Back to school- August 2010

Remember those times when our mothers were so excited for the 1st day of school?  Remember when they had those "back to school" parties with the other mothers in the neighborhood? What the heck? What's to party about-- we have to go to SCHOOL.  Well, my friends, that's EXACTLY what there is to party about! :)  Back to schedules, back to a little peace and quiet in the house, back to doing WHATEVER I WANT during the day (well, maybe not quite, I do have Lexie still at home)!! Yes, I do miss them periodically--especially when I need some helpers around or some entertainers for the baby, but mostly, I love it! I love that they have something to keep them occupied during the day...I love that they are making new friends, and having new experiences...am I being a harsh mother?  Ya know what? I don't care- I like what I like.  So anyhoo...on to the reason for this post... Brian and Sydnee are now BOTH in school full time.  They were so excited this morning.  I'm not sure what they are more excited for- school or riding the bus home.   Sydnee had no tears, no hanging on legs, nothing that said she was nervous! Brian acted like he was the big man- being in 1st grade and all.  Yes, it was mom who had to put on the sunglasses again this year to hide the tears that were shed because my kids are growing up and i have no idea how to slow down time.  How is it that I'm old enough to have a kindergartner AND a 1st grader?? How is it that they are old enough to be in kindergarten and 1st grade?? It seriously seems as if they were just BORN! 

Finally, Finally...caught up!

As you can see, I've been playing catch-up! Luckily, I've now finished with our trip from Utah and Idaho.  Sorry it took so long--I've been putting it off.  There's just something about going through 500+ pictures that doesn't appeal to me!  But I finally buckled down and did it, and just in time too...school starts on the 23rd, so i'm sure i will have pics of that, and I'm headed back to Utah on Aug 31st-Sept 11th!  My sister, Kate, is having a baby, and my sister, Ashley, is supposed to be coming out to say goodbye before she leaves for Iraq in October.  I can't wait!!!

Driving home..boo

So, after a month of playing, visiting, and traveling, we had to drive home.  I hate this part.  Always.  I always feel like my stay wasn't long enough, like i'm going home to nothing, like i have an aching in my heart that will never go away.  I know this all isn't true (kind of), but I feel it nonetheless.  I know I'm going home to my life in Texas and my home that i've made here, but I can't help but wish it was just a teensy, tiny bit closer to Utah. Ok- i'd settle for within 5 hrs. hahaha!  Seriously.  I hate leaving.  Anyway, enough crying....here's some pics from our drive home.  We stayed in Carslbad, New Mexico this time, which was NO WHERE NEAR as beautiful as Durango. and it was much hotter.  When we were in Durango we were surrounded my mountains, and there was a great chill in the air....when we were in Carlsbad, we were on flat deseret land and it was hot! Luckily, we were staying in a little 2 room cabin at a VERY nice KOA there.  I probably would've died if we had to sleep in the tent that night.  All in all, our kids did AMAZINGLY well on our drives.  No major meltdowns, no accidents...just a LONG time in the car.  Thank you DVD player and IPODS for making my drive easier! 

Visiting my GREAT-grandma Katie

After we were done at Temple Square, we stopped by to see grandma Katie in Farmington on the way back to grandma sheryl's.  I just love this lady to pieces.  She is the ultimate example of beauty, love, generosity, kindness...the list goes on.  She has lived to see so many things, and I am so grateful she's a journal writer.  Her and my great-grandpa are/were the best at that!  I love to read back on what they've gone through, the people they were and have become, and the great sacrifices they made.  I hope that I can one day be half the woman my great-grandma Katie is.  oh- and she's turning 90 next year!! WOW!!

Downtown Salt Lake/Temple Square July 30

Matt and I really wanted to take the kids downtown SLC and show them Temple Square, the Conference Center, and all the fun stuff there is to see down there.  I know if you live in Utah it seems like nothing special, but to us, "out of towners", we love to go there.  There's such a special spirit to be felt at Temple Square...a spirit of reverence and respect for those who came before us and built that special place.  Matt and I were married there 8 years ago, and we really wanted to do a session at the SLC temple, but we just didn't have enough time. Next year!  Anyway, it was really neat to show the kids the visitors center and re-teach them about the prophets...there is a really neat model in the South Visitors Center that shows what the temple looks like inside, and the kids thought that was pretty cool.  We are reading the Doctrine and Covenants with the kids right now (i bought the book of mormon reader so that brian can be reading it by himself as well), so they thought all the stuff about Joseph Smith was awesome too.  Lexie was a little too wild to take to the new movie about Joseph, so we'll save that for another time when she's older, or not with us. ;)

LAGOON- July 29th

Lagoon...Lagoon...Lagoon! I love this place.  It's like Utah's Fiesta Texas.  Matt and my kids had never been, so we had to take them!  Amy, Ashtyn, Megan, Mikayla, Kate and Kylie went with us to Lagoon.  Ashtyn and Mikayla were so nice to take the older kids on all the rides, and were so good to them! Even Amy went on some rides! LOL!   Holy cow- they have some fun rides, and it took me back to my childhood summers when my mom and amy would take us all to Lagoon.  Brian was able to go on A TON of the big rides this year too, so that made it even funner to take him on all those.  Sydnee was about 2 inches too short for most of the bigger rides, but she was a good sport.  Thanks for the memories guys! I had so much fun!

Our little zumee

Let me give you a short back story to begin......Sydnee has been wanting a kitty for, well, probably for 2 years she has been asking us for one.  We kept telling her that matt and I are allergic and so we can't get a kitty, but when she gets her own house she can get as many cats as she wants.  Well what do ya know...we get home from bowling...ON SYDNEE'S BIRTHDAY...and there is this tiny little gray cat sitting underneath Kate's car.  Sydnee was in love.  The kitty, however, was not in good shape.  It had a terrible eye infection and other problems.  Luckily---my dad is a vet! He gave the kitty some eye drops and antibiotics, and we got her some milk and a kennel, but dad didn't think the cat would live through the night.   She did!  She really seemed to be getting better.  Sydnee carried this kitty around like a little baby. She would put it over her shoulder and pat it's back.  She loves Zumee.  When we were getting the stuff together to go camping, sydnee begged to take Zumee.  Mom told her all the things she had to do to get the kitty and her things ready to go.  Syd did them all.  However, while camping, we noticed that Zumee seemed to be taking a turn for the worse.  She had a large growth on her cheek area that spread to her eye, and her breathing was labored.  Oh how we all felt for this kitty!  None of us are really cat people to say the least, but my heart ached for the kitty to feel better.  We all decided it would be best for dad to put the cat to sleep.  After we got home from camping, we explained to the kids what was going to happen.  I felt so sad for my kids! It was one of those situations that you wish you never really have to face.  Anyway, we buried Zumee next to my parents porch, and the kids painted a gravestone for her.  Brian and Sydnee said what they loved about her, and we told them that we'd get to see Zumee again when we get resurrected.  Brian was so distraught! He cried for a very long time.  We all know that Zumee is in a better place, but we still miss that cute kitty!

Floating the Payette

After we came home from camping it was still early, and crazy hot outside!  We decided to take the raft and some tubes to the river and do a little float down.  Grandpa Dave, mom, brian, sydnee, matt and I went.  Lexie, Grandma Sheryl and Dad drove down the river to the spot where they were picking us up.  We were the only ones on the river, and it was so nice and refreshing!  The kids floated in little tubes behind the raft, as did mom and grandpa dave.  A couple weeks earlier, mom, kate, ellie, the kids and i went ALL the way down the river with kayaks (a 3 hr trip) which was AWWWSSOOOMEEE!!!  (i really have no idea where my pics are from that day, and it's making me a bit nervous...hmmm....) If I lived there I would really kayak everyday! It was so fun!  The part of the river we went on is pretty tame too, so I didn't worry about the kids at all.  I probably would've taken Lexie on the kayaks too.  

Boise Hawks game July 23rd

On July 23rd, we picked up Matt from the airport and met everyone at the Boise Hawks baseball game.  I love going to minor league games- we went all the time in Colorado.  For some reason I only have 2 pictures; one of sydnee and kylie (syd's making a creepy face though) and one of brian running the bases...he had a lot of fun doing that.  I will have to find more pics off of my sister's facebook and add them.  They also had some pretty cool fireworks too...my kids LOVE fireworks!

Camping in Idaho

We went camping up at Cascade Lake with mom, dad, grandma sheryl, grandpa dave, and Ellie. The scenery was gorgeous...nothing like the mountains for a bit of beauty!   It was really fun, even if it was annoyingly crappy weather on the 2nd day.  No problem! That's what cards are for.  We LOVE to play cards.  This year Brian learned how to play Nertz, and now he's a card playing freak! Any chance he gets he wants to play.  Grandma Sheryl was so nice and played cards with him a lot this trip.  Grandpa and Grandma made us killer breakfasts each day, and mom and grandma went all out with the food- i love camping food! We even took the little kitty, Zumee, on the trip with us.  I'll save what happened with her for a separate post.   Anyway, we borrowed an inflatable boat and the kids, matt, and dad took it out for a little fishing trip. Lexie was basically a dirt ball the whole time.  Seriously, how can one little baby make such a big mess?? ;)   I wish the weather was better on the 2nd day so we could've swam in the lake, but what can ya do? We had fun chatting and just being together.