School Starts

Grant wasn't too sure about having to go to school first thing in the morning but one thing he was sure about is that he LOVES riding the bus!!!

He was all smiles when he came off that bus!

What a big boy Grant is!  Makes me sad to have him and all my kids growing up so fast!

I just want to slow time down!

Where has the time gone?

Grant's first day of preschool

My sweet Kiersten started Junior High this year!  Now that really makes me want to cry!  Isn't she just gorgeous!  She sure was nervous about making the transition to having 7 different teachers and switching classes every period.  She reminds me of myself when I was her age.

We absolutely LOVE Brighter Day Preschool!

Grant is getting some speech therapy and what makes it really great is that it's free preschool plus the bus picks him up and brings him home.  It's great!

But mainly, it's a fabulous preschool………..they go all out………field trips all this time, huge parties for all the holidays, and they really teach the kids and prepare them for kindergarten!

I took Grant on the first day just to make sure he felt comfortable.  Sure enough he jumped right in and started playing with all the cool new things in his classroom.

Look at these two handsome guys I get to call my sons!

No nerves out of either of them for the first day of school.

Logan was excited to find his desk!

We are super excited for Logan to have Mrs. Jenny Skinner this year.  All our other kids have had her and really excelled with her as their teacher.  We know Logan will do the same!

Hunter started 5th Grade

It took much prayer and debate deciding if Hunter should switch over to Pima schools or stay at DPA for his 5th grade year.  He has Ms. Purcell, whom Kiersten had as well for 5th grade.  She is a really sweet lady but the year she taught Kiersten was her first year teaching and we had some issues with her ability to manage all the rowdy boys in that class.

We ended up deciding DPA would still be the best choice, as there would only be 14 kids in Hunter's class.  Verses the very large class size of the 5ht grade classes at Pima.  Turns out we made a great decision.  Ms. Purcell has been a wonderful teacher!  She has grown so much since her year of teaching Kiersten.  Plus Hunter really loves her!

Logan started 2nd grade and is super excited to be able to be in the strings program at school!

This kids really loves music!

Fun Summer Day

It was a perfect summer afternoon.  The temperature had cooled down just enough to be comfortable and the sky was completely overcast.  So I decided to take the kids out for a rhino ride.  Yes we got a rhino!  Justin got it for my birthday and I LOVE IT!  It's perfect for the little trails and the river bottom. Plus I can let Kiersten drive me in it when I don't want to be the driver.

We drove on the farm roads to get to the Thatcher bridge.  I let everyone, but Grant, have a turn driving the rhino.  The boys thought that was really cool.........they didn't care if they could barely see over the steering wheel.  Shoot, Logan had to look through the steering wheel to see the road.  

But they all drove great!

We spent and hour or so letting them play on the river bank.

Hunter had fun making a little dam.

It's days like today that I wish Justin didn't work such long hours.  We would have loved for him to come with us.  But we had a fun afternoon just the kids and I.  

I love being outside and going for trail rides!  

Cutest Thing In The World!!!

I was thinking how great this pregnancy would be since I wouldn't be huge through the summer months.  It turns out that I just traded that yucky feeling of battling the heat and swelling for worse nausea and throwing up then ever before.  Man the heat got to me and really heightened the morning/ day sickness!!!

So today I was feeling icky, the kids were all playing board games so I was laying down watching them. I am not know for laying down and resting.  So that tells you right there the morning sickness was not good!

All of the sudden Grant comes over to me and places a handful of these little toy bees on my tummy.

He said, "Mommy these are toys for yo baby to play with!"  Then before I could respond he says, "And mommy, I neber gonna be mean to yo baby!"

It was the cutest thing ever!!!

Grant can just melt my heart!

He is going to make one amazing big brother!

This little spirit that will be joining us the beginning of January is already one lucky kid!

CIty Boy

We sure enjoyed having this City Boy here this summer.  This is Rieley's second year (not in a row) of coming to work for Justin.  We sure love having him come!  We hope we can talk Marla in to letting Aubrey come for a summer!

Rieley was pretty excited when he saw this rabbit out in the field behind our house and even more excited when he shot it with a bow.  The kids were all impressed as well!!!

Rieley has killed rattle snakes for me this summer as well!  He's great to have around!

We love you Rieley!

Las Vegas Trip……Day 5

After the last dance classes all the girls headed to the pool for some much deserved fun!

Kiersten and Kiulani chicken fighting!

This was our last night in Vegas and I had gotten us tickets to see O by Cirque du Soleil.

Hunter insisted on going with the Roger's to Circus Circus to ride the rides.  I was a little torn on letting him go because the tickets I had gotten were super expensive.  But Kiersten's friend Jalyn wanted to come with us to the show so it worked out in the end.  I still think Hunter would have LOVED the show, but he did have a wonderful time with Gavin and his family.

Hands down the show O was my favorite.  It is a water acrobatic show and it absolutely breath taking.  This is the one show I'd see again and again!  Every moment and move was impressive.  So if you ever make it to Vegas, even though the tickets are expensive, see this show!  You'll be glad you did!

We had fun on our last night walking the Strip after the show.  

It was such a fun trip…..even with the morning sickness I has having, but it's gotten much better.

Marla and the rest of her kids made it to Vegas late this evening.  They are staying the night with us in our hotel room and then heading to Utah for the week.  Rieley and Aubrey have EFY at BYU and the rest of them are going to visit friends.  

Rieley wanted to meet us on the Strip and see a bit of Vegas since he has never been before.  Of course we had to get a shot of him playing the slot machine!  We also got a crazy picture of him with some girls in feathers.  So fun!

The drive home the next day turned out to be difficult on my pregnant body.  I got a really bad headache and we actually ended up sleeping at a hotel in Globe because I was going to fall asleep at the wheel if I continued on.  But we got up early the next morning and made it home safe and sound.

It was a great 6 days with Kiersten, Hunter and Aubrey!

Las Vegas Trip…….Day 4

This was the day of the actual competition….so we just hung out at the pool while Kiersten was in her classes.  We had no plans to go do anything else this night.  These dance competitions can take awhile sometimes.

Kiersten all dolled up and ready to dance!

These two were quite the pair on this trip!

They sure have a good time together!

We were so glad Aubrey got to come with us……the trip wouldn't have been the same without her!

These two knuckle heads had a great time hanging out as well.  

These two had nothing but fun the entire trip.  They loved going back and forth between our room and the Roger's room.  They swam and I even bought Gavin Steak with shrimp one night!  It was so funny cause he came with us to dinner and then ordered this huge expensive meal and he had $5.  He was too excited about the dinner that I just couldn't say no to him.  Issac and Jenny kept telling me they owe me a steak and shrimp dinner!

The girls danced AMAZING!  This is actually a group that was thrown together once they knew who was making the trip to Vegas.  So all these girls don't even dance together on a regular basis.  It was a combination of girls from three different groups.

OMGoodness!  Isn't she gorgeous!!!

Love this little dancer of mine!

The girls received a 2nd place for Afro Circus and 3rd place for Lion King.

You would have never guessed they weren't a regular group who dance together all the time!  So impressive!!!

After the long day of dancing we walked down the street to eat at the Hard Rock Cafe with the Hansen's.  They are such a fun family!  Hunter and Brinlee really had fun hanging out over the past few days.  They are two of a kind you can see from this picture!

Not a great picture but it was great food and wonderful company!

So proud of Kiersten and all her dedication and hard work.  Jenny came to me and told me how she walked into Kiersten's class today and Kiersten was the only one out on the floor dancing.  All the other girls were sitting down visiting or playing on their phones.  Jenny told me how proud she was of Kiersten and what a dedicated dancer she is.  Sure makes a momma proud to hear things like this!

Las Vegas Trip……….Day 3

Kiersten is such a trooper!  We stayed out pretty late every night and she got up and showered every morning to make it to her 8:00 dance classes.  I would get up and take her down to the hotel restaurant for breakfast, then walk her to her class.  I then went back to the room and went back to sleep……….Aubrey and Hunter slept in every morning as well.  

Kiersten not only didn't get as much sleep as the rest of us, she also was dancing for about 7 hours each day.  Man did her feet hurt each night when we finally did go to bed.

We did a little shopping at the Miracle Mile Shops.  That mall just goes on and on……especially since it is one level.

Aubrey is so much fun!  She tried on all kinds of crazy things……login' the shoes Aubrey!

I took the kids to the Knight Dinner Show at the Excalibur Hotel.  I forgot you eat dinner with your hands.  Aubrey was a little freaked out by that but it was fun!  Hunter of course thought it was awesome!

I remember coming to this show when Justin and I were first married and really enjoying it.

Our medieval dinner.  It was good!

We had to get pictures with some of the cast after the show was over.  It was a really entertaining dinner show.

We loved all the costumes and the amazing horseman ship.  Pretty impressive what they can get those horses to do.

The kids loved the show and we had a wonderful evening on the Strip!