Our First Day of School

So Tuesday, Sept. 1 Connor, Kadee, and I started preschool! I started teaching for the first time and Connor and Kadee started their school year. Kadee is in my morning class and has done really well. She has a friend, Sally, and loves to work on our "projects." Connor likes it to, but he is much more social. His cousin Cole is in my afternoon class and those two can get pretty wild! But in all honesty they have been totally great. I couldn't ask for a better group of kids to have for my first year. Our first week we learned all about the letter A, the number 1, and our theme was All About Me. The kids are such great examples of how to live life. They are almost always happy and excited to be there. I'm sure I will have many challenges this first year, but so far I am enjoying the ride!





































































Kadee with her teacher, Connor was too cool to have his picture taken with mom at school.

Galoon

Ok, so let me start by saying I did the unthinkable... I forgot my camera! I ALWAYS take my camera and I was rushing out the door and forgot it. My mom and sister in law took pictures for me at Lagoon, but I don't know if I will ever get them posted on my blog. So here goes a post with no pictures....

Rory is away to the POST training academy for 10 weeks, so last week I decided to pack myself and the kids up and head to Salt Lake to stay with my grandma (my grandpa was in Colorado). Friday we met my friend Heather and her 2 boys at the park and then went school clothes shopping. I think I had more fun than my kids. I bought Kadee's dance clothes and had a blast picking them out. I really hope she likes dance, because her mama is going to be sad if she doesn't! We came home from shopping and she put her dance clothes on and wouldn't take them off, she even wore them to dinner at the Olive Garden. Connor is such a shrimp. I bought him size 5 clothes and they are so big on him. He was pumped because he found Transformers boxers, thats right folks, those things are hard to come by. He has Transformers underwear, but he LOVES boxers and we have never been able to find boxers with animation on them, it was his lucky day.

Friday we took the kids to G-Force and then went back to grandma's to play. The kids were playing outside and we heard Kadee screaming bloody murder. Rory ran out there to see what was wrong and their was a snail on the porch. I guess my kids have never seen snails before. Once Rory picked it up and showed Kadee what it was they had a hay day. They collected snails and put them in a bucket on the back porch. Every 5 minutes or so Connor had to go "check" on his snails. Kadee said she wanted to find a stick to poke them. Silly kids!

Saturday we met my family at Lagoon. For our birthdays this year my mom and step dad bought all of us Lagoon tickets and dinner at Chili's (yum!). "Galoon" as Kadee calls it, was so much fun. The kids loved the rides and I got to ride the Rocket! It was so great to be together as a family and I realized that we don't do stuff together nearly enough. I know people get busy with their own lives, but it so nice to be around family. Connor's favorite ride was the egg drop and Kadee's favorite ride was the "crashing in things" (bumper cars). She was so funny on those things. The lady kept telling the kids to turn their wheels, so Kadee just went in circles for the first few minutes till she got the hang of it. That night after dinner we stayed in a hotel, which my kids always look forward to. They were able to go swimming and play in the pool for awhile.

We finally made it home and I am missing my hubby! It is so hard to be here by myself and to be the mom and dad to the kids. I am so grateful we have one week down and only nine more to go!

Huntington Lake... aka Crawdad Heaven

This weekend we had the pleasure of going to Huntington Lake with Kyle & Candee, Travis & Sandy, and Ryan & Shauntel. Unfortunately Ryan & Shauntel had to leave early Saturday morning because JR got a really bad ear infection.

So, we got there Friday night and decided to go over to the Emery County Fair. My mom and Gary were there so we ate with them. Rory, Gary, & my mom enjoyed the Lamb while I had Panda Express. My mom bought the kids some toys and while Connor was playing with his a little boy took the flying part. Connor came to me just crying so I went over to find the little boy and couldn't see him anywhere. The lady sitting at the booth saw it happen so she pointed me in the right direction and off I went. I chased the little boy down to the parking lot and politely asked him for the toy back. With that crisis avoided we spent the rest of the fair visiting with old friends and family. I saw a girl I went to college with whom I haven't seen for about 8 years. It was a lot of fun. We also went to visit some friends, Robby and Brandie, that live in Orangeville. It was so nice to see them and visit for awhile. We then headed back to the lake and roasted marshmallows with everyone. The kids didn't go to bed until almost 11, so I swear Kadee was asleep before her head hit the pillow.

Saturday we ate a hearty breakfast and headed out on the boat. Rory, Connor, Logan, and Kella jumped in the water and it was so cold! Their lips were just a chattering. We drove the boat around for awhile, but the wind was SO bad that we headed back to the dock. The kids spent the rest of the time crawdad fishing. They had a blast! They were catching them left and right with their raw chicken on fishing lines. At one point Kella went to throw her line in and Connor was standing right behind her, she hit him right smack in the mouth with the raw chicken! I was so scared he was going to get sick! So far he acts fine, but he was not pleased with the taste of raw chicken.



























It was so fun and I look forward to a few more fun trips before summer is over!

What we've been up to!

I used to think that having little babies was the busiest time of my life. Although I was super busy, I am now busy in a new way! July has gone by so fast, I can't believe August is only days away. Connor did swim lessons last week and the week before and had a great time. He passed level 2 so next year he gets to move on to level 3. He had lots of friends in his class and LOVED jumping off the diving board. He had so much fun I decided to put Kadee in lessons this week while Connor was at basketball camp. She loves the water as much as Connor and has had such a great time. She passed level 1 and will get to move on to Level 2 next year.












Connor is enjoying basketball camp and learning so much. They pretty much teach them all the fundamentals of basketball and then let them practice shooting and passing.





We went to the Wellington Rodeo this weekend and Connor decided to ride one of the sheep. He did so great! It was the funniest thing ever and he stayed on for a lot longer than I thought he would. I was video taping it, so I didn't get any pictures, but here are a few of the kids watching the rodeo:

Happy Birthday Con-Man!

Monday my baby boy turned 5!!!!! Yes, I am still a little shocked, where does the time go? He was so excited to turn 5 that he counted down for about 5 days. Every morning he would wake up and say 5 more days, 4 more days, etc. His birthday finally came and it was such a fun day. We celebrated by having a party at the Helper Pool. We invited 10 of Connor's closest friends and had a blast. We swam, had cake and ice cream, and of course opened presents. The kids were so funny. I love how they all huddle so close just to see what the present is. Connor got a ton of Transformers stuff that he absolutely LOVES!!! Later that day we took him to dinner to Winger's. They sang to him and gave him a huge serving of asphalt pie. Candee got a cute picture of all the kids chowing down. It was hilarious, they were so worried they weren't going to get enough, but believe me, there was plenty. We then went to see Grandma Archie at the hospital. A week ago today she went in for a hysterectomy (she had been diagnosed with Uterin cancer). She was doing pretty well, but Sunday she took a turn for the worse so she is back in the hospital. She really enjoyed seeing the kids and Connor was happy he got to "see grandma on my birthday."

Now that Connor is five he has agreed to stop sucking his thumb. We took away his jimmy (a pooh bear blanket he has had since he was born), but luckily Logan, Kella, and Landon got him a new Transformers blanket. He has been doing pretty well with it. I have had to remind him a couple times and last night when Rory went to put him to bed he was under his new blanket sucking his thumb. I figured it was going to take awhile, I am actually really suprised he hasn't asked for his jimmy and that he is doing as well as he is. I bet in another week he will be cured!















Kadee with our neighbor and babysitter Makenna, Kadee LOVES her!


Update: About a month after we took the "jimmy" away Connor found it in the basement. Once again he was hooked. Right before Christmas 2009 he decided he didn't need his jimmy anymore and got rid of it himself. He has all but stopped sucking his thumb and did it all on his own. He is such a big boy and we are so proud of him.

Moab RV

This weekend we decided to go on a little adventure. We packed up the camp trailer and headed to Moab to stay at an RV park. It is called Moab RV (hence the blog title) and consists of trailer spots with full hook ups, adorable cabins, life size chess and checkers, a huge playground, and the best thing to ever happen to my kids: a swimming pool.



We got to Moab Saturday afternoon and decided to swim right off the bat. Kadee had her arm floaties (which made her totally fearless) and Connor is just a fish. We probably got in the pool at least 3 times a day EVERYday. The kids didn't ever want to leave it, and by the time 3 o'clock rolled around we were so hot we wanted to cool down.

Ok, so back to the trip. We decided on Saturday to go play on this big sand hill we saw coming into Moab. Connor and Rory decided to climb to the top and then run down it as fast as they could. Bad idea. Connor got going so fast he just started flipping down the hill, he probably did about 6 somersaults before Rory caught him. He started to laugh when he stopped and then realized what had just happened and started to cry. I have to admit that once I knew he was ok it was pretty funny. Rory then buried the kids in the dirt and then Kadee decided we needed to go back and swim.





The boys starting to run down the hill






Connor rolling down the hill









We took the kids to Transformers. Kadee was actually really good. She slept through most of it, I kept joking to Rory that it was an expensive nap! Connor of course LOVED the movie but didn't quite make it through. He fell asleep the last 20 minutes. Rory and I loved it though.

The next day we went to the Arches. I was prepared for crying and whining, but my kids did so good. They loved hiking around the balanced rock, hiking to the upper viewpoint of the delicate arch (I was pretty proud of them for this one, it was 1.5 miles and they didn't complain once), and then the sand dune arch. Obviously this one was their favorite. There was so much sand for them to play in.



Connor and Kadee hanging out on a ledge. (Don't call DCFS, Rory is standing right outside the picture)












We came back exhausted, had lunch, and then headed to Hole in the Rock. The kids loved the petting zoo. We went there a few years ago, but they have so many more animals now. They had baby deer that ate out of our hands, it was so awesome. They also had a camel that was super friendly, a zebra, bison, buffalo, Wallaby's, horses, goats, birds, and the ugliest pig I have every seen in my life. We came back from there and walked Moab main street. This is one of my favorite things to do. They have some amazing, breakable things in those shops! Then it was back to the RV park for more swimming (did I mention we went swimming?).















This was such a nice getaway for our family. We had so much fun being together and enjoying Mother Nature. Sorry I didn't put the pictures in a slide show, since I am making my blog into a book, and the book doesn't include slide shows, you get lots of individual pictures.

Californ-I-A

This past week Rory had a drug court convention in Anaheim and I got to tag along. It was so much fun! We went with Hyrum and Paula Cox and the first night we stayed in Vegas at the Trump Tower. It was so nice. The rooms are so clean and pretty and Rory loved the jetted tub. We walked the strip and I was so excited to go to Chanel and Louis Vuitton. I tried some Chanel no. 5 and admired a Louis Vuitton handbag that was about $800 (a girl can dream right?). Rory then went to the conference in the mornings and I lounged around, took my time getting ready, and enjoyed the peace and quite I rarely get. Then in the afternoons we had all sorts of fun activities planned. We went to movies, out to dinner (if you haven't eaten at the Cheesecake Factory, you really need to, yum!), to the beach, Six Flags, an Angels game, and bowling. It was all so much fun and a much needed break. On the way home we stopped in Mesquite and had the $10 Prime Rib dinner. It was actually so good! Rory played a little bit of Black Jack and I played the penny slots (I am not much of a gambler). All in all it was a great trip and I can't wait to go to Boston next year!













Thanks to Debbie, my mom, and Candee for watching the kids for us, we couldn't have done it without you. You guys are the best!