Weekend in Park City

 One day at the end of the summer, Dale decided that we needed to do something together as a family.  The kids were all going to be back in school soon and he was going to start a new job at Discover working nights.  He suggested going to Park City. I love it when he does spontaneous things like that so I was really excited.  He was suppose to spend the last night of Jaxon's week long scout camp in bear lake so he went and picked him up and met us in Park City. 

 Right after we checked in, we went out to eat a Mexican restaurant that we have been to before called the Baha Cantina.  After dinner, we went to the Alpine Slide to check it out.  It was cold and late by the time we finished dinner so we decided to do the activities on Saturday.

Dale explaining to the kids how the Apline Slide works

Our family in front of the Alpine Slide

 After checking out the Park City activities, all the kids wanted to swim at the hotel.  They had a great time in their own private pool, swimming in the dark.  After swimming, they all went and got warm in the hot tub.

 After swimming we had "Movie night".  We watched "Here comes the boom".  This is Jadon and Katie organizing all the movie candy.

 Saturday was a blast!  We decided to start with the Alpine Slide because the line wasn't too bad and we knew it would get a lot longer as the day went on.  Kyson was really upset and did not want to go.  Like we always do with our kids, we told him he was going and Dale explained to him that he would be safe.  He ended up loving it, of coarse!

Jadon, Jake, Jaxon and Jadon riding the lift up.  The scardy cats (me, Kierra, Kyson and Katie) rode on a different chair because we knew the boys would rock the seat.

 Dale, Jadon, Jaxon and Kierra all went on the zip line together.  The rest of the kids didn't weigh enough so I stayed down with them.  It started raining while they were at the top so they didn't let anybody go down for a while.  While we waited for them, we went into the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory to get treats.  We waited for them at the end of the zip line.  After the zip line, all the kids went on a trampoline thing where they were hooked to cables.  They were able to jump really high and do a back flip while attached to the cables. After jumping, everyone was getting pretty hungry so we decided to go eat at Burger King instead of spending a fortune on Park City food.

Everyone in line for the Alpine Coaster

 When we got back from lunch, we got in line for the Alpine Coaster, our last activity. The line was really long and we ended up standing in line for over an hour.  We were worried that the ride was not going to be worth standing in line that long!

My cute girls!

Jake getting on his car for the coaster

We were wrong!  The Alpine Coaster was soooooo much fun!  Everyone loved it and wanted to go again.  If the line wasn't so long, we probably would have gone again.  Unfortunately, after the Coaster, it was time to go home.  Nobody wanted to.  We had such a great time together and decided that we definitely want to make that a new tradition.

Big kids - first day of school

Yesterday the "Big kids" went back to school.  Since Katie has preschool Mon. Wed and Friday, all six of my kids were in school.  What a coincidence that I had all 6 kids that I babysit yesterday.  They all leave at different times.  Jadon is first, leaving around 7:00 am.  Kierra and Jaxon leave around 7:15 am and Jake and Kyson leave around 8:00 am.  Katie doesn't have school until the afternoon.

Jadon starting his Junior year!

Having a car for Jadon to drive is the best!  Now I don't have to drive him!

Kierra starting her last year in middle school (9th) and Jaxon starting his first (7th)

Kierra is excited to officially be a highschooler

Jaxon was way excited to start middle school.  He has high hopes of it being waaaaaay better than elementary school!


The first day of school is always so fun and exciting.  It's so exciting to find out who is in your new classes and what teachers you got.  I wish the excitement of the first day lasted all year!

 

Jake and Ky...first day of school

Kyson - 3rd grade

Jake - 5th grade



Jake and Ky ready for a new year

Our elementary school went back to year round school this year so Jake and Kyson had to start school on July 25th this year.  It was a bummer because we got ripped off on our summer. It is hard to have 2 out of 6 kids in school.  They don't think it's fair when they have to go to bed when everyone else gets to stay up.  I just keep reminding them that they will get to go off track and then it will be their turn to stay up later than everyone else.

Jake was the 2nd kid to get in his line

 Jake and Kyson ride the bus to school but I drove them on the first day.  Kyson always worries about being late so we left pretty early and there weren't very many kids there when we got there.  We walked around and found where they were suppose to line up.  Jake got right in line and stood there until his teacher came out to take them in.

Kyson didn't know many kids in his class so he was a little nervous
 

When we found where Kyson was suppose to line up, he didn't see very many kids that he knew.  Most of his friends from last year were on a different track.  He hung out with me until his teacher came out and then he reluctantly got in line.  I love that kid!  When they got home that day, they both said they had a good day and they like their teachers.  Hopefully they will have a great year!

Finally Sixteeen!

Jadon getting ready to go on the alpine slide

 It seems like Jadon has been waiting for a really long time to be sixteen.  He has always been fascinated with driving.  As a baby, he loved to stand at the steering wheel and pretend to drive.  As he got older, he loved to sit on Dale's lap and "help" him drive.  He started driving by himself at a very young age.  I think he was 11 or 12.  Dale has worked a lot with him to teach him how to drive.  It all finally paid off on the day he turned 16!  He got his license that day!  I think I was as excited as he was.  While he had his lerner's permit, I had to go with him everywhere and that got old very fast. I love that he can drive himself to work now and even better, he can run errands for me.  Yay!

 We didn't do much on his actual birthday besides get his license.  I did make him a chocolate cake and let him lick the batter bowl (which I rarely do).  Dale and I decided that we should buy a 3rd car for our family so we spent the night test driving a car.  We ended up not getting that car and Jadon was pretty disappointed.  Dale, Jadon and I went out to dinner at Sizzler.  It was fun to spend the one on one time with him for his birthday.  We had planned to take Jadon to Park City for his birthday but because the test drive took so long, we weren't able to do it.  We decided that we would go later (There will be a post about that soon).

 Jadon spent the next few weeks looking for cars on KSL.  We test drove several cars and went all over the valley to do it.  We went from Clearfield to Provo looking at different cars.  We finally found one that we thought we be a good car for Jadon...I mean our family.  It is a little KIA Sephia.  It was cheap and a very base model.  No power windows or locks.  It's a good little car.  It's also a stick so Jadon got to learn how to drive a stick.  He really enjoys it.  I now feel comfortable letting him drive the KIA all by himself wherever he needs to go.

Jadon really is a great kid.  He is a great help to me and I can always count on him.  He's a great student and a really hard worker.  At one time, he has had 3 jobs.  He has been saving money for his mission, which is only 2 years away and that totally freaks me out.  He's very responsible.  He takes care of his things and has been taking really good care of the new car.  Jadon loves to do anything.  He loves to play any sports and do anything outside.  He always is willing to be involved in whatever is going on.  He frequently plays kickball with all the little kids on our street.  I am so thankful for Jadon.  I feel like I have a great relationship with him and I hope we can always have that.  He's a great example to his siblings.  I love you Jadon!  Happy Birthday! 

Getting caught up!

I have been horrible about keeping up on my blog.  The main reason is because my computer is very sick and hasn't wanted to do anything lately.  I made a goal for myself to work on my blog today so hopefully I can get some posts on here and keep up with it from now on.