I love to see the Temple

We had our annual trip to the Temple grounds to spend some quality family time together. We have done this for about 4 years now. Sometimes other of our family members come, but this year, it was just us. It was so nice. We love it here.

Just Like Mom

Celeste is a cheerleader! She is so cute. She really loves it too- she is learning some cute cheers and how to smile all the time. She is cheering for a football team that her best friend's brother plays for...so, she cheers with her too. So far, she has done one game- we have 9 to go. How cute is she?!!

My purple and gold days...

She is so much cuter!! Go Raiders!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

School has started again!! I have a love/hate relationship with this event.  I am so happy to have them at school, learning and growing and having fun experiences- but I miss the laughter and fun we had all summer at home.  We did have a fun summer this year....but it is time...

Celeste is in 1st Grade- ALL DAY!!

Alex is at the Jr. High in 7th grade.

Elaina is at home with Momma all day!!

Leah is at the Jr. High in 5th grade.

We are looking forward to a wonderful school year!

Last Day

Yesterday marked the last official day of summer vacation for the kids.  Leah started school today and Alex and Celeste go tomorrow.  So, in honor of that, we decided to go to Magic Mountain to golf and then to Sonic for slushes.  What a beautiful day it turned out to be, not too hot, and not too humid. The kids had a blast.  I did not golf- I was the photographer (Thanks to Leah's camera), and was also Lanie's wrangler.  She was in the way, A LOT.  She loved it though, and probably next year will be ready to join in the fun. She especially enjoyed feeding the ducks her Cheeze-its and getting the balls out of the holes.  Then we had our slushes and Leah discovered a new flavor that we all LOVED...she got an orange slush with vanilla added.  WOWZA- it was delish! Must get all the time now...goodbye lemonberry, hello orange vanilla! YUM!

Style Skating

So about a month ago, my mom sent me a groupon coupon for a birthday party at a local skating rink.  Since Leah was turning 10 and hadn't had a party since she was 5, I thought we could pull this off.  It was 1/2 price, and very much worth it.  All I had to do was bring a cake.  Seriously. They sent me invitations and thank-you's, provided food and paper goods...and a cute party helper girl to boot.  It really was seamless, which was a good thing, because all the parents minus one dropped their girl off ( I didn't mind at all), because Dana was at home with Lanie, who got Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease! Yeah, it was that kind of day! Fun times.
She invited 9 girls, and 8 came- what a lucky girl- she has some super cute girlfriends and they are all so fun. Only a couple were "experienced" skaters, (Leah not being all that good still), so they stuck together and helped one another go round and round.  All girls.  All 10 year old girls...ahhh, to be 10 again....

She made each girl a "duct tape" journal for a thank you gift and she received a lot of fun presents too.  We had cake (courtesy of Sam's), she picked it out after contemplating we me making one (thank you, darling daughter of mine)! They played games, she got to pick out her own favorite song to dance to, and everyone sang to her.  She was so happy. It really made my day.  I so love her, even when she's tough. (like me.)

So, here are the pics:

What a fun day! Such a lucky girl.

Call Me

37

I am feeling 37 today, that's for sure. 37? Yes, 37.  Being in my "late 30's" is tough to say out loud.  I am trying no to!
The children made me breakfast in bed this morning: honey nut Cheerios with fresh blueberries and strawberries! They got me a Smoothie King gift card and a game.  Dana bought me a plane ticket to see Jen in Arizona in November, and I got a new outfit, including shoes that I wore today to church.  Lucky girl, right?
They also made me a cake, 100% how I like it! My parents came over for dessert and so did Sean and Steph with the girls.  More presents: a new crockpot from my parents and money for a pedicure from Sean and Steph.  I don't mind being 37 now!
Here are some fun shots:

 That's a lot of candles! We tried to make a 3 and a 7 out of candles, but it didn't really look that great.

 So yummy!

Lake Weekend 2012

What an amazing weekend we had at the lake.  The weather was perfect. It could not have been better and we got to do all we wanted to do- the kids stayed in the water for hours on end...it was so fun.  We ate tons of yummy food, of course, and had great conversations with that.  Here are some shots to prove it: