Ward Pine Valley Picnic - August 16th

Kim and friend doing the Hokey Pokey.

Our ward has an annual picnic up at Pine Valley Recreation Area. It is a lot of fun and about 15 degrees cooler than it is in St. George.
Kylie is so independent. It was hard to keep her in sight because she wanted to do her own thing. They had a group playing old country songs and she loved to dance. Only one minor mishap. She tipped over while on the bench eating dinner and hit her forehead on a concrete wall. It looks awful but it didn't bleed much and she didn't cry much.
Bradley and his friend Zac loved the dessert table.
Kim found a great walking stick she brought home with her.

Brett actually made it to the top of this pole on another attempt but of course I didn't have the camera out when he did.
Can you say monkey?
Brett hanging out watching people dance.
I think every picture I have of Bryce lately has his arms in the air. Bryce with his friend Garrick. This was about the only time I saw him. He spent most of the time off exploring.

Back to School.

Kylie wanted to start school too. Here she is playing in the kitchen in the kindergarten classroom.

Kim started 2nd grade. She is in Miss Hicken's class. Bryce describes Miss Hicken as the nicest teacher ever.
Bradley is ready to head to his first day of kindergarten. He said this morning that he was all ready and all he needed now was Homework!
At an orientation in May Bradley colored his head and placed it on the bus. He found the one he colored and was so proud to find it hanging in the hall!
Bradley with his teacher Mrs. Jones. Bradley only got to go to school for 30 minutes today with 4 of his classmates. Tomorrow will be his first full day, which is still only 2 hours & 45 minutes long.
Kylie made herself at home while Bradley was doing his school work. She had fun playing with all the different toys in the classroom.

Brett all ready to start 7th grade at Desert Hills Middle School.
Brett's too old to have his mom walk him into school. This is the best and only picture I could get of him getting out of the car to head into school.
Bryce is excited to start school. He started 4th grade today with Mr. Bulloch.
All ready to start on his first school paper of the year.
Kim got up early and was so ready to go. She's got her High School Musical Bookbag and even let me do her hair this morning. Isn't she so cute!

Another week gone by....

The kids start school on Wednesday. It's hard to believe the summer is already over. Hopefully we'll have some cute back to school pictures to post soon.

Week in Review

The week started with me finishing Harry Potter 6 (which I wanted to reread before starting 7) and then reading Harry Potter 7. I picked Harry Potter 7 up from the library late Monday afternoon and finished it Tuesday night at 2:30 am. I loved the book and was not disappointed. Of course being one to not like the unknown I had already read a summary of the book on Wikipedia the day it was released so I already knew who lived and who died, and what and where all the horcruxes were. Even so it was a terrific book. I laughed and cried and wished it wouldn't end. We're now waiting for the book on CD from the library so we can all listen to it as a family.
On Friday, Brian and I celebrated our 14th anniversary. We discussed Harry Potter over lunch at Olive Garden. That evening the kids went down the street to a birthday party and Brian and I watched a movie. It was a low key enjoyable day.
We enjoyed dinner with Brian's parents today after church. We've been watching Anne of Green Gables on PBS and having a relaxing Sabbath.
The count down is on. Only 10 days until school starts. We definitely need to do something about our late nights and late mornings. We've all still been asleep at the time school starts (except for Brian who has been the only one to keep some structure through the summer)!

More Rain....and MUD!

We have been getting thunder storms and rain in the afternoon lately. The kids have been having a blast playing in the rain and mud. Bradley is not a huge fan of the mud but he loves jumping on the wet trampoline. The kids put the hose on too and create a huge mud puddle by the house and then dig for worms. Some of the neighbor kids say their moms don't want them to get muddy. Not me! I say let kids be kids! I sat out in the rain yesterday watching them have a great time.