We love Marissa!

So Marissa turned 9 months old on the 20th of August.

She loves swimming even when the water is freezing cold. Splashing is her favorite!

We all enjoyed our August cousins birthday party at the Novaks! So glad we know someone with a pool - even though it is 45 minutes away. It was definitely worth it.

A couple of days before that I caught her plunking away on the piano. I was in the kitchen and didn't realize it was her until I thought about it and figured that no one else was in the house.

She has to stretch to reach but now she is always at the piano. Daddy is so proud. Tonight at Grandmas she crawled all the way into the living room to see who was playing and ended up joining Dawson. No picture for that but it was cute.

Marissa is a joy. She is letting her needs and wants known these days with a very loud noise - I'm not sure how else to describe it. This last picture is of her new cheeseball smile that she was doing the other day all day. It was so funny!

First day of School - Yippee!

I always wondered why you would hear parents saying that they couldn't wait for school to start. Now I really understand. It's not necessarily because you can't wait to have them gone for 6 hours a day - for me it's more about the routine and schedule we get back into!

Dawson McKay Hanks - 2nd Grade - Miss Westenskow - Had a great first day of school - said he teacher never yells! Yeah!

Joshua John Hanks - 4th Grade - Mr. Stevenson - Had an awesome day - made a new friend! Yeah

Dawson, Kiki, Tanner, and Joshua - Go Bonneville Broncos!

Happy 9th Birthday to Joshua

Josh turned 9 years old on Sunday! He is such a great kid and we are so lucky to have him in our family. We love him a lot.

Josh got a Ripstik for his birthday. It is a skateboard with only two wheels and it is really hard. But he knows if he keeps working at it - he will succeed! He also got Mario Kart, a Ben Ten Omnitrex, a real watch, and a Mastermind game. He had a great day! We love our Josh.

My sister and her husband were surprised Sunday morning by my brother Tyler with a new puppy. A mini pinscher. It is adorable and they have decided to keep it. We got to see their new little puppy, Nala, on Sunday and now are begging Daddy to let us get one too. Marissa was a little nervous and curious of the little "rat" roaming around but loved it.

As soon as the boys headed out on to their first day of school - Tanner took control of Josh's new Omnitrex! He loves it!

Bear Lake, Bear Lake, Swimming in Bear Lake!

Our annual Bear Lake trip with the Farrells was a blast this year! JD and the boys wrote a song on the drive up there about the fun things we do in Bear Lake.

Bear Lake is so cool, it's like a swimming pool
I go there all the time, cause I have a real good time.

There's sea shells on the beach, I go there with bare feet
4wheelers I will ride, if I see a bear I will hide.

(Chorus) Bear Lake, bear lake, swimming in bear lake
Bear lake, bear lake, I hope there's no snake in the lake

The Jet skis are so fun, to me they're number one.
They're just like little boats, and I'm so glad they float

Bear Lake, bear lake, swimming in bear lake
Bear lake, bear lake, it's no fun with an ache!

The beach was a great. Marissa got her first taste of sand - yum! Tanner was the king of the jet ski. I believe he went out on it the most out of everyone there- go Tanner! Dawson wasn't too sure about the jet ski but he loved riding with grandpa on his motorcycle and with Daddy on the 4wheeler. Josh loved everything - he was game for anything!

JD just loves being with me - so I'm sure that was his favorite part! I loved taking our bikes out on the dirt road but my most favorite part was sitting around the kitchen table on our last morning enjoying my parents and my sister and her husband and JD. Fun conversation and good laughs. I love my family! Can't wait till we all (Becky and Edwin and Zyon and Bobby and Mo) can go together.

Bear Lake, bear lake, swimming in bear lake!

A Moose on the Loose!

We headed out on a overnight camping trip - to a beautiful place called Big Springs in Provo Canyon.

Marissa and I didn't think her sleeping in a tent would help our already horrible sleeping arrangements so we were just there for the evening. Dad cooked us a great dinner and we even roasted marshmallows over the coals.

The boys tried a dip in the freeezing cold stream. We saw a little garder snake slither through the grass.

The boys put up the tent and headed out on a little evening hike.

Morning comes after Tanner bear snores all night and dad cooks a breakfast of pancakes and sausages. While they are eating right where we had dinner the night before, Josh announces "A dad, there's a moose right there." Dad "Yeah right Josh." (Dad couldn't see from his spot because of a garbage can in his view). Then Dawson takes a look and then Dad knows by the look on Dawson's face that something is there.

30 yards away is a great big moose with big antlers. When it started getting closer to them - dad had them run to the car while he snapped a few pictures. Hard to believe that we spent 4 days in yellowstone and didn't see a moose but head to Provo Canyon in our backyard and find this big thing! They had a great time and couldn't stop talking about the moose.

Apricots and Lemonade!

Our apricot tree did not freeze this year - Yippee! So we were blessed with quite a few yummy apricots. In the 6 years we have lived here we have only had 2 summers where we have gotten much from the apricot tree. So with a little help from mom, the boys had an apricot and lemonade stand. Since we live in a culdesac we had to set up on the corner by our friends' house. Tanner didn't last long out in the 100 degree heat but Josh and Dawson stayed out for about 2 hours. In that 2 hours they made about 17 dollars! I was quite impressed. Then that evening we headed out with the wagon and went to some neighbors houses. They made another 6 dollars. The boys were good sports and had a fun time making some money.

It's Official...

Marissa is crawling! 8 months have flown by and now here we are with a baby who is crawling! Unbelievable. She started about a week ago and is getting quite fast now. She likes our sharp, jagged fireplace and plugs ofcourse. Hasn't really found interest in the stairs yet but we have the gate ready. We are having great fun with this smiling sweet baby - mommy only wishes she would sleep better.