Another one in Kindergarten

Today was Jake's 1st day of Kindergarten. Even though he is my 4th child to send off to school, I was still sad. I feel like once they start school, I lose control of them. I can't make sure they are always OK. This year our school let the parents come in for the first 1/2 hour and had us assist them in finding their seat and tote tray and where to hang their backpacks. I loved that! He was so cute and excited to be going to school with "the kids" as he calls Jadon, Jaxon and Kierra. They all walked home together and they all took good care of Jake. I can't believe that 4 of my kids are now in school. Kyson is feeling sad that he isn't going to school with them but I'm sure we'll have some fun times every afternoon just the two of us.

Happy Birthday Gladys!

This weekend we had a surprise party for my Mother-in-law. She turned 60! We have been planning this party for a couple of months and had everyone in her family, and some of her friends, in Idaho to surprise her. The look on her face when she got to her brother's house, where we were all waiting, was priceless! She was very emotional and genuinely surprised. While we were eating dinner, Gladys asked me why would we do this for her? I was shocked! Nobody deserves it more than her! Anyone who knows her, knows what a wonderful, selfless person she is. She will do anything for anyone, especially her family members. She recently has moved to Pocatello and we miss her very much! I know that she is so happy to be around her siblings again and to finally have a place she can call home so we are happy for her.
We wanted her entire family to be there, so we flew Crystal (her oldest grandchild) in from Arizona. I think Gladys was very surprised to see her and was very emotional. When we were taking these pictures, Jake said to me "Grandma's face isn't red anymore. She had a red face because she was crying, but she wasn't sad, she was happy. She was crying so much that it looked like her face was sweating!" It made us all cry because we love her so much and want her to have what will make her happy! Happy Birthday Gladys!

Yay! First day of school!

After a short but very eventful summer, the kids got to go back to school today. I love the first day of school. It means that we can get back to a daily routine again and I feel a little organized.
Jake is going to Kindergarten but they don't start for another week. I can't believe that I have 4 kids in school. Jadon is in the last year of elementary while Jake is at the start. I can't believe how time flies!

Our Anniversary

Today Dale and I celebrated our 13th anniversary. It's hard to believe it's been that long already. It's been a great 13 years! We celebrated by going to see Brian Regan live at Thanksgiving Point. For those of you who don't know who he is, you should check out this link.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8kThoZpF_U
He is so funny!!!! I was laughing so hard the whole night. If you ever get the chance to go see his show, I would definately recommend going to the bathroom right before. Being pregnant and laughing that hard while needing to go to the bathroom is not a good thing. It was a great night. It's such a great feeling to laugh that hard for so long!

"P-U"

A cute conversation with Kyson age 3 1/2
I walked into the bathroom right after Kyson had gone to the bathroom (number 2). I said
"P-U, you stink!" He said "Mom, you shouldn 't say P-U. You should say poop-U because I didn't go pee."

Aubrey Marinn

While we were camping, my sister, Holly, had her baby. She was 6 weeks early. Because of several complications during Holly's pregnancy, the baby stopped gaining weight so they decided they needed to get her out to help her grow. Holly ended up having an emergency C-section and Aubrey only weighed 2 lbs. 15 oz. I got to go see her last night and this picture really doesn't portray how little she really is. The green binkey in her mouth is huge! I brought one of the diapers home that she wears and it is soooo little and it doesn't even fit her. The most amazing part about her is how much she acts like a full term baby, she's just really small. Holly went home and had to leave her there. Hopefully she will be able to bring her home in a few weeks. I'm so thankful for all the wonderful technology we have to help these little babies survive!

Camping trip 2008

We just got home from our annual camping trip to Washington Lake in the Uinta's. We had a great time! We were there with my sister Lisa's family and my brother Paul's family. These pictures are kind of in a backwords order. I just wanted to put some of my favorite's on here. The picture above was taken at Provo river falls. We actually stopped by on our way home. We got out and took a few pictures but wanted to stay for a while and walk down to see where the waterfalls end. I guess we'll have to do that one next year.
I love this picture of all the cousins! They had a great time playing together. Paul's family camp was across the street from ours so the little kids were constantly going back and forth between campsites. They rode bikes a lot in the street together. They spent a lot of time playing and coloring in the tent trailors and making up games outside. It was so much fun to see the cousins play together!
Every year we take a family picture somewhere different at Washington Lake. This picture was taken in the evening right behind where our trailer was parked. The lake is behind us. The thing that I love the most about camping is how much we do together as a family.