1st Day of School

 School started early this year, on August 23. And as a mom, I was not ready for it. Brit and Cody rode the bus on the first day but Jaycee didn't have to go until later so I didn't get them all together for the first day picture.

 Britnee got braces on the week before school started. She also had Amy cut her some bangs. She started 7th grade this year and I'm thinking she's all of a sudden not a little girl anymore.

 Cody is in 4th grade this year. It is a split class with the 5th graders and so far, he seems to like it just fine. Cody loves that he can jump out of bed and be ready in about 5 minutes. The girls are a little jealous.

 I have no idea what happened to the exposure on this picture. But Jaycee started as a sophomore at the High School this year. She whacked her hair off the week before and has loved it. She is in the middle of getting her driving hours with her permit and has a countdown till she can drive in December.

So far we've gotten back into the swing of school life. I'm excited for all the new experiences that the kids are having and how much they grow each year.

On The Lake

This summer we spent a few fabulous days on the boat. It wasn't running too good so most of our trips were spent puttering. But even a not so great boat day is a good day if you're on the lake.

Bart and Michelle came down and spent some time with us in August. And we spent a really fun day on the lake. The kids all jumped in and swam around for while and because it was a Monday afternoon, there weren't too many people out.

Although I didn't take too many pictures, we all had a fun time.

Totally Wicked!

 This last December Candice called and asked if I wanted to get tickets to go with her to see Wicked. We got them and today was our day to go see it. I loved it! And if I ever get a chance, I'll go again.

Voi and Tia's Visit

Tia and Voi came to visit this summer too. They brought Kasey, Wyatt, and Ashton with them. The boys had so much fun running around the yard.

Matt helped them fix the 4 wheeler and even let Ashton ride with him on the tractor while he did some work, which was pretty much the best thing that happened to Ashton while they were here.

We had a bar-b-que with them and went down to the lake to take their family pictures. As always, it wasn't a long enough visit but I'm so glad they got to come.

Camping

At the first of the summer, I made three spots on our calendar for camping, one in each month. I called and planned the August trip with Candice and her family because they're pretty much camping awesome over there.

Because somehow we got so busy this summer, the August trip was the only one we made. But it made up for everything. We found a place up Green Canyon between Beaver Mountain and home. We set up camp and a little while later, Candice's dad Mike came up with some yummy dutch oven dinner.

By about the time we were eating, the rain let loose. So we scrambled to get things put away and called it an early night.

On Saturday morning, Mike got out his guitar and sang for us then we loaded up and drove to Tony Grove in Logan canyon. Funny, in all the years we've driven the canyon, we've never turned and went to see what was up there. It was a little chilly but we had a lot of fun swimming and hiking.

That night, we played ninja and some fun murder game with playing cards around our little propane camp fire that Mike brought up. (This year has been so dry that you're not supposed to have real camp fires. It was a little weird.)

I'm so glad that we were able to camp with those fun Williamson's. I love making fun family memories with such great people.

McMullin Weekend

At the first of August the McMullin's came to stay with us for the weekend. Tamarie drove up with the kids on Thursday and Garrett and Brady came Friday night. Mark and Maggie even came up and visited for a while on Saturday.

We had a bar-b-que and took the kids to the tabernacle. Garrett and Tam stayed in our camper and because of all the construction we just pulled it out on the front lawn. 

I didn't take hardly any pictures but we sure had a good time with them.

Finishing The front Yard

This is my front yard as of last fall. I was very happy with my bigger flower bed but felt like it made the yard lopsided. So I thought all winter long about how to even it out. This is what I came up with.

As soon as the snow melted, I killed all the grass on the side lawn.Then Matt and I started work on the front part of our fence.

I went and got another basket of rocks from Matt's old boss and some from Wendy's house on the lake.

And this is how it turned out. It still looks quite bare because I have to wait til fall to transplant flowers. Also, the big pile of dirt in the front is hopefully going to become a water feature as soon as I can figure out just how to do it.

I'm pretty happy about the front yard now. It feels more even and finished to me. We have somewhat of a wind break in the fence that I'm sure I'm going to love come winter. Front yard-check! Back yard, oh my! That's another story.