First Day of School

Today was the first day of school. ZMan is starting 4th grade and Princess Izzybee is starting 2nd grade. As much as the kids were dreading the end of summer they were excited for school to start. I make them pancakes for breakfast and then I made them pose for a few pictures. It's tradition for them to ride to school on their bikes on the first day with Daddy which is one of their favorite things. The Doodle was so sad to not be able to stay at school with the kids, she has no one to play with.

Camping

Last week we decided to take one last camping trip as a family before school started. We left right after Princess Izzybee's birthday party and headed for the mountains. It was so nice to be away together as a family, away from work and cell phones for a break for a few days. The kids had lots of fun fishing and canoeing. They couldn't get enough of the lake, canoe and fishing. I enjoyed reading my book and relaxing. We drove in just in time for Back to School Night on Thursday. Now we are home and school starts tomorrow, bummer.

Princess Izzybee's Birthday Party

This year I made jumbo cupcakes instead of ordering a store birthday cake. Of course they were too big and the kids couldn't finish their cupcakes.




We gave Princess Izzybee a new Fancy Nancy book, Fancy Nancy: Explorer Extraordinaire! and a Fancy Nancy doll along with Frency, Fancy Nancy's dog. We love Fancy Nancy at our house.

This is The Doodle after eating a chocolate cupcake.


We had Princess Izzybee's birthday party the same day as her birthday. She had a swimming party with some of her cousins and friends and had a good time. Princess Izzybee loved all her gifts and had a lot of fun. It's so fun to watch the kids get so excited about their birthdays and gifts.

Happy 7th Brithday Princess Izzybee

Sunday Stuff

Last weekend Princess Izzybee spent with her cousins Sam and Danni. Monday they came to stay with us for a few days and then Friday Princess Izzybee went back to Logan with them. They will bring her home tomorrow when they come down for her birthday party. I'm sure Princess Izzybee is loving having the girls to play with and spend time with. I think this will be their last long get together since school starts in a week.

Tomorrow Princess Izzybee turns 7. I can't believe my sweet girl is 7, she growing up so fast. She is having family and friends come over for swimming. After her party we are heading up camping somewhere so I have a ton to do in the next 24 hours to get ready. I'm baking cupcakes now for her party.

At the end of last week we were trying to figure out how we could go camping, go to Yellowstone, go to Lagoon, go to Lava Hot Springs all before school started. Oh yay, we have jobs, doctor's appointments and a few family functions plus school starts in a week. Finally we settled on a camping trip for a few days with just us and we are looking forward to it. We have so many things we want to do, just not enough time to do it all.

I'm not ready for school to start but we have to start getting the kids prepared for bedtimes, get up times and homework. Ugg!

We are having a......

We are for sure having a baby but the little peanut wouldn't cooperate and kept it's little legs together. The ultra sound tech thinks it may be a girl but was only about 70% sure. Bummer.

And the winner is.....

Randy is an avid watcher of the local TV show At Your Leisure. At Your Leisure is a program about the things families like to do outdoors so Randy Tivo's it every Sunday and faithfully watches it. They have a contest where you you place an AYL window sticker on your vehicles, ATV and trailer where it can be spotted. You can also email a picture of your vehicles with the stickers, if they spot your vehicle they will read your license plate number on the show and you have one week to call and claim your prize. This past week they showed a picture of Randy's suburban with the AYL sticker and the host commented that not only had Randy emailed the picture but Randy had also passed him on the freeway so he saw the burb twice and Randy won this weeks prize. Yay for Randy!!

Our prize includes a one night stay at the Holiday Inn Express (they have ATV garages right on the property for storing your ATV's which makes it easy to ride directly from the Holiday Inn right out onto the beautiful riding trails of St. George, Utah) And a day of golf which includes the cart at the beautiful award winning Sand Hollow Resort. Exciting!

Randy called today to claim our prize and they asked if we would come down to the studio so they could film our family. The kids are all very excited about this and of course so is Randy. I don't want to be on TV but I will be a good sport and just try to have fun. ZMan is so excited because he suddenly thinks we are famous.

Sunday Update

I can't believe how fast the summer is flying by. School starts in 3 weeks and I'm not ready for the kids to go back. I'm not ready for early bed times, early rising, homework, projects and structure. I've enjoyed the summer with the kids and love having them home, even if it gets crazy at times.

Princess Izzybee and I started school shopping this past week. I took her with me to pick out some new clothes and school supplies. She loves shopping and had fun. I still have more shopping and found some good sales this past week online at Children's Place but I'm happy I've started. ZMan could care less about the clothes he has as long as he gets to pick out his new backpack.

This past week the kids finished their classes through Centerville City. For the most part they really enjoyed them, ZMan especially loved golf and archery and Princess Izzybee really loved her cooking class. Last night we even made the "mini pizzas" that her class made and the kids loved them. I'm not if I will sign them up for as much next year because sometimes it was challenging to squeeze some family and cousin stuff in due to classes.

We have our ultrasound on the 11th and I'm anxious to know if we are having a boy or girl. ZMan wants a boy and Princess Izzybee is hoping for a girl. I think we've got a girl name picked but we haven't even discussed boy names. If it's a girl we are thinking of Ruby (after my mom) so the kids think if it's a boy we should name him Max after the silly cartoon on Nick Jr. Max and Ruby. Anyway we will update you when we know if it's a boy or girl.

This past week Randy's aunt in Idaho passed away. The funeral is tomorrow in Pocatello so we are leaving early in the morning to drive up. I've never met this aunt although I met a few of her kids at our wedding. Even thought funerals are sad it's always nice to see family members and catch up so I'm looking forward to meeting more of Randy's extended family and hearing family stories.

We still have a few camping trips we are trying to squeeze in before school starts so we'll see how we do. Randy, Allen and our wonderful EQ president finished up with that awful Cottonwood Tree from next door yesterday. Now we just need people to haul off wood. I'm so glad it's finished but I think Randy it happier, no more "cotton snow" in our pool and backyard.