A new "Bee"ginning

Today was the first day of school.  I don't know where summer went, but it went fast!  In preparation for the first day of school, last night I gave the kids their back to school book that has kind of become a tradition.  I found the perfect book this year which really spoke to me as a parent about letting go of control (a little...I am still a control freak).  Pete the Cat Too Cool For School talks about how being yourself is cool.  Super cute book.

This morning I saw the cutest exchange happening while I was making breakfast and overheard these two in bed discussing what the day might be like...they were speculating on what their teacher's might be like.  Pretty funny stuff!

We started off with breakfast and some encouraging thoughts for the day.

I cannot believe we made it to fourth grade already...fourth grade!

And check out our little miss second grade diva.  Yes, this is where I let go and let her pick out her first day of school outfit all by herself...trust me I questioned this look many times.  Me: "Are you sure this looks good?"  Her :"No, it looks awesome!"

I packed lunches with more encouraging notes.  Getting the theme here?  "I Hope your having a Bee-utiful day, and remember to Bee yourself!"

 Before we knew it we were re-entering those squeaky blue doors.

Chase could not wait to get to class and see his friends.  This is his new teacher Ms. Bailey.  I think he was nervous because she's so pretty :)

Sadi was a bit more hesitant to go to class.  Her new teacher, Mrs. Elliott.

Dinner time this year was a bit different, Matt had to work all night but called to see how the kids first day was, and although Kelsey wasn't here she called while I was making dinner and told me about her first day of college (kinda strange not to hear about high school).  For that fact since it was just me and the little ones I kept dinner simple and got to hear ALL about their day.

Of course there was an un"bee"lievable dessert.  Edible bees made from Twinkies.

We talked about what they learned, who they sat by, and what was their best part of the day.  They also filled out little cards that said what they wanted to "bee" when they grow up.

How do you know when it was the best school day ever?  When they both wrote that when they grow up they want to be a TEACHER! 

Packing up and Moving out...

Moving day was today.  For the past few weeks Kelsey has been packing up her room and getting ready to move out.  It was a little weird to see that closet so empty.

Kelsey was accepted into the Nevada Fit program which allows her to move in one week early and have a boot camp type college week.  She even has homework due tonight.  She and one of her roommates both were accepted into this program so she won't be all alone. Today we got up super early to make the move. 

 This is the dorm she will call home for the next 9 months.  It actually is I think one of the nicest dorms on campus.

This is one of the few times it is really beneficial to have so many kids because more hands means less loads.  It was a bit of a wait for the elevator.  Some of them complained "it was to heavy".  You can tell by this pic which one was carry those "heavy" pillows. It was funny to see some of the things kids have their parents hauling up for them.

Her dorm is actually pretty spacious (well for 3 people).  We helped her lift her bed and helped her unpack in her new home.  Sadi and Chase were having a little too much fun playing under those high beds.

 Matt helped her get all set up with the Internet.

We got to meet one of her roommates Jeni and her parents.  She is a really cute girl, and I hope these two get to be great friends.

 And soon it was time to say goodbye. 

I know she going to have the time of her life and as I saw her tears I reminded her were just a phone call away.

I really hope she takes advantage of this opportunity to embrace college life and all it has to offer.  Good luck baby girl!

Back to School Night

This past week we had back to school night...what?!  Where did the summer go?  We loaded up on $8,000 in school supplies...okay I may be exaggerating a little.  Does anyone else feel that list gets longer and more specific every year?  I mean do we really need 150 boxes of tissue and 100 bottles of hand soap...hand soap?!  Anyway we bought it all, and bought the biggest baskets I could find to fill them up which didn't even fit everything for Chase who needed more "classroom supplies".

 

The kids were anticipating which teacher they would get.  Sadi had her heart set on one specific teacher...who she did not get, but her BFF did.  Yeah the morning started in tears, but once we met her I think she got a little more excited.  She will be starting 2nd grade in Mrs. Elliott's class.  I don't know much about her, last year was her first year at Riverview but she seems very excited.

Chase was really excited when he read the class list about all the friends he was going to have in his class...until he realized he read the wrong roster and he wasn't in that class.  Chase got the new teacher...not too surprising, if there's a new teacher my kids ALWAYS get them.  She is young (like just graduated from UNR last spring).  He's pretty excited that his teacher is so "pretty"...ahh you know were still teasing him about that slipping out.

She seems like she is excited to be teaching..I am hesitantly optimistic about both teacher's.  I remember how excited I was last year and was let down.  I am hopeful they will both have a great school year.  Here we go again!

Fun in Utah

Although it was a quick weekend trip up to Salt Lake we made sure to pack in a ton of fun.  We stayed with Grandma and Grandpa Smith and luckily cousin Tori is right next door!  She offered to watch my kids while I went to my reunion.  This girl is THE BEST.

I do not know how she did not get completely tired of my kids (seriously).  She played board games all day with them.  Chase found this old Stratego game and he could not get enough of it.

She even suffered through Monopoly with both of them...TWICE.  Do you know how long that game is?  Now pretend you are playing with a whining turtle.  That is what playing with my kids is like.

We busted out the old record player and played some of the old songs we used to make up dances to, does anyone else remember chicken fat?  That is so fun.

They both enjoyed listening to the stories on record too.

We took a trip one afternoon down memory lane...seriously "The Lane".  This is the road I used to ride my bike.  It has definitely changed.

We found some beautiful bushes lining the road, along with a ton of those red and black spotted bugs.  We used to call them fire bugs?  Chase said when you squish them they ooze green....okay.

It was kind of sad to see some of the old trees chopped back from the roadway.  As a kid I remember these shading the lane.

This is the field behind my parents that they are in the process of selling.  It will be sad to go back and see houses where we used to play in the alfalfa and play hide and seek.

This old milk house is still standing as well, where my Dad's aunt and uncle used to milk the cows.

My kids picked some of what was left of the alfalfa and took back to feed little red (the wild bunny my sister caught in her yard).

The last night we were in town we got together with everyone who was in town for a family dinner.  It was fun for my kids to see their cousins...even Jake was good enough to spend time tossing the ball with them.

Most everyone who lives there was able to make it.  We missed having everyone there.  Pretty good age gaps too...from 22 to 6.

I missed having Matt there, but it was nice to see my siblings and their spouses.

Just like our get togethers in the mountains it rained on our party, and so we all huddled in the garage until it let up.  Luckily it didn't last too long.

The next day we headed home and I was wishing like I always do that drive home was just a little bit shorter.

Flashback 1994

Last weekend I headed to Utah for my huh hum...20 year high school reunion.  What?!  It feels more like 5.  I hadn't planned to go because Matt and Kelsey both had to work and I didn't really feel like making the journey alone, but one of my besties (Diana Francis) from school texted me just a week before and said her hubby couldn't go and wanted me to be her date.  The closer it came, the more excited I got to see her (although we e-mail occasionally we haven't seen each other since Kelsey was like 2).  She was traveling down from Montana with her two boys.  We met up the afternoon before the first night's shindig, and it was just like old times. 

Then we were off to the park for the family night reunion.  These were my dates for the night.....

Getting there wasn't as easy as it sounded, we got stuck in traffic for a good 40 minutes on the freeway...I DO NOT miss this part of being back home.

We weren't actually sure once we arrived that we were at the right place, because there were so few people there...however there were a TON of kids, so I was pretty sure it had to be right.  I got to catch up with quite a few friends including this girl (Melissa Yeaman) who we reminisced about ditching school all the time to go to breakfast, even getting busted by her parents once while sitting in a restaurant.  We spent so many weekends in the summer water skiing together, her family was like a second family to me.

This was the majority of us that made it out with our families.  So weird to see so many familiar faces and find out what they all have been doing since 1994...one of these faces is even a bishop!

Saturday night was the official Reunion, and had a much better turn out.  It was held downtown Salt Lake City at the Little America hotel.  My friend and I got a room for the night so we could party all night like the old days.  It was interesting to see who showed up (many I didn't think would), and those who didn't (those I was sure would come).  There were a lot of faces that I did not recognize, but they remembered me...does that make me shallow?  I was constantly asking my friend "who was that?"  The girl on the left here was like a photo bomber...the whole weekend.  She kind of latched on to us and never left.  Neither of us really remembered her..again she remember us.  The girl on the far right (Tiffany Bawden) was a friend for a long time, we both had kids within days of each other and we talked about how they both just graduated this year...crazy!

We had dinner, found out who had the most kids, still lives close to home, who traveled the farthest, etc.  Then we broke into teams and played some games that was hilarious!   Each game gave the teams points.  I won the contest for our team in hula hooping...yup, still got it.  Fun to see who could still have fun including this guy (Rob Young).

There was lots of reminiscing about who did what, who dated who, and who looked good, and who didn't.  Notice that photo bomber again in all my photos?

I went to elementary school with this girl (Charlene Springer), she always had the LONGEST hair and super blond.  Funny to see her with short dark hair. 

This girl (Christie Montoya) lived by me growing up and we also did gymnastics together in middle school.  She married her high school sweetheart and you may even recognize her as being on America's Funniest Videos (they won the 100 grand).  I remember watching that episode with the kids and saying "I know her!"

This (Rochelle Butler) was my college roommate the first year of college.  We reminisced on all the stupid things we did (and I threatened I had pictures of most of them).  She always wanted 10 kids...she ended up with 2.  How the crap did I have more kids than her?

This (Jared Kilgore) was our MC for the night.  We also spent a lot of time together not going to class.  He was the fastest running back ever for G.H.S.  He now coaches pee wee football and says he hates it!

It was a fun night including dancing to all the old hits from the 90's.  I was glad we decide to spend the night at the hotel.  I had brought my old yearbook and also set up a memory table in our hotel room for us with some of our old dance photos.  We laughed at ourselves..and others.  It was fun to reminisce high school days.

We looked up people we couldn't remember, and those we did.  We pulled an all nighter just like back in the day, and laughed ourselves silly...ahh those were the days!  Miss you already buddy!