First Day of School

Ok, taking a break from the Utah trip to tell about Cody's first day of School today. We got off to a great start....Well, as you can see from the picture, Cody had a little trouble adjusting to his early morning, but once he got some breakfast in him and his teeth brushed he was ready to go. Matt went into work late so he could see Cody off to school too, so that was fun! I held my emotions together pretty well and never let a tear fall. Even though my eyes were wet, my voice hard to speak and my spit hard to swallow. But things went much smoother than last year (click here for last years post) probably had a lot to do with living here for a year already, familiar with the school, Matt wasn't out of town, it wasn't Cody's Birthday and Cody has lots of friends already. Elena had fun having alone time with her barbie princesses as they watch a movie together. (I love how she smashed them between the coffee table and the couch....oh those couches, yes I know it is time for some new couches, I am very aware of that.) Then we went out and did some birthday shopping, because it is Cody's birthday tomorrow! Since it has been summer I have had Cody in tow every time I go to the store....hence, couldn't buy his presents. Anyways 3:00 was here before we knew it and we're excited to welcome Cody home and hear about his first day of 2nd Grade!!! Cody's report...IT WAS GREAT!!!! but I just can't remember anything that happened. AHHH such a boy....no details. However, suddenly when it was getting past bedtime, he remembered his day. He knows I am a succor and will let him stay up late if it means he will cuddle with me and give me all those details I have been waiting for. This boy is smart!!!..... and wonderful and amazing and I love him and I miss him while he is at school and yet....going to Walmart with just Elena was quite dreamy :)

I had to add this picture of this "opened" box of crayons. Elena was so proud of herself, she said to me...Mommy, I opened this all by myself....really I did!!!! (thanks for clarifying that Elena) Cute thing!!

Utah Part 2 - Kaysville

The kids and I headed up to Kaysville to stay with John and Cheryl (my brother and sister in law) for a few days. We used to live about 3 min from them before we moved to Mesa, so our kids are really close and love being with each other. That night Cheryl and I packed them all up and headed to the Drive In Theater. The first and last time I had been to a drive in was when I was 7 and my mom sent me to be the chaperon for my sister Julie and her boyfriend Mark (husband now). I was every teenagers dream of a chaperon as I feel asleep about 20 min. into the first show. ( I think the movies were Funny Farm and Baby Boom). Cheryl and I didn't really know what to do at a drive in, but we did work it out really great!!! We got there about 30 min early and pulled out all the car seats and set them up at the back of the car. The kids were all in their PJs and we brought some popcorn and cookies. The Armada was perfect for the drive in (by the way we finally paid that sucker off and a year early too. woo hoo!!!) and the Bose surround sound was pretty awesome too. We stayed for the first show which was Cars2, the three oldest were still awake, but the three little girls crashed towards the end. This seriously was one of the highlights of the trip for me. It was a really fun night. The next day we packed a picnic and went to Angle Street Park (to my Kaysville friends, sorry we didn't stop by.....emotions for Kaysville are still at a heightened level and is better to just ignore the fact that we love and miss all of you and want to be with you. Sorry we never planed anything) I love these pictures that I got of them sticking their legs out of the tunnel holes. I love how when you are with your cousins, you can always just be yourself.....Nothing Beats Family!!!!!

Utah Trip- Part 1

So after spending almost a month in Utah, I have a lot to post on. I did terrible at taking pictures this trip, so you may have to go with out pictures on somethings...I know that is asking a lot, as I am one who loves a blog with lots of pictures. Anyways here we go.

We drove threw the night and stopped in Gunnison, Utah around 6AM. We keep close tabs on KSL.com and saw this on the news the night before we left, so we figured why not! Besides it being a cold Utah morning, it was a fun way to stretch our legs.

On the 4th of July my family had a family party at John and Cheryl's house, in our good old Kaysville Neighborhood (cry a few tears). The kids loved being with each other again and really needed no adult intervention....big change from the constant brother/sister/love/hate relationship with have at home. Elena loved that her cousin Hannah painted a unicorn on her face. What a great time we all had with my family. Then we took Matt to the air port...bummer he couldn't take a month off too. But don't worry he was all set up at home with 9 ironed shirts, matching ties and food in the freezer.

The next few days were filled with more fun with cousins....We did the Lowes Saturday Building Project, this was one of those things I have been meaning to do and have never done. The kids LOVED it and couldn't beleive they built a truck. We also went to Wheeler Farm, the Temple and lunch with my mom and sisters, movies, park lunch, swimming, swimming, and more swimming, and fireworks. And then it was off to the dinosaur park up in Ogden. Another thing I meant to do, but never did. The kids loved having their cousins and grandma Peggy with them. They had fun things like digging for dino bones and a whole inside room with activites, puzzles and coloring pages. I am glad I took a picture with the kid and their coloring, because I folded them and put them in my pocket for safe keeping....and I washed my shorts with the pictures still in my pocket. And alas, a picture with me in it to show you I do still exist. I loved this mural, it was huge and we got some great pictures of the kids in front of it.

I was excited to catch up with one of my best friends from High School. We met at Arctic Circle and let the kids run circles around that play land....they had a blast!!!! And you gotta love the fry sauce and free kiddie cones. No pictures of us, but here are my kids with Jennie's kids. I always have great intentions of hooking up with my friends, but it hardly ever happens with all of our busy schedules.....but I am glad it worked out to see Jennie.


I got a hair cut, I call it my low self esteem hair cut. The hair cut itself is wonderful, but I just don't feel good about myself. I feel like my long hair helps cover some of my imperfections...with is not true....I would have to have really long hair past my butt and wrap around my twice to even begin to hide my problem areas. But it is nice to have a change and it is growing on me....literally :) Afterwords we went to my dads grave with my mom. Always great to stop there but at the same time...it is in my daily life that I feel him so close to me, not so much there at the grave.

Kind of weird place to end, but that is all the time I have for now. :)

Tripin' - Road Tripin' that is

One of our best friends was getting married in San Diego Temple and we live too close not to go. So we worked our magic and made a great vacation out of it. We started out in Yuma, AZ which is 3 hours from our house. Matt has a building there, so while he worked the kids and I played. There isn't much to do in Yuma, but thanks to GPS we found our way around and went to Old Navy (the top picture is the kids with the old navy crew.) the Goodwill, and Target....lots of fun. The next day after Matt was done with work, we headed out to San Diego which is another 3 hours away. We visited with my aunt and uncle and I got to see and visit with some of my cousins, Mark, Julie, and Janette. It has been forever since I have seen any of them. Cody and Elena had fun playing with their second cousins and all of my cousin Julie's Star Wars Stuff. After our vist we hit the beach. It was high tide and getting late, so we just enjoyed the view and the fresh beachy air. Beach pictures are the best and it is hard to choose what picture to post, so here are lots of them.

San Diego Temple

We went down to breakfast all dressed up to go to the temple. They had this big fancy table in their dinning area and that is where the kids wanted to sit. They looked so cute all dressed up in their fancy clothes sitting at this big huge table. We then went to the the temple, where our friends had some family there who watch our kids for us. We had never been in the San Diego Temple before. As you can see it is amazingly beautiful and the inside is no different. They have atriums with flowers and palms and as always everything was appointed beautifully. We had some time to kill while we were waiting for the bride and groom to come out, so we had some fun with the kids. I love the picture of the kids wrestling with Matt. Again, too many pictures to choose just a one to showcase. And as a side note, I think Cody needs a new tie. :)

Life's A Beach

After the wedding we hurried and changed and off to the beach we went. It was not a real sunny day, but when is it ever. Seems like everytime we go to the beach it is overcast. Oh, but it was lovely!!!! We all enjoyed it there and had a hard time leaving when the day came to an end.

Legoland

We had a great time at Legoland. This is our third time going and there is always something new to do, especially as the kids get older and taller. However, we did have one very very very big mishap. We were in line for the horse ride, I am not sure of the real name, but it is soooo cute. The kids trott around on these cute lego jousting horses.( I did not get any pictures of it, keep reading and you will see why) This is the ride I was most excited for Elena to do. As we were standing in line I noticed a sign that said you must be 36 inches and 4 years old to ride this ride. I looked around and saw a million kids much smaller and younger than Elena, so I thought nothing of it. In fact two people before us was this tiny little had to be two year old girl. Her mother carried her on the ride and put her on the horse and scurried off, none of the workers said a word to her. Then it was our turn. Elena goes bounding up and mounts the horse herself, buckles her own buckle and is sooo excited to go. The Legoland worker asks me how old she is and I barfed out the word THREE. (Why did I say the word three, why didn't I lie and say the word four, what did I just do) The worst moment of my life.....ok, of the vacation was just going down....down down down.... Why did they even question my super tall, super mature three year old's age...why why why???? Why did I have to be so honest, everyone else in that whole entire line is lying about their child's age. Why can my three year old ride the fire breathing dragon roller coaster and not some little trotting horse baby ride. Now to pull my baby girl off this stupid horse ride and try to explain to her that she is not old enough to ride this ride. And then there is my sweet sensitive Cody who did not enjoy one ounce of his ride around the horse track, he couldn't even stand to look at us as he road past us. He just looked strait ahead as if he couldn't see us standing two feet from him calling his name...There's Cody!!!! Say hi Cody!!! Ahhh my heart was breaking. But as you can see from these pictures, we managed our way out of the sadness and we were able to have a great time. They also had a huge Star Was thing going on....and if you know Cody, you know he was in Heaven!!!!! I gave him the camera to walk around and take pictures of all the little set ups. He was so great!!! Elena and I just ate our Apple Fries (I know, the best things ever!!!) They also have the new Sea Life Aquarium that we ran into too, it was pretty cool. But if you have seen one aquarium, you have seen them all. So we didn't spend much time in there. I love the picture of us in the Jeep...see, taking this picture off the TV screen was not very honest, but I had no problem doing it.....why did I say she was three..... Ok anyways ya...this picture makes me laugh, because we are all so seriously trying to shoot targets. This is not staged or posed it is what we really looked like in the ride, we didn't even know there was a camera. My favorite picture is this last picture. Don't we look good as a family of five? You know what would be even cooler? Is when that baby is a real baby, not one made out of Legos. Oh well, for now we will take our Lego baby.