Poor BYU

After a lightening delayed game, BYU lost today by just a couple points...first game of the season...so sad.

Zach and Morgan are here visiting...so glad the day isn't completely ruined.

A Birthday to Remember

Lucky for us Sarah and Damian left out of town this weekend and so we got to celebrate the 13th birthday of our sweet, gentle, beautiful Rachel at our home. We started with breakfast in bed (crepes--her favorite), a shopping trip with the girls, then a night out at Red Robin. Poor thing...I made her where this hat from the balloon man. Just love her so much!

Open House & Luci's Splish Splash

Aaron met us at the school for Mary and Noah's open house. They got to meet their teachers and explore their new classrooms. They were both very excited and I couldn't be happier with these two extraordinary educators.

Today we celebrated Lucienne's fifth birthday. The kids had a fantastic time and of course Tiffany put together a crafty genius of a party. So fun!

Cousin Time

Today we had all the cousins over for one of the last cousin hurrahs of the summer. They played and played and I put my feet up and snapped a few shots of my kids monkeying around after they all returned home. I realize there was a huge smudge on the corner of my phone's camera, accounting for the blurry edges.

Today was our fun, creative, obedient, helpful cousin Nina's birthday...can't believe she's 11. Love her so!

And So It Begins

This morning we were busy with chores, piano, and running errands (never too busy to climb on the big red cement balls outside of Target). We visited Aaron at work, my favorite. Then Mary went skating for Ayla's birthday, her first time skating ever! We ate dinner and went to her first soccer practice of the season. The free air of summer will soon leave and we/she will be busy busy busy. I really missed her this afternoon...not sure I'm ready for this...

Back massages are...

a family affair....

As long as you don't mind getting wet,
or poked with play tools,
and kitchen utensils...
with the occasional feel good karate chopping.

Stop by if you're in the mood.
The message artists are pretty cute...
...and they're free!
...and they almost always clean-up after themselves (with the help of their housekeeper...ME!)

I think he had a much better view today...

than he did almost three years ago when he helped do this...

...numb my body from the waste down so I didn't feel an ounce of pain. Aaaah!

That's him (Brian) behind my head..crackin' jokes and reassuring me that I could in fact breathe even though the numbing sensation feels like you can't. In my cases, these scheduled c-sections are a serious party as long as you can drown out the screaming women experiencing natural child births next door. Poor things.

When we first moved here we learned that the hospital where I delivered didn't allow v-back deliveries. Since Mary was delivered by emergency c-section, the rest would be delivered cesarean as well. When I was pregnant with Noah they had us go into the hospital and meet the anesthesiologist a couple days before the scheduled procedure. This was the only time I remember doing this. They changed policies I guess for Nicole and Cameron.

Anyway, when I walked in, the doctor was very nice and recognized my last name. I had a feeling he may have been LDS. All of my anesthesiologists were not only LDS, but cougars...that was pretty cool. He asked me who my in-laws and I got excited to play the do you know game, instead he told me that he and Aaron were related. What? Really!? Dr. Hall explained that he and Aaron share the same great great grandparents on the Nadauld side. Immediately we called my father in-law and Aaron started feeling the genealogical bug. He contacted relatives asked questions and really enjoyed learning more of his Nadauld ancestors, as did I.

Well, with the birth of Cameron we lucked out and Brian was our anesthesiologist (nice for our pocket books too...since he gave us a family discount). It was so nice seeing him again. We had studied the connection more and have seen each other at various times. When my in-laws came for the blessing, we invited his family, his parents, and his sister's family (who also was connected to Christine and a bunch of friends) over for dinner. It was so fun because my father-in-law and Roger Hall (Brian's dad) were second cousins? They share the same great grandparents...their grandparents were brother and sister. That was neat to me. It is the same relation as one of the Arhets children to me...one of Lana's or Valerie's kids. Feels so much closer when you grow up with them.

Tonight, we had dinner at Brian and Jill Hall's home. It was beautiful and we got to catch up with his parents and his sister's family again. Brian is also a concert pianist. He is quite incredible and his son is outstanding as well.

Here's a picture I stole from Jill's facebook account since we didn't take a picture today.  Can you see the family resemblance between Aaron and Brian? Me neither... other than the fact that they are both really cool...

I tell you...that spirit of Elijah (the hearts of the children turning to the hearts of their fathers) it's a pretty amazing thing.

My New Wheels

Is there any way you can push this yellow cruiser through a store to the purchase line without a huge smile on your face? Nope. It's way too happy.

I'm excited for some family bike rides. All I need is a basket, don't you think?

Job Jar & Bits of Summer

I can feel that summer is coming to a close. I am sad to see the beautiful weather and outdoor fun slip away, but I am ecstatic to have a little more routine. Despite all my efforts to keep consistency going, it's tricky in the summer with all the events and vacationing.

In preparation for kids leaving for school and chores falling by the wayside, I created a job jar that I copied from my friend's blog. Her jar was of course more crafty cute than this one. The kids are to pick 2 slips before they leave for school in the morning. They can be done quickly...some are creative like dusting while humming and some are easy like tell someone in your family 3 things you love about them. There is even one that says "No job today"...which, believe it or not, Mary actually grabbed out on her first pull!

We also got to play with the Seversons, Torreses, and Dances today. It was so nice catching up with Emily and her kids. It's been a long time.

At 3:00, the school posted the class lists for the new year. Mary and Noah got fantastic teachers and I was thrilled to see so many of their good friends in their classes. It's going to be a great year.

Then we went to the park with a bunch of families for a picnic dinner, live band, and the last outdoor movie of the season. Those Higginsons sure know how to shake a tail feather!

And congratulations to my second (maybe third) cousin Jenna on her wedding. The pictures are gorgeous...what a beautiful bride!

Bye Bye Crib

I decided it would be wise to wait a little before dismantling Cameron's crib. He hasn't wanted to step foot it in for over a month now...only his big boy bed, which was Grandpa's. So, I decided to take it down and move some furniture around. I got these new letters that I still have to hang. It is so much more spacious and functional in there, a much better area for wrestling.

Cam the Tool Man

My sweet mom stopped by and with a large present for Cameron today...a huge tool set. We already had a tool bench with some tools, but this one came with more variety including a tool belt, hat, and jack hammer. Cameron played with them for hours today.

Busy Day

This morning I woke up early to get my long to do list accomplished. I had put off many tasks over my birthday weekend, all related to my church calling. So, I got busy, turned on the babysitters (phones, television---so sad) and got it all prepared for my 3:45 meeting. I even had time to get ready for a last minute dinner for the missionaries. When I returned home I felt so relaxed. I tried to enjoy the kids for a few moments since I had been so neglectful all day. The kids played outside into the evening with Ben and his awesome new soccer net. No better feeling.

Mary's "Friend"

A little boy from Mary's kindergarten class had a birthday party today. He invited Annie, Mary, another girl, and a bunch of boys including Marcus and Ben. Gabe is a sweet heart; in kindergarten he wrote her a little note that said, "I like you". Gabe's dad is also a member of the church and the four boys come many Sundays with their grandparents and friends. Mary said at his party that Gabe chased the girls around trying to throw water balloons at them until his darling mom created a safety zone for the ladies where they remained for the rest of the party. I guess Gabe kept waving at Mary. She said, "it was creepy". Oh, you keep thinking that Mary.

Good Bye Pepe

A skunk has been terrorizing our yard each night for the last couple of weeks. My dad and Aaron have come close to it a few times. It is fearless, just walking around our yard in search of grub and lifting it's tail with the slightest sound or movement. When you watch it from inside our kitchen window it looks kind of cute wobbling around, but it's defense mechanism is so powerful. We knew we needed to take action.

Last night Jared came and Jason brought his guns. They mapped out a plan and missed. Pepe had gotten away.

I was sure he wasn't going to come back again...that he would be too scared from being shot at to return. But I think Aaron's lawn is just too tempting and as soon as we finished our family August birthday dinner and it got dark, Pepe returned.

Aaron texted Jason, Jared, and Spencer. They came over right away with their gear. There was a bit of excitement in the air.

It only took two shots.

Pepe is somewhere better now.

Birthday Wishes

As I blew out the candle my Tanta Henri brought me this morning, I thought...what is my birthday wish? Hmmm. Can't think of a thing (besides being a few many pounds lighter--I am not sure this can constitute as a valid birthday wish...since it has to do with some major character flaws on my part). But really, I couldn't think of the single wish. My life is good, real good, especially with all the love I feel on a daily basis.  I am feeling very grateful today.

Selfies

I am loving my new phone apps, especially instagram. It's the best of facebook--all the updates and family photos, with out the worst of it---all the political and rude posts and comments. I love that. Christine and I tried to take a "selfie" at dinner tonight. Christine is being a little camera shy cuz it's hard to see yourself while you take the picture. You ask yourself, "Is that really what I look like? Is my nose really that big?"

We went to Cicily's to celebrate my birthday tomorrow. We stayed for hours after our delicious meal just talking and laughing. Thankfully my mom babysit our kids and the cousins for hours and when we came home they were all asleep. What a great evening!

School Supplies

We went to Target to purchase this year's school supplies. We took Nina with us to make the shopping trip easier, which it was. Noah got a backpack and lunch box along with his supplies, but his favorite purchase was a little mustache coin purse that he can "stache" away all his coins in to purchase cookies in the lunch room. He's looking forward to that.

I can't imagine how much school supplies will cost once we have four children in school. I remember one year during my former life as a teacher I decided, with the suggestion of a wise colleague, to ask parents to simply donate to our classroom fund...ten dollars. I can remember a lot of parents really appreciating that request. Makes sense why now.

They Had a Ball

Mary won most improved in her three-day girls basketball camp, which she loved. She also got a new basketball for her prize. Eliza, Tiffany, and company did a great job organizing and implementing the free training. I got to go to the temple today (thanks to Christine & Tiffany) and see the new endowment video. I found myself feeling very emotional with all the changes. It was beautiful.

Guess Who...

....learned how to box out in basketball? (she even beat her teacher)
MARY!

...couldn't get enough of Rocky the Ram at school registration today?
CAMERON!

....took a million pictures in the car on the way home from our trip to the AT&T mobile store?
NOAH & NIKKI!

...got to put all the kids to bed by himself while his wife peacefully picked pears at the LDS pear orchards?
AARON!

....got an iphone?
MEEEEE!!!

YIPPPEEE!
It was a good day.

Bee Stings

While Mary attended her girls basketball camp the rest of the kids and I went to Christine's to do a little kid swap. Unfortunately, Cameron and Nicole got stung by some bees in her backyard...Nicole once on the side of her face and Cameron five times, four on his cheek and once on his eyelid. He screamed for a good while, took some Benadryl, and we headed home.

Later in the afternoon Noah and some kids from the ward met up with Elder Kawamura from Japan who is a Japanese allstar. He is getting transferred this week and they wanted to challenge him to a game and see some of his skills.

Cameron napped for a while on the floor and his eye is still pretty puffy. I guess it will just take a short time for the swelling to go down.

A Friend Remembered

A year ago today I came home from church to see on facebook that an old friend had passed away. We had the same class schedule for a year and a half in our BYU cohort followed by six years teaching together at Sunset View Elementary. He was a phenomenal educator and a great mentor to so many. Jason was so creative, talented, and dedicated; and he always went above and beyond both inside and outside of the classroom. He also helped plan and coordinate many of our after-school and summer programs. This picture is from one of the 4-6 grades camping trips I volunteered at. He made these events so spectacular. I will never forget him.

Primary Parade & Marcus' Birthday Party

We like to party around here...today was no exception. Aaron took the kids to our ward's primary pet parade. Our kids won funniest pet...Hermie is funny like that. They got shaved ice for memorizing the articles of faith. Our kids only have three memorized. I did try in the beginning and then I lost steam. We should be on number eight. Oh well, something to work on.

Noah was so anxious for Marcus' birthday party this afternoon. Jared and Christine spoiled 21 kids with lots bowling, tokens, and prizes. Apparently, it was the "best day ever!"

Lake Lovin'

This picture doesn't do it justice, but this lake and setting is gorgeous. The clouds rolled in and it was unfortunately a tad cold, but it was so nice breathing the fresh air and watching the kids play on the shore and tube on the boat. What a great camping trip.

A Breath of Fresh Air

We headed camping today and it was glorious. The children played... the adults chatted. There were blue skies and smokeless fresh air (away from the fire pit). Our children are so old now that camping is quite enjoyable...no dirty pants from crawling, mouths full of dirt, or long nights of crying babies. Just what I needed.

One in a Minion

Today we made and delivered a pre-birthday treat for Marcus since he was leaving for camping today. We'll be joining them tomorrow, but we didn't want to bring it to the camp site. The phrase said, "You're one in a minion". I don't think the kids quite understood that saying even though I tried to explain it. They are so simple to make that the kids could do it pretty easily and it wasn't messy at all. Plus, I thought they were seriously cute.