First day of school... Part 2

With the freshman getting their own day at the high school yesterday, Lindsay and Kenna didn't have to start school until today. As usual, they weren't thrilled with me taking pictures but they'll get over it! This was the last time I get to send Lindsay off to her first day of school while living at home. It was a bit sad for me but as you see on her face, it wasn't for her! Kenna and Lindsay walking to the car.

Lindsay, Emily and Kenna. Lucky Emily won't have to experience riding the bus to school in her jr. high years. Sandcreek is located right behind Hillcrest so she will get to catch a ride with her big sisters And, they're off!

This really was a sad morning for me. After they left, I thought about all the other things that will be the 'last time' experiences for our family with Lindsay (while she's living at home) and I really don't think I'm ready for all this; last Thanksgiving, last Christmas, last birthday, last spring break, really the list can go on but I'm hoping not do dwell on these things and hope to make Lindsay's senior year a great one! Kenna is excited to not be a freshman and I know they'll both have great school experiences, they have fantastic groups of friends!

First day of school

This morning we are officially back to a little normalcy and into a schedule. Summer is a great time but I sure like having a routine with everyone, it just seems to make the house run a little smoother. Emily, Ali and Baylie went back to school today. Lindsay and Kenna won't start until tomorrow. Here are my 3 girls all ready for their school day to begin. Holding up their fingers showing what grades they will be in this year. Emily is in 7th, which is also officially, Jr, high! Ali is starting 3rd grade and Baylie 1st grade.

Ali and Baylie in front of their school

Baylie and Mrs. Brinton. We love Mrs. Brinton, Ali had her last year for second grade and we heard she was moving down to teach first grade and I had to request her - she is a fabulous teacher and I know Baylie will thrive in her class!

Her room was fairly empty when we got there so I was able to snap a shot of her at her desk too!

Ali with Mr. Guymon. She really wanted him for her teacher and we knew he was a popular choice. I opted not to request for her as all the 3rd grade teachers are good. She was telling me that she wouldn't get him since so many people were requesting to have him. She was happily surprised at registration when she found out she was placed in his class!

After taking Baylie and Ali to school, I was off to take Emily to JR HIGH!! I still think she's too little to be heading to jr high, but she was really excited. It will be a whole new world for her. Full of new friends, classes, teachers and opportunity!

It was a great morning and all went smoothly as we got ready for the new school year. Chris was able to give each of the kids a father's blessing last night to help them be comforted and ready to tackle this new year! They are growing so fast, time needs to slow down!

Mud Run 2011

Last weekend was the cross country teams annual 'mud run.' Hillcrest uses it as a practice, they don't run it competitively, as a matter of fact, they pride themselves on coming in dead last! Makenna really enjoys the mud run where as Lindsay hates it! Here they are somewhere near the beginning since they aren't very covered in mud, yet! Notice how Lindsay is trying to ward off any mud that might be thrown her way..... Here, they are getting ready to crawl under a barricade and again, Lindsay isn't ready to get down and dirty. She was the last one standing last year too~

Kenna, the mud warrior!

Trudging through the mud towards another barricade, Kenna has no problem digging deep and chillin' in the mud

Kenna stops to pose while coming under the barricade!

Moving along, slowly but surely ~ this course is a 2 mile course. Lindsay had said that they wanted to finish in 59:59 but the teams time was actually a bit faster at 54 minutes. Well beyond the other teams. They stop and play in a canal along the way and just make it a fun event. As I remember last year, they sling mud at the spectators too! Now, fully covered in mud, can you pick Lindsay out?

Lindsay with a few of her friends after the race....

Kenna and some of her friends, strike a pose!

It was a brutally hot day they tell me (I had to work, so I missed this year). Ali was nice enough to let Lindsay have some of her shaved ice. What a nice treat after a hot, muddy race!

I was really not happy to have to miss this run as I think it's funny to watch them all trudging through mud! Even though Lindsay doesn't enjoy this meet, she'll look back and have fun memories of this event! Kenna, loves it - I think it's her favorite meet of the season!

Yellowstone

The morning after the backyard camp out, we headed up to Yellowstone National Park. It was a nice day and we looked forward to spending time together and enjoying the scenery of Yellowstone. I actually have to admit that Yellowstone is NOT one of my favorite places, it's the same stuff over and over and if you've seen it once well, you get the picture. Here is a beautiful picture I took along our drive. Here are the kids at biscuit basin

Kenna over looking the top of the falls.

We entered the park at the West entrance and usually the roads are crowded with bison, this trip was completely different. We didn't see much wildlife at all and were very surprised. As we made out way around the lower loop, we finally came across some bison. This guy was seriously 4 feet from my window! He was huge and Emily was concerned that he would come closer to the car and she proceeded to scream, "shut the window, shut the window!" We were all laughing but she really was scared and lucky for us, he decided to just walk along side our car, too close for comfort! We watched him and he crossed the road behind us to a car and pooped on its hood! That really had us laughing!

Here is Jace at the sapphire pool at biscuit basin - The water is such a stunning color!

Lindsay, Ali and Kenna sitting on rocks near the falls

We made it Old Faithful and here are the kids waiting for it to erupt! You can see the steam coming up from the ground before the actual eruption.

There she blows!!

This was really cool. As we were watching Old Faithful erupt, off to the left, Beehive geyser was about to erupt too! One of the park rangers was telling us that Beehive only erupts once or twice a day and it only happens 2-3 times a year that it will erupt at the same time as Old Faithful. We had never seen Beehive before and so it was great to have been there one of the 2-3 times a year that it erupts along with Old Faithful! Beehive is a larger geyser than Old Faithful, Beehive will get to be 180-190 feet in the air while Old Faithful is only about 150 feet.

Here, Chris is teaching Jace to put his hands in the little stream flowing from sapphire pool at biscuit basin. It's warm water and Jace thought is was fun, even though you aren't supposed to be messing in the water.

We stopped along one of the paths at biscuit basin for a little family picture!

We had a great day exploring Yellowstone. The last time we went, Jace was just a few weeks old and Baylie didn't remember going either - they all thought it was fun and have asked to go back! This is one of Chris' favorite places to take a drive - it is fantastic that it's pretty much in our backyard, but give me a couple years before I'm ready to go back.

Backyard campout

Two weeks ago, Chris thought it would be a great idea to sleep in the tent in the backyard. The little kids were super excited about it and we totally on board. I have to admit that I was not. I opted out of this adventure since my nice comfy bed was only a few feet away. It was getting dark by the time they even set the tent up but that didn't stop all the excitement. Chris started a fire in the fire pit, and they were set. Lindsay and Kenna didn't sleep in the tent either, they had early morning cross country and wanted a good nights sleep! Here they are posing for a picture before going to bed. Chris gathered the empty twin mattresses from the house to take outside to sleep on, yeah we really know how to rough it!

One last picture before I headed into bed.

They all slept great except for Emily who came into the house and slept in her bed after feeling scared. I will let you know that they also watched a movie, that's right, Chris somehow was able to hang his Ipad up in the tent so they enjoyed a movie on Netflix. Yep, we really know how to rough it!! I am glad that the kids had such an enjoyable evening and that Chris is willing to do fun things with them!!

High Adventure July 27-30

Part of Chris' calling as the Young Men's president is to go with them on their high adventure camp out, it's for the boys ages 14-18. This year they went to 'white clouds.' It's located in the central Idaho mountains near Challis. It was an 9 mile hike into where they would set up camp and they spent 3 days hiking, fighting mosquitoes, playing in freezing water, and enjoying the scenery. It was a 'real' back packing trip, they could only take what would fit in their packs. Lucky for Chris, we have a neighbor that back packs and lent him his pack, tent, and had several tips for him. They also only ate freeze dried meals and trail mix! Here is Chris with a few of the boys Some of the scenery........

Chris, at the lake. Nice mosquito net hat, I know!

This was one of the lakes they hiked to. The glacier kept the water freezing but that didn't stop them from sliding from the glacier into the water. If you look really close, you can see 2 little black marks on the glacier, those are some of the boys and that is where they slid into the water. The 'slide' was about 100 feet long and even though the water was freezing, it was fun!

Chris had a great time on this trip. came home sore, but had fun! This was the last high adventure he'll attend with the boys as he was released a few weeks ago. Now, we'll just wait and see if he volunteers to go when Jace gets old enough, or they put him back into young mens!

Swimming lessons

Swimming is a life skill that I think is so important and lucky for me, my kids love to swim! Each summer we spend quite a bit of time at the swimming pool taking swimming lessons. This summer was so busy that we were only able to get in one session of lessons. Lindsay drove Ali, Baylie and Jace several of the days when I was busy or working and Chris was able to take them on their final day, which is diving board day! Here are some of the pictures he took.
Ali getting ready to jump off the board.....

Swimming back to the side. Ali is a really good swimmer and it seems to come really natural for her.

Baylie's turn

Her teacher was directly under the diving board waiting to catch her....

Ready for her towel.

Jace's class was practicing by jumping into the water from the side of the pool.

He had a teacher waiting in the pool to catch him as well. When he got on the board on of the teachers asked if he wanted help and he said yes. The teacher just dropped him into the pool to the waiting teacher. He was all excited to do this so I'm not sure why he decided to get help.

Here he is using a noodle to swim to the side.

The kids loved swimming lessons and I was disappointed in only having time for one session this year. They all did well and are developing good water skills.

All she'll want for Christmas

Okay, so it's not her two front teeth but, Baylie lost her first tooth!! Her two bottom teeth had been loose for months and she wouldn't let anyone pull them out. I finally bribed her with 2 dum dum suckers if she let dad pull the loosest one out. The next Sunday, she was eating an apple and the second tooth fell out on it's own. She put her tooth in a plastic bag and wrote her name on it. She hung it up on the fridge so the tooth fairly would come and know whose tooth it was. This really happened on July 16, I am just extremely behind on blogging!