1st Day of School, Part 2

Two new kindergarteners!

They have been so excited for this day.

They had a countdown calendar the whole summer.

And there is only one downside to afternoon preschool -

its a super long morning waiting for the first day of school.

My mom gave Kamryn and Jared these outfits for the first day of school.

Her grandma gave her an outfit for the first day of school and

then my grandma gave me an outfit

and now she is carrying on that same tradition.

Kamryn and Jared at their school.

Waiting for the bell to ring.

Lined up waiting to go in to their classroom.

I can't believe this but I actually had to fight back the tears. I've never cried before when the older kids have started kindergarten but since these are my babies it was a little harder to let them go. I'm really going to lose it next year when they are gone all day.

I'll tell you that those hours that they are at school are the shortest hours EVER. I felt like it had been about 5 minutes when it was time to go and pick them up. They came out of their classroom with big smiles on their faces and were excited to tell me about their day. When they were telling their teacher good-bye, Kamryn gave her a big hug. That says a lot about their teacher. Its going to be a great year.

My Flowers

These are my babies.

I have spent a lot of time this summer working on our front yard,

specifically on my flower beds.

The flowers have become my babies.

I can't believe how much they've grown.

My baby boy with my babies.

I love how he gives the picture some frame of reference

of how big these flowers have gotten.

The pictures don't really do the flowers justice.

The flowers in the back are a plant called "hot lips"

and its my favorite.

All of this makes me think a lot about being a mother and my real babies. I've spent so much time with them, hopefully helping them to grow and blossom. Each of them is as beautiful as these flowers and are my real reward in this life.

New Soccer Recruits

Today was Jared and Kamryn's first day

playing on their new soccer teams.

They have been very excited about this day

and have been counting down all summer.

Jared picked # 8 because that's how old you are when you get baptized.

Kamryn picked # 5 because she's 5.

Justin is helping out with coaching Jared's team.

He did a great job working with the boys.

Stretching and getting warmed up.

After a little team meeting, the boys decided to have their team name be

FIRE

Brooke is also helping me coach Kamryn's team.

The girls decided to be the Purple Ponies.

Kamryn struggled during her first game.

In the first quarter she got the ball in her face

and wanted to go out and then didn't want to come back in.

There are only 4 girls on her team and they play 3 on 3

so Kamryn had to play most of the game.

She did okay and got after the ball a lot.

Hopefully she will learn to like the game.

Jared really got into the game and had a smile on his face the whole time.

He is just like his brothers and is a fringe player.

He runs around the bunch, out on the fringe.

He did get several kicks in and was happy to play.

Kindergarten Assessment

Jared and Kamryn with their kindergarten teacher, Mrs Armstrong

Today was their assessment for kindergarten. It has been since Brooke was in kindergarten that I've had a student do this (Taylor was in AZ and they didn't do that for kindergarten).

Jared and Kamryn were so excited about going to talk to their teacher. I had to remind them to talk loud and not be shy because one on one they are both pretty quiet.

Jared went first and I was sitting at the back of the room filling out papers so I could listen in. He did a great job. She said he's ready to start with their reading books. FUN :)

Kamryn loved playing the in the kitchen area while Jared did his "test" and then it was her turn. She was more quiet and reserved than Jared and hesitated on her answers but also did really well.

Now they have a few more days to wait until the first day of school.

First day of school, part 1

While we were waiting for Justin to come out

Taylor was checking to see if he's taller than Brooke yet

Not quite

It's very difficult to get a good picture of all three of them

so it takes a few tries ...

Today was the first day of school for my "big" kids. Jared and Kamryn start kindergarten in a week. Taylor is now in Jr High and Brooke is a Junior and Justin is a Senior. I seriously cannot believe that I am old enough to have a child who is a senior.

They all came home and had good reports from the first day. I've signed all their disclosure statements and now its on to the regular school days for the rest of the year.

Camping 2010

Our family at the Provo River Falls

Due to a busy summer and the crazy schedule of our family we were only able to go camping for one night. That's a lot of stuff to pack up there for one night but it was worth it.
Paul actually got up there a day earlier than the rest of us which is a total switch. His brother and nephews went up on Wed and then Paul joined them on Thur. We had to wait for Brooke to be done with volleyball practice and Taylor to go to 7th grade orientation and then we left on Friday afternoon.

Its good to see a smile on Taylor's face. He REALLY did NOT want to come with us. He said it wasn't worth it to go for just one night. We had to physically put him in the car and make him come. (I think the real reason he didn't want to come was because he was missing a party with some school friends)

Brooke and me at the falls

Kamryn, Paul, Brooke and Jared at the falls

The MEN on one of our hikes

this is what Justin did a lot of the time

even though we were only there for about 28 hours

this pose was Jared's idea - future model ??

Jared riding a "horse"

best buddies

Kamryn riding the "horse"

these two kids love their big sister

I think we have a picture like this from every camping trip

we've ever gone on up to Washington Lake.

Paul stays the same, its just different kids with him.

Jared doing a little fishing

We had a great time sitting around the campfire and roasting starbursts. Paul's nephew, Jake, who is Taylor's age, did a great job entertaining us.

We can hardly wait to go again next year - but for a lot longer!

** Post Edit - So to explain, the Provo River Falls are on the Mirror Lake Highway, just below Washington and Trial Lakes (not really anywhere near Provo). We camped at Washington Lake, its the only place we ever go camping, we love it that much!

Pine Valley

A week ago our family took a trip to Pine Valley, which is in the mountains north of St George. Paul's mom's family has a cabin up there that is 50 years old. Its a great log cabin that is very homey. There is a loft with 5 beds for everyone to sleep all in the same room. We hadn't been there since Jared and Kamryn were little babies so it was great to get back down there.
One of the fun things we did was take Taylor's bb gun. There was a gorge near the cabin where we went shooting. We found someone's campfire they had left in a hurry and had left about 8 full, unopened beer cans on the ground. We set them up for targets and had a "blast" shooting them.

Taylor had a great time driving this golf cart around town. Jared and Kamryn loved riding with him in the yard and it was so much fun to hear them squealing in delight.

We went to church at the Pine Valley cabin, which is the oldest operating building in the church. This is a picture of our family, Paul's brother and his 3 boys who were visiting from Pennsylvania, Paul's dad and uncle Delmont.

Sunday evening we had a Truman family get together which was great to see a lot of Paul's relatives. On the way home we drove through Snow's Canyon and did a little exploring. The kids loved climbing around on the red hills. We hope to go back in the fall or spring and spend more time exploring.

Kamryn and Jared had a great time playing outside at the cabin. Their chairs are old tractor seats.

Paul had to do some work Monday morning and this is the only place he could get cell service and internet connection.

There were some stray cats hanging around the cabin and they became our family pets for a couple of days. Kamryn loved playing with them and Jared got used to them and even had fun with them after awhile.

At one point, our whole family went for a ride on the golf cart.

Our family at the Pine Valley cabin.

My new baby

This is my new baby, no name yet.

We've had her for almost a month and I love her (for some reason, its a her).

We bought our new van in July after our last van died in the Costco parking lot (and we sold it the next day out of that parking lot after one hour on KSL).

Paul is definitely spoiling me with this van - it is a Dodge Grand Caravan SXT and has almost all the upgrades possible. It has dual screen DVD and so much more. The coolest thing for me is the auto-power liftgate - that is the best thing ever invented!

We broke the van in right away and took it to youth conference.

Just this last weekend we took our whole family down to Pine Valley. It was a great road trip, thanks to this great van. Time goes by so much faster and there's no fighting when all the kids are watching a movie. The only downside to that is Paul doesn't get to listen to as much music as he'd like.

Now I'm looking forward to a few more road trips with the family.

Youth Conference

Brooke doing her "dopey" look

Out for a little "friendly" walk

Justin organizing a game of capture the flag

Playing Kubb

Brooke and Justin playing volleyball

Justin exploring the red rock hills

Paul enjoying some fishing

Justin's such a stud

Justin and Paul hanging out with the group

We had lots of fun playing lots of games.

fixing lunch

Taylor goofing off with his friend

Brooke hanging out with the girls