Back To School!!

So I've been in denial but I guess that summer is over and the kids have all gone back to school.
Skylar started 2nd grade this year! I have so many memories of myself in 2nd grade that it's kind of fun to think what a great year it's going to be for her. She is in a Spanish immersion class from here through 6th grade and is loving it! She loves the challenge of having something else to keep her learning more and more. She already knows more Spanish than me. Skylar is one of those kids that just loves every minute of school and that is awesome!Nick started kindergarten this year! This was a hard one for me. I know how quickly they change into a school-age kid and I am just not ready for that! I kept telling Nick that I was bummed that he was going to school and that I was going to miss him. He replied "Momma, you should be excited for me and sad for you." Such wise words! I am excited for him! Nick has the same teacher that Skylar did and we just love her so we're glad he got her. So far, he's really loved it and it's so fun to see him thrilled about all there is to learn!
McKade started Joy School this year! I love Joy School! I love that he gets to learn all about the joys that life has to offer and that he gets to make friends and have fun. I love that I also get to be his teacher every now and then. I love that I get to decide who his teachers are and that they are all people that I trust and respect. This world is scary and I'm just not ready to hand my kids over to complete strangers. This year there are 6 kids and 6 moms-our largest group ever! It will be nice to have such a long break in between teaching. Maybe I can get something done with such a great break! Kade is loving it but is anxious about it finally getting to be our turn at our house.

We need a better ramp!!

So we've entered a contest. We don't enter contests too much and never had too much luck winning but we really want to win this one!! This company, Railside, is giving away an awesome $2000 halfpipe to whomever they think has the best skate video that promotes them. One of the things that they are looking at is the number of hits that the video gets so please tell everyone to watch this for us!! Even if we don't win, at least we had some good times making the video!

Summer Week 13-Squeezing out every bit left!!

So, according to the public school system that supposedly decides the rules, summer vacation is supposed to be over. But, I'm a little rebellious and refuse to accept that and anyway, Nick still had another few days of freedom so we:
-Went to the farm at Thanksgiving Point. It was the last $2 Tuesday and I figured it wouldn't be as crowded considering that school was in. Um, it was packed! We had fun anyway!! There were so many baby animals out it was really fun. Alexis was so cute and excited about all of the animals! She was waving and saying 'hi' to all of them.
















-Did some skating in the yard so we could make a cool video. I'll post that later. We're even encouraging Alexis's love for skating early.
















-On Nick's last day before school I let him choose what we did. So we went out to lunch at Burger King and then, of course, he wanted to see some animals!! Nick absolutely loves all things animal. So we went to the Bean Museum at BYU. Nick and Kade couldn't remember ever going there so it's been awhile. Everytime I go there I wonder why I don't go there more often. It's so cool and it's totally free. The kids loved it, even Alexis, who once again waved at every animal. I wonder if she noticed that they weren't moving much. Silly Nick told me that he had a "beary good day!"

-

Random Cute Kid Quote & Our New Arrivals

Okay, so last week I was checking out our enormously pregnant cat, Cali, and said "Wow, she totally looks like she's about to go." to which Kade replied, " Is she like going on a mission?"
So apparently she was ready for her "mission" and the next morning delivered 6-count them-6 kittens!! This is her first (and last!!) batch of kittens so that is absolutely crazy!! We were expecting 4 tops and I'm completely overwhelmed. They are pretty darn cute though.

Play Ball!

Our kids are members of the Orem Owlz Kidz Club. This in itself, is totally cool for them. They love going to the games and being a member of a club is awesome! But the best part of this club is not that they get a t-shirt and hat or even that they get into a few games for free. The best part is that once every summer they get to go learn the ropes of playing ball from the ball players themselves. Awesome!!

















So the big day arrived and the kids were so excited, especially McKade (aka Shoeless Kade Jordan-we didn't realize his shoes were too small until we got there!). This was his first year getting to go and he was glad to be included. The kids got to go and meet some of the players and then rotate to mini-clinics where they learned how to catch, throw, slide, and bat from the experts.















Afterwards, they got to have their stuff autographed by the players. How cool!







There was a game that night but Ben's Aunt Tina was in town from Hawaii so instead of going we had a BBQ at our house with the fam. We had a great time!

Summer Week 12-Is it gone?

Okay, so this was Skylar's last few days before summer break ended for her. We filled it full of fun! We:
-Went to the Dino Park in Ogden with the Tongs. Our annual membership is fully paid for now and we can feel free to head there any time-that is any time we have a few hours to kill in the car. It is pretty far away but fun enough to make it worth it every now and then.































While we were there we got to see a guy that was actually gluing together a rib from a duck-billed dinosaur that was recently found in Eastern Utah. Totally cool.

















-Went to the Thanksgiving Point Gardens with the Frisbys. We're so glad they moved back so we can see them more often. It is so beautiful at the gardens and there's so much to see! The kids especially loved the koi pond where they got to see tons of fish and some frogs. We worked our way to the Discovery Gardens for a quick visit and splash in the water and then the kids finished off the day with a roll down the giant hill.































-Had one more late week night at the Owlz kids game. I love the beautiful view of sunsets at the games.