my best boy

Drake self-labeled himself as "my best boy".

And he's right. He is.

Did you know that everyday of his first week of Kindergarden he came home with his school work, and he didn't do any of the coloring? Instead, he'd flip his coloring sheet over, and draw a picture on the back.

All the pictures were of him and me!

Look at this cute one where he wrote "mom" all over it and drew hearts!

Oh, and we're pirates on a pirate ship.

And here we are holding hands

and a rainbow behind us!

This little boy is so so sweet.

A few weeks before school started, he was giving me hugs and then says to me,

"mom, I wish I married you before daddy did."

Awww.

Drake, you melt my heart!

I'm so glad you're my best boy.

Strawberry

Back to school. Back to school,

to prove to Dad that I'm not a fool.

I got my lunch packed up, my boots tied tight, I hope I don't get in a fight.

Ya a little Billy Madison fun.

But seriously. It's back to school time at our house.

The kids are still adjusting. Daily homework, riding the bus, school lunch!

Uggh, and me. READING, READING, READING!!!

So we were more than anxious to take our first weekend get away.

I just ignored my many reading assignments, packed up the car, and we headed up to Strawberry with the Stewarts.

We love the Stewarts!

It was so nice to escape the heat too.

Did you know that we have been under an extreme heat advisory for over a week?

That means it's over 110º. Like 115º.

Yucky.

So when we got to Payson Friday evening to eat dinner, and it was 70º outside. My kids were cold, and had to get out their jackets.

Oh, my little AZ natives.

We went to a llama farm. There were goats too.

Drake and Merik got a kick out of feeding and petting the goats!

We also ate a lot of goat cheese, and goat fudge.

Look how cute Gwenny is holding Sophie. She LOVES Sophie!

Also, we could see all of Arizona from up here. Well almost.

But we were told on a really clear day you can see Mt. Lemon from this fire tower!

Don't you just want to kiss Drakey?

We also stopped by this swimming hole that looked more like chocolate milk.

If a kid went under, he'd be lost. Forever.

Luckily the dads were willing to get in and swim with the kids.

Ryan, of course takes the chance to jump or swing off of anything!

Then while they were swimming, a sudden down pour sent them swimming for shore.

So we drove home wet and stinky, but had such a good weekend!

Thank you Drew and Amy!!

duh-rama!

Remember that last post?

The one where Gwen lost her SECOND tooth!?

You know that was on a Sunday right?

So I sent Ryan out of the house Sunday evening to hunt down a store that had a silver dollar in their register. (tooth fairy at our house brings a sliver dollar)

He did, and came back victoriously with two.

Hooray!!

Then we cleaned up, put on a movie in our room, and FELL ASLEEP.

Monday morning we woke up to an inconsolable Gwen.

Poor thing was just broken up because the tooth fairy forgot her.

I told her that maybe a lot of kids lost their teeth Sunday, and she was so busy she couldn't make it to our house, after all, she's not Santa.

Gwen knew that couldn't be right and then started to worry that maybe she was captured- you know someone thought she was breaking into their house.

Oh dear.

It was 15 minutes before the bus was supposed to be there, so I quickly told her about how the same thing happened to Ryan when he was a kid (it didn't) and the tooth fairy makes up for it by bringing double. That worked. She got dressed, let me fix her hair, and was out the door in time to stand around and wait for the bus for 15 minutes.

Thank heavens I remembered to be the tooth fairy last night!!

She woke up so happy to show me her TWO silver dollars.

Good thing Mr. McPhie found me two.

Also, today is his birthday.

I love you Ryan.

I'm so glad you were born! ;)

..second tooth..

This tooth has been wiggly since the day after she lost her first tooth... almost exactly THREE months ago! She really takes it easy on working the tooth out.

And I don't know why church is so magical, but again, she lost this tooth in church.

But this time she pulled it herself.

And in this picture you can see how her other tooth is already almost completely grown in.

Gwen's tally - two bottom teeth lost, at 7 years, 1 month.

first day of school 2011

Getting the kids into school this year was quite an ordeal. I accidentally enrolled them at the wrong campus... after Ryan woke at the crack of dawn and waited in line for hours, and then found out they got in, only to find out later they're supposed to go to another campus - the one where all their friends go.

Well we wrote off all chances of a transfer this semester, but by some small miracle it happened! We got them in a week before school started.

They started 10 August.

Drake in all day kindergarden, and Gwen in second grade.

Doesn't my baby boy just seem too little to be in kindergarden?

It's so sad to realize that he's now on the path...that will last just about forever.

No going back to days of just us at home.

But at the same time, the freedom of the kids being at school has been unbelievably nice.

Cute Gwenny really misses the Montessori House, but also loves her new school. In fact she was so happy to already have three friends in her class.

And both of them were so excited to get to ride the bus home!

Look close and you can see Drakey in the bus.

They made it.

Next up, me.

I have one more week of freedom.

last trip of the summer

We were lucky enough to get to go on a trip each month this summer.

When will that ever happen again?!

This last one we went up to Utah for a weekend with friends in Park City, and the excuse was that it was our anniversay. That's right. Eight years baby!!!

On our way up north we stopped in Flagstaff to go to the Cardinals training camp.

It was so nice, and they had fun games for the kids to play too.

Check out Gwen. She's trying out to be a wide receiver.

Almost! If she had her sapped up gloves on she would have had it! ;)

Next up was Drake.

He doesn't take defeat very well.

Then we continued our drive through the night up to Utah.

We drive through the night on most of our long trips because that way the kids sleep.

Because although my kids NEVER EVER fight or whine in the car, at least if you drive at night they have fewer potty breaks.

So the first day we took the kids, along with their much loved cousins, to BYU to douse them with goodies and build the BYU love.

Gwen rather inappropriately, dressed like one of Warren Jeffs' concubines.

And Drake got his Jimmer on.

The next day we kissed the babies good bye for the weekend and met up with our good ol' friends the Wevers. Seriously, we love Tod and Holly!

Also we love Molly and Darren for graciously taking Gwen and Drake for us. They had a good time.
We did as well, laying out by the pool (and getting BURNED - darn high altitude sun) and ordering double entrees at Taggart's Grill.

We also spent a day at the lake, but unfortunately, my killer wake boarding skills will have to go un-pictured. But I think it looked something like this...
Okay, maybe not.

We also hit up the alpine slides.

Way fun.

Oh, and happy anniversary to us.

Tod and Holly in all their glory.

We also had our friends Mark and Bonnie come out for the last night and day, and then also met up with our friends Jared and Holly2 for our last dinner. Too bad we didn't get a group shot. But at least we can look like dwarfs next to the Wevers.

Then we barely made it home for the kids to start school.

Also, you might think it is physically impossible to gain 5 pounds over one weekend. Well I guess my body just likes to be exceptional. Going to Ruth's Chris 2x doesn't help I'm sure.

The Book of Mormon

I have so much to update, and I promise I will get to it.

But first, I can't shake the feeling any longer, and I just had to post this...

I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

We have the Book of Mormon as another testament of Jesus Christ.

This means we believe both the Bible and the Book of Mormon to be the word of God.

These books together have brought me comfort in trials, and replaced fear with faith.

They can do the same for you.