First Day Jitters!

So, today was the first day of school and I just had to share pictures of why my kids' teachers are gonna fall in love with them immediately! Aren't they just precious! You can totally see the nerves and the total lack of sleep, but that just makes them cuter. I'm glad they didn't know what their days would be like, or I probably wouldn't have been able to drag them out of bed!

Breje came home all stressed because she couldn't find 7th period and was way late. Poor Trayson had an even harder time at the end of the day, though. He somehow got put on the wrong bus and was headed halfway to the next town before he realized it! Meanwhile, mommy about FREAKED OUT when Breje got off the bus and hadn't even seen Trayson! Several frantic phone calls and two hours later, we were finally reunited. Poor Tray was pretty shaken up, but he got over it quick and was even still able to say that he had a good first day of school! What a trooper, huh?!

Friends, Food, Fun!

My friends and I decided that school shopping was a great excuse to get away from all our responsibilities, so we took off for a whole day of fun on Saturday! Although we mostly agreed that the priority was good food and a big juicy coke, we did end up with tons of great stuff for back to school. We hit every major sale in Boise and also managed to squeeze-in some time at the Cheesecake Factory. (Actually, two trips, one just for dessert!) It was great to get away and not have to haul three kids into every store, but mostly it made me realize how lucky I am to have such great friends here. I decided that it's really important to know a couple of girls who will eat way too much chocolate with you and then tell you your jeans make you look way skinny!

One of my favorite finds was this way too cute hat that we found for Brielle. A bit impractical, but I can't even feel guilty now that I've seen it on her.

The ride of his life!

Okay, so this may just look like a cute little bug to everybody else, but to Kutter, it's a shiny red Herbie car and that's about as cool as it gets! A friend of my mom's went way out of her way to give Kutter a little ride in her car and let him get his picture taken in it. He was so excited he was almost speechless! I'm pretty sure Jerilyn couldn't tell how much it meant to him because he was so quiet, but he hasn't stopped talking about it! Thanks!

I've Been Tagged!

Syndey's in trouble, but here goes . . .
4 jobs I've had

1)Banquet Waitress
2)Secretary at a used car lot
3)Census Taker
4)Mommy

4 movies I could watch over and over
1)Moulin Rouge
2)How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
3)Gone With the Wind
4)Girls Just Want to Have Fun (I'm with you Sydney!)

4 Places I've lived
1)Smithfield, UT
2)Panama City, FL
3)Altus, Oklahoma
4)Alamogordo, NM

4 Favorite TV Shows
1)Regis and Kelly
2)Scrubs
3)Grey's Anatomy
4)Anything on HGTV

4 Places I've been on Holiday
1)Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
2)Bear Lake
3)Yellowstone
4)Disneyland
(We don't get out much!)

4 Favorite Dishes
1)Chocolate anything with a side of chocolate (me too!)
2)I love good Mexican
3)Seafood -- especially shrimp!
4Prime Rib

4 websites I visit
1)blogs
2)Amazon
3)Ebay
4)Webkinz

4 Places I'd like to be
1)In Utah with "the fam"
2)shopping with the girls!
3)Mexico
4)Anywhere Alone!

Tag, you're it....
1)Hayley
2)Amanda
3)Michelle W. (Yeah, you! Now you HAVE to get on your blog and start typing!)

Camping, Camping, Camping!

We haven't been to Bear Lake in awhile, and it seemed like the kids really could't wait to get as wet as possible. It took Ady a minute to get used to the idea, but soon she was laying in the puddles and getting dirty with the rest of them. I thought Brielle would hate the cold water, but she loved it and, eventually, Jody just hauled her off into the water with him.

The big kids also got to go fishing, and, even though they didn't catch anything, they had a good time!

Brielle seemed to love being outdoors so much, although I could tell she was missing her bathtub! She especially liked snuggling with her Daddy in the tent.

More Family Vacation

I think these pictures say it all about how much fun the kids had at the dinosaur museum! There were a few moments there that I couldn't tell who were the bigger kids, mine, or Grandpa and the uncles! I'm not sure what their favorite part was because they were grinning the entire time. It was fun to see how much they enjoyed learning.

Family Vacation!

Cesare Pavese once said, "we do not remember days, we remember moments". That's the way I see our recent family vacation, the special moments that stand out and remind me why I love my family so much! (It's a good thing we don't remember whole days, because three kids plus a new baby at Lagoon, Thanksgiving Point, Kiddie Kandids, and Bear Lake involves TONS of moments that might be best forgotten!) If you're thinking we're pretty brave, I think so, too!

Seriously, though, it was completely worth all the effort! We were even able to squeeze in a few unexpected moments, like last-minute visit from Chelsie and Jason (Jody's sister and her husband) from California. It was so much fun seeing them and getting to know their little Brooklyn, who is as beautiful as ever and so sweet! I somehow got away without getting any new pics of her, but I snapped a few of the kids having fun with their other cousins, who they hardly ever get to see. I couldn't help posting this one of Aliah with Kutter. She is such a ham!

We headed for Lagoon the next day and I have to say that juggling seven kids and all those rides was quite a trick, but we sure had a ton of fun. I'm proud to say that I jumped right onto "wicked" and it was way fun! The best part was watching the kids, though. Breje and Trayson were so brave and wanted to try every ride, and even Kutter was disappointed when he couldn't ride the big rides, although he was pretty upset at Jody for taking him on "the terror ride"! Brielle didn't much like the water park, but she was a trooper for the rest of the day. Ady, Sienna, and Simon only got to ride the Carousel, but they just smiled and laughed all day. They were so cute that I had a hard time narrowing down the pictures, so you'll have to bear with me!

Breje took the boys on the first ride of the day, does she look bored, or what?

Brielle spent most of her day in her stroller, but she seemed to really enjoy watching the rides and all the pretty lights when it cooled-off at night.

Hayley bought all the kids some colorful suckers, just for the fun pictures. I should've killer her, but it was totally worth the sticky fingers,

faces, shirts, etc!