pasta and started our new theme for the school year

Rose was all about it. We used our Finnish glasses and had to do a "cheer" as Rose calls it (aka clink glasses and say "cheers")

Finn was not all about the hat

This was last years' theme.

Here is the new one

And the next day was Rose's first day of preschool! She has been looking forward to it for a very long time! She was all set and ready to go.

Raimo asked her what she wants to be when she grows up, and she said, "A ballerina." And then she added "A big ballerina mom, just like mom." I was the most adorable thing ever. And then she struck this pose. Passe!

Hanging with Charlotte after orientation

Rose has continued to enjoy school for the past two months, and is learning things like using key words for good manners (please and thank you, etc). She is also getting good at coloring in the lines. No scribble scrabble. She has done a lot of wonderful artwork! I know they are working on letters a bit as well and talking about the seasons and primary and secondary colors. What fun!

As I continued taking her to school that week and the next, I really wanted to take pictures of her every day! It was just fun to get her dressed up, and she looked so cute with her backpack! We took a lot of second, third, and forth day of school pictures.

Another big event was that weekend. I got it into my head a few weeks before to throw a surprise party for my parents' 25th anniversary, so I had been working a lot on that project. I bought a bunch of decorations and made a slideshow with the help of Monica, and sent out an evite to a bunch of my parents' close friends.

It was fun having it at night. We got to have some nice lighting. We had a dessert table and music. I also got video clips of a bunch of their family and friends that live far away and it was really fun having them "come" to the party too in that way.

My parents were totally surprised. We sent them out to dinner with their friends the Whiteheads, and of course my mom tried to get them to go to a movie afterward. I called the Whiteheads, pretending to be their daughter-in-law needing them to come get the kids in an emergency... and so they brought my parents home and .... SURPRISE! It was fun.

New jewelry

A beautiful sunset by La Costa

An escapee

One of our last beach days

Baking with Rose

A little evening walk on the beach

Cleaned out the closet. Took all night!

Showing her Barbie watch, that actually used to be mine, that actually has no battery

We had a little fun one Saturday and had a picnic at Mission Bay

From there, we went to Seaworld.

The Orcas were really active that day- we stood and watched them make a baby.

It was fun, but blazing hot. We actually left in the middle of the Dolphin show and just went home. It was too HOT.

Fun with friends

The kids always get to rough house with Raimo

And a few sleeping pics

Another important event was the daddy-daughter camp out! I was really excited the ward decided to do this! I just think it's really sweet. The guys loaded up and took off on Friday night. Rose and Savannah were so excited. Raimo told me that when they arrived, Rose looked out and said, "But I'm gonna get dusty!"

Thumbs up!

Setting up the tent

Having fun with flashlights

Best friends!

These pics are from later that week. It was still blazing hot. We tried out Holiday Park by the Village. It is nice because it has nice old trees and it's more shady.

I love this tree

The hot weather continued! Ahhh! Finn woke up from his nap one day and fell back asleep in my arms! It was dreamy, and we snuggled

Here's another hot day where we had to get out of the house. We walked up to this lookout point that I hadn't been to over Ponto beach. It was too hot, naturally, so we didn't stay long.

And last but not least, Rose had her first field trip to Nate's Butt Farm... err... Bates' Nut Farm.

My little pumpkins. We did this last year too! Look how little they were!

I looked at that picture from last year and felt so sad and missed them from that time, but then I look at this picture and at how they are becoming friends, and that is so much fun.