The first day of school!!

The first day of school for the girls has finally come! The girls didn't sleep much the night before, they were so excited. Zack informed me that he thinks it's ODD of our girls to be excited for school. That was one thing he never looked forward to I guess... even when he was young. All the way to school Emma had the biggest grin ever on her face.




Here the are all dressed for school. Bekah's class has a "pirate" theme so she was told to wear a bandana on the frst day of school. Sarah's first day of "real" kindergarten isn't actually until Sept 2nd. So she was still home with me and Leah all week. She is excited to get to go with the girls to school next week though.

The End Is In Sight!

So the end of Summer Vacation has finally arrived. WoopEE!!! Emma and Bekah have had their entire outfits down to the socks and underwear for the first day for school. They are so excited to get back. Over all I think we had a pretty good summer. We tried to stick to our schedule, though homework time in the morning went out the window when swimming lessons started and we never got back to it. The last 2 weeks have been more of an endurance just trying to get through. With my enlarging belly, has come an enlarging loss of patience.
Also an end to the pregnancy is in sight. WAHOO! See my last belly shot.... 38 weeks preggo...My doctor has agreed to induce me on Sept. 3rd if I have not had him already. I still have high hopes for an August birthday, so we are trying all we can do to get him to come before then; including painting the baby room. My absolutely WONDERFUL sister Charlene came this week and helped me to get it painted. I am so appreciative because the edges along the baseboard would have done me in if I had tried to do it on my own (her poor back). Here's some pictures for your viewing pleasure.


Before:



After:




It's nice to have that project done, I just need to fill the drawers with his clothes and we are all set in there. It's a large room, so hopefully he will enjoy all the extra play space on the floor.

Edited**

Some people said they wanted to see the Curious George stuff better so here's some close-ups

Colton Family Reu... ehrm... Gathering

So we started this week off by heading to Fruitland Utah for what I am informed is a Family "gathering" not a "reunion" :) whatever you want to call it it was a fun time. My parents rented a lodge that has 9 bedrooms. We had a great lawn play area to set up a volleyball net and other lawn games. There was also a great Cabanna area with a fire pit and BBQ area. There was a stream that surrounded the place and the kids had a lot of fun walking along it and finding the bugs and slugs. Jared's and Cindy's Family each brought their 4-wheelers and Josh's family brought a boat to put in at a nearby lake. All in all we had a lot to entertain ourselves with. Bekah at the end couldn't decide what she liked best, the boat ride, the 4 wheeler ride or the treats (in the end I think the treats won...go figure) After all the great meals, camp fire Tall Tales and playing in the dirt, I'm glad to be back and clean and well rested. Thanks Dad and Mom for the great trip.

Emma and Taylor on the Water Wienie

Emma and Taylor after being dunked off the water Wienie.

Family home evening, reenacting Samuel the Lamanite

My how the time flies....

Brace yourselves for a long update this time around. It seems I have been too busy playing to pop on and update.

Lets start with the boring pregnant stuff... but its all I can think about these days so we'll get it out of the way :)

I'm 33 and a half weeks now, only about 6 more weeks to go ( I am hoping less...). The good news for me is I have been heartburn free for almost 2 whole weeks!! I started a new medication and have been finally feeling some SWEET relief. I don't think I realized how bad it was until it stopped. I saw the Dr. yesterday and everything seems right on track. They will start checking me next visit to see how progressed I am. Woo Hoo!

Here's Sarah learning how to back stroke her arms

The kids absolutely loved swimming lessons. Bekah finally decided it was ok to dunk her whole head and swim under water, a feat that I never thought would happen with her. Emma is learning to dive and some more of the basic types of strokes. Sarah is overcoming her fear of water and will bob her whole head into the water now too. Leah is the one who has me cracking up though. She loves the water and will almost swim on her own doggy-paddle style, she will climb out of the pool and almost cannon-ball herself in. she still doesn't like getting her head submerged so I have to be sure to catch her. They all passed their swimming levels so will advance on next year.

Zack had a day off last week so we took the kids to Hill Air force museum. I must say I am quite impressed that they keep the entrance fee FREE! We enjoyed it about as much as the Seattle Boeing museum and they charge over $10 a person to get in.

Next to update you on is a picture that speaks for itself:

Yes, Yes. Leah has begun studying the art of hair design and has decided to try her new and exciting styles out on herself.

I think its a mix between the 80's mullet and a homeless mutt. Haha! She doesn't look too bad if we comb it right and she still has a lot of long curls still.

It's all my fault though I was too busy working on this: to check on her.

Here, I almost forgot to mention the 4th of July activities. After a BBQ at G&G Nilson we went to the Davis high fireworks, Where Bekah and I got to stand in line for an hour for the dirtiest and most well used port-a-potty ever. I could not talk Bekah into holding it or finding another way(Looking back now I should have just taken her home and brought her back) At least we made it back before the fireworks started. Here's some fun pictures:

Okay, this post is getting too long .... so I'll just stop this one and start another. :) I have to tell you about our fun with the Colton Family this week....

Happy 4th Everyone

It's been a couple weeks since I last updated so I thought I better get going on it. The last 2 weeks Sarah, Bekah and Emma have been involved in the summer camp for their music class. They had a great time. They came home with all kinds of crafts and they tie-dyed Tshirts. They made one for Leah and a onsie for the baby too.

Everything else has been pretty much good, I really can't complain too much about the kids, they are being pretty helpful. There are days when I can tell they are getting sick of each other so we'll plan an outing. We went to the Ogden Treehouse museum and the kids had a blast there, they didn't want to leave. It wasn't very busy at all the day we went so they pretty much had the exhibits to themselves.

We also planned a last minute outing to Grandma and Grandpa Colton's house. They got to play with their cousin,Devin, across the street and Grandma even took us all swimming to the South Jordan Pool. The girls agreed that it was the best pool ever. They are getting excited for swimming lessons starting next week because they'll get to swim pretty much every day. I don't know if I'm excited for that because for 2 weeks the house becomes a mess of wet towels and swimstuff.

I'll update later with some fun 4th of July stuff. Have a good one everyone...and in case anyone wanted to ask how I was feeling lately, here's a cartoon for you :)

Summer Fun

So we have made it throught the first 2 weeks of summer. I must say that things have gone pretty good so far. I have been much busier trying to provide activities for the kids. We have a semi set schedule in the mornings starting around 8 or so we have breakfast and then "school" I have the kids do a few worksheets and reading. Mostly I need to do this with Bekah to help her reading come along, she is doing better, but still gets very frustrated with reading. It's helping me to learn patience I guess. With Sarah we are working on teaching the ABC's and recognizing the letters... I'm actually surprised she doesn't know them yet, but I've just never taken the time to sit and teach them to her.

After school work it's housework. I believe my house is cleaner now than it has been in a long time. If I have a chore assigned to one of them they are very good about making sure I show them how or help them to do it.

I hope I can keep the routine up all summer.

We bought a membership at the zoo and have been there twice now. The girls love to see all the animals, We went this morning for a bit and rode the new carousel.

In 2 weeks I have the girls enrolled in a summer music camp for a week, they will get a half day of crafts and singing, etc. It should be fun. Then swimming lessons start in July, they can't wait....

Here's a few pics from the Zoo: