Back 2 Skool

YEA! House gets cleaned and STAYS cleaned!!!
Kids were all so excited to go to school this year, I have all 4 at Earhart. Jaxson's kindergarten teacher moved to 5th grade so he is with Ms. McLaughlin again, Grace in 4th grade with Ms. Mog, Bella got Grace's old teacher Mrs. Freund and Brock goes to pre-k in the afternoons with Ms. Luna and Ms. Jessica and carpools with his bestie Sara Bull!



(In pjs, as we watch them load on the bus in the am)
sun was very bright, finally on the third attempt, I got him to open his eyes just in time for the picture!

BYU blue!

Amyarie, Mindy and DA made the kids these darling BYU pj's! The kids LOVE them! Thanks Gills! We love and miss you!

Tylie first meal

She has not been great with food so far, she gags a lot and after this first meal she threw up several times. I thought it was just coincidence but the next two times I fed her this oatmeal she has thrown it up again, we are thinking maybe an allergy?? Peas, carrots, brown rice and sweat potatoes...either gags or spits them out! Uh-0h, is this one gonna give me trouble? I hope so :)
(don't be fooled by the happy face, she is always smiling..she really hated it)

For some strange reason it had to be...he guided me to TENNESSEE

But I am still thirsty.....

Fun last trip for the summer with our family! We accompanied Derek on a water summit training. Lots of driving...lots of hotels...lots of swimming...lots of sight seeing..lots of fun!




and then there was the drive...



Knoxville was a actually a pretty city, we walked around the downtown area by our hotel and...
climbed up the sun sphere and played in the water fountains,
went to the art museum

and rode on the city trolley.
Funny story, the trolley seemed like a great place to ride around for awhile while Derek was in his class and get out of the hot sun. The bus driver warned us when we got on, to sit down the whole time Well, Grace decided to change seats at a stop and Brock followed after her when the bus was moving...he stopped in the middle of the road and turned around with EVERY ONE watching and warned us that if we got up out of our seats one more time...he would let us off at the next stop..now we are at least 15 miles from our hotel...The kids, INCLUDING BROCK, sat sooo still, at one point, someone came to sit in the back by us and Jaxson was so scared to move (between the bus driver and my glares of whichever one got us kicked off this trolley in the middle of no where would pay!) that he slid his body under the bar to make room next to him!! Ha Ha!! I told the kids this worked so well to keep them quiet and still that I was going to ask the Bishop to make this same announcement in the chapel!

New Wheels!

Derek showing off his new wheels...and I don't mean the bike!
This has been a fun bike riding summer, it started out with Jaxson smooth talking his way into an early birthday present and then everyone decided they had outgrown their old bikes so we were on a mission. We found a great purple mountain bike for Grace on craigslist-$20 and then Bella moved up into Grace's bigger bike and after a year of Brock riding around on his toot scoot, we brought down Jaxson's old two wheeler, pumped up the tires and bent over holding onto his seat. Brock does great, but due to a little fear, he keeps slamming on the breaks once he realizes we have let go. We also attached the tandem bike to Derek's bike so Brock can join us on the family rides. Now...if only mom could get her cruiser bike....:)

Brock turns 4

Although we have the summer off, Derek doesn't so we had to wake Brock up really early and he was not happy with our singing, this first picture is him hiding back under the covers. Then after a little wake up time, he was all excited! His big present was a DSI and his siblings gave him a few things they bought with their own money, mostly candy...


Then the next day was his party at the fire station, after a tour of where they sleep and eat, the kids all got to go in the fire truck and then they got out their hoses and sprayed them all down. We finished with a pinata! Fun time for his friends and their siblings! Happy Birthday Brockie!!

The 7 year old gymnast

Bella often follows Grace in her interests, but lately she has been expressing the desire to do gymnastics. Luckily a cute couple on our ward teaches at a place close by and we enrolled Bella for the summer. This was parents day and we were amazed at her skills, strength and talent! What a gymnast!!

Zucchini Races for scouts

"to prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes by instilling in them the values of the Scout Oath and Law."...or just have some fun carving and racing zucchinis!

4th of July

(Bella and Kelsie sitting on the mailboxes playing with rolly pollies)
We had the Rogers and Howards over for the 4th of July! The boys had a great time lighting off the fireworks (many paid for with their own hard earned money) and it gave us a great show to watch. We enjoyed root beer floats and Derek made a cobbler in the dutch oven! Great memories, great friends!




Tylie slept through the whole loud show going on outside, we found her with her head tucked into the side of the bed and her hand holding on for support.

First lemonade stand of the summer

My kids have made a tradition out of this. At the start of every summer, the neighborhood kids get together a have a lemonade stand and have a party with the earnings! This year they decided to add homemade cookies to the sell and they quadrupled their earnings! Making over $40 in one day!! Lot's of generous neighbors (and persistent kids)! In addition to the pizza/movie party we also had enough to go out to see Soul Surfer at the theater too!