Play Hard. Crash Hard.

Vanessa has been playing so hard lately. She has been swimming several times, played at a friend's house, and went to the beach all the past two days. She finally crashed.

This is how I found her a few minutes ago.

Poor thing. Play hard. Crash hard.

We only have two weeks left of summer vacation. I hope she keeps playing hard and fits it all in while she can. You are only a kid for so long. Better make the most of it.

School's Out For Summer

I love summer!! I love having my kids home with me all day. I love not having a schedule. I love just relaxing and taking it easy. I love summer, therefore, the last day of school is one of my favorite days of the year.

Here in our school district, the last day of school is just like any other day of the year  It is a full day of school where the kids still go to their various classes. Este and Ethan both refused to go. If you asked them, they were quite ill. Este met some friends for lunch so Ethan and I headed out to Chick-fil-A.  It was crowded but oh so nice to spend some one on one time with Ethan. Of course he refused any sort of picture and I decided it wasn't worth pushing the issue and making him upset so you just have to imagine Ethan and I bonding over my salad and his spicy chicken sandwich.

The last day of school marked AJ's last year in middle school. Yep, I now have a senior, junior, and a freshman in high school. I knew this day would come but, it just seemed like such a long way away years ago. Anyway, it is tradition in the middle school that the 8th graders make one last ceremonial walk through the school and the other grades cheer them on then the parents greet them at the door.  

It was hard to find AJ in the mosh pit that formed outside of the door. 

Melanie hoisted Jace up on her shoulders so AJ could see where we were. It worked. A few minutes later AJ appeared.

Keeton was quite happy to see AJ until I snapped the photo.

AJ, however, was all smiles to be moving on.

Savanah and Vanessa headed out to school on their bikes. They could have left school early in the day but they wanted to stay the entire day. Poor Savanah wasn't feeling well but she wanted to have one last day with her teacher. 

My last day of school activity is the same as my first day of school activity. 

A pedicure is the only way to go. Several of my friends posted photos of their kids of their kids on the first day of school and the last day of school. Here is the photo of my first day of school and the last day of school.

The perfect way to start the summer.

There's just one major thing missing: a firepit. The hoards and hoards of spelling, math, and writing journals were recycled (boring & yuppy). I kept the important and interesting pieces of work but the rest of it will be part of the next recycled product coming your way.

Hangin' Out Together

We are adjusting well here in Texas. The temperature has started to rise. To say the least, it is nice and toasty during the day. The kids seem happy in their new home. They are making more and more friends each week as we get to know the neighbors and as they participate in activities at the church.

Still, most of the summer is spent hanging out here at home. I was worried about them not having enough to do. I recognized that had we not moved, they would be spending their summer hanging out with their individual friends and participating in their individual activities such as soccer tournaments, tennis camp, and swimming lessons. Here we haven't become involved in those activities yet.

Then I realized that maybe it isn't such a bad thing that my kids don't have lots of friends to hang out with and activities filling up their days. They hang out with each other because they only have each other. That is not a bad thing.

We spend a lot of time hanging out with each other at the community pool. Each neighborhood has it's own pool (I'll talk about HOA fees in another post). The fun thing is that we can go to the pool anytime we want. Lately, that has been almost daily.

Like I said, it's not such a bad thing that we only have each other to hang out with this summer.

Madison County Fair

After already going to two different county fairs, I had several people ask me why we were going to Rexburg (3 hours away) just to go to the fair. This is why...

Jared was showing a cow in the Dairy Livestock show. The cow he was going to originally show died suddenly, so he showed this one who had never been on a leash before. Jared was all business and kept that cow in line.

He won a blue ribbon and this photo here made it worth the whole trip.

Two of Aaron's brothers and their families went as well. Jared had a whole cheering section. While we were waiting for Jared's turn, AJ tried to throw his cousin Trey into the arena.

Jace had his first experience with chocolate ice cream.

We went to see the animals. (There wasn't really anything else to see.) Ayden carried on a conversation with a pig through a series of snorts.

Kayl petted a donkey.

Turns out we all ended up staying in the same hotel. It is a new hotel with retro decor. Ethan referred to it as Retroville.

The kids had fun making use of the pool. Savanah continued to practice her cannonball.

Kayl worked on his form as well.

Ethan posed for another picture.

Jace fell asleep.

I was so happy that our hotel room was facing the Rexburg Temple until I realized this was the view from our room.

(You may have heard me complain about the lone tree on a vacant lot that blocks the view of the Logan Temple from our house. I keep hoping that tree gets struck by lightning.)

It was easy enough to drive up the hill for a closer view of the temple which we did at sunset.

I returned the next morning at sun rise and got this shot of the field across the street from the temple.

We all went out to dinner that night.

Trey was ready for some grub.

I wondered if Jace ever got tired of the kids mauling him all the time.

Then, I wondered if he ever got tired of me taking pictures of him.

Too bad. I'm going to keep taking pictures. Fun trips like this need to be remembered.

Down at the County Fair

A few weeks ago, we went to the Morgan County fair, an annual tradition, where the girls enjoyed going down the superslides.

Ethan and Esteban enjoyed beating each other with large sticks.

Savanah and Gracie wanted to have a try at it. At least they put on the safety helmets.

Aaron enjoyed seeing the animals. Wait, we didn't see any animals much to Aaron's dismay. (Who goes to the County Fair to see animals?)

The next stop on our county fair circuit was the Cache County Fair. This time, we only saw the animals to make up for missing them in Morgan.

AJ petted a pig.

Ethan became friends with a sheep.

I watched in horror as they ate with their hands afterward. I guess that's all just part of the experience.

Our final fair destination was the Madison County Fair (Rexburg, Idaho).  More about that in the next post.

Summer Flowers

You may not know this about me, but I've always wanted to be a photographer and a nurse. The nursing career was more practical so I followed that dream first. Now, I can set my aspirations to be a nature photographer when I grow up.

Here are a few photos I took recently of the flowers in our garden.

I realize that I have a long way to go on the photography front so really these flowers are reminder of the beauty in our yard because there are days I think the flower gardens around here are going to be the absolute DEATH of me. This yard demands a lot of up keep, more than I'm willing to give most days. I grew up in a home where we had gender specific jobs. The boys worked outside and the girls worked inside. Therefore, I would rather do house work than yard work any day. (I'm changing that in my own house, all genders do all the work).

What I really should do is take photos of the weeds. It's probably safe to say there are more weeds out there than flowers but I choose to focus on the positive.

Summer Events

It's really bad when even I get sick of hearing about our vacations but, this is my family's scrapbook. (As soon as I get around to publishing it.)

There have been other noteworthy events so far this summer.

Vanessa lost her first tooth. She was so excited when she found 5 quarters the next morning under her pillow left by the tooth fairy.

AJ received his Arrow of Light and finished Cub Scouts.

Aaron was so happy to be done with Pack Meetings until I pointed out to him that I would not be released as Cub Master just because AJ turned 11 years old. It's okay. Savanah and Vanessa LOVE pack meetings. The girls in our family will remain active in the Cub Scout program.
Earlier in the spring we planted our garden.

This is how Esteban's way of "working". His thumbs were working. He spends a lot of time texting these days.

This is Vanessa's way of "working". She always finds a way to wander off  to play whenever there is work to be done.

Aaron and I attended the sealing of Jace in the Bountiful Temple. I am so happy to know that he is part of our family for eternity.

Jared spent the night with us. He played boxing on the Wii with Aaron.

He seemed to enjoy watching Aaron set off fireworks in our backyard.

Speaking of fireworks. Our poor neighbors. I think they hate us. If they don't, they should. I love our older home in an older neighborhood except for the fact that we are always the rowdy ones on the street.

Esteban went to EFY at BYU. He met kids from all over the world yet the first thing he told me about was the buffets for breakfast and dinner. He is such a teen aged boy.

He had to get a BYU haircut which he wasn't excited about but, I think it looks good. I'm learning though, Mom's opinion doesn't matter much these day.

Summer is already half way over and so far so good.