R-E-B-E-K-A-H

So I have this darling girl. She is sweeter than anything in the world. I can't get enough of her darling-ness--see? I even stoop to making up nonsense words to describe her. I can't stop smiling when I think about her. Too adorable. Of late I have enjoyed a new phenomenon: One-on-one time with Rebekah. What a delight! With Preston gone 6 hours a week to preschool she and I have some automatic girl time and I have been loving every minute of it. It has renewed my committment to get a little one-on-one time with each of my family members every week-- it is just a great way to connect and lends itself to different communication than we have as a group. I learn things about each person that I didn't know every single time I do this.

It usually is nothing too special. We have had long chats about why girls have longer hair than boys. We have painted our toenails together. She lets me play with her hair in new ways and sits by me and puts on her "make up" while I do mine.
She has a fine eye for comfortable and cute and is becoming a world class shopper.

Sometimes we pretend she has school. We do our "homework" (usually coloring) and talk about whatever she is interested in.
Other times she helps me clean the house. That is always entertaining :)

Other times we have gone on walks and enjoyed the park across the street. I love to do this with my children, because they see so much of the world that I miss. Nothing escapes their interest or their eyes--and their questions are endless!

Rebekah's love for music continues. She is constantly singing her way through life. One song usually weaves into another and has a great deal of her own ideas threaded throughout as well. I love this. She sits at the piano and sings and plays everyday. A few of her current favs: Little Pioneer Children, Daddy's Homecoming, and "The Blue Blue Sky" (My Heavenly Father Loves Me)

Here she is eating a popsicle she scored for being cute in Old Navy one day. She likes to wear her sunglasses and sing along with the radio while we drive-- must be Mom's girl!

"Homework"

Running the Vacuum.

And finally one more cute story: We had the missionaries over to dinner last week. I made brownies for dessert. The kids both picked at their dinner and were not eligible for brownies yet. So Rebekah pulled out her super sad frown. The heartbreaker that I think all little girls have some version of--and said, "Mom, I think I need a brownie face" then she proceeded to sing, with her long face, "No one likes a brownie face . . ." We all got a pretty good kick out of that one. And Rebekah got a brownie face after all.

Labor Day Weekend :)

We had such a great Labor Day weekend! After a quick trip to SLC last week to go to the temple and to see some friends we didn't feel much like going too far to celebrate our three day weekend. So we enjoyed some close to home attractions and really had a great time as a family!

Dad is the champion reader-- since Preston started school he has been pretty insistent that we get his daily reading done-- and Dad has stepped up big time in getting this task handled! Here he and the kids were piled in Preston's bed reading a book called, "Those Amazing Ants" !

On Saturday we went to Kidzplex. It was super fun-- Burke and I were worn out WAY before our children-- and I had swollen bruised up knees for a few days afterward from crawling through the mass of tunnels. We had lots of laughs and got super sweaty (gross)!

On Sunday we went to church (not much different there huh?) Preston was a little disappointed. "I thought we were having 3 family days in a row! Church is not a family Day!"

On Monday we went to Glenwood Springs and did this hike. It was beautiful-- and wAy above our children's skill level. I felt bad when I realized how overwhelming it might be to look up at a steep mountain of boulders strewn through a very narrow pathway that were all as high as your waist. I think I would have given up! They hung in there and we were all rewarded with the beautiful view at the top and satisfaction of having overcome in the end. Preston walked every step!

Getting ready to start up the trail :)

Back down to the bottom of the trailhead
-- I think we were all pretty relieved when it was over!

Trail Stats: 2.4 miles round trip and 1000 foot elevation gain. Time spent on trail 3.5 hours. 2 potty breaks and one pair of peed pants (not mine!) We took one longish break for lunch about 3/4 of the way to the top.

Would I do this again? Yes with these changes: This would be a lot more fun for our children in a few years. A good portion of the trail is too dangerous to carry a child in your arms or even in a backpack (balance). We were really blessed that none of us were hurt. This trail was immensely popular on this holiday weekend--so before I sound like I don't like to share, I need to defend my position--the trail was really narrow and since up and back is the same trail the flow of traffic was really obnoxious. There were not places to "pull over" because of the steepness and rockiness of the terrain. Because we were slower hikers there was a lot of pressure from behind and ahead to move on or move out. I found that bothersome. If I did it again I would probably go on a weekday in the summer to hopefully improve that aspect of the trip.

The First of Preschool!

The first day of school :) Can I love this boy too much? :) He came home with the biggest smile and lots of excitement--- just bubbling over telling me about how much fun he had --So darling! He went on and on about the activities they did and what he liked . . . and he completely neglected to mention that he spent the last 15 minutes of the day in the "naughty seat"--so I was a bit surprised when his teacher called to chat about that. Overall I would say he is loving it and transiting fairly well :) I can't believe how fast he is growing up! What a smart boy, I am so proud of you big guy!

All ready to go inside-- giving me two thumbs up that he was ready to give it a whirl :)

Preston chose the menu and got to eat on our special red plate for dinner that night :)

Standing here by "the most giant enormous cookie I've ever ever seen" that Mommy made to celebrate Day One. Other than being a little undercooked, it was a success, next year I will do it again and be sure I bake it a little longer :) Recipe found here.

Andrus Family Reunion!

I might be biased, but I think we have the best family reunions-- I love them with my family-- and I also love getting together with Burke's family. Always so fun! We had a great time at my family reunion this year-- it was so nice to see everyone as always-- this year as an extra bonus all of my siblings were in attendance-- it just doesn't happen too often and it was so fun to be together. As per my usual, I took way too few pictures-- most of those posted here were from the talent show that Sheldon took for me-- and my batteries died halfway through so we were missing some key events! We enjoyed the quiet mountain setting in Hanna, Utah-- the temperature was perfect, we weren't bothered by bugs so that made it really fun!
Our ghetto-fabulous bike rack solution-- since we got rid of the SUV we still had the rack we had bought a few years ago but not a way to attach it to our little car without spending more $$ than I wanted to spend on that particular thing --so Burke & I together engineered a rather pathetic, but effective means for transport! I was SO glad we did it-- so worth it to have our bikes along--even if we did get some funny looks along the way! Good thing our kids don't care about stuff like this yet right?

Preston stopping to pose while he and the kids were swimming in the kiddie pool

Rebekah taking a dip in the good old washtub!

The Pack Crew's rendition of the Fast Food Song --So glad my kids have been introduced that amazing piece of music! Then they acted out this cute Snowman song with lots of the cousins-- fun and energetic!

The audience!

I think this went with the snowman song.

Sheldon and Becki revisiting their synchronized swimming act. So hilarious!

more snowman? I don't know how I got these so mixed up!

Other memorable acts included, Greg and Matt's song about Backseat Driver's, Rachel Brittney and Michelle rewriting "Waking up is Hard to Do" Madison showed us her fabulous Belly Dancing act and Tim told some really great stories about his trip to Israel and other urban legends that he knows because he works for the church. I know I am forgetting others-- I love the talent night-- there are always some good laughs and it is fun to see some real talents too :)


We enjoyed bike rides, chasing little kiddies, reading, visiting, crafting, games, and good food! It was so nice to relax and enjoy some time together. Also loved getting to sing with my girls again-- we seriously need to video chat practice or something-- we just don't have it together anymore!!

Wishing we could swing more time off to attend Burke's extended Family Reunion in a few weeks-- maybe we can plan better next time!