First Day of School at ELA

First Day of 3rd Grade

with Mr. Goff

Fashion Show

First Day of 1st Grade

with Mrs. Lalor

Fashion Show

Last night we had a little family home evening. We talked to the kids about the importance of good friends, and making good choices. We let them do a little fashion show and model some of their new school clothes. Then Mike gave them a blessing to start off the new school year. Kaylee just loved the fashion show! Brayden doesn't have as much variety in his wardrobe. He was trying to see what was better, popped collar, or collar down. That's about as much variety as he got. They ended up loving all their clothes and deciding that uniforms aren't so bad, and thought they were really comfy. Brayden was just psyched he got to wear his new Nike's.

The kids were BEYOND thrilled to start school today. Kaylee could not go to sleep last night. She just kept hollering out, "I'm just so excited!" They both woke up this morning around 6:00 got dressed and had eaten. Then they were bummed because they still had a while before school started. They both said this was the most exciting day they had ever had. Once we finally got to the school, Brayden just took off about 20 feet ahead of me. I kept telling him to slow down, he was like, "MOM I know where I'm going." I guess he's at the stage where it's not cool to be with your mom. He ended up just going to his class and sitting down at his desk and saying hi to his friends (He already knew 3 or 4 boys in his class.) I had to get a picture of him through the glass window because I didn't want to embarrass him. Kaylee at least stopped for a second to pose with her teacher then she was off to meet some new friends. Their have been a few occasions that she has tried meeting people. She has gone right up in their face, put out her hand and said (in a really high pitch voice,) "Hi! I'm Kaylee, I'm gonna be in your class. Do you want to be my friend?" The girls just hid behind their parents and ignored her. I guess she's a little too aggressive for some people.

I'm so excited for them. I hope their day is going well. I have wanted to drive by the school about a 100 times and check on them. It's really weird having them gone all day long. I have accomplished a lot! I have washed, AND folded all the laundry. Went grocery shopping and prepared dinner for our family and 3 other families. Went to the doctor, and the library. Now I am on my way to finish up my visiting teaching. I am a little hopeful that I might get my house cleaned sometime this week.

Summer '09

Summer is officially coming to an end, and surprisingly we all survived. We have had so many memories from Summer '09.

One Family Vacation (plus a few mini getaways)

One Couples Getaway

Three Soccer Championships Won

Brayden's team took first place in the La Roca Cup, Sparta Cup and USA Adidas Cup. His team remains undefeated!

Back row: Adam, Zac, Fabian, Jordan, Gabe Front Row: Brayden, Justin, Seth, Jack, David Coach Kelly

Two Teeth Lost

Aprrox 5,000 golf balls hit

This was Dad's year for golf. He golfed in many golf tournaments and also had a chance to golf in the Ron Boone Huntsman Cancer Golf Tournament. This tournament usually has a $10,000 buy in but luckily for him somebody couldn't go last minute, so he was invited. He walked away with lots of fun prizes including new shoes, hats, shirts, bag, blanket, and gift certificates. Mom and Brayden went out on the course for the first time ever. Brayden loved it, Mom is learning to love it.

Brayden and Kade figured out about 551 different ways to wear soccer uniforms

I let Brayden pick out his outfit everyday, without argument. The boys would somedays put together 3-4 different soccer outfits. Come Monday he is going to be hating life when he has to start wearing a uniform to school. Less laundry for me though!

Hours and Hours spent in the water

We went to Cowabunga Bay for the first time. It was a great place for the kids! They loved it.

We ate about 20 boxes of Otter Pops

Attended the Open House, Volunteered, watched as they placed Moroni on the temple, and went to the Dedication of the Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple

Spent lots of time spent with the ones we love

We had to say good bye to some cousins that moved to Billings, Montana

We are a little exhausted from a long but fun summer. We are now anticipating fall and the new adventures it will bring.

This is the first official tree I have seen that has changed it's colors. I am ready for fall!

Temple Quarry

We took the kids today up to the Temple Quarry. It was fun to walk around and enjoy the beautiful weather. It is so neat so see the actual spot where the pioneers came to find the Granite for the Salt Lake Temple. It again makes me remember how much the pioneers sacrificed and how hard everything must have been for them. Makes me so grateful for all our modern day conveniences. The kids loved searching for their own granite rocks to bring home. I think we have enough to build our very own mini temple.

It was fun walking down the dried up creek. Their were lots of lizards, squirrels, and again more granite! Kade hasn't stopped talking about his "Gwanite Wocks."

I've come to Realize...

I’ve come to realize that my job has been so rewarding over the past 8 years. It’s so sad that all my kids are getting big enough to go to school. It kind of leaves me with an empty feeling, like… “what’s next?”

I’ve come to realize that when I’m driving nobody else should be on the road. I don’t think I’m completely “there” when behind the wheel.

I’ve come to realize that I need to do some major discipline and child training with my youngest son. Yesterday after coming home from my MIL’s house Kade informed me that he had taken a poop out on her lawn. And sure enough when she went to investigate, he had left her a giant surprise. Hello! What was he thinking? I wonder what else this week will bring with him? Last week at school he told me a kid in his class was the ugliest kid he had ever seen. I think he has crossed the line from being cute to “what do I do with this kid?”

I’ve come to realize that I have lost way too many things over the years. I am so disorganized so things tend to get misplaced all the time.

I’ve come to realize that I hate it when people talk about me or talk about other people. I hate confrontations and just don’t see “why we all can’t just get along!”

I’ve come to realize that money is more useful when it’s in the bank. It’s taken a few years to realize how important saving money is. It’s just so hard to turn down cute clothes when you see them!

I’ve come to realize that certain people are just so amazing. There are so many people that are either in my ward, or my family or just people I get a chance to know that are truly phenomenal people. I am constantly learning from somebody. I love the older wiser people in my ward that have so many years of knowledge behind them. I would love to have known so many of these people when they were my age, raising a young family. I just hope one day, when I’m a little older, I can emulate some of these people. I just need to remember that some of these people have years of experience behind them. It’s nice having people that you can look up to and pattern your life after.

I’ve come to realize that I’ll always love sleeping in, eating yummy food, cuddling on the couch, watching tv, soft fluffy blankets, and taking naps. No matter how ambitious I “want” or “try” to be, deep down I think I will always be a couch potato.

I’ve come to realize that my siblings and I aren’t as close as we were when we were younger. I guess that’s bound to happen since I’m the only girl. I wish we were a lot closer but we just have different interests and different lives right now.

I’ve come to realize that my mom sacrificed a lot for me when we were younger. I look up to her a lot. I have learned a lot from my mom simply by watching the way she lives her life. I owe a lot to my mom.

I’ve come to realize that my cell phone is much more important to me then I ever thought it would be. Their was a time when I really didn’t think I needed one. Now I can’t leave home without it.

I’ve come to realize that when I woke up this morning I wasn’t as sleepy as I usually am. Maybe that’s because we actually went to bed at a decent hour last night. I guess that’s the lesson that is supposed to be learned by: Early to bed, Early to rise makes a man healthy wealthy and wise.

I’ve come to realize that last night right before I went to sleep I was saying my prayers and pondering some things. Oops must have dozed off during that.

I’ve come to realize that right now I am thinking my head hurts, I’m tired, I want to sleep.

I’ve come to realize that my dad is an amazing person. He has so many great qualities that I can learn from and pass on to my kids. I hope to be in as good as shape as he is when I’m his age.

I’ve come to realize that when I get on facebook it’s usually such a waste of time. So many people say it’s addicting but I really haven’t found that to be true yet. Sometimes it’s fun to see what people are up to though.

I’ve come to realize that today the weather is absolutely perfect. I love when it’s kind of cloudy and not too hot. We’ve had a few drizzles here and there. I want a pot of soup, sweats, and a big comfy blanket.

I’ve come to realize that tonight Brayden has soccer (his soccer schedule just changed.) Mike get’s to take him to that and I will go and enjoy our neighborhood FHE. Our neighborhood is so awesome.

I’ve come to realize that tomorrow I have absolutely no plans. Sometimes I love days like that.

I’ve come to realize that I really want to go on a trip to Hawaii with Mike. Maybe next year we can celebrate our ten year anniversary there. Wouldn’t that be nice?

I’ve come to realize that life goes by way too quickly. You seriously can’t waste any time thinking you’re going to do something later, because time will catch up with you.

I’ve come to realize that this weekend is the last weekend before the kids start school. Hopefully we can make the most of it.

I’ve come to realize that I’m not the same as I used to be. I used to add so much “fluff” when doing things, now there just isn’t enough time or energy. I loved planning parties and having people over. I loved doing extra art projects and crafts. I loved scrapbooking with all the extra embellishments. Now I will barely do enough to just skate by. I do everything I can to talk my kids out of parties. We never have people over because it seems like so much work. I just throw all my pictures into an online photo album-no embellishments. It kind of makes me sad, because I once loved doing stuff like this. But now it just drains me and doesn’t seem worth the effort.

I’ve come to realize that my friends all have really busy schedules. It’s hard planning times to get together. We all have really different lives and different things going on. Makes me sad.

I’ve come to realize that this year will be really different than last year. I will have my two oldest in school all day. Hopefully I will have time to accomplish a lot of the things I’ve been putting off. Hopefully I can cherish the time I have with Kade.

I’ve come to realize that maybe I should find something that I can do, that I will love, to occupy my time while kids are at school. Something along the lines of making money instead of spending money.

I’ve come to realize that I love many many things. I simply love being at home with my family with not a lot to do. I love when I have a really good meal that I get to eat. I love when we get to take a walk together as a family on a cool evening. I love when I have fresh clean laundry...especially sheets. I love when the house is peaceful and quiet. I love holidays. And I love going on drives through the mountains.

I’ve come to realize that I don’t understand the scriptures as well as I would like to. I really try hard but sometimes I don’t see the depth that some people understand. One day I hope that I will be able to.

I’ve come to realize that my past has a lot of regrets. But I don’t think I would be the person I am today without those regrets. I often wonder what path my life would have taken if some of my choices in life would have been different. I love my life and wouldn’t want it to be any other way. Although I do wish I would have been smarter about some of my choices.

I’ve come to realize that parties usually make me anxious. I don’t usually like being around large crowds. I tend to become the “wall flower” because I pull away from people instead of being the one to go and talk to people.

I’ve come to realize that I’m totally terrified of the future. I always wonder what sort of trials I am going to have to overcome in my life. Sometimes I spend a lot of time focusing on this. I think, “my life is good, how long before the storms come.” I dread death, sickness, cancer, fires, earthquakes…stuff like that.

I’ve come to realize that my life is good.

Fairy Tales

Kaylee told me today that she would like to be famous one day. She said that in her Ariel movie (not sure what one) that you can just buy your wishes and they will come true. I tried to explain to her the difference between a fairy tale and real life. I said she could become anything she wanted to be she just had to work hard to achieve it. I also let her know that all those movies she like to watch are all just fairy tales. She replied, "Well good thing that Ariel's true cause I saw her in Disneyland! " Well so much for that whole saga about her having to work hard! I guess if she still believes in princesses I still have a few years before I have to worry about Santa Claus.

17 days and counting and then....

Their are certain times in my life where I feel like I am totally frustrated with things and things just don't seem like they are going right. Right now is one of those times. Things just feel unsettled. I think it may be because we are on summer break and we have all been taking things easy. I am ready for some organization and schedules and routine. I want to totally rip my house apart and clean it from top to bottom. I want to repaint everything and organize every closet in my house. I want to have my day scheduled out for me and know what to expect each and every day. I want to wake up early every morning and go running with Mike and be showered and ready before the kids wake up. So why is that when the alarm goes off in the morning, everything changes. I have no desire or motivation to move out of my comfy warm bed. I have every reason why I should and deserve to stay in bed another hour, running through my head. Once I do get out of bed I forget about all those things that I "wanted" to do. Why is it that some people are blessed with such great organizational and motivational skills? Why can't I just have a small portion of someones skill for this? Anyway my point is I have been frustrated lately most of it due to my lack of organizational skills. Some of it do to the fact the kids have been out of school for a LONG time. I just really should have never gotten out of bed in the first place today, but since I did, I'm gonna let out some of my frustrations.

*Why does it seem like the laundry NEVER EVER ends? I think I just finished folding all the laundry from last week and now I need to get started on laundry for this week. Not to mention Kade slipped a Pull-up into the laundry load. Do you know what kind of mess that created??? I only had to rewash everything about 3 times. I need to figure out a better system cause this ain't working for me.

*Why do I bother trying to use coupons? Without fail their is some small print exception to why you can't use them. Yesterday I spent an hour at the grocery store stocking up on food, that I thought was a good deal, just to be told I need to read the fine print. HELLO! In the end I just had to return the stuff I purchased and they said to come back a different day to buy it. Like I have time for that. I had the same thing happen to me last week with coupons. I had my cart totally stocked up on cereal, rang it all up in 7 different transactions (so the coupon would work) just to find out I couldn't use the other coupon I planned on using.

* I feel like summer vacation has lasted FOREVER + a day and we just found out that the kids summer vacation has now been extended by another 7 days because their school won't be ready. I was counting down we only had 17 more days left of summer vacation now we are up to 24. Kids are back in school, we are out of ideas of things to do, I think we've had enough of each other, the kids for some reason don't find it "FUN" to help me with chores, We are all done! Brayden even asked if it would be ok if he went back to his old school just until his new school started, then he would switch. It's sad when the kids are even asking if they can go back to school. I really have had a good time with the kids this summer, but really don't all good things need to come to an end sometime.

* Do all kids at the age of 8 like to throw fits? I thought kids were supposed to out grow this when they were 3. I am so tired of dealing with pouting. I'm seriously considering obedience school....it's working for my dad's dog. And if I have to put out one more argument between the kids I'm gonna scream!

*I hate speaking up for things that bother me. I hate being taken advantage of. I hate losing control of a situation. But yet I don't have the backbone to stand up and stick up for myself, so I get stuck doing things that I don't want to do.

Even though I feel like I am slowly going insane, I am truly trying to find the best in each day. Yesterday on our way to the grocery store we noticed something different about the temple, so we stopped on over to see what was going on. Moroni was missing off the top of the temple. We got there just in time to see them lifting him back up to the top. They had taken him down to clean up the lightening damage that had happened a couple months ago.

It was so neat sitting there and watching it all happen. It was nice to have a moment to sit and relax and take in a moment of peace and reflect on the big picture of things. It's fun to see the excitement in my kids eyes over things like this.

Hopefully today I can remember to seek out the good and happy moments. I can't let the bad moments override these because then I make myself miserable. Hopefully I can make today a better day:)

Kade starts preschool...

Kade started preschool today. I have been trying to get him pumped up and excited and he has not seemed to care AT ALL!! This kid is so out there sometimes and I can't seem to get it because his personality is so different from the other two kids (the pictures explain Kade and his personality so good!!!) Kade is just in his own little goofy world ALL THE TIME! All day I have been thinking back to all the stories I have heard about Mike and my little brother during school and I just know that I am doomed. Starting today we are going to be starting own little book of stories starring KADE!!

He wanted to wear his backpack like the other kids wear theirs. Too bad it doesn't really fit that way.

I was trying to get him to pose for this picture in front of his school. The sad thing is as he was sitting there other kids were walking into school and under his breath he was uttering, "NURRRD-ALURT." Great I have the bully in the class! I gave him a quick talk about being nice to the kids and these were his friends. He promised to be nice after that. I just pray no other mother's heard him.

Once inside he was so excited. He instantly climbed up into the reading fort and asked for me to leave. I told him I would go if he would come down and pose for me with his teacher.

Here is Kade with Ms Karen. I am so excited for him to have something to occupy his time while the kids are at school all day. He has waited for the day when he got to go to his own school. I had been promising him if he would potty train he would get to go to school, Pay day is finally here! I just pray it goes smoothly!

July Happenings

We have been so busy during the month of July. We have been busy with soccer, vacations, swimming, swimming lessons, trips to the beach, playing with friends, playing at the splash park, and many more exciting things. I haven't had time to sit down and blog all the fun things we've been doing. I am trying to take some time today to catch up on some much needed things like laundry, cleaning, blogging, laundry, grocery shopping, laundry, etc etc. I have had so much fun with the kids being out of school. Although most of the kids in the neighborhood started school this past week, it's nice that we still have a few more weeks to enjoy. We have a few more things on our to do list that include the sun, water, daytime, and fun!! We are going to try and take advantage of the next three weeks until we need to start worrying about schedules, going to bed early, waking up early, and homework. Here is a peek into what we have been up to.

Zermatt Resort

This weekend Mike and I spent the night up at Zermatt resort in Heber City. We had the best time EVER!!! I am totally in love with Heber City, the resort we stayed at, and my husband!!! We had originally planned a babysitter for the weekend so we could go on a soccer tournament up in Colorado. When that fell through we decided to keep the babysitter and just go and do something over night.

Mike has been wanting me to go golfing with him. So I decided to humor him and go with him. Let's just say I do not have the natural talent like he does. It was a lot of fun sitting in the cart with my licorice and Dr. Pepper, laughing with Mike and soaking up the sun. It was nice and relaxing but I definitely don't understand how those boys go and golf 36 holes in one day. I was getting antsy trying to finish 9.

We went and checked into the Zermatt resort. What a pretty place! I felt that even though we weren't very far from home, I had been transported to someplace far far away. We went to dinner at the all you can eat Italian restaurant at the hotel. YUM!!! YUM!!! YUM!!! Then decided to walk around the grounds and across the street to check out the giant crater. We saw this big gazebo and laughed because it reminded us of the last scene in Twilight. I had to go do a little twirl in there. We loved our hotel room, sleeping in late, and the yummy pastry shop that had gelatto. We will definitely be going back. This is by far our favorite place we have gone to that's not so far from home. Thanks mom for taking the kids....want them back???

Nature

We took the kids up to Tibble Fort this past weekend. We had so much fun enjoying nature. The kids climbed the mountain, went on treasure hunts, roasted hot dogs, roasted marshmallows, ate smores, and went fishing for their first time. We hadn't even been there for 2 minutes and Kade was a complete mess head to toe!!! He didn't care he was in the mountains. Then their was Kaylee. She constantly had a baby wipe in her hands or she was over at the water fountain washing her hands. Any time I tried taking a picture of her she would strike a pose. She's a funny girl sometimes. This was fun for Brayden because he caught his first fish and he was able to pass off a lot of his scout requirements.

Strike a pose

Who do you think is more excited, Brayden or Mike?


Kade patiently waiting for a fish.