First Day of School - First Grade!

There are definitely times in your life when you realize your kids are growing up way too fast. Going back to school seems to be one of those times for me. I thought Zach was growing up way too fast when he went to preschool. Then it seemed even worse when he went to kindergarten. Well, he started first grade on Thursday and you can imagine how much it seemed he was growing up! All day at school - it can't be already! But it is and he was so excited!

Mrs. Winter is his teacher this year and after meeting her at back to school night, we were so happy with her and her classroom policies. She's very organized, ready to work, and always willing to make it fun.

Zach had trouble sleeping the night before the first day because he was just so excited. He's like me and craves a schedule and being challenged intellectually. Summer is so unscheduled and with the way work has just been so crazy and busy for me this summer, there definitely hasn't been much stimulation. So I think he was more than ready to head back to school to start learning again.

Hailey and I walked him onto the playground to make sure he knew where he was going - he easily found the line marked with his teacher's name and was so happy to be the first one in line.


After the bell rang and it was time to go in, he followed his teacher and had a smile on his face the whole way.


What a big boy!


Hailey and I followed with a few other mothers at the end of the line to make sure he made it and was settled into his classroom. He made it just fine and wasn't anxious for us to stay any longer, so we started to go. Well, needless to say, Hailey had a REALLY hard time leaving - I practically had to drag her out of the classroom. Then when I got her into the hall, she started crying - A LOT! I had to pick her up and carry her all the way to the car with her sobbing. Poor thing, she wanted to stay so badly! Notice I didn't say she wanted Zach to go home with us, she wanted to stay with Zach - I think she could have cared less where I was. I teared up just a little bit as we were walking out of the school, but having to concentrate on her kept me from thinking too much about leaving Zach there. So I guess maybe it was a good thing.

I had some shopping planned to keep both of our minds off of Zach being at school and it seemed to work. She and I had fun and by the time we got home, we were both just fine. We did have a little bit of a tantrum (Hailey, not me) in the afternoon when we didn't go and get Zach and bring him home before lunch, but I think in another week or so Hailey will be used to the time and be ok.

It's hard to think that Zach is now in school a full day instead of just half day like in kindergarten - that means he'll spend more time at school than at home and awake with me. It's so hard to let go, but he's having such a fun time and I wouldn't want him to not have all the fun he's having. His newfound joys are 3 recess times, eating lunch at school, and getting to play on the big kids playground (not the fenced in kindergarten playground). He's loved every minute of it and I love to have him come home and tell me all about his day at school.

You're getting so big Zach, Dad and I love you and are so proud of you!

Treehouse Museum

I'm a little late posting this, but our fun adventure last Wednesday was going to the Treehouse Museum in Ogden. We've been here before and the kids absolutely loved it, so you can imagine how excited they were to go again.

The fire engine is one of the favorite things to see. Good thing it's at the entrance because we usually spend time on it when we first get there and then again right before we leave.


Who wouldn't be excited about dressing up in a fire fighting outfit complete with jacket and hat? Zach loved being a fire fighter!


This was one of the few pictures I got with all the kids together. This little bridge was so cute - they even had a little pond painted on the ground underneath it complete with little fish swimming in it.


I love the fun picture with the kids in this boat. The little wave is so cute. There's also a fishing net where they can pull in some fish.


The jungle area was fun with all the big stuffed animals. Zach loved the big gorilla and ...


Hailey loved the big giraffe.


One of the new areas since we had been there last was the barn/rodeo area. We spent so much time here riding the horses and bulls and dressing like cowboys and cowgirls. They had a cute rodeo background painted on the wall and it really looks realistic.


Zach was so cute dressed as a rodeo clown and when he rode the horse, he kept waving his hat in the air and yelling "YAHOO!"


Can you imagine what this country would be like if these little ones were president? The thought just makes me laugh. The oval office area of the museum was very realistic and the kids thought it was great to sit in the big chair behind the desk.


One of the funniest stories about our visit was this arch made of blocks. Kylie (bless her heart) decided to help the older boys put the arch together. Once they got it done, the two younger ones thought it would be hilarious to knock it over. And over. And over. And over. After about 5 or 6 times of this happening, the older boys got smart and corraled the younger ones so that they would leave it standing. It was quite funny to watch and poor Aunt Awa was really tired by the time she sat back down by us.


Another favorite area is the medieval section. They have clothes to dress up in and a throne area for them to pretend to be queen and king. Here's our little princess all dressed up in her princess outfit and crown. It was darling on her and she loved every second of wearing it.


They also had a little stage where the kids could "perform" in their costumes. Here's our princess surrounded by the knight and king. Aren't they cute?


Lastly was the doll house room. The boys weren't very excited about this room with a bunch of dolls and paperdolls. So while Nana and Aunt Michelle took the boys back to the fire engine, Aunt Awa stayed with Hailey to color some paperdolls to take home.



We've decided that the Treehouse Museum is definitely one of our favorite places to visit. We almost didn't make it this year and we're so glad we were able to fit it in. Thanks Nana, Aunt Awa, Aunt Shell, Ashy, and Brans for going with us - we had a blast!

Look Out For The Bees!

As if the Owlz Game didn't satisfy our hunger for watching baseball, we headed out to a Salt Lake Bees baseball game last Monday for family night. It was a beautiful night, much more warm than at the Owlz Game.

Here we are waiting for the game to get going.


Both kids just couldn't sit still and were back and forth from Afton and Bubby on one side to ...


Kylie and Jedd on the other ...


And even in front to Nana and Papa.


Although the Bees lost, we had a wonderful time. With the amount of licorice and gummy bears the kids ate (thanks Nana and Papa!), it's no wonder they didn't fall asleep on the way home. They were both wide awake and jabbered all the way.

It sure was a fun night and can't wait to go back to see them play again.

Hoot Hoot! Orem Owlz Baseball Game

Last Friday we decided to head out and go to an Orem Owlz Game. They are a local baseball team that plays not too far from us. Jeremiah got some free tickets from work, so we decided to go and have some fun. Taylor was down staying for the weekend, so we talked him into going with us.

Here's the Owlz warming up


Our tickets were free for the general admission section, which is sitting on the lawn. It's actually pretty comfortable.


This is a picture of the kids with Hootz and Holly, the Owlz team mascots. Hailey is fascinated with them and always wanted to know where they were through the entire game. Of course, she didn't want to get too close, so I had to hold her during the picture.


Zach had to dress up in all of his Owlz gear - shirt and hat so that he completely supported the team. He loves to yell "Let's go Owlz!" - it was so cute!


Hailey loves the games too, although I'm sure she has no idea what's going on. She also yells and cheers the players on, just like her brother and we just smile and laugh every time because she's so darling!


We sure love watching the Owlz, they've become a family favorite!

Swimming at Roy Aquatic Center

What's the best thing to do on a hot day? Why, go swimming of course! And that's just what we did last Wednesday. I'm a little behind on my posts, so I'm going to try and catch up the next few days.

My sister used to rent a house right down the road from this Aquatic Center and her boys (as well as my kids) have always wanted to go swimming there, so we were sure to make it this summer on one of our Wednesday play days.

Here's a picture of the kids chilling on their towels. They all love to be together!


Hailey and Nana


The best part about this swimming pool was that it was completely geared towards little kids. Branson and Hailey loved this little slide - they thought it was so neat to slide down the frog's tongue!


It feels so nice to relax in the water on a hot day!


Hailey and Branson played together all day long. In fact, most of the time they were holding hands as they would walk from the front of the slide to the back. It was so cute! I got a few pictures, but they were all blurry, so I didn't post them. They are such good friends, I love it!


Zach has been so anxious to use his pool noodle in a bigger pool than the blow-up one we have played in out back. This was perfect and he loved every second of it.


Zach and Ashton loved the fire hydrant water squirters and spent a ton of time trying to squirt each other and any one else that came by.


My kids have turned into little daredevils and both went down the waterslide with Jeremiah. I tried to get pictures, but in order to see them I had to stand so far back that you couldn't see anything in the picture. So I guess you'll have to use your imagination, but they had a blast! They both went down the curvy slide at least 3 or 4 times each! Zach even went down by himself twice! They would have gone more if we had let them, but we were tired and wanted them to play on the other water toys too!

We had a blast and can't wait to go back again next year. We've decided it's really the perfect pool for little kids!

The First Harvest of the Year

I know I really can't take credit for "creating" the vegetables from my garden, but I like the fact that my watering, weeding, and care contributing into a creation. Our meager little garden only contains one tomato and one cucumber plant - mostly due to the fact that my little family doesn't really eat many other vegetables, but also due to the fact that the road construction behind us require them to be on the last 10 feet of our property to set the sound wall at some point. That 10 feet is a good portion of our garden, so we opted to keep it small this year instead of losing plants mid-season. I enjoyed fresh tomatoes and cucumbers with dinner tonight and I was reminded of how much different fresh vegetables taste - SO YUMMY!

Farm Country

Another post on another fun Wednesday get-together. This week we went to Farm Country at Thanksgiving Point. We had some free passes, so it made the trip extremely inexpensive. I think we ended up paying $7 for our family of 4 - not too shabby.

The entrance to Farm Country has a bunch of informational items - the kids absolutely love the display where it shows how they process milk and bottle it. Their favorite part though, is the big plastic cow - we always seem to come home with a picture of them in front of this cow.


Here's another of the few pictures we got of all of them together. It's hard to see, but those are llamas behind them.


Hailey was bit afraid of some of the smaller animals (go figure), but she did think this little goat was really cute.


The kids loved feeding the ducks and I think Nana went broke giving them quarters to buy more food with. Zach was fearless and touched every animal he could. He really has become brave the past little while.


I love these little buildings they have set up for the kids to play in. They don't seem to "fit in" with everything else, but the kids absolutely love them.


The jail was fitting for our 4 little rugrats - they were too cute behind bars!


I think one of the favorite things to see was this little horse. It was a baby of a little shetlan pony and the kids loved feeding it. Hailey even got brave and actually let the horse eat from her hand.



This is a picture of the kids on the hayride/tractor ride. Since each admission had a ticket to ride one thing (the hayride or the pony ride) and we had enough adults that didn't mind giving up theirs, the kids were able to ride the hayride and the pony ride one time each without us purchasing additional ride tickets.


Here they both are on the pony rides. They absolutely love horses, thanks to my sister and brother-in-law who let them get close to their horses whenever we're able. I had to laugh that Hailey was afraid of the goats, chickens, and even the sheep, but walked right up to these horses without even batting an eye.




We were lucky to hit Farm Country in the morning when it was cool and before a bunch of people were there. Thanks everyone for coming with us, it's so much more fun to go together with family!