Fun Weekend

Well, we had a fun, busy weekend. On Friday night we had a church family party that was awesome! We ate sub sandwiches, played games, and watched a movie outside on a makeshift screen. Everyone brought blankets and chairs to sit on , we had popcorn and treats, and watched "Down and Derby". Everyone had a great time.

On Saturday Rylee and I went shopping and to lunch just the 2 of us while Mike hung out with the others at home. Then Mike took the boys to a swimming birthday party while the girls played at Grandma & Grandpa's. I went with one of my best friends, Katie, and her sister Julie (she lives in our basement and it was her birthday). We got pedicures, went to dinner (at Benihana's-sp?), shopped at the Gateway, and of course had to get dessert at the best dessert place ever, The Dodo. It was so much fun! I needed a girls day, thanks Mike!

Today we went to church and then to some friends for a BBQ. They have kids the same age as our kids and we got to see their new house and their new cute boxer puppy. Good food and good friends, what's better?

Tomorrow the kids have their first full day of school since they had half days all last week. Noah now has a real teacher, Mrs. Bigler, that he got to meet on Friday and she will start teaching tomorrow. She seems wonderful!

1st Day of School

Well, we survived the first day of the new school year! Every year we take pictures by our front door on the first and last days of school to see how they have grown. I love that we live so close
(1 block) to the school so the kids can walk. They like walking to school just not home since it is up hill. It's good for them though and since we have our nice sidewalk now it's great! We got a new principal last year and she is wonderful. She has implemented many changes for the good. One that I enjoyed last year and this morning as well was the school flag ceremony. All the kids line up with their classes on the grass and after the Star Spangled Banner (sung this year by our PTA Pres. who I had no idea had such an incredible voice), the raising of the flag, and the Pledge they go into the school with their class, no parents allowed. This picture is just some of our school, we have over 600 students. We have a large number but most of the classes are not too large and this is the first year we have had no portables outside. We love our school!

Back 2 School!

Tonight was back to school night for the kids. I had to do PTA stuff (I am the secretary this year) so I took the kids earlier today to meet their teachers. Rylee will be in 4th grade and has 2 teachers this year, Mrs. Barney and Mrs. Denning. She is very excited about her teachers as well as the fact that her 2 best friends (Daisy & Bailey) are in her class. Cole and Noah will be in 2nd grade, I can't believe it! Cole has Miss Randall, who seems great. This is just her second year teaching, but she seems very organized and enthusiastic. They have a pirate theme for their class this year. Noah has Mrs. ? There is a teacher shortage here in Utah and Noah's teacher has not officially been hired. The principal assured me the woman she wants is wonderful, but has yet to be approved by the district. They are hoping it all goes through this week, but for now he will have Mrs. Zimmerman as a substitute. I am excited for them to get back in school and get on a good schedule. I will be busy with PTA this year as well as volunteering in the kids classes each week. I love being there and being invloved and knowing what's going on. Jenna keeps saying she is going to school too. I am not putting her in preschool this year (we are doing another playgroup though which will be great!) but she will be with me so much at the school hopefully she will feel like she is in school. I am just really excited about this school year, I have a feeling it is going to be WILD (our theme this year is Wild about Orchard)!

The Fair

Friday, the kids and I went to the Davis County Fair. It was a lot of fun, but hot! The kids rode ponies and carnival rides and we all checked out the animals as well as the cotton candy and kettle corn. On Saturday I took them shopping for a few things to get ready for school. Next year I need to remember to plan ahead so I can take them each by themselves. Shopping with 4 kids is crazy!

Going to Grandma & Grandpa's

Mike's parents moved into a new condo down the street form us about 10 months ago. Luckily they redid our street including a new sidewalk last summer, so there is sidewalk from our front door to theirs. The kids love to walk there and sometimes we will all go together. Lastnight we all went together just in different ways. Rylee road her bike, Noah road a scooter, Cole & I walked, Jenna rode her new big girl princess bike (with some help from mom), and Mike rode his long board, of course. Coming home is a little more difficult since it is up hill the whole way. I got a good workout helping Jenna home on her bike.

Floating Babies

This is Jenna in the bath lastnight. She loves to float on her back and of course she has to have her baby with her.

Silver Lake with Playgroup

This week we went to our favorite place for playgroup, Silver Lake. The kids found a new rock to climb and Jenna enjoyed feeding the ducks again and feeding herself.

Castlepark

The kids all loved the tire swing at this fun park in Kaysville. It looks like a big castle.


NOAH

RYLEE

COLE

Union Station

One of our playgroups was a trip to the Ogden Union Station. It is the old train depot in Ogden with like 5 different musuems. The boys loved the classic cars (of course) and they all loved the trains and guns.

What We Have Been Up To...

Well, once again I have been a slacker in updating our blog. The last couple of weeks have just been our normal everday summer life, which we realize today is drawing to a close quickly. The kids start school in 10 days, Aug 23. So, we have been going to our playgroup and cherry hill as well as the normal. Rylee is still doing gymnastics (her latest accomplishments are back handsprings and back flips on the tramp, now she just has to learn them on the ground) and piano lessons as well as her busy social life. The boys have been going to a reading tutor this summer which has been really good. They enjoy going and their reading has improved. Jenna just tries to keep up with the others. They are usually pretty good about letting her hang out with them. Their new favorite thing is to walk to grandpa's and play barbies and color. They ask to go everyday, but I told them sometimes Grandpa needs a break too. We have had a couple BBQ's with friends, went to see Over the Hedge, went bowling for a bday party, etc... This has been a fun summer, a bit crazy and busy, but when is life not that way?

Coney Island Hot Dogs?

Mike loves hot dogs and he loves the Discovery Channel. Well, they had a show he saw once about the best hot dogs and they talked about Coney Island in Denver, so naturally we had to go have a hot dog. Well, we called information and got a phone number and Mike called for directions. They said they were located in Cherry Creek Resevior State Park. So we paid $7 to get in the park and drove around to find it. We found it and it was closed. Someone told us they were closed on Sundays but they had another location open on the other side of the park. So we drove there and found where they were talking about. Well we got a hot dog and it was just a hot dog, not even as good as the hot dogs at Costco. We figured there must be another location in Denver or the Discovery Channel doesn't know what they are talking about in this situation. It was a fun adventure either way!

WEEN!

This last weekend Mike & I went to Denver to see his favorite band (I love them too), WEEN. They played at this incredible, amazing venue: Red Rocks Amphitheater. It is built right between two huge natural red rock "walls". The small picture is a picture of it from the website. The other picture is not a great picture but shows the stage and how packed it was that night. Ween played with The Flaming Lips and The Go! Team. They were both pretty good too. The place is huge, it holds over 9500 people and the sound is awesome! We had a really good time at the show and the whole weekend. We needed some time away and really enjoyed doing nothing. We were able to spend Saturday visiting our good friend Joan who lives in Colorado Springs. She is like family to us and the kids call her Granny Joan. It was nice to just sit and visit and we got to meat her daughter Susie. We also spent too much time at the airport on Sunday. We got there a little earlier than we wanted and then the flight was delayed. Luckily I had a good book with me and Mike had his skateboard so he wasn't bored either.