First Day of School

Well, we have been in school for over a month now, but I had to get their first day of school pictures up.  I can't believe how old my kids are getting.  Hannah is in the upper grades and Ella is full time in 1st grade.  Seriously... Well, here they all are ready to start the school year.  The first day of school always brings so much excitement and renewal.  I wish it wasn't always 100 degrees, but nevertheless it is always a fun and exciting day!

This is the best I could do with this guy.  His smile is either this or a pirate smile.  

I love these kids.  They are so adorable to me!

Last Days of Summer

The last few weeks of summer where lots of fun and lots going on.  here are just a few of the things we did.

Ella's best friend moved away in them middle of august.  We were so sad to say good-bye.  These two girls spent a lot of time together and were the best of friends.  Ella always tells me "mom, i am going to Elle's birthday party!"  It isn't a question it is a proclamation!  No doubt about it in her mind.  Too bad Elle now lives 2 states away.

To say good bye to her best friend, we did a craft where the girls put there fingerprints on clay and we baked them and made them into these cute necklaces.  So, each girl got to keep the fingerprint necklace of each other, so they could remember each other.

I got the instructions for the necklaces here.

Then to get ready for school, I made these cute pencil packs for the preschool teachers.  I bought my usual Rocky Mountain Caramel Apples for the elementary kids. But thought these goodies would be fun for Jake's teachers.

I got the idea for the pencil packs here (with their cute tag freebie) and here is what I do every year for the elementary teachers.

This is just a fraction of the beautiful creations my girls made this summer.  Every day they would spend an hour or two making Perler Bead creations.  I loved it!  It kept them busy, creative and look at the fun designs we have.  They would give a lot of them away as gifts to loved ones and friends.  The perfect summer project for my girls!

Then we had to get school supplies.  Hannah needed a binder, so I thought it would be fun to dress it up a bit and make it uniquely hers.  

We had a couple of outdoor neighborhood movie nights this summer.  And we had our last one, the weekend before school started.  I love doing this, because it reminds me of what neighborhoods are supposed to be.  All hanging out together, enjoying the outdoors and each other.  The kids love it and it is so easy and so much fun!

We have started a new tradition, the weekend before school starts, the girls and I go and get our nails done.  The girls love picking out sparkly purple and teals colors for their toes and traditional red and pink for their hands.  They love it and so do I!  Such a fun mommy and daughter tradition! 

Then to help get life organized, I spent three days and 4 containers getting all our Lego Friends organized and categorized.  It was quite the project, but now the girls can find everything, so they will play with them more.  And I feel like I accomplished something great :-)

There you have it, the end of our summer.  Now on to schedules, being in the car all the time, practices and lunches and homework and running around like crazy!  Gotta love school.  Not only if it would stop being 100 degrees!  I am ready for fall!

New Favorite clothes site

So, I accidently came across this clothes site  LIKE TWICE and I am so glad I did!  It is the greatest thing for two reasons.

FIRST - you can buys cute, stylish, brand name clothes for a fraction of the price.  I got the cutest J Crew pencil skirt for $18 instead of $70!  It is one of my favorite skirts.

SECOND - you can give them your old brand name clothes and they will sell them for you and you'll get money in return.  

It works like this:

It is so easy, you just go to the site and click on the sell button.  you request a "bag".  They will send you a bag that is all ready pre-paid to be shipped back to them.  No cost to you.  

Follow their directions as far as what they accept in clothes and brand, etc.  Just mail the clothes back.  They will sort through them and give you a quote on how much you get for your clothes and an itemized list for what they accepted and what they didn't.  You can either take cash back for the clothes or if you decide you can use it as store credit on their site (and get %10 more in credit).

it is so easy and no risk.  you don't pay for anything to get rid of your clothes and you can some money in return.    And the clothes they don't end up using.. either goes to Goodwill or they will send them back to you for a fee of $5.

It is nice, because i just give my clothes to goodwill, because it is so much easier.  But this is just as easy and I get a little clothes money in return.

I just sent them my clothes and I got $55 in store credit in return.  This is what I just bought today!

So cute for the fall and riding boots, right?

So dang adorable.. I can't wait to wear it this fall and winter.

Who can't use some nice name brand jeans.  I love J.Crew.

I have the cutest cardigan to go with this shirt.  Purple/Plum is my new favorite color for my closet!

With my store credit and a $10 voucher they gave me, I ended up paying only $18 for all these cute clothes.   I saved 70% of what I would have spent in the stores (and believe me I would have bought them in the store!)

This company isn't asking me to write them up on my blog.  I just had to share this site with you because i think it is so great and really quite the deal.  So, if you are so inclined and end up using them.... if you want to you can use my link and I will get some extra store credit.

liketwice.com/IBVoy 

You don't have to, but if you remember and you don't mind!  

enjoy and happy shopping!  

Now if they would only add jewelry and shoes and purses to this site!

Family Reunion - Home Base Day again

On Friday, we were supposed to go to the reservoir for a day on the lake.  But there was some infestation on the shoreline (some kind of itch epidemic), so we decided to stay around the houses again.  We took it easy in the morning with a big breakfast and the kids got to play.  Then after lunch, we went swimming (which is always a favorite for the kids).

Later that afternoon we had a fashion show with the t-shirts we all designed for each other.  A person would get up and show their shirt and then the person that made it was announced as the designer and then they would be the next person up to show their shirt.

Our last night there, the kids finally got to have a movie night (which we had been promising them all night).  While the kids watched a movie, the adults got to talk and catch up on life together as a big group.

And then the next day it was farewell.  It was a great reunion and full of bonding, catching up, memories and BIG FUN!

Family Reunion - Zion Day

On Thursday, we went to Zion's National Park.  We did the Weeping Rock Hike and the Riverside Walk hike. A bunch of the crew went hiking up the Narrows for a bit.  The kids loved it.   I would say it was the highlight of the day.

We spent a lot of the time at the river playing on the shore and in the water.  

It was a hot day, but so much fun to be in one of the most beautiful national parks in our nation.  it is a favorite for sure.  Then a crowd went home and a crowd drove through the tunnel and explored some more. 

Family Reunion - HomeBase Day

On Wednesday, we had a nice, fun day at the houses.  In the morning, we played The Amazing Race.

Everyone was separated into teams and we had a race full of challenges like:

• pouring water into cups behind each teammates head and the first one to fill up the pitcher to the line could move on.
• find the green candle hidden in a balloon.  There was a garbage bag full of blown-up balloons and you had to pop them to find the green candle.  (the other balloons had white candles).
• find the colored lollipops.  Lollipops were stuck into the grass and each team had to find all five colors (red, orange, blue, green and brown) that were colored on the bottom of the lollipop stick (before they could move on).
• each team had to build a human pyramid and get their picture and then make a human structure where three teammates were not touching the ground.
• move on oreo from your forehead to your mouth without touching it
• tie strips of fabric together to have a string long enough from one point to another.  It could not touch the ground.  It was out on the street, so the distance was about 25-40 feet.
• using straws, paper cups and popsicle sticks you had to get a mento from the top of the table to a 2 liter bottle of soda.    (Be careful... as you know it will explode and someone (maybe me) was looking over the bottle when it exploded :-(

After lunch, we headed to the pool to swim.  The kids had a blast of course and it felt so nice to cool off.

Then it was back to get ready for family photos.  We had a photographer come and take a picture of all of us together.  This picture is of course a low-res image. but it gives you an idea of the family looks like altogether.

Then later that afternoon, everyone decorated t-shirts!  Each person choose a name and they had to decorate a t-shirt for that person.  We had all sorts of things to decorate the tshirts (fabric paint, pens, gemstones, ribbon, etc).

Mine was cute.  It had an Apple/Mac logo on the front and on the back at the bottom it said "I miss Steve :-(

You can see Hannah's t-shirt in the picture.  It is the first one and it was designed by her sister Ella.

Family Reunion - St. George Day

This summer for our family reunion, we headed to Hurricane, Utah.  It was the first time we had the family reunion outside of Salt Lake City and it was a blast.  Although it was hot, it was so much fun and we had a great time of site-seeing and relaxing and spending time as a family.  It was so great!

We arrived on Monday and settled into our houses.  We rented two houses (right next to each other).  It was great.  All the cousins each got rooms.  The boys got a room and the girls got a room with a climbing wall, a slide and castle fort.  It was awesome and the kids LOVED it!

My sister-in-law made t-shirts for everyone.  Seriously, how much time she put into this is incredible.  I helped her with the design (which I copied from someone on a blog).  The front said "BIG FUN" and the back said

"any time  * any place"

williams

 Each family got their own color too!  The t-shirts were so great.  We got stopped everywhere we went with people asking about what we were.... a family reunion!  We made an impression wherever we went, I mean how could we not.... 34 of us with these great t-shirts!

On Tuesday, we headed to St. George.  We started to day visiting the St. George Temple Visitor Center.  We were taught by the missionaries and then we watched a movie about a pioneer girl how didn't obey her parents and the consequences of her choices.  Hannah still tells to story of this movie to people that will listen :-)

Then we went Iceburg for lunch and of course great milkshakes!

Next was Brigham Young's house.  We took a tour of his house and learned about the early days of the  church. 

We kept going and hit the water feature in the middle of town.  The kids had a blast running through the fountains and playing in the lazy river.  It was a hot day, so it was nice to cool off.

Lastly, we hit the Rosenbruch Wildlife Museum.  It was a great little museum.  So, well done.  So many animal, more than you could imagine.  They gave the kids binoculars and a listening wand to learn about all the animals and their environments.  And each hour the storm would come... the lights would flicker and the thunder would crash... the kids went nuts!  Definitely worth a visit if your kids like animals.

June Highlights

Here are a few photos of some fun and eventful moments in the month of June. 

Jake finished his first year of school.  He loved it and can't wait to go back this fall.  

Then there was Father's Day.  We spent Father's day at my parents house.  The girls painted Father's Day signs for Chris and my dad.  

Then we celebrated with S'mores after dinner.  My kids love making S'mores at my parents house.  Who wouldn't with the wall of fire!

 And Graham just liked eating the marshmallows.  He kept sneaking them and eating them.

And I loved this picture of Jake with his grandpa.  

We went to the fish hatchery with our good friends.  The kids loved looking and feeding the millions of fish.  They were so many fish and the kids loved every minute of it.

Now that summer is here, it is time to set up some organization to keep the kids busy with constructive things.  Here is the chore chart that the kids are using.  They love it and it has been working great!  I got the cute magnets from Cucumber Lime.

I also set up the reading incentive again this year.  For every 30 pages Hannah reads, she gets to pick a number and if she chooses the correct number, she gets $10.

Lastly, I had a great plan to do something different each day.  Like Make it Monday (craft project day) or Fun to Read Friday (go to the library), but after a week of summer I realized I don't want that much structure.  I have 10 weeks of not "running around with my head cut off" and I am going to enjoy every minute of it and not adhere to a schedule.   So, that kind of didn't last... but it seemed like a good idea :-)

Chris' birthday

Chris and Jake share the same birthday and although it is great for them to share this special day, it makes it tricky for me to celebrate both of them. Jake clearly gets the most attention, but i want Chris to feel special too.  Some years I am better at it than others, but this was a good year.

I decided months ago, the best gift for Chris would be to remind him of all the great places we loved in Boston.  He loves food and we miss our time in Boston (a lot these days) ... so I thought would better gift than to bring Boston to him.  So, for his birthday he got a Taste of Boston.

I had all his favorite places and memories shipped to him for his special day.

Here is what he got to open up.

Harbor Sweets Chocolates

(this is a chocolate shop in Salem, Ma which we love)

Fenway Hot Dogs and Buns with mustard

(I found the manufactures of the Fenway Franks and had them shipped.  I also had a friend of mine from Boston go to the grocery store and send me their buns.  Fenway hot Dogs have a special kind of bun.  FYI: the only way you can eat a Fenway Frank is with mustard only, hence the mustard).

Nantucket Nectar Lemonade

(Our favorite lemonade and it is hard to find out west, but everywhere in Boston).

Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream

(Since Ben and Jerry's ice cream is made in Vermont, I had to throw some in there.  We have been to Vermont many times and love it up there)

Mike's Pastry Cannolis

In the North End in Boston, there is a pastry shop that everyone must hit.  There cannolis are wonderfully delicious.  This pastry shop is an iconic place in The North End.  So, of course I had to have some cannolis shipped to us!

Chocolate Covered Cranberries

(Cranberries come from Plymouth, MA... home of Ocean Spray.  So, I thought cranberries would be fitting too).

Cape Cod Potato Chips

(We love Cape Cod and constantly wish we could visit and vacation there.  So, I thought Cape Cod potato chips would be a fun addition.)

Legal Seafood Clam Chowder and Rolls

We tried to go to Legal Seafood while we were visiting the East Coast last year.  We didn't have time, so the idea and the memories of their clam chowder lingered on and on.  Chris had mentioned this restaurant and their chowder several times since then, so I had to get some clam chowder.)

Kimball Farms Jams

(Our favorite place to get ice cream is at Kimball Farms.  Unfortunately, they didn't ship their ice cream, but I thought getting some homemade jam from their farm would be almost as good. It is their almond joy ice cream, but yummy nonetheless.)

Tuck's Taffy

(In Rockport, MA there is a candy making shop that makes taffy (among other wonderful goodies).  We had our first "real" date in Rockport.  We love watching Tuck's making candy in their window, especially around Christmas time)  So, I had to get some taffy to remind us of our younger days of dating.)

So, there you have it. Taste of Boston in a Basket.  Oh, the memories!

The cannolis I ordered from Mike's Pastry came in a "cannoli making kit" of 10 cannolis.   They provided the pastry shells, the ricotta filling and several toppings to dip the cannoli into.  So, I decided instead of eating all 10 cannoli on our own, I would invite some of our friends over for a cannoli-making party to celebrate Chris' birthday.  No one had every had a cannoli before, so it was a blast and they were sooo good.  And to make it even more festive and italian, we had Italian sodas as well.

What a birthday!  It actually turned out to be one of his better birthdays (as a married couple) yet :-)

Jake turns 4!

Jake had been waiting for 6 months to turn 4.  I kept having to tell him in a few months or a few weeks or a few days and the the day was finally here.  He got to celebrate his birthday at school a few weeks early (because the last week of school was full of end of school activities), which really worked in his favor.  He loved that we were doing birthday things for weeks.  He choose to bring donut holes.  he told me he wanted to bring the "circle things with dots... so I showed him a picture of donut holes and he said YES!

We celebrated his birthday with his dad and the family.  We opened presents together.  And this is what he really wanted.

The other thing he really wanted was to have his birthday party at Pump It Up and he wanted to have a Cars themed party.  So, of course I was all for that.  Pump It Up parties are so easy!  Here are some of the details of the party and how I made it a Cars party.

Each kid got to take home a Pez and the cone cups with their names on them as the party favors.