First Day of School

I can't believe I have a Kindergartener!! Here's my little Abby on her first day of school.

Doesn't she look so cute! She picked out her own outfit and loves her new shoes - they totally light up! What she really wants is some Sketcher Twinkle Toes. You know what I'm talking about. The sneakers with jewels on the toes that "twinkle". Her shoes are just plain old Sketcher Lights. But they were on sale. And so much cuter than the other ones!

Here's my whole crew. The little guy just gets thrown around. Don't worry. He likes it. And if he doesn't he lets us know. Loudly.

Brooklyn has been dreading this day every since she figured out what a whole day of school was. All summer long if we even mentioned Abby and kindergarten she got the saddest look on her little face. So this morning she did everything with Abby and got ready to go to "school" too.

Here's Abby officially at school and officially on time!!

Since I'm new at dropping off a kindergartener I didn't know what to do when I got to the school. I pulled up where everyone else was dropping off their kids and a teacher came up and was ready to get Abby out when I mentioned I wanted to take a picture. She told me to pull up further and I could park. So I did. I left Brooklyn and Jace in the car, jumped out, and took some pictures.

Then Abby was ready to go into the school and I didn't know what to do. Jace and Brook were in the car and Abby was heading into the school - by herself!!!!

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So I let her go (sniff, sniff). And I didn't even walk her in on her first day of school. What a terrible mother! (Although I'm pretty sure I would have been a more terrible mother had I left my babies in the car unattended.) It all happened so fast. But I did have time to take a picture. Just one last glimpse. Of a cute pink backpack. And she was gone. I guess the apron strings are cut. And not by me.

So I did the next best thing and jumped back in my car (which was good since the principal was banging on my window and informing me that I was in fact in NO PARKING ZONE!!!) and pulled around the corner to wait for Abby to emerge on the playground. Which she did (thank goodness!).

Here's the photo I took of Abby on the playground even though the playground teachers were eyeing me from afar with that "we're keeping a close eye on you because why are you taking pictures of our kids on the playground" look. And what I wanted to shout at them was - well, never mind. I was still on an emotional roller coaster so I was thinking crazy thoughts.

I was sure Abby had seen me when I took this picture (did I mention I took more than one playground picture - which might be why I was getting the looks I was getting?). Anyway I knew she was heading my way to say hello and a part of me knew that I was the crazy mom that just needed to leave. But I was still feeling guilty for letting her go in by herself so I stayed.

What really happened was Abby began running straight for us and I began waving. Then Abby stopped at a group of kids, looked at them and began running again. To another group of kids. She was looking for her friends and had no idea that her delusional mom was still hanging around.

.

So to sum things up, Abby survived her first day of school. We did get a call from the school nurse letting us know Abby had fallen on the rocks and had some bad scrapes and a hole in her new shirt. But she didn't cry.

I guess that means my baby is growing up!

Alpine Slide

While in Utah we decided to try out the Alpine Slide in Park City. Darren and I have only been once before (our 2nd Anniversary) and had a great time.

This is us just going up. Abby was excited to get to go so high!

Here we are - the whole family (minus Jace - poor little guy gets to have no fun!)

In front of us were the crazies we went up with! I'm not sure but I think Ryan is throwing some sort of gang sign......

The girls LOVED playing together and got along really well. This is our walk to the top of the slide. It didn't take long to get there.

What cutie - petuties!

This is some strange animal that lives under the slide and pops up to watch any slider goers. Look at him - he's totally waiting for some one to slide down! Apparently there are quite a few of them and Darren tried to grab one as he went down. Talk about animal rights being invaded!

And here is THE SLIDE (and some toes)!



Darren and Abby prepping for their race (which was strictly prohibited by the way. I know. What rebels!)

Brookie and me. We were way EXCITED!

This is my brother Travis. We went with my other brother Daniel and my other sister Breanna (the newly wed - wedding pictures still to come) and my parents. But this picture struck me because of the girl in the background. Go ahead. Take a look.

Let's get a little closer. (Little does Travis know of the darts being thrown his way!)

Alright fine. Just a bit closer.

Yikes!! Apparently she is not in awe of Travis's good looks!



If anyone knows this girl please tell her that my brother IS a good catch!!

Actually, probably one of the main reasons this caught my attention is that I too have been accused of throwing dirty looks. Looks I have no idea I am throwing. This coming from my husband (and a few others...).Hey, I've said it a hundred times but I'll say it again. That is my natural expression people. I don't throw evil looks (unless you're my husband:).

Anyway back to the point. I'm sure this girl could care less about Travis (gasp!) and is probably wondering about her cat at home or something. I guess we'll never know!

Boating in Utah

Last week we returned from our 3 week vacation. What? you're probably thinking. Three weeks?

Yes. Three weeks. It was quite long and filled with lots of fun activities! So in case you haven't picked up Mockingjay yet (what!? you don't know what I'm talking about? I'm apalled! )I'll be happy to provide you with great reading material right here!

We're at Jordanelle Lake and Abby and Brooklyn are watching their cousin Lexi on the kneeboard. And for a first timer she did great! (Don't mind Abby's expression - it's hard to be cute all the time!)


And here's Abby!! Whoooohoooo! She just learned this summer how to actually get on her knees on the kneeboard and she loves it!



Here are all the girls! Brooklyn, Kendri, Lexi and Abby. For any of you having twin confusion right now Brooklyn and Abby belong to me! Lexi and Kendri are Heathers. Jace and Kyson stayed at the lodge with Pa.



Well, I guess I'm out of pictures to post. The only one's I have left are a few very unflattering ones of Darren (let's just remember a picture is just a picture and not always an acurate description of how we really look:) and some of my sister wakeboarding (again a picture is just a picture!). I would post those but Ryan beat me to it and they're on his facebook page. When Heather saw those she a blew a gasket and put restraining order on all the rest of her pictures. Sorry - the fun at Jordanelle ends here!!