Madi's 1st Day of Preschool

Wednesday was Madi's first day of preschool at the same preschool she went to last year. She was very excited to start again and I think she asked me at least a dozen times to look at her preschool calendar and tell her what they would be doing. When we got there, she marched right in and knew exactly what to do. Miss Julie also said Madi and her friend Kara from last years preschool immediately joined up to play, like they had never missed a day of seeing each other. It is nice to have her be so excited to be going to school, I know she will have a great time. We picked up Annie on the way to school and no, we did not plan their outfits. We had a good laugh about it though. Madi's self-portrait she made at preschool. Gotta love the long curly hair.

It is weird having 2 1/2 hours of time to myself 3 times a week, our house is so quiet. I have a huge 'to do' list I'm hoping to get done during that time in the last weeks before our baby comes. So far in the last two days I've been able to get the outside of our deck doors painted. Now I just have our bedroom deck door to paint and the rest of the door painting I will be doing will be white and inside doors and there are ONLY 29 of those to do, and that is just one of the things on my never-ending list. Wish me luck in getting them done.

Parker's 1st Day of 1st Grade

My baby is growing up and boy have I been emotional. Paker has been so excited to start 1st grade and I realized this morning how ready he is. Last night we went to Back to School night and met his teacher. Once we got home he started laying out his clothes just as he will wear them, backpack and all. This morning, I asked him where he wanted me to walk him to (i.e. the field, outside the school or right to his classroom). He decided he wanted me to go right to the classroom so off we went. Once we got to the playground at the school, he saw one of his classmates from last year and said "Never mind mom, I'll be fine, you can go now." I about broke out into tears right there, but luckily held them in long enough to give him a hug goodbye. I had a few tears on the walk home and then it was just some sadness as I am realizing how fast time flies. I can't believe my oldest child is already in 1st grade. He is now on his own most of the day. My thoughts were with him all day long, wondering what he was doing, if he was listening to the teacher, finding good friends and getting his own lunch, etc. I've decided sending a child to 1st grade is much more difficult for me than sending one to kindergarten. Then to add to my loneliness, Madi was definitely missing her brother and best friend as well. All day long she was asking me when we could go pick Parker up from school. At about 10:30 or 11:00 I told her it would be a little while after lunch before we could pick him up and she said "I want lunch now!" She was trying to find any way she could to speed up the process. After doing some grocery shopping, we decided to make Parker's favorite oatmeal cookies to help pass the time. This is a cheesy grin, but he really wanted to show his missing tooth. Running through the field on the way to school. He was so excited to get there! Parker had a great first day. He ate popcorn chicken, oriental rice, a tube thing filled with stuff that looked like a telescope (an egg roll), fruit cocktail, chocolate milk and a fortune cookie. His fortune said "You enjoy the spotlight, become an entertainer!" Mrs. Martineau said he did a great job, however she could tell all the kids were really tired and ready to go home. It is a big change going from 1/2 a day of kindergarten to a full day of 1st grade, but Parker did great! He said his favorite part about 1st grade is that they get to have two recesses. By that evening he was exhausted and breaking into tears quite a bit. I have a feeling the next couple of weeks will be a big adjustment.

Swimming in the Last Days of Summer

Lannis and I took our kids to the Aquatic Center today probably for our last time of the summer. It was the perfect day to go since most of the valley started school yesterday there weren't too many people there. Sorry for all the pictures, once again, but I realized I had never taken my camera to the pool this summer so I guess I was catching up.

Madi noticed me taking pictures and immediately starting posing for me.

Also, Parker rode down the big steep slide today for the first time! He had told me earlier that he was now tall enough to ride on it, but wasn't sure he wanted to yet. I told him to let me know if he did so that I could watch him. Well, a little later him and Caleb come back and are sitting there talking about how Parker rode down the steep slide. I was shocked! That slide even makes me nervous, I couldn't believe he went through with it. So I ran to get my camera and he rode down it a few more times. Then he said it kept scraping his back so he didn't want to ride it again and sure enough, that night there was a nice bruise in the middle of his back. I was so proud of him and excited that he rode it, I can't believe how much he is growing up. Today he even asked his dad "How come that slide scares you even though I'm younger than you?" Seriously, these kids really do grow up way too fast.

Madi and Annie playing with the beach ball.

Ogden Raptors!

Lynn's sister, Karen, gave us tickets to the Ogden Raptor's baseball game last night. They played the Brewers and ended up losing, but we still had a great time. Parker even got a baseball! OK, so he didn't catch it, a kid walking by gave it to him, but it was still fun anyway. Plus, there's nothing better than dinner at a ballpark and this park has the best garlic fries, yum! During the 8th inning, they have the kids dance to the Sponge Bob Square Pants theme song and whomever the announcer picks as the best dancer wins a prize. Hence the reason for the Sponge Bob shirts Karen let us borrow. We didn't win a prize, but the kids had a great time dancing.

Cherry Hill!

Yesterday we had a fun-filled day at Cherry Hill with some of my family, Todd, Kevin and Candace and kids. Mick couldn't come because their baby was sick, but Todd came anyway with Jaygen and Pace. We all had a great time swimming and riding the water slides. Madi loves doing bobs in the water and Parker keeps working on his front stroke. He even took a breath this time and kept going. It was a great day! Parker, Jaygen, Pace and Madi taking a ride on the cannon

Madi and Lillian just finishing up lunch.

Todd with Jaygen and Pace on the Pirate Ship.

Parker loved the water slides.

The kids didn't want to go home, but after being there for about 7 hours we figured it was time, we were all exhausted.

Parker's Golf Clinic

The last four days Parker has been participating in a golf clinic at our local golf course. The first 3 days were an hour and a half of instruction and then on the last day they got to play about 5 holes of golf and eat brunch. He absolutely loved and keeps asking when we can go golfing on the big course. Every day I picked him up and asked him out it was, his reply was "It was AWESOME!"

Parker with his buddies, Joshua Gozart and Caleb Christensen.

Every kid that participated got a hat, and Parker won the sleeve of golf balls by being the best putter in his group. Way to go Parker!

Another Lost Tooth!

Parker's tooth has been loose forever and last night, after we got home from the fair, he finally lost it! And, we didn't even have to have him eat a caramel apple at the fair. Lynn was able to pull it out with no tears. This is his 3rd tooth gone, but the first one on top. He was very excited and immediately got it ready to put under his pillow for the Tooth Fairy. Luckily the Tooth Fairy remembered to come this time and left him a dollar under his pillow.

Gotta Love the County Fair

For some reason I really enjoy going to the fair each summer. There's always good people watching, good food, and good times. This year we bought pre-paid ride passes for the kids a few days before the fair and they were able to go on all of the rides as many times as they wanted. Our cheap way of avoiding Disneyland or Lagoon one more summer :) Needless to say, they had a blast. They especially liked the fun house and the big slide. They kept sticking their tongues out at us I just couldn't ever get a picture with them out.

Madi was a little nervous about this slide at first and had to walk back down the stairs to the bottom. However, after watching Parker a few times she got up the nerve and ended up loving the slide.

Zucchini Boats

The other night for Family Home Evening, Parker helped me give a lesson on the Brother of Jared building the barges for his family. He read a big chunk of the story and did a great job. After the lesson, we made our own barges (zucchini boats) and floated them down the stream behind our house. They didn't go too far because they got caught up in some branches, but it was still fun to see them float and the kids had a great time.

Seattle - Final 2 Days

Today was Mount St. Helens day and the beginning of our journey home. We started out by heading up the the Johnston Ridge Observatory which is the closest visitor's center to Mount St. Helens. When we first arrived, they were showing a video on the eruption of Mount St. Helens on May 18, 1980. It started out by hearing the vocals of a man with the last name Johnston who was up by Mount St. Helens taking readings. He said "Vancouver, Vancouver, this is it!" and then it went out and he was gone. It was very chilling and amazing to see the destruction that happened in just a matter of seconds. The eruption, blew 1500 feet off the top and sent enormous amounts of rock, snow, and ice down the mountain's north side at speeds greater than 200 miles an hour. Then after the movie, the screen raised and they opened the curtains and we were looking right at Mount St. Helens. Nature can be such a destructive force. Parker was very excited to see a volcano, but I think he may have been a little disappointed because it wasn't like the volcanoes he had pictured in his head with all the flowing red lava. The kids still seemed to have a lot of fun. The sky was very hazy due to the ash that is constantly getting blown around the area. The picture above is of an old tree that was plowed over in the blast. It was interesting to see all the trees uprooted and laying in the same direction. The picture below was to the North East of the volcano, nearly all vegetation and wildlife up to 6 miles north of the volcano were destroyed and are still relatively barren today. There were trails all around the observatory. We went a little ways on one of the trails and let the kids get some energy out. Typical view of the kids in the back seat. They were such troopers and great kids on the road. This night we ended up in a small town in Eastern Oregon called Pendleton. We got a hotel and then went searching for a fun restaurant. We ended up asking a couple at the park what they would suggest and they referred us to a place called Virgil's at Cimmyotti's. After talking to our waitress, it was an institution where locals have been going for 80 years and they had just restored it. It had red velvet wallpaper, a soda fountain bar, and a great atmosphere. The food was delicious and the kids each drank Shirley Temple's and loved it. The next morning we ate breakfast, went swimming at the hotel and then hit the road for the final journey home. We traveled for about 7 or 8 hours and we were all glad to be home. Even the baby seemed glad. The last 2 days of our trip he/she was sitting right in my ribs and I thought I would never be pain free again. Parker said he "loved everything about the trip, especially camping, playing with cousins and swimming." Madi said she "loved staying at the mall (hotels) and swimming." However, they both said they want to go on a trip again, just not as long next time. There's nothing better than going on a vacation with my family!

Seattle - Day 7

Today was our last day at the beach. Lynn went golfing with my parents and Jim this morning so the kids and I headed to the beach one last time. The kids spent some time looking for rocks and before I knew it, their buckets were full. I told Parker to pick out his favorites and he just said that all of them were his favorites. So needless to say, we have packed home a few extra rocks. As if our yard doesn't have enough.

Last group photos before we go our separate ways:Back Row: Audrey, Parker, Spencer and James

Front Row: Claire and Madilyn

Kris, Jim, James, Claire, Audrey, Spencer, Melissa, Lynn, Madilyn and Parker

And of course, last but not least, Grandma and Grandpa.

After we said our goodbye's, we headed down to Clinton which was on the southern tip of the Island we were on and rode the ferry across the Possession Sound to Mukilteo.

The ferry as it was coming in to pick us up.

Loading the ferry.

My favorite 3 people, checking out the scenery on our way across.

Mukilteo Lighthouse

After the ferry, we drove and drove and drove and thank goodness, the kids both had really good naps until we got to Mt. Rainier. About all I can say is WOW! We were very impressed. We entered the park at the Sunrise entrance and were able to go to the visitor's center while we were there. We were at 6400 ft. elevation and Mt. Rainier is 14,410 feet. We got rained and hailed on, but by the time we made it to the visitor's center, it had stopped. At least we got to enjoy cooler weather for a while.

Beautiful wildflowers were everywhere.

The lighting really was terrible, but Mt. Rainier is right behind us in this picture. We were even able to spot some hikers with a red tent through a spotting scope. It really gives me a better appreciation for those who have hiked Mt. Everest considering Mt. Everest is at least another 10,000 feet taller than Mt. Rainier.

The scenery was absolutely gorgeous with the storm and fog everywhere. It was interesting to see how muddy the river was. A lady at the visitor's center said it is from the silt being washed off of the glacier.

The kids loved riding through tunnels. Madi kept asking us to find another tunnel. After 12 hours of traveling today, we were all excited to find a hotel and it didn't take long for any of us to fall asleep.