Firsts..........

First day of School was August 15 yes August 15!

It seems like the middle of summer!

Taylor 4th grade (looks like 8th!)

Davis 1st grade

Makenna 6th grade (middle school and stomach ache for me! ahhh)

Kate preschool

My heart is just so full sometimes it

it feels like it might burst! Very grateful

for these kids.

Quincy....

The town Will grew up in is beautiful. Green pine trees everywhere and just pure small town everything. We had to hit the fair while we were there. The fair is like the event of the year up there. EVERYONE goes and you know that you will see EVERYONE you know there no joke! No i didn't buy the hat. Seriously look at all those hats!

The next day before we headed out we had to stop at the Polka Dot. It was like the only fast food Will ate growing up because well there was no other fast food places to eat! It has yummy burgers, fries, and shakes!! Fun little getaway for a night! I don't know why my friends are so nice to me either! My friend Melanie took all four kids for the night.... too nice!

13 years and counting........

I cannot believe it has been 13 years that we have been married! When i look at our kids and all of lifes ups and downs that we have been through together i can't help but be so grateful for choosing this guy all those years ago. He was tailor made for me. He just gets me and i get him.

Will's 20th high school reunion was on our anniversary August 13. We found the cutest little ranch to stay at in Quincy. I loved it! It had these little cabins with no TV, computer, radio nothing and I LOVED IT! Just me and him hanging out! Yea we may have taken some glamour shots of each other before the reunion hey your supposed to remember it right?

SoCal fun.............

All i can say is we had a blast and it was over waaaay to soon!
We were missing half the fam but i was glad to see the other
half!

We also stopped and visited our friends that Will met on his mission in Chile. Always fun to see them!

We hit the beach a few times and swam a lot! Good food was included too. We went out to Ruby's and ate lunch with dad. Had an awesome breakfast buffet in Laguna and last but not least i got to see my bff!

When i was young our cars were two volkswagen bugs a blue one and a yellow one. I think you could kinda tell that we were from southern california when we are driving around in snow storms in Utah in not so stable cars! So i thought it was kind of cool that my grandpa had blue and yellow volkswagen vans. The picture of the woman hanging in his shop also made me laugh....oh gramps! Miss ya:)

On our way out my dad took us on a tour of Downey where i was born and also where my mom and dad grew up. I took pics of all the houses that mean a lot too me and i remember all of them from visiting every summer when I was growing up. My Grandpa Barrett passed away last fall and so they are selling the house so i had to go take pics of all the cool stuff in and around it. My Grandpa was soooo creative i love it. He made jewelry, glass windows, was so creative in the way he would write, and played the ukele (yea I just had to look up the correct spelling on google, not that smart!) He was just such a unique person. I think that is where i get my love of creating things.

Aly and Zach came all the way from Ohio with cute baby Beckham!

Now for real life........

I'm not going to lie not everything is perfect around here all of the time. This pretty much sums up the chaos that happens daily!!

 


 

Taylor is 9..........

Taylor turned 9 on January 9, 2011 so yes this is waaaaay late but i forgive myself!! Taylors birthday was on a Sunday this year so ya know Sunday birthdays aren't the most entertaining but it still turned out super fun. Nana came the day before and the Pietz family ended up stopping by to give her a present so it actually turned into a party. She wanted an ice cream sandwich cake so that is what she got!! Taylor is growing up so fast. She looks like she is twelve and i feel kind of bad because sometimes we treat her that way too. She is just so responsible, helpful, smart, witty, beautiful, kind, and thoughtful that it is hard to remember sometimes that she is only "9!" We love Taylor so much she is the perfect fit in our family.

She swims for FRAC which is the city swim team and loves it. She loves learning new things and is always asking if she can help or if I will teach her how to cook things! I am loving that:)

 


 

Davis is 6.........

Davis has been begging to have his cousin Bradford sleep over for his birthday for about six months now! I asked him if he wanted a party and the answer was "No just Bradford to sleep over." Well ok then that sounded great to me! Davis did go to school for an hour or so but I went and got him out of school early and we headed to McDonalds and he got to spend all day with Bradford. He got his powdered donuts for breakfast, McDonalds for lunch, hot dogs for dinner, and cake for dessert. Wow we got our nutrition in for the day!! We love our boy. He is such a caring, kind hearted little guy. Works hard and always wants to do a good job. Its funny because he is kind of paticular about things. He will not touch or eat any kind of food that anyone else has touched. It even has to look right for him to eat it. We are thanking Grandpa Tim for these great traits that Davis has inherited!

So sweet to his mom. He just knows when i am having a rough time and tries to comfort me. I LOVE that about him:) Love you buddy!