Middle School!

I haven't blogged in months.  School started today so I'm going to start going back and filling in some summer blogs after I first post some first day of school pictures.

Middle school has brought a lot of feelings from the triplets.  Nervous, excited, dreading, anxious, mostly the unknown was killing them.  Sydney especially wants to know exactly what is going on before she does anything.  She asked everyone to tell her about middle school and listened to many words of advice from older friends.  Thankfully now a days, they have a 6th grade orientation 1/2 day where they familiarize all the newbies and help them feel a little more comfortable for the first real day of school tomorrow when all the "scary 7th and 8th graders" will be there.

Tanner, Connor and Sydney all got in the same pod,  bronze pod, but are in different home rooms.  This morning they would not walk to the bus stop because the only kids there were freshman, who also had orientation today.  I heard Tanner say to Connor "lets stick together today, okay?"  I'm so glad they have each other for new, kind of scary, situations.  Here's to a good school year!

Triathlon - buckwheat style

I don't remember how it started but I'm sure it was Lori's idea to do a sister's triathlon.  Once Lori became the runner of the family and Julie was the swimmer that left biking to me.  The first thing I would need was a bike.  This was something David and I had been wanting to purchase anyway.  We have thoroughly enjoyed finding all the greenways in Knoxville and being able to enjoy this new hobby together.  When we bought our bikes we told the store owner that I might do a triathlon and he kind of chuckled and said "well you might see another bike or two like this on the race".  Little did I know how serious he was.  My little commuter bike might as well have had a bell and basket on it compared to all the serious race bikes that day.  I lost track of how many people passed me up during the race, but the best was when a teenage boy passed me and said "you're doing great, keep it up!"  Ouch!

We had fun and felt accomplished for doing it together.  Buckwheats Rule!!

Thanks to David who woke up really early with me and supported me by taking pictures and filming some.  I love that man (:  He recently had his knee drained and got another cortisone shot so he was feeling extra agile and I could tell he kind of wished he could compete.

Trey's home

The kids had fun decorating the kitchen for Trey's arrival.  Allie made him breakfast for dinner at his request.  I woke up the next morning and it felt like Christmas having my family under one roof again.  Sunday night all the family came over to hang out and get caught up with Trey.


Boy did we miss him!!

Mormon Prom

Allie went with some girls from our ward to a mormon prom in the Chattanooga stake.  She looked so pretty!  I remembered that her first stake dance was a mormon prom when she was 14.  It's not often that Allie gets all dressed up with hair and make up done (:  It was a fun mother/daughter time getting her all ready.

easter egg hunt

egg hunt 2012

 Egg hunt 2011

We missed having Trey here for the annual egg hunt!  Look how Carter passed Allie up in height in the last year, and how Allie is wearing the same shirt both years (:  Thanks mom for a fun time.  

Spring Break 2012.....UTAH!

We had the best spring break ever!!  We all loved going because we got to spend so much time with family that we love.  We went with just a few things on the agenda and loved every minute.  Thank you again to both Barber's for their wonderful hospitality.  Seeing Trey in his element was priceless as well.  We got to see his conduct his ward prayer and Allie was lucky enough to be able to stay in the dorms with one of Trey's best (female) friends and loved getting a taste of the dorm life!  The triplets couldn't get over the fact that everyone was LDS.  Allie wanted to move into the BYU bookstore and enjoyed going to classes with Trey.

Skiing at Sundance:  Monday morning we woke up to an inch or two of snow with 37" in the mountains!  We all started out on the bunny hill with the tow rope to see how everyone would do.

 Trey and Allie eventually made one run down the mountain, but were so tired from all the snow plowing they did, they decided once was enough for them.

 Tanner and Sydney LOVED learning how to ski.  They got the hang of the tow rope quickly and never stopped the 3 hours we were there.  The bunny hill was just right for them.  Connor didn't love it so much.  He mainly hung out with David and I watching the others.

David had a list of places he wanted to eat while there and we made it to everything but Awful Waffle.

We enjoyed a wonderful evening at the Chocolate House.....still thinking about those desserts!

We loved taking Trey a few of his friends out to eat one night!

One of the kids favorite things we did was eat in the Cannon Center for breakfast with Trey one morning.  Their eyes got sooo big when they realized they could eat as much as they wanted....donuts, sugar cereal, smoothies, scones, biscuits and gravy, crepes....

Sammy and" Synee"

Sammy loves everyone, but especially Sydney!  He is always up for making us feel welcome but Sydney stole his heart.  She was in heaven from all the attention he gave her.  It will be fun for these two to see each other again in May.

We spent a fun morning with Trey at Mr. MAC's getting all his missionary clothes! 

Can't wait to see everyone for the reunion!