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Both Jonathan and Marissa had their first day of school on August 18th.  Marissa is so excited to finally be going to the same school as Jonathan.  They both got on their school uniforms…which neither of them seem to mind wearing…and stopped for some photos on the front porch.  Marissa actually just had her assessment that morning and will not be starting school with her class for 2 weeks.  But, she was able to meet her teacher and show her how smart she was.

These pictures need no explanation.  The looks on their faces are worth a thousand words…

Yep…they like playing together.

We got up early on Saturday morning and left the house around 6:20 am.  We drove out to Preston, Idaho and ate at one of our favorite restaurants named Tattles.  The portions at this place are amazing.  I had a short stack and they gave me three dinner plate sized pancakes.  Along with this was four pieces of bacon and some scrambled eggs.  This cost 6 dollars.  Adam had a Garbage Omelet and a HUGE scone.  The kids enjoyed their eggs, sausage and bacon.  I know, I know…this is a LOVELY picture of me with my pancakes.

Then we left there to go to Paris….Idaho that is.  We stopped at the Tabernacle and went on a tour.  The kids also played at the playground just behind the building.  Brendan was glad to get out of the car…as were we all.

From there we drove to Main Street in Logan and visited The Bluebird Cafe.  My mother told us to stop there because she thought that my Grandma had worked there.  We will have to ask her about that.  Anyway, we all shared a meal, some ice cream, and walked away with more chocolate than we should have.

The last thing we wanted to do on our trip was visit the American West Heritage Center.  This was a working farm.  We could see how pioneers washed their clothes, built their tools, and even made dolls.  The kids enjoyed walking inside huge teepees on the indian sites.  The kids also played pioneer games, visited underground homes, and even panned for gold.  Whew!  What a day!

On our way home, we stopped at Nana’s and had a party to celebrate Andy’s graduation and Grandad’s retirement.  We all got together to pay for a new lawnmower for Grandad.  Our camera battery had died by then, or we would have posted pictures of that as well!

So we combined everything the kids wanted to do into one day of our summer.  This morning we got up and went to Albertson’s to buy everyone a donut for breakfast.  Of course the kids chose the messiest ones.  Then we went to Uncle Jon’s pool and swam.  Marissa loves her water wings and the noodle.  Jonathan loves to cannonball and dive for toys.  Brendan just kicks it in his floaty.  Dad sits on the side of the pool and takes pictures.

Then we changed into our street clothes and drove to Settebello to eat lunch.  This is one of our favorite restaurants.  The pizza is AMAZING.

Then we drove to Trafalga to miniature golf.  We played indoors where everything glowed in the dark.  This time was much better than last time, when Marissa cried through the last 10 holes.  Brendan was a little restless in his stroller though.  We also had fun playing ski-ball and air hockey and eating dip-n-dots.

Then…I know, you’re thinking ‘all right already’, but then we drove to BYU to go bowling.  The kids love bowling and I think Mom and Dad love it more.  We bowled for the first time since Brendan was born and I won with a score of 156!  We stopped on the way home at J-Dog’s…I don’t know if that’s how you spell it…but we ate the amazing hot dogs and then got ready to go home.  Marissa got out her bouncy ball that she had bought with her tickets at Trafalga and bounced it once in the parking lot.  Our vacation ended with us all watching it bounce down the grate by the curb.  Marissa burst into tears.  Aaaahhhhh….so ends the fun of day one.  Day two is tomorrow!

So, if you read the post about trying to get Brendan to sleep through the night last month, you’ll know that it didn’t go too well.  I didn’t have the heart to let him cry longer than an hour.  This time, we filled him full of a bottle of milk with rice in it.  Then I let him nurse as well.  At three fifteen in the morning he started to cry.  We went in to console him at three minutes, then five, then ten, then fifteen… you get the idea.  He cried for 2 hours.  He almost fell asleep several times in the middle.  At five thirty we got up at one of his calm times and I fed him.  Last night I put him to bed fully awake and he didn’t even cry.  I put him in bed at 10:00.  At 5:30 in the morning, I heard him stir, so I got up to feed him before he got upset.  Seven and a half hours is pretty good for a four month old!  Today is his four month birthday!!!  I am so proud of him.  Maybe in a few nights, Jonathan can move back into his room.

So, now that you now Josh was baptized…I couldn’t believe that it interfered with the day the final book of the Twilight saga came out.  I’M JUST KIDDING.  I spent all weekend reading it, and without spoiling anything…I am very happy with how it turned out.  Some of my favorite lines were:

“I made Edward say ‘Ow’!”

and, “So, more destruction then?”

and “What exactly did you have against the pillows?”

I would quote more, but I don’t want to give too much away seeing that my family reads this blog and many of them have not yet read the book.  I am already excited to read it again after it makes its way around the family.

On August 2nd, Joshua was baptized and confirmed by his father.  His father is married to my sister Tiffany.  We enjoyed a luncheon at her house afterwards.  Adam and Reed spoke at the baptism.  Tiffany and I sang, and Chris played the piano for us.  Josh seemed very happy.

We had a barbeque in my mom’s backyard.  Grandma and Grandpa loved holding Brendan and making him smile.  The kids enjoyed the food…playing tetherball…and running around with their sparklers.  In the in-between times, they were having light-saber fights.  Mom’s yard looked beautiful, and we were proud to have helped her get it that way.  It was a lovely evening spent with loved ones.

Chevon gave birth to Miles James Bayless on July 21st.  He weighed 8 pounds 10 ounces and measured 22 inches long!  We are glad to have him here.  Brendan was glad to finally meet his cousin.

So, I got a little excited about the last sepia photo I posted and told Adam that I wanted some family pictures that could go with it.  We have four nice frames in the entry way of our home, and I wanted to fill them with photos like the one of our three kids.  So, today after church, we bribed the children with chocolate chips and marshmallows to take some more pictures.  Dad was very nice to go along with it as well.  There were still some tears outside, but we captured several very nice moments.  Oh, and while Jonathan was getting dressed for the pictures in his room, I heard him singing.  It was to the tune of “Onward, ever onward…” but he was singing, “Awkward, ever awkward.”  I giggled.  I love my family.

I have so much fun trying to get Brendan to smile over and over.  He is so willing to smile for you…but not for the camera.  The camera seems to scare him…so I have to keep popping my head out from behind it to remind him that it is just me.  Adam and I worked together to get this cute photo of Brendan in his hedgehog shirt that Nana gave him.  Nana loves hedgehogs.  I then took all the kids outside to get some photos…of course I had to bribe Jonathan and Marissa with a treat.  The one that turned out the best was when I asked them both to give Brendan a kiss.  I love capturing these moments!

Sarah visited Nana this weekend, and we all had the opportunity to visit with her during a barbeque in Lindsey’s backyard.  Of course there was much more food than we could all eat.  It was fun to hear Sarah’s stories and visit as a family.

Jonathan has been attending karate lessons since school let out.  He loves going and enjoys showing us all the moves he has learned in class.  Mom and Dad love it because the three rules of karate are the following: 1. Obey and Respect your parents, 2. Keep your room clean, and 3. No fighting.  Anyway, today was Jonathan’s belt test.  He was able to show us what he had learned and try his hand at breaking a board.  Jonathan not only broke his board, he split it into three pieces!  He earned his white belt and had a huge smile on his face afterwards.  This is one happy kiddo.

Brendan is 3 months old!  We celebrated this event by transferring him into Jonathan’s room and putting up the crib.  We took some pictures of him in the crib before we put it away.  He seems to enjoy both beds.  We tried to have him sleep longer last night.  We started the ferber process by letting him cry and checking on him every five minutes.  I thought I’d heard that a three month old could not cry longer than 20-30 minutes.  He cried for 55.  Adam looked up on the internet at 3:30 in the morning about the ferber process.  He said all the sites say to start it at four months.  We decided to wait until then.  We just need him to sleep through the night before Jonathan goes back to school so that it doesn’t affect his schooling.

The fourth of July is always a fun day in our family.  It is a tradition to go to my grandpa’s house and have a barbeque in the backyard.  This year the kids had a three hour water fight.  Also, my grandpa demonstrated how he, at eighty-six, can put a sixteen penny nail through a board using only his hand.  He does it with one shove.  We have heard about this, but don’t get to see it very often.  We were all very impressed.  I got the kids to sit down for a photo.  They had already had their water fight.  I guess I should have done that in a different order.  We also went to nana’s house and had dinner there.  Then we set off fireworks in the front yard while I tried to keep everyone from catching on fire.  Savanna didn’t have fun towards the end, because she grabbed the hot end of her sparkler after it went out.  Apparently she couldn’t remember which hand it was after a few minutes, so I think she was okay.

It is a tradition in our family to go see the hot air balloons launch.  Around twenty-five balloons are blown up and launched.  They allow everyone to wander right next to the balloons as they are being filled and watch them rise into the air.  They then move all the people away and the balloons have a race to see who can get back fastest, who can hit a target with a bean bag and they even joust and try to pop smaller balloons out on the field.  I just asked Jonathan today if he knew why we celebrated the fourth of July.  He said, “Because it’s Jesus’ birthday.”  When I started to involuntarily giggle, he said, “Is it the earth’s birthday?”  We aren’t doing very well with his education, are we…

I think I added too many pictures at once, and everyone missed this smiling photo of Brendan. He smiles like this EVERY time you talk to him!

Adam, Jonathan and Marissa all marched in the children’s parade. They had a great time waving their flags, holding patriotic signs, and throwing candy. Nana came to watch with Brendan and me. She took our picture at the end of the parade.

Marissa is taking a dance class this summer and Jonathan is taking Karate. I took some photos of Marissa, and I will take some later of Jonathan. Marissa loves getting into her leotard and tights, and especially loves her skirt.

Look at how cute my son is!