Four - three = one, and a SMILE!

Back to school today for the three oldest! I'm left with my little one at home, and so much more peace and quiet that I can't help but smile. Don't take me wrong, I love and adore my children, but how can you miss them unless they leave the house?! That, and too much together time for them equals more and more arguing and fighting, which frankly, drives me bonkers! But onto the point of this post:



Riley entered the world of high school this year. It literally seems like yesterday that we were walking her to 1st grade, so it is just so weird to think of her in high school. She was nervous, but excited. I hope everything goes well for her! I caught this picture as she was waiting for her friend to come pick her up...lucky Riley has a friend that is a junior and has access to a car. :)



Here's a look at our newest 2nd grader, sporting her new hairdo. Nicole and Jared are back at the charter school, and Nicole happily got the teacher she was hoping for. :) The only thing that could've made her happier was if she'd ended up having more of her friends in her class.....but no worry there, she'll see them at lunch and recess, and she'll make new friends in 5 minutes flat anyway!



Jared was so excited this morning he woke up all on his own, and came out all dressed and ready with even shoes on before he'd even had breakfast. First grade. I will admit, I will miss him. All day is a long time to be gone! He is very excited about three recesses and taking his lunch to school though. He told me this morning how he was going to organize his desk as soon as he got there. He is a funny kid! :)



So now, it's me and Ellie. I'm glad I have my little princess here with me for a couple more years! When we were out school shopping, Ellie decided she needed a lunch box. So we let her pick one out. She brought it with her today as we dropped the kids off. Then she asked if it was time for her to go to ballet. Nope, not until Monday! When we got home, she asked that I pack her lunch box with, what else? Lunch. So I did. She then put her cereal spoon down, and ate her lunch. At 8:30 AM! Ellie and I are doing a co-op preschool here in the neighborhood, but that doesn't start until September, so we have to figure out how to fill our days until then. But I'm liking the quieter and peaceful mornings just fine! :)

Ten Years

Today marks my and Ron's 10th wedding anniversary! Wow! Congrats to us. :)



Ten years ago today, my dreams came true. I married the man I love, in the Mt. Timpanogos Temple, surrounded and supported by people I love.



One home purchased and moved into. One career placed on the backburner by me for a later time. Three different career/position changes for Ron. Eight cars. Four motorcycles. Putting in a yard. Finishing a basement. Kitchen remodel. Painting. Furniture changes. Three beautiful babies welcomed into our family. Three baby blessings. One baptism. Temple blessings. One goodbye to a parent. Vacations. Disney. Colorado. Arizona. Laughter. Tears. Joy. Happiness. Best friends.

Thank You John Hughes

Mr. Hughes,

Thank you for making some of the best , and funniest movies to grow up watching, and continue enjoying! Bless you for the soundtracks....not only classic 80's music, but I think I could use a couple as the soundtracks of my teenage years. Thank goodness that through the magic of technology, we will have these to enjoy for years to come...

Obviously, my very favorite film of his was "Pretty In Pink"....oh my....I even changed my name to Andie for a while when that film came out!




And last but not least, my other fav, "Some Kind of Wonderful". Best kissing scene just about ever in this one.....

Duck Creek 1...the digs

We took our annual family 4-wheeling adventure the end of July. A little different from other years, as we didn't go to Colorado. *gasp*! We were sad about it as the time got closer, but had so much fun where we went, that it's all good!

We decided to stick a little closer to home this year, so after finding out that the Duck Creek area in Dixie National Forest had lots of ATV trails, we found and rented a cabin there for a week. It was a great choice! In Colorado, we are limited to a few trails (because of age restrictions and difficulty level) so we really just do the same ones when we are there. We usually put about 50 miles on our ATV's in a weeks time. At Duck Creek.....well, when I tell you that we put about 170 miles on the ATV's, does that tell you how many trails we found and how fun the riding was?! And we didn't even do 1/3 of the available trails! Most of it was our favorite type of riding as well, just ATV tracks through forest. :)





The cabin was beautiful. Ron was excited about the pool table there, but then we never ended up playing! Which is good, since he now realizes his wish of having one in our basement is certainly not needed. We had deer in the meadow behind us, including a doe and her little twin fawns, and lots of chipmunks, which were quite irritating by the end of the week. We had rain a couple of afternoons and evenings, which was perfect for cooling things down, wetting down the dust on the trails, and making the forest smell divine.







We went fishing, which the little kids hadn't done before. They had fun although we didn't manage to get even a bite. As we sat there with our fishing poles we watched the fish jumping for the bugs above the water....I guess the waterlogged earthworms and powerbait weren't as appetizing. We even moved over to where the fish were jumping....yeah, not a bite! The ducklings kept coming over to investigate though....so cute!

Now, on to picture overload:

Get it right!

sigh.

Nicole. The girl loves music and loves to sing, but she can't carry a tune to save her life! Even worse is when she puts headphones on and the sings along, loudly, with the music. Quite painful and frustrating for the rest of us in the car with her. :) Ellie was quite certain that she didn't have the words right....oh my, if that was her only problem...in her defense, she was a little more in tune than an earlier song that we didn't catch on video.

Or how about this one:


Jared joins in and really helps out the beauty of that one!

We love Nicole. She keeps us on our toes!

Birthday Fun

Favorite game at the birthday party: DodgeSponge. DodgeBall with a twist....no balls used, just wet sponges. No surprise that it was the favorite, considering that it was over 100 degrees out! UGH.



The cake was supposed to look like SpongeBob's home, Bikini Bottom.....hmmmm....didn't turn out exactly at all like he pictured it!



He was SO HAPPY to get what he asked for....as he called it, "a big boom"!



The gift I was talked into...an airsoft pistol. He was excited about it, once he figured out what it was! The one rule that is already being drilled into his head is that this is a gift that he only gets to use with parental supervision. We also found one that shoots at a much slower velocity, and we are putting it away in a secure location so he can't break the rules! :)



Birthdays and the passing of another year usually don't signal "losses" until you are older. Unless you are Jared! He decided that a great way to enter into a new year was to lose his 1st tooth! What are the odds?

The big 6

It's Jared's 6th birthday today! Happy Birthday son! I couldn't ask for a cuter boy. He calls himself my cuddle-bug, and he is! He is a fun brother, and can be nice to his sisters....when he wants! ;) You have so much ahead of you Jared! Stay happy, try hard, and there's nothing you can't do! We love you Jared.

*Thanks to Heidi for the picture!

It might be worth a try.....

Oquirrh Mountain Temple

I must say that we Utahns have been a bit spoiled this year, as we have had two new temples in the last year, along with their accompanying open houses and dedications. It's so fun to watch the temples being built, and then especially fun to be able to take our children to the open house before they are dedicated. After years of singing, "I love to see the temple, I'll go inside someday", they finally get to, even if it is just a look around. :)

Ellie and I missed our tour of the Draper Temple, since she was sick that day. So the older kids went with daddy. But today we were all able to go together as a family to tour the Oquirrh Mountain Temple. (A little trivia: this temple is located in South Jordan, Utah, as well as the Jordan River Temple, making South Jordan the 1st city in the world to have 2 temples.)



I thought it was a beautiful temple. I was pleasantly surprised as to how well my children behaved there. As I walked in, I was holding Jared and Ellie's hands, and Jared pulled his away so he could fold his arms. :) Of course, later, Ellie went running to an overstuffed bench and bounced her tummy off it while loudly proclaiming, "Bouncy!" Oh well....she's 3, what can I say?

As we left, all the kids were very excited to go get their cookie and water bottle.....when did the Church start that at temple open houses?! I personally think it's hilarious! I highly recommend taking your families if you are at all able to. The tours are very open, in fact, we were able to park right in the temple parking lot, which really surprised me! It's well worth it for the wonderful experience of visiting the temple and teaching our children about it.




I'm glad Ron had his phone with him, as I didn't feel like lugging the camera with us! :) Do you like Jared's hand?! He wanted it too look like he was holding Jesus' hand.....

Am I the Only One?

Am I the only one that has a purse cram-packed like the above photo when we are taking the family to a movie, or am I just cheap?!

We do buy a bucket o' popcorn there......

We saw Ice Age 3. Cute. Pretty much like the others, with the added feature of 3D. Although we didn't see the 3D version.....but everything was all close up and lots of stuff coming at the screen anyway, which I found irritating. Definitely not Disney, but we enjoyed it. :)