Back to School

My kids started school last week, so, of course, I had to document them leaving on their first day.

Tad started first grade.  His teacher is Ms. Ellsworth.  She is very beloved here in Taylor, and we feel lucky that one of our boys finally gets to be in her class.  (We have loved all of our first grade teachers, so that statement is not a slight to any of them in the least.)  Ms. E also teaches Thomas and Drake the piano, so my boys all love her! 

He likes first grade, but he thinks the days are too long.  I think the days are too long too.  I miss having my little buddy come home at 11:00.

Drake is in third grade.  His teacher is Mrs. Fuentes.  She looped up to third grade with her class.  Drake loved being in her class last year, and I know he will have another great year with her as his teacher.

Jack is in fifth grade.  His teacher is Mr. Whiting.  None of my boys have had him yet, but we hear all of his students enjoy being in his class, so we are sure that Jack will have a great year with him.

Thomas is in seventh grade and moved up to the Junior High.  So far, he is handling the adjustment pretty well.

Dallin is in eighth grade.  Yes, I have two in Junior High!  He is student body president this year, and had to MC the opening assembly.  He said it was fun. So far, he seems to be enjoying being back in school.

All of my boys!  I can't believe they are all in school all day now.  Time sure flies!  Have a great year boys!!

July

At the beginning of July we headed to St. George for a reunion with my family.  It was fun, but too short.  Unfortunately, I didn't take too many pictures, but here are a few.

We met Christy there a day early.  We spent the first evening going to dinner and playing in the pool. We spent part of the next day at the St. George Temple.  So pretty.  We also enjoyed their visitors center.  The rest of our family met us down there that night.

The next day we visited Brigham Young's home and then took an easy going (but HOT) hike. These are a couple of pictures from the hike.

Later that night we went to Tuacahn and saw Cinderella.

The cousins all had a great time hanging out together and swimming in the hotel pool.  It was nice to spend time with my family again.

Not long after we got back Jeremy and I celebrated our 15th anniversary.  He brought me flowers and we celebrated by going to dinner at a place that is a little nicer than our normal date night.  I wanted to take a trip together to celebrate 15 years, but we are pouring so much money into landscaping the backyard and finishing up some things in the house, that we didn't feel like we could afford to get away.

One of the things we are finishing up in the house is our mudroom.  It has been empty like this since we moved in - well, if I'm being honest, it was usually full of random stuff that drove me crazy, and my kids coats, backpacks, and shoes were all over the house.  Not what I had in mind.

Jeremy built these lockers and I am so happy with how they turned out.

Now my kids have an official place to keep their backpacks, jackets, coats, hats, and shoes.  I am crossing my fingers that it won't take too long to train them to always put them there.

These pictures aren't the greatest.  I will try to take better pictures of the entire mudroom, and explain a little better how we are using it in another post someday.

Jeremy also finished the built-ins next to our fireplace and they look so good.  I will take a picture and share that soon too.

In addition, we are putting a block wall along the back of our property.  It is going a little slowly, since we have been in our monsoon and it is a muddy mess back there.  I'm not complaining, Arizona has been so dry that we are sooooo grateful for the rain even if it does slow down work on my back wall.  It is supposed to dry out now though, so we should be able to make some progress on it soon. 

July was full of a lot of fun and a lot of work.  It was a good month.

Tad is Seven!

A few days after we returned from San Diego, Tad turned seven!  I decided not to post too heavily about my boys birthdays this year, but with Tad still being pretty young, I decided to document his with just a little more detail.

Tad loves stuffed animals, and Grandma T did not disappoint.  She always sends the best gifts!

This cute little cat was a special favorite.  In fact, Drake liked it so much he could not hold back the tears because he wanted one too.  Luckily, he called Grandma, and she said she had an extra one that she would give to him.  He was all smiles after that.

I realize that Tad is wearing different shirts in these pictures, and to be honest, I do not remember why.  I promise, they were all taken on the same day.

Tad also got this little tent that he and Drake have been having so much fun playing, and sleeping in this Summer.

Tad is such a sweet little boy and we love having him in our family!

San Diego

About a week after school got out we headed down to San Diego.  Our first stop there was Sea World.

I didn't take very many pictures while we were there, but I had to get this one of my two youngest in front of their favorite ride, the Tentacle Twirl.  We rode it over and over and they never got tired of it.

My older boys loved the thrill rides like Journey to Atlantis and Manta.  Dallin also loved the new Electric Eel ride.  I told him there was no way I was going on that ride with him, because I did not have a death wish.  He and Thomas went on it.  Dallin came off it begging to go again, and Thomas  came off it saying "Never again!"  Since we were basically walking on the rides I let Dallin ride a few more times.  He is crazy!! 

I also got this picture at the Dolphin show, which was Tad's other favorite thing at Sea World.  I think he would have been happy if we had done nothing but the dolphin show and the swings all day long.

One more picture of all my boys right after we had all gotten soaked on the ShipwreckRapids ride.

All in all, it was a good day at Sea World.

The next day we headed to the beach.  We decided to visit Coronado beach since we had not been there before.  We loved it.  It was not very crowded the day we visited and the weather and waves were perfect.

Before I get to the pictures of my boys, I have to share this picture of the Coronado sand. It is full of fools gold, and sparkles in the sun.  Very pretty!

My boys had so much fun playing in the waves and in the sand.  It was a great day.

After the beach we cleaned up at the hotel and then headed out to La Jolla Cove.

It was a pretty and fun place to hang out for the evening. 

 I thought it was so sweet how Tad had his arms around his big brothers legs.

There were, of course, tons of sea lions there and a lot of them had little babies that were so cute.

One more shot of La Jolla Cove.

We finished the evening with a stop at the beautiful San Diego Temple.

The next day we got up and took a tour of the USS Midway. I had never visited the Midway before.  It was pretty interesting.

After we finished at the USS Midway, we headed back to Arizona.  We spent the night in Gilbert, and then did some running around and shopping down there before we drove home. 

It was a good trip.

Catching Up

It has been awhile since I have updated the blog.  In an effort to get caught up, I will be posting a few posts over the next few days.

Way back in May we had a a day off from school for an unused snow day.  So, we used Jack's Every Kid in a Park pass and went to the south rim of the Grand Canyon.

We have been to the North Rim a couple of times, but this was our first time visiting the South Rim.  It was good to finally see it. Since my boys are all born Arizonans, I figure it was a moral obligation to finally take them there. :)

We saw lots of cool Grand Canyon vistas.

We took a walk over to see the Grand Canyon watchtower.

We all walked up to the top of it.  This is a picture of the boys looking out of one of the windows on the walk up.

Drake and Thomas had their piano recital in May as well.  We are so happy with how hard they are working at the piano and the progress they have made this year.  They both played their pieces perfectly!

Tad completed Kindergarten, and they had a cute little program that the kids put on for the parents in his kindergarten classroom.  He did a great job!

Dallin also had a good May. He had an end of year choir concert.  His choir did well, and he was also asked by his choir director to do a mash-up with one of his friends.  He sang really well.  I asked him if he was nervous, and he told me he was super nervous, but you couldn't even tell.  That kid has nerves of steel!

Speaking of his nerves of steel.  He had the courage to run for Student Body President at his school and he WON!!!  He is honestly so nice to everyone and I know he will do a great job.

It was a good month!

Recent and Random

This post is mostly just a picture dump, but it is the best I can do for an update on our life lately.

Tad and I changed the hook shelf in the entry up for St. Patrick's Day.

I am finally making good on my promise to share a picture of the finished fireplace now that it is decorated.  I love this simple look.

Here is a closer (if blurry) look at the decor.  I looked high and low for those candlesticks and was so happy when I found them at HomeGoods.  I still smile every time I look at them.  I realize the picture is a little fallish.  I am working on some things to hang up there during the other seasons.

The vases with the branches are HUGE!  Since this fireplace is sooooo tall, it really needed something with some height, so these fit the bill.

Just so you can have a frame of reference for how tall they are, I stood Tad next to one of them.  Tad is six years old, and they are taller than he is!

We surprised Drake with a new bike.  His old one was way too little, so he was excited to get this.  He is loving riding to and from school every day, and just going out and taking a little ride around the neighborhood every now and then.

Tad and I decorated the hook shelf for Easter.  I took down the Easter egg bunting after Easter, but the rest of it is still the same for now.  I figure it is appropriate for Spring.

I also treated myself to these pretty Easter tulips.  I love Spring flowers, and these were such a cheery addition to my dining room.

Just a candid shot of the boys opening up their Easter eggs.

Finally a picture of my two oldest in their track uniforms.  I snapped this picture really quickly at the meet last week, so it isn't the best.  Hopefully I will get a better one at the next home track meet.
Dallin gets a striped uniform because his wins last year helped the Jr. High track team take the Championship.

That is it for now.  It has been busy but fun around here!