First day of school! First day of school! First day of school! Abby is officially a first grader, which means she is finally going to school ALL DAY! She has been so excited, she could hardly sleep.

One of the funnest things for her is riding the bus with her friends.


I told her that I wanted to have it be a tradition for me to drive her to school on the first day, but she said, "Mom, I always get to be with you, and I never have time for my friends." Then, I told her that if she wouldn't let me drive her, then I would follow her in the car and get out to see her line up and everything on her first day. She then told me, "I guess you just love me SO much that you have to follow me there, huh? " In which case, I replied "Yes, I do." She gave me a little smirk and said, "Well, could you love me a little less?". . . .did she seriously just say that? She thought she was pretty funny. I on the other hand was trying to deal with having a First Grader and that was not exactly what I wanted to hear.
She was so excited when she got to school and saw some of her "older friends."
Abby and her friend Ava. Both extremely excited to start school and try the whole school lunch thing.
It has been really weird having her gone all day. Carson is not quite sure what to do with himself. Put it this way, he has had a friend over every day of the week. I am not quite sure how I feel. I am so excited for her, mostly because I know how excited she is, and what a BIG thing this is in her life. I am tremendously proud of her, it has always been so easy for her to make new transitions. I am also sad to see her grow up so fast. I miss having her home with me, I am losing a huge helper at home with the boys. The other day, she came home from school, did her homework and her reading, had a snack and went off to dancing for 2 hours and when she came home it was time for bed. I felt like I didn't even see her, and I am definitely not used to that, but that won't be everyday, and I am excited for the next chapter in our lives and I look forward to many more hard, but exciting times.

(P.S. Carson will be starting pre-school very soon.)

Wow! what an amazing trip! Chad and I have not been to California since I was pregnant with Abby, and our kids have never been. So, we felt extremely lucky when Chad's parents asked us to go to San Diego. We had a great time and here is a fraction of the millions of pictures that I took.
We started off at Seaport Village. We found this crazy talented guy, who made these cute balloons for the kids. Cooper could have come home at that very moment and would have been completely fulfilled. He thought they were the coolest things ever!

Then on to Sea World of course.
I have not been to Sea World since I was really young, and I think I was more excited than the kids. This whole trip got started because Carson developed a FACSINATION with Orca's. I don't even know how it started. He loves looking at animal books and somehow he just started talking about them all of the time. To be honest with you, I didn't even know what he was talking about. What is an Orca anyway? Then, when I figured it out, I realized he was referring to Shamu (as I call all big whales).

The coolest part about Sea World was when we had dinner with Shamu. Carson definitley got to see an Orca up close! He was also amazed with everything else we saw there including the dolphins, sting rays, star fish, polar bear, penguins, and especially the sharks.


I was taking so many pictures, even Cooper had the "cheese" down packed.



Next, was The San Diego Zoo, which I have NEVER been to. I was so amazed at how beautiful it was. We saw so many amazing animals.

Carson was in little boy heaven. He just kept saying he wanted to live in San Diego, because they have so many fun places to see animals and all we have is one little zoo.

I know. . . .we're just weird.
The kids have never seen the real ocean, so we went and visited two different beaches. Abby was able to find the sea shells she had been wishing for and it was all so beautiful.

Cooper didn't realize the whole "waves thing". He just went walking out to the water, thinking he could just play peacefully, and the waves immediately swallowed him up. . . . lesson learned.



The kids did all the things you would expect at the beach. We buried Carson to his neck in sand, Abby covered her legs like a mermaid, and they ran and chased the waves for hours. After a day of fun, it was miserable cleaning up all of the sand. (yuck!)

Ok, seriously! Chad and his dad have a habit of buying and wearing the same clothes. I'm not quite sure if Chad is out-dated or Stan is just a hip dad. I don't think they even realized they were dressed alike until we were already at the beach. Like father like son.
Go Padres! Chad and I went to a Padres game on our honeymoon, when Mark Mcquire was going for the home run record. (we saw him hit #43) Now they have a new field and new uniforms. It was fun taking the kids to the game. Thanks to Kathy, Cooper stayed in to get some much needed sleep.

The most exciting part for me was when they started the game and they brought out Rickey Henderson! I used to love him! I think my brother had a poster of him with fire coming off his feet. They were honoring him for being inducted into the hall of fame. Tony Gwynn was also there.
The kids had a great time. Carson was so funny with his first bag of peanuts. He couldn't figure out how to open them, so he would just crush them on the seat until he found the nut.

It was so cool, because at the park they had a little field in the back. Chad took Abby and Carson there and they each got a turn to hit the ball and run the bases. They felt like pros.

They played the Mets and I didn't think it would be a very good game, seeing that neither team was having a good season, but it ended up being super exciting. The Padres were down by two the whole game until the bottom of the ninth inning when they hit a walk-off grand slam to win the game. The place went crazy!

We all had fun, but Carson missed the big finish and the fireworks after the game. He made it all the way back to the hotel and didn't wake up until morning. Then he was ready to go again.
And finally, Legoland. Oh the kids had a blast there! It was a little crowded, but still tons of fun. The kids loved all of the rides, and I was just amazed that almost everything in the park was made out of Legos. It was cool.

One of the funnest things was the little driving course. I think Abby did it about four times. It was really cute, with little stop signs and everything. She was trying so hard to do everything correctly. She even got a driver's license with her picture on it.

The funniest was how brave she was trying to be. She is pretty much a chicken when it comes to rides and she really tries not to be. Even at Sea World, Carson went on the big roller coaster ride and Abby wouldn't. So, at Legoland she decided to really try to be brave. She even put her hands up here, even though she was a little terrified. She got more brave as the day went on. (Carson thought it was no big deal, kinda a baby ride in his eyes)
Grandma and Grandpa were great sports, as always, having to deal with Cooper (who needed a good nap at times) while we went on rides off and on.

By the end of the night Cooper couldn't get enough of Grandpa.

We have been spoiled and have had an amazing summer. We had a great trip and we are set and ready for school to start next week.

IT'S HERE!! I am so excited that our computer is finally here and up and running. We have been pretty busy, so be prepared for a lot of pictures.
First of all, our niece and nephews were in town and everyone knows that means Grandma has a lot of fun things planned. We started with the Dinosaur park in Ogden.

The kids were all so funny. Cooper's favorite part was when a whole bunch of baby somethings were suddenly walking all around us. We think they could be quails but nobody was sure (even the park people, who eventually called in animal experts to come help the lost babies)

Next was the waterpark . . . which was surprisingly super fun.
Again, Cooper was the life of the party. He was making everyone laugh when he would run and cover his mouth as the big bucket splashed everyone.
Of course we hit the parks.

And even a park with a beach.
Obviously Cooper is not accustom to beach life. It took me twenty minutes to even get him to put his feet on the sand. I finally got him to sit and play, but he just made weird faces the whole time.
Next was the big parade! We were totally prepared in matching outfits and all.

After the parade, it was time for fireworks.

Up next. . . Stadium of Fire!

It was actually really fun! The Jonas Brothers are growing on me. Everyone really loved it. (except maybe for the girl behind us with her hands on her ears)

Abby was in 6 year old, little girl heaven! They found a group of high school girls who were screaming and dancing the whole time, and they immediately formed a bond.

Then, fast forward to this last weekend where we went with aunt Tonya's family to Bear Lake. I love that place. The kids always have so much fun and it is a nice place to get away.
Seeing that we are not huge camping people, our kids just soaked up everything about outdoor life. They talked for a week before about their plans to roast marshmallows.
We rented these fun little bikes and went for a bike ride through the town.
We also got a banana bike which is not nearly as easy as it looks. You have to steer with your feet. Apparently, I am more of a HAND- eye coordination type of person, as I barely missed a brick wall and a couple of other small obstacles.


Slushies were a MUST after all of our hard work.

At one point we were really hot, so they made a mini water park on the grass. Which worked well as a bath for Cooper. . . if you could only see the close up of his face after the long day.
Then it was BEACH DAY!
Cooper is finally getting the hang of beach life, although he didn't really want to touch the water, just make more mess.

Abby and Carson had a blast. Abby spent her time making castles and relaxing on the raft. Carson ran around and made friends with all kinds of strangers, as usual.

Cooper was exhausted most of the time, he wasn't a big fan of "tent sleeping", but hey it's the experience that matters.