BACK TO SCHOOL 2nd and 4th grade.

The kids (and I) were SO ready to go back to school. We found out their teachers just a few days before they actually went back and they were SO excited for their teachers (even Mc who wanted Mr Stone but ended up with Mrs Blaney). They both had close friends in their classes, Mc- Emma, Kingston- Porter so that made this year 100% different from last. The kids were so confident and I felt so much better about sending them off. 

Back to school night was a success- Kingston has Mrs Butikofer. She is TOTALLY into STEM activities and engineering. He is is going to LOVE LOVE LOVE it and I can't wait to watch him excel. Mc has Mrs Blaney and came home the first day saying, "I had THE best first day."  We love Midas Creek and have had such great luck with teachers so far.  

We had a great back to school night where we talked about our upcoming theme for the year. I picked the phrase, "I can!" so our yearly theme. We talked about the scripture, "I can do all things through Christ that strengtheneth me" and how we can do hard things. We can be the nice kids. W can choose the right. We had a lot of, "I can't's" this summer where an "I can" helped us to overcome and we are hoping that for the kids this year (and every year for that matter). I have mentioned before in therapy we talked about saying, "yes" as often as we can if circumstances allow. 

Here is to another amazing school year for the kiddos!

Grade Numero Dos

My adorable 4th grader. 

Summer 2018, the Finale

And just when I think we can't handle ONE more single, solitary day of summer, it's over and the kids head back to school. The summer wrapped up perfectly and just like last year, and the year before that, I was ready for schedules, lunch at school and a little sanity. We really, REALLY had a great summer. I was a little sad that we didn't get to travel much due to my new calling at church but we still made the most of it. I will miss the $2 Mondays at the pool and being able to run off and grab ice cream whenever we want. I will miss summer nights and weekends that don't end with, "Hurry and shower! Because you have school tomorrow." There's always next summer!

BYE BYE SUMMER 2018!

Me and the Jones girls at Erasure. My ALL TIME favorite performer, Andy Bell, brought it down again. We had a delicious dinner at the Rio and danced the night away. Love the Joneses. 

 It was Enzo's turn for swimming lessons and he couldn't have been more happy to spend an hour every day for a week with his bestie, Tate. We made HUGE improvements since he would put his face in the water. Still a little shy to jump in and wasn't super thrilled about having to "fwoat" but he did it.

real life "Hot Wheels" in my mom's neighborhood

doing some veggie picking at Mimi's

 Ended the summer at Abby & Spencer's wedding. Mc was in AWE of everything! She loved packing Harper around, watching them dance, cut the cake and wearing her apron to clean up tables.

Peaches & Cream

And one last hurrah on the Monday-Tuesday before school started on Wednesday. Mimi and Papa took the kids to their property in Fairview for a cousins sleepover. The weather wasn't super great so the kids didn't get to swim but they did get to go bowling, eat Mexican food, stay up late, and play "cover ourselves from head to toe in mud" on Mimi's watch. They got home late in the afternoon on Tuesday with just enough time to shower and get ready for school the next day.

Enzo said, "that's me in a muddy suit"

Muddy boys,

Summer Prt 2

More summer fun to document! We are at the homestretch! Two weeks until school starts for the big kids. I've said it once, I have said it again- summer goes so fast and so slow at the same time. I try to have fun things planned for the kids almost every day but, I think the kiddos think this is just "normal" life and EVERYONE does fun stuff EVERY DAY. They have cooking camp this week. We went yet again to $2 Monday at the pool and have had lots of late nights riding bikes, playing in the yard and going to the park. We have just barely started pushing earlier bedtime (8:00) so that we don't all go into shock when school actually starts. Bree constantly reminds me how few summers we have with our kids but, I think we are doing pretty well cramming all that we can in.

Bet you can't guess which one is Mc

This summer has been full of cousin sleepovers. We are SO glad that the Thomases live so close. Notice their bead headpiece- they both went to Jeremiah Johnson activity camp and made them.

Baby goats

For family night one Monday we went to Petersen Farms to see the new baby goats and farm kitties. The best was the baby goats just wriggle out of their pen and roam the farm (but not too far from their momma because she yells at them). I had to help the worker chase them and stuff them back in so they could eat dinner. 

Farm Kitty and a City Kitty

On July 31st, as all good Harry Potter fans do, we celebrated Harry Potter's birthday at the library. We made wands, picked out a pet, made slime, had cookies, did a maze (with free Sodalicious coupons at the end), and searched for the Snitch for a prize. 

Some of my favorite Muggles

 Another week, another trip to Thanksgiving Point & some ice cream. This time we did the Curiosity Museum. We are definitely getting a lot of use out of our pass this year.

This door is a little too heavy for him to open himself but he sure is cute "trapped" in there. 

 Lindsy and I went and saw Weezer in concert. We had $20 Groupon lawn seats. While we were setting up a security guard came to stop some teenage girls from vaping and gave them SEAT tickets. I was like, "What the heck? I will break the rules for some tickets!" and he actually gave us some! We had VIP parking passes (from Alex) and excellent seats. The show was SO great! Weezer was the first cassette tape I bought with my own money. They put on a great show and any night with Lindsy is a good one.

Another Monday, another trip to the pool. We were lucky enough to have dad with us this time. He did some pretty awesome diving board tricks too.