Wednesday, August 31, 2011

But does your younger sister have 10 kids?

Cause mine now does!
And you wouldn't know it by this picture.
Meet John and Joseph, Tami's 9th and 10th children (and second set of twins...she started out with girls).
Congratulations to all!
I need to hold them.

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

School is Good

Kindergarten, Joy School, 2nd Grade

When saying good-bye...
Drew was totally fine, didn't even look back.
Sally was fine, but quiet.
Owen cried.

All were way happy when I picked them up.

School is a good thing.

On a side note, awhile ago I planted white flowers on both sides of that front step.
Why are the ones on the left flourishing and the ones on the right dead?

Monday, August 29, 2011

Last Day of Summer


We had an exciting day of errands and more errands planned for our last day of summer.
Anna saved the day w/a last-minute back to school party.
She had stuff to make those cute cupcakes and did some fun games with the kids.

And then Drew hollered from the park bathroom that he couldn't get the toilet paper to unwind.


After the unpleasantness of shopping w/3 kids all afternoon,
I was pretty sure I was done w/summer.

But I'm not.

I have loved (most of the time) it.

We're not moving or about to move,
don't have any napping children (i.e., no schedules to work around),
and we're in an ideal location.


Met Drew's teacher today and love her. He's excited.
Don't know a thing about Owen's teacher. I'm nervous about his class.
And Sally's starting joy school (9 kid group!)

I'm just ready for them to have awesome first days so this pit in my stomach will go away.

Soccer Firsts

His first soccer practice (there were others, but we were out of town)...

followed by his first game the next day.
They are very non-competitive games where score is not kept.
Owen & I decided to keep score anyway.
Until it was obvious our booties were being kicked.

He still had fun, though...and is constantly motivated by the end of season trophy.



We played Drew's friend Caleb's team.
(they are obviously on opposite ends of the height spectrum)

And we'll pretend that these guys made it in time.
We're just glad to have family around that wants to come at all.
I was bummed in Monterey during Owen's season when we didn't.
(Owen chose not to play this year)

We've had a long enough break in-between kids doing sports that this is exciting for us.
We'll see how we feel at the end of the season.

Poolside

The day after we got home from AZ,
we got a hotel by Disney and spent a few days there.

First thing the kids wanted to do was go to the pool.
Justin obviously didn't object.

Disney was awesome and we're getting good at working it there.
What made it good:

- Justin (his first time going with us).

- Hotel within walking distance.

- Getting there first thing, taking long afternoon nap breaks, then staying out late.

- Fireworks. Love watching them by Small World, then timing it just right to get on the boat for the finale (there's never a line then so you can walk right on. and by the time the ride is over, there's a huge line. it's satisfying).

And always the food and fast passes. We're ready to go back.

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Name Books

I have a slight obsession with books that have my kids names in them.
So when I discovered this one at our library that has Owen AND a frog on the cover,
I was pretty much ecstatic.
It ended up being the perfect little boy adventure story.
Read it loud most of the way to AZ.
Owen didn't want me to stop (which is saying a lot).
It made me happy.

So did this one:
There are a ton of Sally books out there.
But a book featuring her name and favorite color was a bonus.

Back to the trip for a second...
Justin said it looks like we're visiting the Star Wars movie set here.
Were parts of it really filmed @ the dunes?
And this gets me every time we drive by it on the way to the rim.
Are they advertising topless heifers?

And did I really just go from children's books to a cabaret picture?

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Payson Based


We took a little trip to Payson to visit Justin's family.
Started out with some really good hamburgers at Nifty 50's Diner in Pine.

Then swam, cliff jumped, and rope swinged in some dirty river water.


We fulfilled Justin's summer dream of camping on the rim.
Literally looked for 2 hours for the perfect site.
Minutes after finding it, it started pouring.


It rained pretty much the rest of the day.
Got an hour break to get the tent set up.
Justin was in Heaven with the rain.
I appreciate rain more if I'm not camping.
The kids were happy playing in the tent.
But not so happy about the super loud thunder and nonstop rain through the night.

Rain free and visited by an elk the next morning.


The chipmunks were obviously comfortable around people.


Spent the morning fishing.


The only thing caught was this crawfish.




Did the vista trail on the rim.
Justin scared me.








Planned on stopping at the hatchery on the way back to Justin's parent's house,
but when we passed Catch-A-Trout couldn't resist a guaranteed fish.

It took longer than it should have, but we got one.
It got grilled later that day, but only a few brave souls tasted it.



Saturday morning we went to a different lake on the rim with family.
Justin thought it'd be fun to boat everyone and everything across the lake.







We weren't there long, but long enough for Parker to catch a little fish.
Thunder and rain clouds started heading our way so we ferried everyone back and called it a day.

Got to my parent's house Sunday and Justin was surprised with some gifts
and a festive banner in honor of his college graduation.

(welding helmet to go with new welder)

Left the next day after getting my hair done and visiting with friends.

Every time we pass the dunes Drew wants to, "touch the desert."
He got his wish on the way home.












How can somewhere so cool be so hot?
We were happy to get here to 40 degrees cooler weather.

Good trip, but like always...good to be home.

Sunday, August 14, 2011

A Sleepover




Please note the time.



9 hours later (at least they slept in)...



Justin had a scout campout.
So we made ourselves happy with Spiritos (strip mall Italian place that has the best pizza)
and a sleepover.