It official!!!

It is finally official.  All my kids are now in school.  Yes even Kylee. 

Sammy got to go a day early.  She has now entered the big high school of Skyview High.  The school has sophmores come a day(the whole day) early for orientation and to learn their way around.  It is a lot bigger than my high school.  Then Aug. 25th she returned for the real first day of school.  Ican't believe she only has 3 more years of school left. 

Steven is a freshman this year.  Wow!!!  Two kids in high school.  Steven attends North Cache which is for 8th and 9th graders.  He gets to enjoy another long ride out to Richmond.  Steven is still playing the bass in orchestra and loving it.

Braden is at Cedar Ridge Middle School.  He is one of the big 7th graders this year.  He wasn't quite as excited for school to start as I was but I think he is enjoying it.  Braden is learning to play the french horn this year.  I can't wait to hear all the practicing. (He, he)   :)

Logan is now in the 3rd grade.  I think he was the most excited for school to start.  Logan loves school, loves reading, and loves learning.  He and his best friend are in the same class again this year.  That might have something to do with all his happiness.

Kylee had to wait a whole week after everyone else to start.  She started today.  She was soo excited.  She attends in the afternoon so we will enjoy spending our mornings together.  I have been ready for this day.  I haven't felt sad about it at all.  I do have to admit though that for about 30 seconds after leaving her in class I did have a few tears.  They didn't last long and I sure enjoyed my afternoon.  But, I know she is enjoying hers to.

I Love Pictures

I love pictures.  I love pictures of people.  People that I know and love.  I love beautiful pictures of them.  I have taken many pictures in my day.  Most of them mediocre.  For Mother's Day this year, I got a new camera.  It is a Nikon 3100.  It isn't the best camera, but it is so much better than what I had.  I have been dreaming about taking amazing pictures of my kids.  I know I really need a good class to teach me all the ins and outs of my camera and what it can do.  But this Monday I decided to see what it can do on automatic. 

I have been eyeing a grain field on my street all summer long knowing what a great spot it would be for pictures.  I knew it was about ready to cut so I decided for FHE we would take pictures (The boys weren't too thrilled but the girls liked it.  Suprised?)  Sure enough today the field was cut.  Glad I didn't wait any longer.  The picture below and the ones in the header are samples of what I came up with.  I have a lot to improve on and I need to learn some editing skills but I was very happy with how they turned out.  Can't wait to take a class and get better.

(I wanted a view from above the kids so I was sitting on Brian's shoulders to take this picture)

18 Years and Jenny Lake

This weekend Brian and I celebrated our 18 year anniversay. It has been a bumpy but great 18 years. I am so grateful for Brian and the great friend and husband he is. My life is better because of him.

 

 

Brian also celebrated his 40th birthday three weeks ago. He made me promise I wouldn't give him a suprise party or make him the center of attention at all (He hates the spotlight) so instead I decided to take him on a trip. We had never been to Jackson Hole so I checked into hotels. Wow. Hotels in the summer are outrageous. I knew if I combined his birthday with our anniversary I could feel o.k. about spending that much. Turns out that we had some friends who own a condo up there and they let us stay in it for free. Wahoo. I was thrilled.

 

 

Friday night we drove to Jackson and walked the main street. It is a beautiful place and has lots of fun shops. The best part of the trip was our short drive to Jenny Lake on Saturday. We hiked around the lake and up to inspiration point and then a beautiful waterfall. Gorgeous. We had a great time. Brian ate wild berries (he is still alive so they weren't poisonous), took lots of pictures, saw a moose, looked for bears but didn't find any (Brian was very disappointed), and met new friends. I would recommend this hike to anyone. We would like to take the kids next year and bring our canoe to paddle around the lake. The pictures below don't do the scenery justice but it will give you an idea of how beautiful it was.

 

 

 

Candy Houses

For the Achievement Day activity I helped with we made candy houses. We had extra houses and candy so sunday I let the kids decorate them. They loved it. Sammy took time to make her house look very nice. The boys enjoyed using all their extra frosting to pretend their houses were being bombed. I love to see the different creative ideas they come up with.

P.S. Lydia--Thank you for the advice on how to clean up my blog. It is working again.

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!!!!

Thursday August 26t the kids went back to school!!!

Logan started the 2nd grade and Kylee is going back to preschool.

Braden started at the middle school in the 6th grade. He gets to have a locker this year. Yeah!!!

Steven moved to the junior high and is in 8th grade.

Sammy is still at the junior high, but she is officially a high school studen and in the 9th grade.

Mome is busy trying to stay caught up with everyone's activities and can't wait to start scrapp'n again.

Manti Pageant

Braden and Steven had the great opportunity to participate in the Mormon Miracle Pageant in Manti, Utah. We took the boys to Manti on Memorial Day. The whole family stayed the first week of June and then we left them there for two weeks. Steven was a Nephite warrior and Braden was a Nephite and a pioneer. Grandma Cox was their gaurdian in the Pageant. Thanks Grandma!!! They missed the last week of performances because they came back for scout camp. They only got to be in 3 performances but they had a lot of fun.

Volleyball Season

Yes, I am alive. Life is going well, but very busy. Here is one thing that has filled up my time this past winter.

Last December, Sammy joined a club volleyball team. May 7th and 8th was her last tournament. There were three 14 year old teams. She was put on the 2nd. Her first tournaments started in January. At the beginning her team was ranked somewhere in the teens and placed in the second division. About a month and a half ago, here team had moved to I think 8th and bumped up to the 1st division. They played a couple tournaments against the top teams. They struggled and didn't win much. But this last tournament weekend they turned up their game and did so well. Friday night they took 1st place in their pool. Saturday they fought hard and played great and got 2nd in their pool. The team that took 1st in their pool was team 14-1 from our club. Our team made them work for it, but if we couldn't take it we are glad they did. We moved on to tournament play and placed 6th out of 42 teams.

(This is Sammy's best friend, Amanda. She happens to live right next door. It made driving to practices so much more convienent because we carpooled together and swapped weekends driving to the tournaments. )

It was a great season and Sammy improved so much. Her team was great and all the girls got along so well. Her coach was fabulous and so positive. They girls just loved her. Sammy is so sad the season is over, but she is looking forward to August. That is when tryouts are for the freshman team. Go Sammy!!!