First day of school

Sydney's first day of school: She knows exactly what she wants to wear. She asked me to use the flat iron on her hair. She's a little nervous she won't be able to find her classroom again, even though she was there on Friday to meet her teacher. She wanted to set her alarm for 5:00 a.m. I talked her into 6:10. She wanted to shower in the morning. However, her alarm didn't go off so she had to skip the shower.

Connor's first day of school: Back pack is stuffed full of all the supplies a week in advance. Is still just fine with me laying out some clothes for him to wear. A little nervous. Seems to have the most nurturing, sweet teacher, Mrs. Mashburn....just what he needs. So excited that Tanner is in his team class.

Tanner's first day of school: Wears his arrow head necklace he just bought while we were in Lake Powell. When I go to wake the boys up they are laying in bed, with their covers pulled up to their chins, eyes closed, smiling. When I turn on the light, they pop out of bed giggling and..... fully dressed. "We woke up at 6:23!", they say. Excited to see his friends and be at the Intermediate School.

Allie's first day of school: High School!! Still loves school supplies. She loves to get all her school supplies early, lay everything out on her bedroom floor and get organized. She always NEEDS a new backpack because of one reason or another. Loves the fact that she doesn't have to ride the bus anymore because Trey is driving! Reluctantly induldges me in a photo. Feeling pretty relieved that she had a freshman orientation day on Friday so she knows where all her classes are and likes all of her teachers.

Trey's first day of school: at 7:15 he announces he going running. (What?!) Runs a mile, showers, eats breakfast, picks up his old backpack that he's had since the 7th grade (I kid you not), dumps out the debris from last May, tells me he'll clean it up when he gets home. Then looks at his backpack again and says: "hmm, I might need a new back pack this year." Picks up a pencil and notepad and he's ready to go. Has no idea who might be in his classes. VERY happy to be driving to school. Going to Aubrey's with friends after school.

My first day of school: Pretty calm and now very quiet....ahhhhh.

Camping and river rafting

That's trey in the front of the boat and allie in the blue t-shirt

We went our 3rd annual back to school camping/river rafting trip. This was the best year so far. Warm weather while we were on the river, cool evening for camping. For anyone who has not gone down the Nantahala River, you must! It is just good family fun. Our group has grown each year and the kids love being able to camp with their friends from the ward. David didn't even complain about the camping part. He did need a little help getting our tent up though :)

Building a dam in the river

Of course the lightsabers and wands had to come along

Adventure club: All cousins welcome

David playing with Hale and Jonah

Cousins eating dinner

Oquirr mountain (sp?) temple openhouse

Amazing Bryce Canyon

Connor and Silas doing the buddy system on the way to the toadstools

The first toadstools

hiking to the toadstools

Tubing in Lake Powell

Zion's national park

The adventure club is formed!

The adventure club just finished the river walk

We just returned from a wonderful trip to Utah. The last time Trey and David were in Utah was 10 years ago for the birth of Jonah and the triplets had never been. We decided it had been long enough so we planned a trip to southern Utah before heading back up to Provo to drop Trey off at EFY. Events of the week: Zion's National park, Bryce Canyon, Lake Powell, the toadstools, Temple square, byu tour and view of Brad's office, seeing Brad and Susan's house and lot, and staying with the fantastic hosts: Joel and Jenica!

Immediately as we started the hiking trails in Zion's the cousins started an adventure club. Then back in Lehi it became the potions and electronics clubs. They also had a theatre club. Non-stop fun! Sydney will be starting her own blog to write more about this.

We could not have enjoyed our time in Utah more. We will definetely not be waiting another 10 years to make it back out there!

Best $29 investment

In this picture you can only see Carter's leg sticking up!

Riding the inflatable boat in on the waves is the most fun Trey and Allie have had in the ocean. They, along with Carter, enjoyed 2 days of good waves with the boat. After watching Carter get pummeled over and over by waves that crashed over his head, they finally put Carter in the boat while Trey and Allie would fight the waves pulling it out and then hop in and let the waves take them in. I think it was just as entertaining for us to watch them. Sometimes they would get an easy ride in, other times they would barely escape being flipped over and ride a powerful wave all the way in. (afterwards you would here a high pitched "whooooooo" that was Trey) The best entertainment was of course when a wave would catch them just right and capsize them. The only two bummers were that the raft had a hole in it at the end of each day and Trey and Carter knocked heads HARD during one toss over. Trey had a huge goose egg on the side of his head. But he said it was worth it.

Allen helped the little kids enjoy the waves closer in to the beach. They said it was better that a ride at an amusement park.

Swim Team

The kids are having a great time on the View Harbour swim team again this summer. Everyone is improving their times. Tanner and Connor went head to head in the 25m freestyle and Connor shaved off so much of his time that Tanner won by only 1 sec! Wow, that's a big improvement from his last year's first race. Way to go Tanner and Connor! When he touched the wall and saw that he got 2nd place instead of the usual 4th,5th, or 6th he couldn't contain his excitement as he yelled "I got 2nd?! Only my brother beat me?! I got 2nd!" Sydney and Jared got to compete in the IM as they combined their heats at the last meet. Sydney looked like she was going to take him as she had a good lead at the butterfly. But Jared pulled ahead on backstroke. Then we thought she might catch him on breastroke but it wasn't meant to be. She was only 3 sec. behind him though, beating her personal best by 9 sec. Way to go Sydney! Trey and Allie are also improving their times each race and really having a great time with their friends. We love swim team.

Tanner is a sweetheart

Tanner is a sweetheart. He is very loving and is not embarrassed to share his feelings. Today at the pool was a priceless moment with him. We were sitting at the edge of the pool together when he says to me "ahhh, this is the life. Sittin' here with my mom, with our toes in the water, eatin' goldfish together." It doesn't get much better than that in my book. Tonight when I gave him a kiss goodnight, he started kissing me on the cheek and said between smooches that he could kiss for more than an hour, ....maybe a month. I love you too Tanner.