New Neice

Yesterday my big brother became a father! We are so glad the baby is here and healthy as well as her mom. Now I have to plan a trip to Montana to hold her!

Best Birthday!

"THE HAPPIEST PLACE ON EARTH"
I normally try to downplay my birthday as much as possible, but this year I didn't care. If you go to Disneyland on your birthday, you get in free. All you have to do is show proof of your birthday. So I decided that is where I wanted to be. My children of course were kinda sad, but they are over it. Lynn agreed that it was a great idea! My Super, Wonderful, Awesome aunt Dantzel has a season pass and I asked her to come with me, and my Sister-in-law Erin came too. So, Thursday morning we flew to CA, got to the "Happiest place on Earth" around 10:00 and we just cruised from one ride to the next. We were expecting it to be a pretty busy day, but for Disneyland it was really not busy at all. It was about 100 degrees though. So, I got to ride all my favorite rides: Peter Pan, Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, Indiana Jones & California Screemin. Plus a few others. We got our necessary Dole whip at the Tiki room. We even had time to sit down and eat a burger and do a little shopping. We were in a rush to get back to the airport and the traffic was not co-operating. We rushed into the terminal and found that the plane we were getting on had not landed yet. So we were just fine. It was a whirlwind adventure and so much fun! Thanks to my family letting me escape for the day!

First Week

Katelyn's ready for 7th grade!

Emma, Brayden, Alex

School started Monday! YEAH! I'm probably the only mom out there that is glad to see the kids back in school. I'm terrible I know!Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my children and enjoy having them around I just miss the routine that comes with school and activities that we all have to keep us from driving each other crazy.
Katelyn thinks Junior High is going to be great! She is taking French and Art along with all the usual classes and she is SO excited. She has friends in most her classes and she really has a great attitude about getting to know other kids. We were really worried about the earlier start time and if she would be able to make it, but so far so good. The other kids have been up and ready earlier too. I hope that it lasts more than this week.
Brayden is in 5th grade and in an interesting class. His teacher only teaches half day and then they divide the kids out between the other teachers for the rest of the day. He thinks it is great because he gets to see twice as many of his buddies and gets to be with two great teachers. He is playing football this year and he LOVES it! I'm so glad, because his dad has been waiting for this day for years.
Emma is in 4th grade and after several years of not knowing too many kids in her class, she knows most of them. Part of that is probably because she has made so many friends along the way. She has MANY best friends, but her bestest is finally in her class. She is a happy girl. She is looking forward to starting piano again and joining choir.
Alex is in 2nd and tells me he has already gotten tickets for being kind and helpful. He has a great teacher who loves to sing. His teacher is the choir director, so we will get to know her really well this year.
Wil has been counting down the "rest of his break" this week. He had his assessment Monday and was sad that he couldn't stay for the rest of the day. He is ready for Kindergarten! I think I will be too, or I may have a major meltdown, we'll see Monday.
As for me, I am looking forward to a few hours that maybe I can catch up with all the things I have put off for too long. I am also going to try substitute teaching this year. The principle of the kids school has agreed to add me to the list there. I think subbing will be a gentle shove back into the world of work, I don't have to go if I have sick kids or other things going on, but I can do a little and get out of the house too.

Summer Fun

We have been trying to stay busy around here. We have been to the pool, to the park for lunch a few times and have played with friends a ton! I was able to take the kids to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house with my mom. It is so neat to be able to take them to the temple and get them excited about going there someday. We also went to Bear Lake for the day with my brother and his family. We had a Great time! The kids played and played, and we all were surprised how fast the time went. On the way home we had to stop and get a famous raspberry shake. This last weekend was Harrisville's Heritage days. The kids all got to ride in the ward float, then we went to the park and met up with friends and had fun doing all the activities we could. They had a Fear Factor contest and we ended up leaving before it was over, because we all were so tired and were a little grossed out. Brayden started football today and is really excited and tired. I think Lynn is just as excited as he is be playing. It is really intense, I hope we can all make it through the season. Lastly, Katelyn leaves for girls camp tomorrow, she is so excited! We have great leaders and girls, so I'm not worried about her, it will just be weird to have her gone for 4 days. I also get to register her for Jr. High while she is gone...deep breaths, I can do it! We are going to enjoy our last few weeks of summer and do as much as we can!