"End of Summer"

by Theory of a Deadman

It's the end of summer. It's the end of it all.
Those days are gone. It's over now. We're moving on.
It's the end of the summer but we'll see it all again.
So hold onto this moment till then.
It's the end of summer.

I cannot believe that summer is over!  Here are some of the highlights of the last half of our summer.

This one has to be the story of the year.  As many of you know, Melia thinks she is a dog.  The other day we were outside and Chief was playing with two other little doggies in the neighborhood.  Melia loved getting in the middle of them.   She liked crawling down the sidewalk after them too.

 After a while she got tired and just sat down.  I noticed her gnawing on something and she was pretty happily chewing away.  I went over to her and there was just a little brown end sticking out of her mouth with a little drool.  Whatever it was, it was tasty.  I reached into her mouth and pulled it out...

 IT WAS A WORM!  A dead dried up worm, but a worm nonetheless!  AHHH!  Sick!  Maybe she was needing a little extra protein??! 

Melia and I went to Thanksgiving Point's Farm Country with some of my friends and their kids.  It was pretty fun.  Melia liked the animals but was NOT a fan of riding the pony.  She screamed the whole time until I took her off!

 Here are all the kiddos at TGP.  First are my friend Candice's kids Cohen and Kenzley, then Stephanie's little girl Sammy, then Melia, and then Nikki's little girl Jayne.  Can you believe all those girls in a row?  We all had girls within a few months of eachother!  It was so fun!

Spencer is playing tackle football now and I cannot believe how grown up he looks!  It is crazy!  It's so much fun to watch him play although I definitely do worry about him.  :)  He is #47!  :)

Just seeing his name on the back of the jersey makes me feel like he's so old!

That's my tough boy.  He is soooo proud of himself and LOVES football.  The other day he and Melia and I were at Walmart and a police officer was talking to us (LONG LAME STORY) and he asked Spencer how old he was.  The cop was being super intimidating but Spencer would have none of it.  He said (in a very confident voice), "I'm nine AND I PLAY FOOTBALL!"  It was pretty funny.  I couldn't help but laugh--the cop didn't find it humorous, but I did. 

In September we went up to Bear Lake with some friends, Shantaye, Mike and their little boy Crue; Aubrey, Bryce and their little girl Jayda; and Megan and Dave.  We had a lot of fun up there together.  It was fun to see the kids together too.  Here they are in their matching Bumbos on the table.  They were all eating off of eachother's trays.  :)

Here are the boys and the babes.  :)  Mike and Crue, Bryce and Jayda, and Melia and Mike.

Crue was not a fan of bathing with the girlies.  :)

Melia wanted to take care of Crue.  She totally put her arm around him and then smiled at the camera.  It was pretty cute.

When Crue was sad she tried to comfort him.

 We had fun on the playground.  She didn't love the slide but she loved the swings.

Here she is with Crue on the swing.  Isn't his little hat adorable?  Melia has a little pink bunny one just like that, I wish we'd brought it.  Unfortunately Jayda's nap schedule seemed to be opposite of Melia and Crue's so most of the pictures are without Jayda.  :(

 She really loves swinging.

 Here's Lia and "Aunt Megan."  She really loves Megan--she's like a second mom to her.  It's sweet.  Don't you love Lia's little leg warmers?  They're my favorite!  :)

 Melia and Jayda lookin at eachother.  I love Jayda's little ponytail.  :)

This is one of my favorite pictures.  I showed it to Mike and he said, "We're having ROLLS for dinner!"

 Melia loves any sippy cup or bottle, or even glass or can within her reach.  She kept stealing Jayda's sippy.  Can you believe how long her piggy tails are getting!  She is growing up TOO FAST!

 Here's Melia with Shantaye's husband Mike.  How sweet is this picture?  I love how she's looking up at him.

 And here she is with Meg's husband Dave.  She's such a little charmer.

 We were trying to get a picture of her in the tree.  She was not liking that idea.  YOU HAVE TO CLICK AND ENLARGE THIS IMAGE.  She is SPITTING MAD!  :)  She is looking right at Dave with this "SAVE ME" look!  So funny.  I love that mad face.

 Then this picture is the opposite--just the sweetest most vulnerable face.  "Daddy, are you really going to leave me up here in this tree?"  You need to enlarge this one too just to see her pretty, innocent eyes.

 Love this picture.

 This one is pretty sweet too.

 Goin' for a swim!  She loves the water!  Whether it be the hot tub, the bath, the kiddy pool, the swimming pool, or Chief's water bowl.  (Please ignore the NASTY cut on Mike's leg!)

 Lovin' the water and lovin' Daddy!

 By the end of our Bear Lake trip, she was POOPED!  We were packing up to go and Mike was getting her dressed after her bath.  Before he was even finished dressing her she was out cold on the bed. 

 Here's Melia at home with her little friend Owen.  These two are sooo cute together.  I am sure they'll get into all sorts of mischief as they grow up together.  Check out those cheeks on Melia!

 A couple of weeks ago the 4 of us drove down to Mt. Pleasant to visit Mike's sister Anne and her family.  The view in Spanish Fork Canyon was amazing.  I couldn't help but take picture after picture out the window on the drive.  I love this one of this beautiful farm house and the amazing fall colors.

 And this one with the gorgeous colors peeking out between the aspen trees.  Gorgeous!  I think the aspens almost look like they're on fire!

Spencer had a lot of fun skipping rocks on the lake up the canyon.  He wants to be just like his dad!  :)

 Here are Melia and her cousin Caylie.  I cannot believe how grown up Caylie is getting.  This girl is going to make the best mom someday--she has the magic touch.  Melia adores her.

 Spencer and his cousin Brennan are just the best of friends.  They are so cute and fun together.

 I love these boys.

 I love this picture of Melia and her cousin Taylor.  Look at the adoration in her face.  She was so excited that someone would get down on her level to play with her in the dirt.  So sweet.

 My sexy man.

 Okay, I cannot believe how grown up this little girl is getting!  Doesn't she just looks so big standing there?  I love those jeans by the way.  They're from The Children's Place and if anyone happens to know of another sale they're having on those adorable jeans (with the ruffle and pink stitching) definitely let me know!

 And...she's already learning bad habits from Mama!  She LOOOOVES Diet Pepsi.  Sometimes I let her play with the can when I'm done.  The other day I was sitting on the floor folding laundry while she was napping and I had my DP next to me.  I had forgotten about it and after I'd gotten done with the laundry she'd woken up and we were playing.  Well she saw the can sitting there and crawled over, grabbed it and so quickly tilted her head right up to the sky to drink like she's seen Mommy do so many times.  Well much to her surprise the can was half full and just dumpped on her.  She enjoyed what she got in her mouth though and tried to keep drinking.

 Okay, so I have a question.  We only have cell phones at our house.  No land lines at all.  And pretty much everyone I do know with land lines only have small cordless phones.  So how on earth does Melia know what to do with her play phone?  How does she even know it's a phone?  I've never showed her what to do with it.  Is it just somehow imbedded in childrens' minds at birth what to do with a phone, or what?

 I love her little piggy tails.  They were especially froofy this day and my friend Tiffany told me she looked like Red from Fraggle Rock.  I'd have to say, I can definitely see some resemblance.  :)