There goes the summer/ iphone dump

I last blogged on Munkey Belle in March, since then we've sold our house, lived in Alabama for a month, and then lived in Kanab for a month.  Then we moved into our new house at the end of July.  Things are finally settling down now for me to start blogging again.  I also finally got all my photos off my iphone in a big dump that I did tonight, so I will just narrate the photos and videos randomly to get caught up.

The first videos and pictures I came across were from Kanab.  Sara and Brennan were messing around, wearing plastic ear rings and singing.   Sara was singing a song she made up entirely called "Don't Lose Me" and Brennan is singing backup.

Looks like she's wearing big 80's hoop earrings.

Of course Brennan had to try them on too. 
 
Then they got even more creative, nose rings.

I found a pic of the city pool they loved in Kanab.  Sara swam the whole time all by herself, she's a great swimmer now.  I wish I'd gotten video but I had to watch Brennan and I didn't want to get my phone wet.  Sara wished we would go to the pool every day.  She is a water loving kind of kid.

I recorded a cute video of Sara in Kanab talking about what she wants to be when she grows up.  I believe we had just been to the pool, hence the sunburn and wild hair...

We did some more workbooks in Kanab too, trying to keep on learning through the summer.

We have done a TON of reading this summer, which I am glad for.  We have read three pretty long chapter books as well as two sets of National Geographic books for kids and a box set of Fancy Nancy.

Uncle Ben brought down to Kanab this book he had been reading to Benny called "Dorko the Magnificent".   It's about a little boy who wants to be a magician and all his trails and tribulations as he figures it out. Ben read Sara and Benny chapters every night but they only made it half way through the book.  When we got back to Spanish Fork, we checked out the book from our library to finish it because Sara really enjoyed it.  We finished it a couple of weeks ago and got another one written by the same author that we didn't end up liking as much.

The next time we went back to the library we checked out "The Neverending Story".  I remember really loving the movie but I had never read the book.  It is quite long, about 300 pages and not many pictures to Sara's dismay.  So far we have read half way through.  I think it's definitely over Sara's head and there are some really scary elements to it, so I'm not sure we'll make it through.  Although now I'm hooked and really enjoying the read.  To try and encourage her to keep going, I let her watch clips of the movie on Youtube and she really liked seeing the Luckdragon and the little boy personified in the movie, so she agreed to keep going for now.  

Sara is happy that we've been going back to the library and story time.  Everyone at the library remembers her name and she loves story time.  Now Brennan gets to sit with her too.

We lived with Uncle Ben for a while in Springville when we got back from Kanab.  Sara had a blast playing with her cousins every other day or so.  Sophie, one of her oldest cousins patiently taught her how to play Monopoly by letting her do the money and the properties while Sophie helped her. It was very sweet.

Also, she got to see her cousins from Hawaii, she loved hanging out with Kayla and Malina. She also went to the Stadium of Fire with Daddy and watched her first ever music concert, Kelly Clarkson.  She loved it and really wants to go to another concert, probably with Daddy.  I wish he had gotten pictures of them there.  All of her cousins went to the concert too, which made it even more fun for her.

Then came the night we were all waiting for, on July 24th, we finally spent the first night in our new house!! Sara slept on a sleeping pad on top of her dog White Stripe that she had missed very much.  We got him out of storage for her and she never let him out of her sight.

For Brennan's birthday on the 25, Sara really wanted to take him to Kangaroo Zoo, she thinks that is where you should have birthday parties because it's the funnest place she knows.   It was just the two of them and they had lots of fun.  She really likes birthdays and birthday parties so I'm glad she gets to celebrate his vicariously, so it's like she gets 2 birthdays a year.

Since we've moved in, she has gotten all of her stuff back, her dresses, bracelets, toys, etc and she is thrilled about it.  The first few days we were in the house, she unpacked her stuff all by herself and put it away and her room was spotless.

She and Brennan have been playing outside a lot in the dirt at the new house, riding bikes and scooters too.

Sara also got to see Grandpa Glade, she really likes all the attention that he gives her and he always reads her books.  They ended up finishing the last 10 chapters in the Dorko book.  Also, this picture shows that she got registered for Kindergarten and she was really excited to get a pink t-shirt with the name of her new school on it.

While Glade was here he bought us a new vacuum and Sara has discovered that it's much lighter than our old one and she can push it around really easy.  So she  has been wanting to vacuum every day.  It's working out great for me.  I'll be sad when she gets tired of it.

Now school is almost back in.  She will be in Kindergarten and she's really looking forward to meeting her new teachers and finding some new friends.  She has to take a placement test so we have been reviewing her numbers, letters, shapes, etc.  Here she is pulling her hair out trying to remember how to count by 10's.

Today she decided that digging in the dirt around our new house was fun, so she sat and did that for a long time, moving dirt around in the dump truck. It was cute watching them play in the dirt together too.  I got a video too:  they only fight over the shovels and the dump truck sometimes...

They have been riding bikes and scooters together too. 


Sometimes everything gets in a jamble.


I'm really excited for Sara to start school because I think she will do well and enjoy it. Also her piano lessons start up again in August at the piano academy.  She might have swimming and Ice Skating again this Fall, we haven't decided that yet. 

She is a great kid, she is creative and sweet, thoughtful and funny, energetic and bouncy, and full of love for everyone.  Also my other favorite thing about her is she is totally fearless most of the time. At the pioneer day carnival she rode some really scary rides at the fair, ones that scared Daddy and I, without any fear.   Lastly my favorite thing about her is that she speaks to everyone she meets, says hi, and introduces herself and her brother and I.  I hope she continues to have a positive outlook on the world and stays outgoing and sweet forever, it will take her a long way in life. 

Whew, I really tried to catch up on things with Sara, I probably have left out lots of stuff but hopefully I can blog more regularly on her blog now so that I won't forget the details.  I also hope she enjoys looking back and reading this someday, maybe even with her kids if the Internet is still around by then, who knows.