Beginning of a new school year

It has become a tradition for the girls to go get pedis and manis the Saturday before school starts.  The girls always pick the craziest colors.  Like purple, bright red and turquoise.  But what can I do... it is their special day and that is what they want, so I just roll with it.

We started the first day of school!  Jake loved that he could finally wear with R2-D2 shirt.  He had to wait over a month to wear it.  And you can't see it, but he has a matching R2-D2 backpack to go with it.  One happy boy!  He is all about Star Wars these days.

I am not sure where all my pictures went.. but these are the best pictures I could find.  I don't even know where Ella's individual picture went.    Sometimes computers are so frustrating!

 But at least I got a picture of Ella with her siblings, so I do have documentation of her on the first day of school.    The kids are in 5th, 2nd grade and kindergarten this year!

I was able to grab this picture of these cute girls during the chaos of the first day of school.  such cute girls (Kylee, Ella and Blythe).

This week we were included in the national craze called the Ice Bucket Challenge.  We were out for a walk and ran into our friends the Smiths.  Robbie was doing the ice bucket Challenge and challenged Ella to do it.  Here is a picture of Robbie after his challenge (and my kids decided the water looked fun, so they literally dove right in).

For Memorial Day, we headed up to Bass Lake to enjoy the water and sun.  It is fun to be able to play in water with mountain and forests as your back drop.  Different scenery from the ocean :-)  The kids had a blast playing in the sand and sun all day.  But we decided to kick it up a notch and rent a waver runner and really have some fun.

Of course, Hannah loved it!  Ella was nervous but enjoyed the ride she went on.  But made sure I kept the runner below 20 MPH.  The boys loved it, but the surprise of the day, was that Jake was the one that loved it the most.  Graham had had enough, but Jake wanted to keep going.  He liked pretending their were riding an X-wing fighter and fighting Darth Vader :-)

Speaking of Star Wars, I made this blanket for Jake hoping it would help him be brave and stay in his bed at night.    I told him it would give him the FORCE and he could fight away all his fears.  Well, it was a good idea, but no luck.  He still comes into our bedroom every night.  I thought I had it with this idea!

We decided to go out to dinner (one of the nights Chris was gone) and since we were over by the temple, the kids all said they wanted to go.  So, we drove to the temple.  

I remember reading somewhere that "if you let your children touch them temple, the temple will touch their hearts."  So, that is what we do.  When we go to a temple, the kids touch it :-)  This just warms my heart :-)

And a picture, just because.  Graham decided to draw on himself with marker and then he wasn't happy about it.  Well, my son... don't draw on yourself if you don't like it!  If only, his little 2 year old brain would get that concept :-)

Summer in Utah

We made our annual trek to Utah this summer and here are some of the things we did.  It was a jam packed two weeks of fun!

We started out our trip by stopping at Bryce National Park.  This park might be one of my more favorite places to visit. It truly is SOO beautiful!

Pictures don't really do it justice.  But we went on a hike down to the bottom and then back up again. The kids were great and did a good job hiking.  There is so much for them to do (especially at the bottom) they just played and explored.

This was at the end of the hike.  We had to do switchbacks to get up the trail.  Ella sprinted to the top (she was done with the hike).  Hannah has slow and steady (no complaining).  Jake struggled, but he was having breathing problems, so he had an excuse.. poor guy! And well Graham, piece of cake!

After Bryce we headed to Ephraim for our family reunion.  We spent two days there doing family stuff.  One of the things we always do is go to the family farm/homestead to help clean it up and have dinner.  There is a huge climbing tree that the kids love and of course had to eat dinner in.

This little trio found their spot and enjoyed their meal.  Such cuties.

The family reunion ended on the 4th of July.  We stayed and played in Manti and enjoyed a good "small town USA" fourth of July celebration.  Here are the kids decked out in red, white and blue!

This is one of my favorite holidays, so I love finding cute things for the kids to wear to look festive.  Nothing like looking like a full-fledged American family (see next picture :-)

Some of the small town fun was gunny sack races.  The kids loved this and each one had to have a turn.  Jake might have cheated just a wee-bit!

One of the not so fun times on the 4th of July was finding out that Jake is severely allergic to cashews.  He had some cashews because he was hungry.  Then minutes later he started to go into anaphylactic shock.  His throat was bothering him, his lips were huge and he started to cough.  My BIL told us we needed to get him to the ER right away.  But it was the 4th in a small, small town in the middle of the state, so it wasn't open.  Chris and my Brian drove 25 mins to Mt. Pleasant and the whole way Chris was yelling at Jake to keep him away and conscious.  They got to the ER and Jake throw up and they pumped him with tons of stuff to stop the reaction.  They said he had about 5-10 minutes and we could have lost my little guy.  

It is crazy to think that food can create this life-threatening situation and we didn't even know it.  I am grateful that we figure it out with family and a doctor with us.  I don't even want to think if this had happened while I was home alone.  I would have probably just waited it out and that would have been very, very bad.  

Jake remembers bits and pieces, but the thing he does remember and loves is his "cow-mooy".  that is the name of the stuffed animal he got from the ER.  Cow-mooy is not my favorite guy, since he reminds me of a very scary day.  But at least we know and now know that Pistachios would have been even worse!

After the reunion, we headed back to SLC to play with family some more.  We celebrated with family dinners every night and some birthdays too.

What's a trip to Utah without a shaved ice.  They are everywhere and they are so good.  The perfect reward for my kids for completing their workbooks.  

We made it to the Tracy Aviary.  The kids loved learning and looking at all the birds.  It was a hot day, so we hit the water feature at Liberty Park.  

We of course went swimming.  How many cousins can you fit in a hot tub?  Well, there might have been room for a few more, but not much more.  

We went to the new Living Planet Aquarium.  This aquarium is top-notch and so well done.  Definitely a must do, if you are visiting.  

I'm not sure why Jake is crying in this picture, but man he is upset about something.  

We took at trip up to Big Cottonwood Canyon for a campfire dinner.  The cousins played games in the woods and we told stories, sung songs and ate hot dogs.    This picture captures the fun my kids had.  

Ella found this gigantic dandelion.  I told her to make the biggest wish she could think of!

Here is most of the crew enjoying s'mores.

Another fun place we visited was the Museum of Natural Curiousity at Thanksgiving Point. Man alive, this place is amazing.  Crowded as can be (because it had just opened early that week), but it is worth all the hype.  It is quite the "children's museum"!  You could easily spend a whole day there.  

For instance, here is the amazing Graham!

And then ice cream... Thanksgiving Point has some of the creamiest and best ice cream around.

After we played hard in SLC, we headed to Provo Canyon to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa at the cabin.  I loved going to the cabin because it reminds me of my childhood and all the fun I had near Sundance and I love that my kids get to experience the same fun!

We rode the Heber Creeper.  Graham loved it, since he loves trains.  It is a long ride, but it a nice one and the kids loved hanging out the window and the "bandit" that came on the train looking for Loot.

We had traditional fun "no TV" kind of fun.  We practiced making giant bubbles.  That kept the kids busy for a long, long time.   And the magic of holding a gigantic bubble never got old.

Of course hamburger and hotdog dinner outside.

We went on a hike at Sundance to Stewart Falls.  We rode the ski lift to the top of the mountain.  The kids thought this was cool after they got used to the feeling of riding the ski lift.  It was even a little unsettling to me.  But that is because the older I get, the more afraid of heights I get.  I don't like it.  I hate to think of what heights will be like in a decade or two.

It was a nice long hike and a little on the warm side, but here was the reward.  It was so beautiful and the water spray was so refreshing.  Since it was summer, there were a ton of people there with us.  

I mean look at the view from the waterfall.  It is just gorgeous in the mountains of Sundance.  It might be one of my favorite places in Utah :-)

Here is a few on the hike back out.  With Mt. Timp in the background.  The kids were tired and it was starting to show on their faces.  But buck-up hikers, we still have a long ways to go to get back down to the resort!

Graham couldn't hold any longer.  He crashed big time!

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Well, there is our summer vacay in Utah.  Tons of non-stop fun.  We needed a vacation after our vacation for sure.  Good thing we still have our summer to go!

End of School Festivities

I just realized I had this post waiting all the way back from the end of school.  So, here is an update from the last weeks of school (definitely out of order!)

Hannah was on the Principal's Honor Roll all 4 quarters this year (so was her friend Genie).  We are so proud of her and her accomplishments.  What a hard worker and super smart girl!

Jake graduated preschool.  He loved his teacher and his teacher loved him. She was so good to Jake and showed him so much love.  I wish all teacher could be like her.  It will be strange not to go to this school next year (since I have been driving her for 6 years now).   We will have a one year break and then it will be Graham's turn.

On the last day of school, we all went out for Hawaiian Shaved Ice as our end of the school treat.  The kids love this place.

Here are some of the gifts that we gave teachers at the end of the year.  I had a mini photoshoot with all the 1st graders in Ella's class and asked them what they wanted to be when they grew up.  Then I gave it to her teacher to help her remember her students this year!

Another teacher got an "orange you glad it's summer" gift.  All things orange and summer related.

And the last set up teachers got a brownie mix, oven mitt and the most adorable spatulas!

The other great accomplishment Hannah had this year was to get the Block W award.  This is a big award for students that show they are well-rounded and involved in school both academically, athletically along with citizenship, music, good helper and attendance. It is not an easy award to get and Hannah got it both semesters :-)  My little girl impresses me all the time!