Keep Your Face to the Sunshine...

...and you cannot see the shadow.

 It's what the sunflowers do.  -Helen Keller

This sunflower field near G'ma Dianne's was GORGEOUS!!!  We couldn't help stopping for a couple of pics on our way out for a girl playdate.  G'ma took the picture of Grace and Brooklyn on their way home.

Our Hatch Pool

Gracie had a free ticket to the Hatch Pool, so we decided to go!  We invited Brooklyn to come along.

The kids decided that they wanted to jump off of the diving board, so they had to take a swim test.  I was so proud of Joshy--he popped in first and gave it his all, but the lifeguard wanted him to try it again on another day.  The girls passed, so Joshy and I got to go get him a Sprite and relax on the pool chairs.  Sometimes it's hard to be the little brother...and the mom gets to try to make life better with a sugary beverage.

But this day was monumental for Grace...this is her first time jumping off the diving board!  She finally did it after attempting--and backing off the board--several times.

The day was NOT monumental for mom though...she forgot to use the free ticket!

G'ma Dianne Days...

 Our last day hugs at G'ma Dianne's wrecked us all.  Darn you, kindergarten!

She's watched our kids since they were babies...we spent the afternoon reminiscing on how in the world Dianne did that!  We were so blessed to have 4 days of meetings in August where we got to spend more time with Dianne and Brooklyn before our new school routine started.

 Goofies.

 And then Gracie got the phone and took a few pics for memories' sake...  :)

It was so hard to close this chapter of our lives!  We keep saying that we'll plan some play dates so that we can say later instead of not again...but it feels a bit like we've lost a g'ma and a cousin in our lives.  How blessed we are to have had such great people in our lives.  Sigh.  This school business is hard on the heart...

Brooklyn Girl

We had a play date with little Brooklyn since we were missing her like crazy!  The kids are used to seeing her each week at G'ma Dianne's, so when she came over here we had a blast!  They play so well together--and I got so much done while they were busy playing--that we wondered why we didn't do this a dozen times over the summer!  :)

Sweet Brooklyn

This is Grace's good friend Brooklyn. I had to get a few pictures of them jumping on the bed at "G'ma Dianne's" house. We love this girl! :) (...and BOY, can these two jump on the bed! What monkeys!)