California

Donald and I flew out on Thursday for our 2 week vacation in celebration of 10 years of marriage. I guess I figured that because I was so deserving, (tongue in cheek) that we would make our trip 2 whole weeks.

Our first part of the trip is here in California. We got in late Thursday night and stayed at Donald's dads house. Friday morning, we got up and went to the San Diego temple and then off to my sisters house that late afternoon. That night we went on a double date with my sister Jolene and her husband Rick. We went to Sweet Lumpies and then to watch a movie on the big screen in someones backyard. Saturday we did some shopping (I got the cutest shoes) and then I met my girlfriend Jana for lunch at Baja Fresh, YUMM! We visited for a while and then that night we went to dinner we some other friends of ours. Gosh I sure love eating out in California and without children. Sunday we went to church at his parents ward and one of Dons old college roommates came over to visit with his family (we had a great time Marc and Kristy).

Tomorrow is Labor day and we are planning a day at the beach with Donald's family. Dons brother Steve and his kids, and Dons sister Michelle and her husband and kids, and then Dons parents as well as us are all meeting at Huntington beach for a afternoon in the sun. After spending a day at the beach, we need to make sure we get to bed early because we need to leave at 3:30 a.m. for our flight out of LAX. Once we get on that plane, we will be relaxing in the sun and surf in MAUI HAWAII for NINE QUITE DAYS!!!!! hopefully I can keep you all posted with our adventures, so stay tuned.

GRANDPA!!!

There is nothing like the excitement of a child who is eager to see their grandpa. Sorry mom, your grand kids love you (well, your fabric, story reading, and raisin bread) but grandpa wins the hearts of all 4 kids! You would think that the kids would have gotten their fill of grandpa, seeings how we spent 2.5 weeks with them just less than a month ago! I guess I am wrong. There is nothing to compare to their thrill and joy when grandpa showed up at our door Monday night!

BACK TO SCHOOL!

SCHOOL IS BACK IN SESSION!

Most of you know that I make my kids breakfast on a regular basis. This is the breakfast that was request by my kids for the 1st day of school.

* 1 lemon poppy seed muffin * 1 fried egg * 4 strawberries cut up

* half banana * cup of milk * vitamins

Trent is in 2nd Grade and has Mrs. White as his teacher. I really like her and she seems very enthused that I want to help out in the class room. She even asked me today if I could come in and help starting next week. YEA! Trent is also excited because he is at the same cluster of desks as his best bud Bo.


Kolby was awesome this morning. He was not scared at all and was so excited to start kindergarten. His new teacher is Mrs. Hines and her room is in the same building as the 1st graders. Kolby was like an old pro when we got to his class. He quickly put his backpack away and sat at his desk. He is right next to a girl named Ava, whom I know but Kolby does not (Ava's mommy works out at the gym at the same time I do, and in the same kickboxing class). I was really happy because Kolby still gave me a quick kiss on the cheek before I left.


Tanner and Brooklyne also started school, preschool. I have them enrolled in Northcrest Baptist preschool 2 days a week. I have put both of them in preschool because I really want to be able to get involved in the school and bringing younger children is not ok. They started last week and were very excited.

Tanner was so excited to have his own backpack and lunch box. When we got to his class, I showed him his cubby for his things and he put his stuff in, and then took off to play. I stayed around for about 5 minutes. He was doing great, so I gave him a kiss and told him I would be back after lunch. He looked at me with kinda a nervous expression on his face. He walked away from me, grabbed his back pack and put it on, grabbed his lunch box and headed to the door. He looked so worried and nervous and was telling me he was going home with me. It took at least another 5 minutes before he would let go of the door knob and come talk to me. After I gave him a little pep talk and explained what was going on, he said he would stay. YEA!! When I went and picked him up the teacher said he did GREAT! What a big boy he is!!

Brooklyne was so tickled to have her own backpack and lunch box as well. She insisted on wearing her backpack like her brothers as well as carrying her own lunch box. When we got to her class, she freaked out. She clung to me with such a death grip it tore at my heart. I stayed in there for a good 10 minutes and then just had to let her cry it out. It was so hard to leave. When I went to pick her up, the teacher told me she cried a majority of the time and that the next time she comes to school, I need to just drop her off at the door and leave. That just broke my heart, but I do understand. So, on Thursday that is exactly what I did and off to the gym I went. When I got home from the gym I had a message on my voicemail from the director of the preschool asking for me to call her when I got the message. When I spoke with her, she was telling me how Brook was screaming the entire time. Not a hurt cry, not a hungry cry, not a tired cry, but a very MAD, and I going to let you know, and everyone else within ears shot know, that I AM NOT HAPPY kinda cry. Oh it just broke my heart. We talked about different options to attend to the situation and hopefully things will get better sooner than later. If we are still experiencing the same issues in the later part of September, I will most likely pull her from the preschool. Let's cross our figures she complies with the format and stops being miss drama queen!

Friday Night Moonlight Run

I found out earlier in the week that there was a 5k race on Friday night. I was not going to run it at first, but then everyone was telling me I should, in spite of the fact of it being ran at 10 pm, in the heat of August, and during the time I would be cuddled up on the sofa watching the Olympics. I decided that I would be disappointed in myself if I did not run, so I decided to do it.
I went to the race around 9 pm and we were suppose to start our run at 10 pm. There were so many people there and some true die hard runners. Also, there were gobs of teenagers there, - whole track teams from surrounding schools (a couple from 40 minutes away). I met up with a couple of gals from church and when the gun went off, we were off. Of course when I run for a TIMED event, I run solo, so off I went beating to my own tunes. The course for the run was kinda boring, but anything would have been boring because it was dark. I did pretty good for the first mile, the second mile I kinda dragged a bit too much, and the third mile I was more on target. I sprinted the last 50 meters and so did the gal that was right in front of me. When I crossed the finish line I wanted to puke. While we were all waiting for the results and awards, it started to rain. No big deal, it was hot outside and the rain was not a pour down, so we stayed. Well, 10 minutes later it was a total down pour with powerful gusts of wind. The awards part was totally cancelled and we all had to run back to our cars and leave the area. I got home around 12:45 am and was soaking wet and cold. I found out thru the Sunday paper that my time was 31.30 and I got 6th place in my age group of 30-39. Not that great, but hey, I did not walk once and I did not decide till that morning that I was going to run it. Not to mention that I was tired and had been busy the entire day. Nonetheless, I am glad I ran it. Thank you to all those who did not let me weeny out.

Lunch time news flash.

Trent has had "his mission" heavy on his mind. For the past couple of months he has been talking about how he did not want to go on a mission unless it was only for a month. He had this fixated on his brain, to which our reply has always been of a low key nature. Examples of our reply would be "Trent, when you get older, you can decide what you want to do, it is your choice to make." "Trent, to be a full time missionary, you serve for 2 years, not one month, but you don't have to decide that right now." Nonetheless, being a missionary has definitely been high on his focus. So today at lunch he proclaimed very definitively that he WILL serve a full mission, as long as he can take his VIDEO GAMES! I told him that missionaries don't play video games. His reply was very simple and unwavering, "I will just have to play on P day!" After I choked down my sip of water (I had to choke it down because otherwise I would have been spitting it out from laughing to myself) he just smiled at me and explained that he needs to take all of his stuff with him when he goes on his 2 year mission because he does not want us giving it all away or his brothers taking it! That his VIDEO GAMES were much too important to not have around when he would get home!

I find it very amusing the way our kids process things! (I think Donald needs to lay low on the stories he shares in reguards to him mission. He is going to scare our boys from ever going!)

St. LOUIS ZOO

We had a great time at the St.Louis Zoo while we were visiting my parents. We had a great time, and we spent the WHOLE day at the zoo. The kids did GREAT inspite of missing naps. The boys loved the penquins and the sea lion show. I loved seeing the baby elephant and watching the monkeys. The Penguins were a lot of fun too. There were these large penguins who kept slashing us and putting on quite the entertaining show. Nonetheless, we had a great time.

Grandma's hot set of wheels! Best $25 dollars spent after she broke her foot a few days earlier stepping on one of the baby diapers in the garage.

Nauvoo the Beautiful

While visiting my parents in Illinois, we took a day to visit Nauvoo. As I have mentioned before in my blog, Nauvoo holds a special place in my heart, as well as all of my sisters. Once in Nauvoo with the kids, it just seemed that time was flying by and we did not do nearly as much as we wanted to. In hind sight, I might have been willing to camp for a few days so that we could have been more relaxed during our visit. The weather was fantastic and the kids did GREAT considering a place like Nauvoo and all the historic homes, can be a bit difficult for them.

Kolby is helping make a rope. All three boys got to help with the rope, and they even

got to keep the finished product! They did such a great job.

"YUMMMMM, this pioneer imaginary food is FANTASTIC!"The kids posing with a statue of Joseph Smith.
The kids got a kick out of the Oxen ride. They kept trying to convince me that weneed to get some Oxen. YA,,,,, NO! Fun and games before the Nauvoo Pageant. The boys enjoyed a game of Stick Pull, Potato sack races, and a three legged race. OK,,, the 3 legged race was absolutely hilarious and had everyone around us just in stitches. Trent and Kolby have never done a 3 legged race before, and with Trent's determination and drive, mixed with Kolby's fun loving laid back approach to things, it made the race very entertaining. I wish I had video taped their race, because I was laughing so hard that I could not continue to take pictures any longer. The boys kept stumbling over each other, and would take a couple steps, then one of them would fall again. Finally, after falling a good 5 times, Trent just started to drag Kolby as he was on the ground and Trent was on both feet. All the people were just laughing so hard at their lack of team work, yet their good nature with each other and then Trent's persistent determination.

Bloomington Zoo

One afternoon, my parents, the kids, and I all met with my sister and her two little girls at their local zoo. It was a relaxing time and even though the zoo is small, the kids had a GREAT time.

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

FYI::: I am messing with a new background for my blog and while I am tweeking things, it might look a bit messy! So please bear with me for a bit while we figure this all out and hopefully, it will be back to a good working condition soon.

baby doll, baby doll

While in Nauvoo, Brooklyne became attached to this little baby doll. She has a baby doll at home, but has paid it NO attention at all. I guess the pioneer clothing made the doll more appealing to her.

Bloomington Children's Museum

While the kids and I were in Illinois we went to the Children's Museum with my sister and her family. The kids had a fantastic time and definitely were not ready to leave after the hours of play.

the kids loved playing with the water table.

Trent make this very interesting sandwich for me to eat at the deli next to the grocery store.

after sampling Trent's assembly of food, I decided to have a little fun with his food! My sisters little girl Kara wanted to get in on the action as well.

Brooklyne loved playing in the grocery store. Too bad I couldn't convince her to stop trying to eat the plastic food.
Trent had fun in the grocery store too, but he preferred to juggle the lettuce.
Kolby and Tanner sat down for a game of checkers. That game lasted all of about 45 seconds.
The kids moved on to play with grandpa over at the LARGE chess board.
The boys loved painting as well, especially when I am on the other side of the glass making funny faces at them. (notice, you see NO funny faces from me,,, you think I would be crazy enough to post those???)

Because we were not too thrilled to have Brook play with the paint, we let her explore the TOT area.