Thursday, August 19, 2010

Back to School

Da Boyz started school on Monday. It was an exciting day for all of them. All of our boys had new (to our school, not the district) teachers We got 13 new teachers out of our 30 or so total teachers due to increased class sizes and teachers being cut and moved around. I was happy to hear that most, if not all of them really wanted to come to our school because of the location, parent support, and newer facilities. We are now a few days into the school week and they all LOVE their teachers and couldn't be happier, which of course makes me happy too! Cade was ecstatic that he got to go EVERY DAY! I realized I forgot to tell him it was 5 days a week when he came home the first day and asked when he got to go back. Carson is NOT loving that everyone gets to go to school and today asked me if he could go to preschool after we dropped Cade off. Ummmm. No. Sorry baby. Maybe next year.

4th, 3rd and "K" for kindergarten.
 

I was so happy Ethan had good friends in his class.
 

Also so happy that Trevor did too!
 

Cade is in afternoon kindergarten and boy was it a LONG morning between dropping off big brothers at 8am and coming back to drop him off at 11am. He has probably 12 friends from church in the 3 afternoon kindergarten classes (5 in his class alone) so it was impossible to try and get friend pictures given the chaos of kindergarten parents and kids on the first day. Here he is by the kindergarten playground. If you look closely, you can see Carson testing it out in the background.
 

Cade walked in his classroom liked he owned the place and was first to get his name tag, sit at his assigned table and start writing his name on his journal.
 

Carson thought he was old enough to go to kindergarten and stood next to the line hoping he could have a name tag too. When it was time to go I couldn't get him to come with me and had to resort to dragging him out screaming because he wanted to stay.
 


LAST WEEK

The week before school Cade had his first soccer game of the season. (Trevor and Ethan don't start games for a few weeks.) He was really happy to be out playing again.
 

 

 

One of the best parts of my week last week besides all the summer fun was saying good riddance to these. DON'T BUY MAYTAG! The first year with these were a dream. The 4 after that were a complete nightmare with mold issues (I tried everything people!) so when the dryer drum cracked and was going to be $450 to fix we threw in the towel and gave up and bought a new set that has the benefits of the front loaders without the downsides. No more front loaders for me!
 

The highlight or our week was going to Folsom Aquatic Center with our cousins. We had a blast. I could have stayed there all day if we didn't need to get Carson a quick nap before soccer practice that night.
Cade playing in the kiddie area.
 

Carson on the kiddie water slide.
 

Cade on the kiddie water slide.
 

Cade wasn't quite tall enough yet for the HUGE slide. Maybe next year?
 

Ethan going on the HUGE water slide
 

Cousin Avery coming down the HUGE slide.
 

They don't let you use arm wings or floaties, but loaned us a life jacket for Carson to swim with. He loved it of course.
 

Ethan and his "mini-me."
 

They had a couple of really fun inflatable obstacle courses for the kids to climb on. Cade wasted no time in trying it out.
 

 

 

Trevor loving the climbing wall...
 

and the rope swing.
 

Cousin Kenyon trying it out.
 

Cousin Adia trying to catch up to Trevor.
 

Ethan loving the inflatables...
 

and the rope swing too.
 

Of course my battery in my camera died because I didn't recharge it or the replacement that also needed to be recharged after using it so much on our vacation. So, when Cade decided to jump off the high dive I didn't have the camera to document it. The first time he did it I wasn't even there to see it. The kid has nerves of steel I tell you! Goodbye summer! I will miss you terribly!

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Eden

Our trip to Eden, Utah to see Grandma Judy and Grandpa Steve was jam packed! We started off the trip with a blown transmission 30 minutes out and had to be towed back home for 3 days and even though we lost 3 days of vacation time and spent $4000 on our car in one week to go on the trip, we still got to see and do tons of stuff! We had several friends and extended family it would have been nice to stay for a month to see them all, but Brent can only take so much time off work! I will try to let the pictures do most of the talking because we (I) took A LOT of them!

Before we got to Eden we stopped to see Aunt Terri's family and their new place!
 

and our friends from Virginia that happened to be visiting family in Utah the same time we were!
 

"This is the place" Heritage Park in Salt Lake. We had fun seeing all the historical buildings that had been brought in from all over. Carson loved going on the train ride the best. The boys loved seeing the schoolhouse and learning about how 1st to 8th grade used to be in the same classroom and punishments for bad behavior used to be a lot worse! Most of all it was neat for us (especially since we just finished D & C with the boys and went on Trek) to see the map that started in NY and showed all the places the saints were driven out of along the way before finally finding some peace in the Salt Lake Valley.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ethan never passes up an opportunity to speak in church. (In fact, primary has him "on call.")
 

 

 

 

Boating in Eden, Utah! We did LOTS of this since grandma and grandpa live just up the street from the lake and have a boat.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Boys wanted pictures of their "jumping tricks" off the boat...
 

 

 

 

 

Trevor got up on the wakeboard!
 

You are never too old to learn to wakeboard. Right?
 

Family Pictures on the deck Sunday afternoon. Aunt Leah brought her girls to visit most of the week too!
 

 

 

 

Hanging out with a real cowboy friend of grandma and grandpa's using his whip and listening to cowboy poetry and song...
 

 

 

 

 

 

LOVE those SMORES!!!
 

 

Carson was introduced to an actual dollhouse in grandma's toy closet. He loved it!
 

Trout farm in Ogden, Utah. After feeding the trout, we caught em...
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hiking in the Eden mountains...
 

Aunt Gina's family came for a little bit and we didn't get pictures with them. Just of them.
 

Boys hanging out with cousin Luke.
 

Carson hanging with Grandma...
 

Dinosaur Park, Ogden Utah...
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ATV rides with dad...
 

 

 

 

Rodeo in Ogden, Utah...
 

 

Petting Farm in Eden, Utah...
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Pioneer Day we watched the parade in Ogden. So fun!
 

We also went to an outdoor concert in Eden, music in the mountains! Complete with face painting for the kids.
 

 

 

 

 

Grandma Judy and Grandpa Steve chillin' at the concert. Thanks for a really fun visit!
 

Last, but not least. Can you guess what movie the boys were introduced to while visiting?