Back to School

 My boys started the school year a couple of weeks ago.  These are some pictures I snapped quickly as we were running out the door on the first day.

Dallin is a Freshman this year.  He is excited to be at the high school.  He also just found out that he made the soccer team, so he will be a busy boy this fall.

Thomas is in eighth grade this year.  He is student body president at the junior high.

Jack is in 6th grade.  His teacher is Mrs. Krekeler.  Thomas had her for sixth grade too.  She did the best job preparing Thomas for 7th grade, so we were very happy that Jack was assigned to her class.

Drake is in 4th grade, so he moved up to the Intermediate school.  This is the first year that he has had a principal other than his dad.  His teacher is Mrs. Breedlove.  Jack had her for fourth grade too, so we know that Drake will have a great year in her class.

Tad is in 2nd grade.  His teacher is Mrs. Hancock.  None of our other boys have had her, but Jeremy says that she is a great teacher, and Tad is loving her class so far.  This is the first year that Jeremy has only had one boy at his school.

I love that handsome group!  Have a great year boys!!

Summer

One of the first things that we did this Summer was flying with Uncle Joe.  Jeremy's uncle flew up here and offered to take all of us on some short flights.  The boys loved it!!

We then headed up to Utah and spent a week there re-doing my parent's main bathroom.  It was full of green laminate countertops and a peach sink and tub.  They were all original to the house (built in the late 60's) and had seen better days.

Jeremy was too quick getting on the demo, so I didn't get to snap very good before pictures.

This is after the remodel.  The lighting in my mom's bathroom is terrible, so I apologize for the quality of these pictures.  We plan to add an overhead light in this room on our next trip up.  We just ran out of time.

The room looks very white in these pictures, but my mom has added lots of color with her decor.

While we were working on the bathroom, Dallin attended a session of EFY with his cousin, Paige.  He loved it and was disappointed to hear that he wouldn't be able to attend next year.  I am sure the new FSY will be great, but he loved meeting kids from all over and spending time on BYU campus.  Oh well.  At least he got to attend once.

After we got back we went camping with the Hatch family. Sadly this is the only picture I took.  My boys loved taking the ranger out for little drives.

Drake and Tad took a session of swimming lessons.  They both did great!!  Drake is getting to be a really good little swimmer and Tad came sooo far this year!

They were both rewarded with their favorite Spongebob ice cream bars on their last day.

There was not a single firework to be purchased anywhere on the mountain for the 4th of July, so we purchased some glow sticks and the boys had fun playing with them in the yard.

Thomas and Dallin took first and second in their age group at the Taylor 4th of July run.

And just to finish off this Summer post, here is the view of the walk up to my house.  The dwarf potentilla are coming along great and I love the happy little yellow flowers that are always covering them!

I also love my pretty hanging baskets.  I took these pictures a few weeks ago, and they look even better now.  They make me so happy.

It has been a good summer.

Tad is Eight!

Our baby Tad turned eight back in June and was baptized! 

It was a good day and we are so happy with what a good boy Tad is!!

Per tradition, I made him a quilt to celebrate his special day.

He picked out the pattern and the fabrics for this quilt. I will try to get better pictures of it up on the blog soon.  But, with my blogging frequency lately, I wouldn't hold your breath.

As usual, I am feeling pretty nostalgic during this special time for our little Tad.  So, per tradition, I will share a whole bunch of pictures of him through the years. . .

We love our Tad and we are so grateful that our family was blessed with him!!