The First Day of School

The first day of school. What can I say, summer is over and school has once again taken my little girls away from me to grow up. I really hate being away from them so much in the day but I know it is what is best for my kids.

So, Tressa stared second grade today and is feeling extra big this year because Josie is at her school now as well.

Which of course means that Josie is in Kindergarten and she couldn't be happier. She gets to have Ms. Jones who was Tressa's teacher last year so she already knows her which is a plus.

Aspen is on her own for the first time in her life and had a lot of fun doing it, but we did go to the park with her friend so not much of challenge there.

Josie's first day of school-at 8:00 AM

Got up at 6:30, got dressed, did hair, ate breakfast, and was out the door by 7:30

Hung up her backpack and said good bye to mom. Spent all day learning!


Walked in the line at the end of the day!


"Mom guess what I learned? R...E....D....spells......RED!"


Then she introduced me to her new friend Page and insisted that I take a picture of her in her backpack. All said and done the first day of school went as well as could be and not a single tear was shed.

Raging Waters

We are in our last week of summer and I was looking for something to do with my kids today so I called my friend Katie to see if she wanted to go to the park with me. She answered the phone by saying "Your coming to raging waters with me?" At first I thought she'd gone crazy then I remembered that she told me she was going before and I just forgot. So of course I went with her. It was a great deal too just $20 for 2 people.

It was sooo much fun. The kids love playing in the wave pool and went on as many slides as they could. Tressa turned out to be quite the dare devil, she went down the huge slide by the Roller Coaster called the Acapulco Cliff Dive that grown men were chickening out on. Katie took them up thinking none of them would go, but they all did (after she bribed them with a dollar). And not only did Tressa go down it but she went down it first. That's my girl-quake at the thought of speaking in front of a class but throw yourself down the steepest slide. But really I was shocked when I saw her coming down it. And of course they all begged to go again so this time Katie had to go down it too. Yeah Katie!!

Thanks again for inviting us Katie we all loved it!

Welcome home Mommy!

I only went for a bike ride but Jon had them ready to ambush me when I got home. It is moments like these that I remember all the reasons why I want to stay home with them.

Swimming MFT#7

This week we went swimming (so no pictures because I was in the water) at Cottonwood Heights pool. I haven't taken my kids swimming without Jon before so this made me a bit nervous, but by the end I was sitting to the side of the pool just watching my kids play because they were doing so well. I stayed almost till closing with Katie and her kids and then we went to her house for ice cream. Yummm

Tressa reading...

Our Tree in August

Look how it has grown! The leaves have made a great come back from the storm damage and it seems to grow a few inches every day. These pictures are 3 weeks after the last one.

The Cabin Getaway MFT#6

This week me and the girls got to host a 2-day getaway for the other families at Grandma and Grandpa Hunt's cabin (thanks again Steve and Susan).

The birds

The deer

The baby deer!





The moose





Shayden's Moose







The girls

The boys

The smiles

The tears

The Moms

Zildy (isn't the belly cute!)

Katie

Chandelle (no picture because I am behind the camera)

And of course, The View!

It was such a great time that I now want to do one with just the Moms! :)

Lagoon!!!!

Wednesday morning and Tressa and Josie were still gone so I decided to take Aspen to Lagoon, just the two of us. I even got in cheep because a lady came up to me in line and offered to sell me one of her discount tickets for only $20. Yipee

I felt so free running around with Aspen this day, people probably thought I was a bit crazy but it was so much fun. Aspen decided that she wanted to go to Lagoon-a-Beach first, so we did. She went down the slides so many times that I started to worry she was never going to get off. We rented a tube and rode around the lazy river for a long time because she like to get off the tube and walk while holding onto my legs. It was especially funny when she could push me under the waterfalls, or at least she thought so. And of course everyone around was ohhing and ahhing at her and her cute little (well big) cheeks.

We spent the rest of the day going on as many rides as possible. Aspen even went on the Tidal Wave, which she was very excited to do until the boat got high enough to see the water and gears below, then her eyes popped and she clung onto my arm until we went down again. This continued happened every time the boat went back until it got lower again. She never cried or complained but her little hands were literally shaking as she held mine. She got off with a big smile on her face and said she had fun but when I asked if she wanted to go again she said NOOO! I am proud of her for even trying it. She acted the same way on the Lady Bug Bop too. However she loved the log ride and made us stand in that long line twice. She went on almost all of the rides and really like it when she got to ride with another kid. The highlight of her the day was when she got to ride in the Yellow Boat.What a fun day.

Thanksgiving Point Garden

On Tuesday the 5th Grandma Susan came and picked Tressa and Josie with her go up to Logan for a few days so me and Aspen where on our own. So we went down to Thanksgiving Point for "2 dollar Tuesdays" planning on going to the dinosaur museum but when we got there the line was wrapped around the building, which promised for a very crowded time inside. So we changed the plans and went to the Gardens instead. I was very happy about this change since I have wanted to see the garden at Thanksgiving Point for years but it cost to much, hurray for "2 dollar Tuesday"

The garden is beautiful and huge. My friend Zildy who we went with said that it was a place where you could have hundreds of people in and still feel peaceful at. The best part though was that Aspen loved it! We walked all over the place and she never got in her stroller, we took tons of pictures of the flowers, waterfalls, and her. She even took some of me. She rolled down the ampa-theater hills and splashed in the water falls. We even spent some time in the children's garden, which was not nearly as cool. But she did find her own way out of the hedge maze. And when the day was done, hours and hours later we stopped at the nursery and she picked out her own plant to take home as a Birthday present.

It was a great day and I really enjoyed having only one kid for the day. Thanks Zildy for telling me about the special event (as usual)!

Splash Park MFT #5

On Aspen's Birthday we took all the kids to a really cool splash park in Herrimen. I forgot my camera though so no pictures. The kids had a lot of fun but it was a bit hot for the adults because there was hardly any shade. The real kick for my girls this week was that their cousin Breanna was able to come with us for the day. She lives in Logan so we don't see her often. It has been a real treat for Tressa to have her here to play with, she even got to sleep at Grandma's house with her.

Aspen's Birthday Marathon!

Aspen turned 3 on Monday, August 4th but it seemed like we were celebrating it for a week. On Saturday before her birthday we met my family at Murray park to have a little party with doughnuts, lemonade, and of course presents. My brother Dan and his beautiful wife Dana came to visit from Denver to see Aspen for her birthday and to go to our new niece Naomi's blessing, so Aspen was very excited to see them. My mom gave her 5 or so different balls which she immediately through to the side just for the fun of it. She ended up playing with the balls for the rest of the time we were there, she would through them and then make her sisters go get them. Fun huh. Thanks everyone for coming.

On Sunday we went to the blessing and the over to Jon's parents for a family dinner to celebrate Jon's sister's and Aspen's birthdays. Krista was born on the 3rd and Angie's is the 5th so Aspen was born right between them. Makes it easy for Grandpa to remember. It was nice for my girls to be able to play with their cousins for a while. Aspen and Lexie are only a few weeks apart and they are so cute together. I wish that they lived closer so they could play more often.

Finally on Monday morning we celebrated her birthday as a family. We had German Pancakes and she opened her presents. Tressa gave her a beach towel, Josie gave her a yellow My Little Pony, and Jon and I gave her a large stuffed pony that is carried in a little purse. She named it "Silty" and is still carrying it everywhere. I love the name she picked. It seams to be a talent of hers to be able to come up with unique and creative names. Her sisters never would pick names for their toys and just called their bears "beary" but Aspen names everything, she even named herself "Ruffles" for when she is pretending to be a dog. She loves to play like she is a dog just don't ask for a kiss while she is or she will lick you like it or not.

Susan took Tressa and Josie to Logan with her on Tuesday the next week so we did several other things with just Aspen (Thanksgiving Point Garden and Lagoon). We didn't plan them for her birthday but Susan just had really good timing so that it all felt like one big long birthday party for Aspen (which is also why we didn't have a real party for her this year). But the last official thing that we did for Aspen's birthday was to take her out to dinner with just her Mommy and Daddy. I always love those individual times with my girls.