August-September 2014

After returning home to Utah we had a lot of fun with just the three of us.

We had enjoyed visitors or been on trips from mid June- early August, so it was nice to have a slower paced summertime as well.

We planted a small garden in May, and we had a few success stories, including this cucumber. 

 William loves visiting Papa & Nana's house in Salt Lake City.

 His favorite thing to do at the library is to find this money and sit on his lap with a book.

William and our neighbor, Clara, have become good buddies.

 Toward the end of August we went on a hike up Silverlake.

The drive up to the location was not the most fun but once we got on the trail it was great.

William kept saying "Hike....fun".  It was cute listening to him mention things he saw along the trail.

We finally made it to the top and enjoyed some snacks and a beautiful view of the lake.

As we started to head down the mountain William had reached his breaking point.

About half the way down he was either crying or we had to hold him, out of the hiking backpack. 

Overall, it was a fun time but we should probably hike in the morning rather than sunset next time.

I put together a little playgroup with some neighbors every week.
Here there were four boys playing at the park. Liam, Ty, and Wyatt.

 We are going to miss going to the splash pad in the winter.

 Ben took Will on his first father and son's campout.
I was a little worried but I guess he slept through the night until 6 a.m. Then he had chocolate milk and sausage. William remembers "Camping... fire...hot".

 We are lucky to be able to use Ben's grandparent's football tickets on occassion.
This was their first home game vs. Houston.

Around 6:00 you can often find William in our front yard/garage waiting for dad to come home.
He gets excited to go on a scooter ride with dad with his new helmet.

 
Ben got to work on Labor Day, but he did get off early enough for us to enjoy Seven Peaks Waterpark one last time.  We were able to take William on a few tube rides with him on our lap.  It was fun watching him enjoy the kid slides and water features.  He sure is a happy boy.

In early September we enjoyed a family BBQ to celebrate Ben's grandma's birthday with everyone at his aunt Michelle's house.  You really cannot beat great weather, food, and good company.

The week before our big Europe adventure all of us had appointments almost every day.  We went through dentists, doctors, OBGYN, sports doctor and haircuts for our family.  

We have been very blessed with good health for the last year.

(More on William's 2 year old stats coming)

We did enjoy one last family outing to a soccer game and Noodles and Company. 

 Ben had one of his paper's accepted to a management conference in Madrid, Spain in the middle of September.  The moment I heard the news I started scheming and figuring out a way that I could travel with him.  After many hours of searching and planning, I used Delta Skymiles and booked my flight to Europe mid-July.  We are lucky to have both of William's grandmas living 15 minutes apart in Arizona.  They both somehow agreed to divide time watching William for ten days while Ben and I traveled to Europe. William and I flew to Arizona to do the drop-off and I met Ben back at the SLC airport to fly to Europe together.