Second Day...

First Day Of School!

Janika was in a hurry to leave when I snapped the "first-day-of-school-pictures" and said I need to get some  "second-day-of-school-pictures" tomorrow.  We will see if we have time.  Janika is in 9th grade at the Middle School (she starts Seminary this year -- yeah!!) and Jase is in 7th at the Intermediate school and so now they are "in the know" with it being their second year.  Jared is in 5th and so he will be graduating from elementary school this year.  At "Back to School Night" the principal asked, "Who has a child in 5th grade this year who started out in kindergarten at this school and went all the way through?"  I stood up because that applies to Jared.  There were only a few of us who stood up.  She said that this is first year the school has kids "graduating" who have gone all the through (since the school is only six years old).  Janelle is in second grade and Jaiden is in first grade (I can't believe she will be in school ALL DAY long!)  Can I tell you how glad I am not to have to do that mid-day kindergarten pick-up this year?  Of course I will still need to do it for Josh's pre-school but that isn't everyday.

Janika did Jaiden's hair -- isn't it cute?  Janelle wouldn't let me do anything with her hair.  I took her school shopping yesterday but she didn't want anything remotely frilly or trendy and just picked out a couple of pair of jeans, some long shorts and T-shirts.  Janika reminded me of when she was that age and insisted on wearing sweat pants and a pony tail to school everyday.  And now Janika loves to do her hair and dress up in cute clothes -- so I guess there is hope.  (But I can't can't talk, since "dressing up" for me consists of changing from tennis shoes to sandals).  Jaiden loves to dress up and is always open to new hair-styles.  She loves dresses, skirts, leggings, and flip flops.   And the boys -- well -- they are still in T-shirts and B-ball shorts every day of the year.  But since Jase is on Student Council I guess he will have to wear the Student Council polo shirt every once in a while and that will be about as "dressed up" as he will get! 

Janika is a GREAT baby-sitter!

Janika is such a great baby-sitter.  For her activity tonight she let the kids finger-paint in pudding.  She had asked me first and I was hesitant but she said, "Don't worry -- I will clean it all up and the kids will love it!"  And love it, they did.  She even took pictures for me.   This was in the middle of the kitchen being re-done so we have the awful dirty unfinished wood floors in the background.

Teenage Girls

I found about a hundred pictures like this on Janika's camera (hopefully she doesn't mind me posting a few!)  Apparently this is what teenage girls do (or at least the one that lives at my house does)....get together, do hair and make-up, and take random photos.  Sounds like a fun evening to me!

Celebrating our Anniversary

Rick and I had our 16th wedding anniversary last week (July 28th).  Rick arrived back in town that night about 8:30, about the same time I was finishing a class, and so we met for ice-cream at Krave's.  But I wanted a "real" date, especially since my husband had been out of town for 2 1/2 weeks, and so we booked a cute little historic Bed and Breakfast in town for the night since my sister-in-law, Gerilyn, was here to watch the kids.   We also went out to eat at the Claim Jumper and enjoyed some delicious prime rib before our stay.

The next morning we enjoyed a nice breakfast and even had the opportunity to share the gospel with the couple who shared our table.  They were from California (she was originally from Australia and had the cute accent to prove it) and they apparently stop at this bed and breakfast every time they pass through Utah on their way back home from an annual road trip.  The conversation eventually turned to religion and we learned that they had never visited the tabernacle (right across the street) or the temple visitor's center.  We explained a little bit about the tabernacle and the history behind it and they actually seemed very interested in checking it out.  Rick even shared the Joseph Smith story and explained about the Book of Mormon and she said, "I can't believe that I have lived this long and never heard that story before!"  (Too bad we didn't have a copy of the Book of Mormon with us!)  We told them they could get a free copy of the Book of Mormon at the Visitor's Center and she said, "I think I will!  I would really like to read that book!"  Of course we don't know what they were really thinking but at least we have opened the door and hopefully stirred a little curiosity!

Rick and I then went to the S&I (formerly called CES) broadcast at the Institute and enjoyed a nice luncheon afterwards.  The kind caterer from Durangos even went all the way back to his restaurant to get me a special gluten-free version of the lunch when he learned that I couldn't eat it.  We went back home for the afternoon and then Rick and I enjoyed "Pride and Prejudice" at the Shakespearean Festival.  It was nice to finally get some quality time together!

Girls' Retreat

My sister-in-law, Julie, planned a girls' retreat for this weekend at their second home in Hurricane.  Julie and Scott purchased this home last year and have been working for months to get it remodeled.  It is now finished and looks fantastic!  Janika and I were not able to join the party until Saturday night since she was gone to Youth Conference and I had all of the other kids.  Friday everyone who came down to Hurricane went to see "Tarzan" at Tuacahn.  Gerilyn stayed over at our house. Saturday morning they all went to the Farmer's Market at Tuacahn and Gerilyn and the kids and I met everyone there for a little shopping.  Then most of the group went consignment shopping and Gerilyn took all of my kids to go see the movie, "How to Train Your Dragon" so that I could get a little quiet time.  Thanks Gerilyn!

Rick, Janika, and Jase arrived home from Youth Conference and then Janika, Gerilyn, and I joined everyone at the girls' retreat.  We all enjoyed a yummy taco salad dinner and then Julie taught a class on Human Art describing the qualities of those who are Blackened, Whitened, Saturated, or Grayed.  She also talked about clothes and what styles and colors look good on what body shapes.  We were supposed to wear a "power outfit" that we felt confident in and she analyzed each of our outfits -- what worked and what didn't.  It was a lot of fun and we were laughing all the way through it.   Afterwards I got a group picture (many of the group had already changed to their sweats and PJ's).   In the second picture someone said, "Now everyone do a 'Rick pose.'  If you know Rick you will understand!

Hail Storm!

Here it is the middle of July, well into the triple digits and we had a hail storm!  It was quite an adventure!  Last Friday it started raining harder and harder and then it turned to hail!  The kids were already wearing swimsuits due to a previous swim and were now out running around with bike helmets on so that the hail wouldn't hurt their heads.  If you look behind Jared (the one with the box on his head) on the cement you can see the hail.  It was marble size.   The next day we read in the paper about some severe flooding in our area due to the storm.