First Day of School

Today is the first day of school and I have to admit I'm a little sad. I was trying to figure out why I always feel sad on the first day of school. I think one of the reasons is I'm sad to have to be on a pretty strict routine for the next 10 months. I actually do miss the kids when they are gone all day, but I think the thing that makes me the saddest is that it's just a reminder that time is speeding by and there is nothing I can do to slow it down. Em's in fourth grade this year! I still remember fourth grade. Nate is in first and was super excited to be there. Emily not so much, but she never is. She does great once she gets into the routine, but the first day is always kind of hard for her. That makes it hard on me too, I hate to see her cry. :(
Anyways, some explanations on the pictures. Geoff was giving the kids a father's blessing before they started school and Kate, who will not be outdone, had to get up on the chair too. She climbed right up there and folded her arms, it was so cute. Of course I couldn't find the camera and when I did it needed new batteries, but I got her on the chair.

It's so hard to get a picture of them all looking, but Ry and Kate had to have their picture taken too.

Final Version, almost

We are nearly finished with our bathroom! We coerced, pleaded, drugged Greg to come home with us and do the tile, so naturally Geoff had to work overtime and Greg did it all by himself. I can probably guess the answer should we ask him to do this again. But doesn't it look great! I wanted to show a before and after picture. We still need to change out some of the fixtures and add the finishing touches, but we are really happy with how it turned out. Thanks to both our dads for all the help they gave us!




This is what it was like before we moved in.

Voila!

This isn't really posting how I had hoped, but you get the idea!

More Utah

I am determined to have the rest of summer posted before school starts next week. So I apologize for the massive amount of pictures, but I'm on a mission. I just realized these pictures are backwards as far as the order we did them, but I'm too lazy to fix it, not that anyone cares. The kids are still asking to go back to Utah, maybe we should reconsider our once a year visit, but then I remember the drive and I'm not inclined to change, sorry. :) So with those random thoughts thrown out there here we go....

Big Grandpa and Little Grandma's backyard, last day in Monticello.
Having fun at the fireworks, Nathan and Blake.

Almost all of Greg and Connie's grandkids, aren't they cute?

Grumpy doing the trick that scares me to death, at least Kate's enjoying it.

Little Grandma comforting Ryan, he was so over tired most of the trip.

I just love this picture.

A good looking crew.

Another picture I love, look at Kate's face.

This is what we love about Monticello on the 24th of July, parade candy. Who needs Halloween?

Blake and Nate at the parade, look at that tractor!

Kate enjoying the spoils of the parade.

Ella and Ryan at the parade.

I thought it was funny the way Connie was shading the love birds.

Ryan and Nate at the ranch house after family pictures, too cute.

Uncle Tom tossing Kate around, sheesh!

Ryan and Nate doing what they love to do best.

Em and Megan had a ball together.

Ryan and Joe cooking smores at the ranch house.

Camping Continued

Now onto the fishing portion of our camping trip. The boys took no time at all reeling one in, the girls not so lucky. Nate proved that it isn't just human blood he has an aversion to, but fish as well. I'm not sure when we'll get him out there again, he said it may be a few years.....

Here's Uncle Shane and Ryan with Ry's fish. Notice he's still in his pajama's because that is what Ryan does.

Ryan doing his "I caught a fish" dance.

Nathan reeling in his fish with Uncle Shane's help.

You can't see Nathan's face too well, but let's just say he didn't do the "I caught a fish" dance. Once he saw Shane trying to pull the hook out of the fish his face went pale and he had to lay down on the ground. Like father, like son.

The girls still waiting for a fish. Em wasn't too disappointed though and still had fun.

Kids First Camping Trip

I have a ton of posting to do. We had a great time in Utah with our families. Our first adventure once we got there was to take the kids camping and fishing. I don't have the fishing pictures so I'll have to post those later. We've never taken them camping or fishing before so they were quite excited about it. When I was young everytime we went camping someone ended up barfing. So sure enough half way up the mountain Kate let's loose all over the car. I don't remember anyone barfing before getting to the campsite, so leave it to Kate to start a new tradition. Despite the barfing we still had a good time, well I took Kate home when it was time for bed so I had a great time... I got to sleep in a comfy bed.

Poppy showing Ryan the proper technique on how to cook a hot dog.

Emily and Kate. Camping with 1 year olds is messy.

How many guys does it take to set up a tent?

It's all about the stance.

Granny and Kate.

Ryan loved the big tent.

Taylor showing us the joy of the smore.

As we left the camp site we gave Am a ride to the port-a-potty...on the hood of the car, the only way to travel.

Because I Have To

Here is a video I took of Ryan a while ago and just haven't put on the blog. It's pretty funny!

Renovations and Explorations

Like I mentioned in the previous blog we started fixing up our bathroom and in my effort to avoid packing I am now blogging instead. I think I may really hate myself for this later. Anyways, my dad has been a great sport to come out and help us with this project. I'm not sure he's appreciated the help we've given him, but you've got to admit, they are cute.

Now the exploration. We were watching the news the other night when it showed this ship that was docked in San Francisco. Of course when you see a ship like that the immediate thought is, "my boys would love that!" So we were pretty happy to hear that they were letting people on board to see the ship. Yet in another effort to avoid getting ready for our trip we took an excursion to the city to explore the ship.

Isn't that cool? The kids had a fun time.

Nate and Tay on the skinny steps. All of the steps were like this and they had very nice (and very good looking) sailors there to help you up and down when you board the ship. Geoff claims this is the only reason I really wanted to go, ha ha.

Captain Ryan

I like this picture of Tay.

Geoff and the babies. Kate's learned to say "cheese" Can you tell?