first day

And just like that the kids are back in school. Last Friday when I was at the temple Spencer took them to the school to see who their teachers would be. He texted me and my heart SANK when I saw that Emma had gotten Mr. Starr. I have only heard horrible things about him, and I even texted back "CRAP" from the temple grounds and didn't feel bad about it.

Tyler had gotten a new teacher, Mrs. Holscher. So that was great...

We had lots of anxiety leading up to Wednesday, the 27th, mostly on Emma's part but also on mine! I was losing two of my friends during the day, my helpers! And I really just enjoy them! But...the day must come eventually.

We curled Emma's hair, just like she wanted. Spencer captured this picture and I am so glad! I don't have hair or makeup done myself but WHO CARES. This is real life.

We got our annual pictures in front of our door. Man they are getting tall. Especially Emma.

We walked to school. Emma went with Spencer to her class and I kept the other 3 kids. We had to wait a while for Mrs. Holscher because the bell never rang. She is super young and super cute, and Tyler had no problem walking right in.

Ha. Sadie was thinking this was a happy occasion or something...

I waited anxiously for them to get home. Both had a great first day. Emma was funny; she expressed disgust that some people didn't dress up and make that extra effort for the first day. Love that girl. Tyler kept saying how "nice" his teacher is. Hallelujah!

it started with shingles, and ended with a hit and run: the rest of summer

Tyler had a birthday! The day was a Sunday so the night before he got a party (every other year in our house, or longer if I can pull it off...). He decided to take 5 friends laser tagging. They got to play two games, and then came back for pizza and cake.

Sure love this kid. He is so fun and so easy, and so CHILL.

These two did a lot of baking, as usual.

We went to Great America for the last time in a while. It's still open weekends but weekends are kinda crazy. (It IS super fun at Halloween time though.) Tyler finally got tall enough for Drop Zone. I wish I had a picture of his face every time he did the free-fall - it was pure gold.

Tanner rode the bumper cars 11 times one morning. Most of the time the other cars were totally empty and he cruised around without hitting anything. I think he will be a good driver someday.

We only made it to the water park section ONE time! It was great. It is hard for me to do the water park with 4 kids (2 non swimmers) but just because something is hard doesn't mean I shouldn't do it. In fact...it's sometimes the opposite. :)

 The kids have been asking to get a funnel cake all summer. I finally caved and got the "loaded" one. OH MAN - YUM. We were all full after.

The temple finally opened after being closed for 2 months - hooray! Back to monthly date nights!

The Eyre's were here visiting for a week. These cute girls were matchy matchy. So fun to have them together again. They baked, of course. And did a lemonade stand, of course.

The 12 of us went to Maggiano's for dinner. Oh MAN it was good! I couldn't sleep that night because my stomach was so much in a funk. But the company was great and the food was incredible. Awesome.

Tiffany had her annual corn roast and this was our first year going. HOLY COW it was some good corn. Again, I felt sick for a portion of the night - maybe from all the butter?

 We were all big fans. Especially of the #10 can of melted butter for dipping.

We finally got a beach day in! We went to natural bridges and I was so happy to be there that I forgot sunblock on Sadie's face!

 BIGTIME Mom Fail. I still feel bad.

Spencer and I went to see Rascal Flatts. It was good but not as good as I had hoped.

I got to go on one final YW activity - temple baptisms. I adore these girls so much. I was released two days after this and am still so sad. They are amazing. The youth of the church - that is where the strength is, if you ask me. After 6 years I am no longer there (and am out of a calling).

Our annual Monday night trip to the Santa Cruz boardwalk...it is dollar night and cheap and is SO SO FUN. Tiffany came with us, as per tradition. (Spencer can never make it.)

Unforunately we got to the car at the end of the night and realized I had been hit. Hit and run. My alignment was so bad that I wasn't comfortable driving the 50 miles home through the mountains. Thankfully Aaron and Dan were willing to drive it and me and the kids packed into the other cars. Poor Spencer felt so helpless at work. We got home at 11:30 pm and were all wiped out...LAME end to a super fun summer.

And now the kids are back in school... :(

part 6 - the end - California

Oh boy, let's wrap this up.

Spencer and I were a little worried about the heat of the Mojave desert with a sketchy AC system in the motorhome. And worried about traffic. And just wanted to get out. So at 5:30 a.m. I picked up Sadie from her crib and laid with her in the back bed while he started the motorhome and drove away from Bryce Canyon. It was dark and the kids either stayed asleep or woke up and went right back to sleep. Sadie slept until 8:30!! Coupled with her nap later, she slept almost half of the 8 hour drive - hooray for that.

When all the kids got up I carefully got them food and we got to enjoy the drive that we almost never do anymore (but that I did all the time as a kid). We pulled up to my parents' house around 2:00 and decided to hit the beach. It was WARM and beautiful and it was a good choice.

I manned the camera while almost everyone else went swimming/boogie boarding...

That night we finally celebrated Papa's birthday (it was 3 days earlier) - with hamburgers and hot dogs. The new neighbors across the street joined and are super cool - it was really fun. The cake was pretty incredible...

The kids had the time of their lives. Oh man.

Spencer worked and worked and WORKED on my camera. No go. A Costco trip was on the docket for the following day.

On Saturday morning we all headed to the beach. The water was warm-ish again, and even though I was on camera duty I decided to cave to peer pressure and went in for a bit. I couldn't really catch any waves (they were pretty lame, and I'm not that good) but my kids saw me get in and getting "boogie boarding tips" from my 8 year old boy was pretty awesome. They have no idea how much I used to play in the waves with my friends when I was their age.

Sadie thought the waves were amazing. Tyler actually got really brave too.

Tyler stepped on a bee and the grumpiness from that took a while to wear off...

We went home after lunch and napped the little kids. Spencer and I ran to Costco and I resolved to buy a new camera body because I already had perfectly-fine lenses. I was happy with that decision. We all got ready for the reception.

This reception was SO fun. The food was awesome, there were SO many people I haven't seen in years and years, and it was just the perfect set-up. Sadie ate her salad like a good girl...

then went for the unhealthy stuff later. Fine by me! Tanner spent a lot of time playing with Kami and his much-older cousins.

After that the kids were sacked out and we were all tired. On Sunday we were going to go to church but my parents' ward wasn't until 12:30 and I was frankly just DONE. Being gone for 11 days (most in a motorhome) is exhausting. We left and 9 and came straight home. HOME!

This trip was so good for us. It solidified to us that we will never own a motorhome. Our kids got to be in three different National Parks. We did a TON of walking. We spent a ton of time together. Sadie learned that this is her life and she'd better enjoy it. We had a fabulous time! And of course the wedding!