The First Day of School

School started today and the house is very quiet. Gracie is sleeping. K is a junior, I'm worried she will be gone before I know it. C is in 8th grade. S in 6th and CR in 3rd. Thank goodness for my baby that still has a while at home. My SIL gave me the idea to make cookies for when they come home. I think I will.

We all got back to school blessings last night. We have an awesome father and husband. He gave us all the best advice and counsel!

I went to the Elementar School with S and CR for the flag ceremony. Mr Hasset sang the National Anthem and it was very touching. The kids lined up with their teachers and we waved good bye. The first day of school brings with it many mixed feelings.

Lagoon

I forgot that we went to Lagoon on the 14th. It was Family Lagoon Days since K works there so we got in for really cheap. Z and family came with us. I am glad they live close by and we can do so many fun things together. We swam and then went on rides. It was really fun so here are a couple of pictures from that day.

Last few days of Summer Vacation

Let's backtrack for a minute. Sunday we celebrated C's birthday at my parents house. We had Chicken Divan (Carina loves broccolli), and cheesecake. C wanted a pinata so C and S made one on Saturday and finished it on Sunday morning. It looked wonderful and it was a fun messy experience!

Our RS did a service auction and I got the use of a private pool for the night. So we decided that we needed to use it before school started and before it got cold (I'm not sure if it will get cold this fall... we have had record heat all summer). Z and family came along. We had a great FHE time together. The pool was wonderful and we got to BBQ. So that is what we did on Monday.

Tuesday we had to finalize everything for school. K and C had piano in the morning and then we went to the open house at the school in the afternoon. We got to meet the teachers and they were really nice and I think it will be a good year. KC had to stay late at work because a server crashed on him and he had stayed up really late the night before! That's what happens when you work for the school district right before school starts.

C's Birthday

We now have another teenager in our family. I hope we can handle it! We love her though. She is so loving and kind.

We haven't done too much today because we are waiting for K to get back from Education Week. She has been down there since Tuesday with her friend Kellie. Grandma and Grandpa were their drivers and care takers. We are so happy that they were willing to help us out!

C babysat this morning and she has ballet later on. We will go out to Teriyaki Stix for dinner afterwards and then open presents!! She wants to celebrate tomorrow by going to see Hairspray and popcorn of course. She will have her party on Sunday.

Just a little about C. She is a wonderful daughter, sister and friend. Everyone just loves her so much. She loves to spend time with her family. She is a great ballet and jazz dancer. She doesn't like Algebra too much but she is going to try hard this year to get an A in the class. She likes to write poems and she is very good at it. Her current interests are Speed Stacks and Club Penguin. At the moment she and S are making a pinata for her party on Sunday. She is very creative and her siblings are always looking to her for new ideas.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

KC Birthday Week

On Saturday we celebrated KC birthday. We had strawberry shortcake and huevos rancheros for breakfast. KC conducted for a baptism. We kind of just relaxed all day and it was good cause we needed it! We went out to eat that night as a family (minus K since she was on the river run).

On Sunday we celebrated with the "relatives" (as the kids call them). We had fish tacos for dinner and a very chocolate cake.

Ballet begins this week and so we are back to the driving back and forth. C and S were debating about switching to doing more modern dancing like jazz and hip hop but after some thinking they decided to stick with ballet and jazz at the same studio for another year.

The kids had piano lessons on tuesday. It was much needed since they haven't had one since June cause it has been so busy.

Jef and family came in late on Wednesday night and stayed with us until Saturday morning. They were gone to Provo all day thursday and friday J&M went to the SL Temple and the kids hung out with us. It was Jenner's bday so we celebrated that night with pizza, cake and bowling.

Vacation in the Wild Wild West

We were supposed to leave on Friday around noon. But the power went out here and at work for KC so he had to stay and take care of problems. We ended up leaving at 3:45. We were finally on our way and then cars are just completly stopped. It took us over an hour to get through. We really don't know what was the problem but it looked like them might have closed the road for a little while because of construction. We made it to Evanston and then we ate dinner. We wanted KFC but we missed the exit so we went to the next exit turned around and went back. We found the KFC sign but that was all. It had been demolished. Just our luck of the day! So we ate at Wendy's. We were finally on our way from Evanston at about 7:30 and we still had a long way to go. G does not like being in the car at night so we were a little worried. We made it to Cheyenne at 12:30. Safe and Sound.

Saturday morning we slept in. KC, G and I stayed at P&K house across the street cause Brownstown was full. We went on a tour of T&J house that is beeing built and then on a tour of C&R house. S had lost one of her contacts so we had to go and get her new ones at Walmart. We did some shopping for clothes for pictures the next day. That night we went to dinner at Guadalajaras. It is always adventurous when you go with so many people.



















Sunday we went to church, had dinner, and then it was time for Family Pictures. We were scheduled to do it at the Botanical Gardens but it was raining really hard. We waited and we were still able to take them there just not sitting on the grass.

Monday July 30 we drove up to the Passage Resort where Tron is the chef. It was about a 5 hour drive. We at lunch in Sheridan at a Pizza place and visited with Grandma's brother Dennis. Then we went up the mountain. We had two really nice cabins waiting for us. The adults and G stayed in one and the kids in the other. T had a nice dinner planned for us. Lots of steak. We ate outside and then we had a campfire where we roasted marshmellows.

Tuesday we had a very nice and big breakfast made by T and then we went to see the Medicine Wheel. It was a short drive but once there you had to walk 1 1/2 miles up to the place. We just did not plan on that walk and did not put sunblock on. A few of the kids got sunburned, including G a little on her arms. It was a very nice, quiet place where American Indians do ceremonies. In the afternoon the kids went fishing for a few hours. Then KC, J, T, Grandpa and I went four wheeling. It was fun. Its so nice to be out in nature like that. We came back and the kids were still fishing. They caught a few fish for dinner that night. We had fish and chips for dinner. We ate at about 9:30pm. It was so good to see T and be with everyone.

Wednesday we left for Cody to see a museum there. It was an awesome museum of WY history. We had lunch at a restaurant and then we needed to drive to Thermopolis where there are hot springs. We drove down and saw them but it was to late to swim so it would have to wait until the next day. We stayed in a cabin (Dawn's family). It was very nice of them to let us stay there.

Thursday we had breakfast at their house and then went swimming at the hot springs pools. It was a nice relaxing time in that medicinal water. We were there until about 1:00. We then had lunch at Taco John's. After that we drove back to UT. G was really good, she slept on and off for about 4 hours until we got to Rock Springs. I drove in a major rain storm while KC slept. It was kind of scary. We made it home that night at 9:30. We had a wonderful time with KC's family. The kids just love playing with their cousins from Miami.

We had to hurry home cause K was going on a river run with the Laurels from the ward early the next morning.

Last few weeks in July

From July 16 to 20.
K and C went to Girl's camp in Heber. We went up on Thursday night for dinner and their testimony meeting. We drove up with the Judkins. We took G with us. We left CR and S home alone. They were fine until it was time to go to bed and they got a little worried. They called aunt Z and she helped them be more at peace.

Cr had his tennis lessons for two weeks again. He loves to play tennis.

G had her 6 month dr's appointment. She is now 15.8 lbs and 27 in. long. She is really tall for some odd reason. She is in the 90% for height. She is such a cutie.

We had eye appointments, pack meeting and a few miscelaneous tasks.

July 22.
Dinner and Birthday celebrations. We celebrated J and Lele and my Bdays. My mom made Jocon for dinner. It was very yummy. The kids rode the Hess' horses because J loves them.

July 24.
Pioneer Day. We went hiking (if you can call it that) up Cottonwood Canyon. We first met with Z +kids and my mom. We finally figured out lunch and then drove up. The first hike took like 5 minutes and it took us up to a pretty waterfall. Then we went on another hike on this paved road. That was a little longer. We ate lunch up there. Jasmine had to go potty. It was a nice time together. My dad was gone to Mexico for work. In the afternoon we went and saw the Harry Potter Movie as a family at the IMAX in SL. The screen was huge. Afterwards we got some street Mexican tacos and then went over to my parents to say hi since my dad had just come back from Mexico.

Birthday Week

Sunday July 8.

Church with everybody. J flies out back to Texas. Sad to see him go. I love my little brother. Not so little and much smarter than I am. I didn't even get an adjustment! Time flew by. We went to dinner at Z house. Picked a few buckets of apricots. Z has a huge tree. We celebrated C bday. We had a fun time. Said sad goodbyes to R and kids. We tried to delay everything to get her to stay longer. Eventually we had to let her go.

Monday July 9.

B's went back to Cheyenne. We went to a few stores. Met my parents for dinner at this Latin Grocery Store. Very authentic. The older kids (K, A, and C) went to Lagoon. D was trying to fly out tonight because they had way too much luggage to try and fit in their little red rental car. The chances of getting on were not good but D still wanted to try. We went to my parents house and just hung out. We left D to try and get on, the rest of us came home. The BSU got on once again! Z came to spend the night.

Tuesday July 10.

Canning of Apricots with my sisters. Hard work but worth it! Cat and I learned how to can together when we were just newlyweds.

Wednesday July 11.

Harry Potter Movie and more canning.

Thursday July 12.

Cat had to leave.... After having her here for a few weeks I remembered how much fun it was to be together and it was hard to see them go. They had to drive back to Las Vegas and return their car. They left at about noon. Oh, how I miss having them close by.

Friday July 13.

My BDay. KC made me a yummy breakfast. The kids are always so nice to me. I had to pass out the visiting teaching changes to the district supervisors. Casey got home early from work. We went out to eat as a family to Wingers. I love their wings. Openned presents. I got a new digital camera so I can take more pictures for my blog.

Saturday July 14.

Who knows what we did during the day. Probably rest. I did make cookies in the afternoon. We had a get together with ward members to get to know new people in our ward but only one family showed up besides all of the leaders. Kind of funny!

Fourth of July Week

July 1.

Fast Sunday. Dinner at our house. Alex flying stand by from Boston. Stress. Stress. Will he make it? He was traveling alone. The flight from New York to SLC did not look very good. We were all on the phone trying to figure it out. We were worried that he would be stranded in the NY airport all by himself. I don't think he was worried. Just the moms! And then the son of BSU gets on!!!! Cat picks him up at midnight or so. What a relief. Did we even eat dinner that night?

Monday July 2.

Cousins Camp in SLC. We drove down to Liberty Park so the kids could get free summer lunch. We were stressing cause we were cutting it short on time that when I got out the stroller from the trunk I set down my purse (with my keys in it) and after I had everything out including my purse I closed the trunk and then I relized that my keys fell out and they were still sitting there in the trunk. JOY. We had lunch. Played in the water. KC had to drive down and save me. I love him so much for being so willing. Even though he drove down in 100 degree temperature and no air conditioning.
Then we went to Z house to have water games and decorate matching t-shirts for all of the cousins. It took us a little longer than planned. We were there until 9:30pm. We took a break and went to eat at Del Taco. What would we do without Z planning these fun things for us.

Tuesday July 3.

I don't remember. I think we went shopping for picture clothes. We had a BBQ and fireworks with our neighbors from the cul-de-sac.

Wednesday July 4th.

Independence Day. "And I am pround to live in America, where at least I know I'm free...." We were almost all together. We went to the Kaysville parade thinking it was at 10:00 but it was at 11:00 so we came back home. KC and the kids went back but I stayed home with G. Cat and A did not want to go to begin with. We were waiting for the Texas F's to show up. My parents came also. We were only missing the BSU. After deciding to go get chicken at Smith's (typical F picnic meal). Some decide to get Subway. We went to a park across the street. We ate in the shade but still over 100 deegrees. We talked, took pictures of the cousins in their matching t-shirts, ate, and played some games. It was a fun relaxing time. We did stress about D getting on the flight but of course he is BSU so we knew he would get on.
Afterwards the girls (C, Z, R, K and I, and baby J) went shopping. Why not? We needed to bond. The clothes for the pictures have been driving us batty for the past few months.
We went to a BBQ at the Foutz. They were wondeful to have us all over! We ate and then we went to fireworks at the park. We have been celebrating the 4th of July with the Foutz for a long time now and I am glad my family was willing to go so we could keep up with tradition.

For more information on the events of the week read my SIL's blog at http://ihaveagoodlife.blogspot.com/2007/07/trip-day-5-july-4-pickup-dh-picnic.html . She is much better at blogging than I am.

Thursday July 5.

Family Pictures. First of all D made it in at about 1:00am. So we are all together!!! We drove to SL for the well anticipated event. It was extremely hot but it was worth it. We took a million pictures. I had to feed G at the very last second to make her happy. Afterwards we went to lunch at a Chinease Buffet. We had our own room, thank goodness since there were so many of us. Then we went to Temple Square for a while and saw the Joseph Smith movie. We came home and made tacos for dinner. KC's parents and brother and family were here for the baptisms on Saturday so now we truly had a full house.

Friday July 6.

We went to Park City and did some shopping. J&R went to Provo. B's went to SLC. When we came home we all met up together and the adults went out to dinner. We went to Cafe Rio. Then we found out that the pictures did not turn out that great because the sun was too bright and if we wanted a nice picture we should do them again. What??? Shower, dress, and get ready all over again?? This caused some problems but we had to do it, when else would we all be together? So that was the main topic of conversation that night. C, R, J and I stayed up getting food ready for the luncheon and KC and D stayed up getting the slideshow ready for the baptism. We laughted as we worked and told the kids sleeping in the family room to be quiet! How fun.

Saturday July 7.

The Baptism Day. What a wonderful day it turned out to be. We had been discussing doing this for over a year and it finally happened. We had 24 people staying at our house and we all had to be ready before 11:00am. We did it! The baptism was wonderful and so memorable. We took place in the Sunset Stake Center. Out previous stake. Afterwards we all drove down to our ward building and had a luncheon there with many friends and family. Then we had to get ready for pictures again. This time we went to Temple Square and the setting was just beautiful and the pictures turned out much better. Then out to ice cream at Ben and Jerries at the Gateway. Ice cream not too great. Company was awesome. Our time together was coming to an end and we were becoming sad.