not a tear was shed!!!!

THIS IS HUGE!!!! Pre school was not a fun time for either of us in the beginning, to see what I mean you can see this post and this post.

Austin started kindergarten!!! My baby, my tiny baby is now grown up enough to go away to school everyday without me? When did this happen? Seriously!!! When???

I have a feeling this year is going to be different. Austin and his cousin and best friend Abby were both lucky enough to be accepted to the same charter school which meant that get to be in the same class!!! They were going to go to American Preparatory academy down in Draper by IKEA well, they just built a new campus and it was going to be done just in time for this school year to start so we were "lucky" enough to be the family that got to start out in the new school. Well this new school is in West Valley, and quite the drive!! I didn't care though, I want to do anything to give my children a leg up in education, since we have no where close to the money that it takes for private school.

Well a week ago today, I got a call that got accepted to another charter school and this one would start on Monday, and rather than being in the afternoon kindergarten it would be morning kindergarten, best of all this one would be so much closer (if you want the name and location, just e-mail me but leaving it out for the sake of privacy from freaky weirdos)!!! I said yes, then immediately jumped online(I didn't actually jump, I was very sick in bed, so I slowly reached across the bed to my husbands nightstand and grabbed the laptop :)) to check out. This school was going to be a lot better for us for a few reasons and best of all the uniforms were pretty similar, we just had to exchange a few shirts for a different color. WHEW!!! Okay now that the back story is out of the way....

Austin and Abby started kindergarten!!! They were so excited, like Christmas eve I can't wait until Santa comes excited. We had Abby sleep over, since I will be the one taking them both to school. They woke right up, well actually they probably woke up half way through their bowl of cereal. Austin is so excited that he gets to watch Phineas and Ferb before school each morning (yes, I am a "bad mom" I let my kids watch TV first thing in the morning) it distracts them so I can do their hair and get them dressed with them not even realizing what just happened. :)

They were so excited, that they were both more than willing to have me take their pictures (so not like both of them, these two hide the second they hear the zipper on my camera bag!!!)

So in the car we went!!! Me, Chad, and Abby's big sister Ashley all climbed in the car to drop them off. We walked them to their class the first day so they knew where to go.

The kindergartners are so lucky, they get their own playground that they get to play at before school starts, it is all gated in and then the teacher comes out and gets them when it's time to come in!! Austin didn't hesitate or linger around me or Chad, he and Abby walked ahead eager to get to school and play and learn!!! I will admit I did get a little teary eyed when we were walking away. I was just thinking about how this is the beginning of him turning into a...BOY! The boy that wont kiss you in public, the boy that secretly waves goodbye as I am yelling his name waving franticly, the boy that has me park around the corner to drop him off at school, the boy that doesn't tell me about his day, the boy that would rather have a kiss on his cheek from Sally Sou Sampson than his dumb old mom, the boy that no longer wants to be tucked in at night, the boy that doesn't want to sit on my lap for story time, the boy that....WAIT!!!! He is not that boy yet, so I am going to enjoy my sweet affectionate little guy for as long as possible, and eat up every 'I love you' and hug and kiss, and that look in that eye when he sees me, that is the boy that I will always remember!!!

(Austin and his class waiting to picked up after their first day-parents couldn't get out of their cars, best pic I could get )

I love you Austin and Abby I am so proud of the both of you, you are going to learn so much this year, I am glad you have each other!!!

And their backpacks were hung by their new clothes with care...

in hopes that first school day soon would be there!!!

Austin starts kindergarten tomorrow!!! I am so happy that his cousin Abby gets to be in his same class with him!!! It is making all the difference!!! They are so excited!!!! I had Abby sleep over tonight, I bathed them, trimmed their hair, clipped their nails, painted Abby's nails, put curlers in her hair, ironed their clothes, and hung them up , and now they are currently snuggled up in bed anxiously waiting for their first day of kindergarten!!!

They met their teacher last Friday and on Saturday they had a get together with all the kids in their class at a park to meet each other before their first day of school to make it a little easier for everyone! Austin's teacher is named Mr. Matt and he has a room-mother named Miss Amy , they both seem like the ideal kindergarten teachers, so I am thrilled for all of us!!! Well, for me who normally goes to bed just before the sun rises, 7am is going to come way to early :) They have to be at school at 8:15 and we have about a 20 min. drive, so wish us luck, and good traffic to arrive on time!!!

Happy Birthday to

ME!!!!!

Oquirrh Mountain Temple

Chad and I didn't take our kids when we went to the Draper Temple open house in January. We didn't think we could keep them calm and quiet that long. And that was probably true. However we decided that we would take them to "Our Temple" is what the kids call it. Right down the street from our house, basically, and literally down the street from our old house. The kids enjoyed the golf cart ride up to the temple from the parking lot, they wanted to go on that "ride" again when we left :) Austin's favorite part of the temple was the baptismal font because of the oxen and Alyssa's was the celestial room, because it's sparkly. Austin, Alyssa and their cousins Abby and Haylie were so reverent and really enjoyed walking through the temple. My mom walks with a cane and she rode the elevator and we got separated for about 20 minutes but the kids even sat still while we were waiting, I was very impressed. The kids enjoyed their own water bottles and cookies afterward. It was an amazing experience to be in the sealing room with our kids looking into the mirrors seeing our family go on and on and on and on. I am so thankful we will be a family forever. I hope you were all able to make it through the open house. We are excited for the dedication this weekend.

The day we went it was so hot and SOOOO windy

windy doesn't even describe it, it was border line tornado :)

Our Family

Chad and Austin

My mom, Haylie and Abby being windblown

I am lucky I got these pictures, it was so windy, dresses and skirts were flying up and OH BOY!!!

As if there weren't enough people living in this house already, we go and add 240,000 more guests...

Anyone who really knows me, knows that I am terrified of bees!!! Even just thinking about them gives me the chills. Maybe it's because I have been stung 15 times...not exaggerating 15 freakin' times!!!! My first time I stepped on one, my last time it flew up my sleeve and stung my arm pit!!! WHY, do they love me so???? I think it is my scent! I am so sweet inside because of my sweet tooth and all my sugar cravings that I succumb to, so they follow me around. I now know this to be true because guess who is living on the other side of my wall, right at the head of my bed???? about 240,000 (probably less but I want to be dramatic here) of these hairy little creepy guys....woooooo, just got the chills....here is the e-mail I sent to the bee keeper of Utah guy:

Hi, My name is Kristen Spencer. And we finally figured out the noise we have been hearing in our wall are coming from bees!!! I know after reading your site, you love them BUT I am deathly afraid of them having been stung 15 times! I also have young children who play outside around the area where they appear to be entering. So I am just wondering what our next step would be? How do we get these bees out of here ASAP? This will be tricky! They are crawling in where the brick meets the soffit in a little openings where the mortar didn't get placed. On the other side of the wall is my bedroom...EEK! I am hoping it can be done, without tearing down the wall on the inside of the house, but I have no clue how this all works! If you would please give me a call or shoot me an e-mail ASAP, I would truly appreciate it!!! I can hear them now as I type, busily working in there, I am scared they are going to make their way through the sheetrock!!

and here is his response:

Thanks for the email. For starters, they won't come through the sheetrock unless you bang a hole the size of a pencil! (uh, OKAY, those nails in the wall that are currently holding picture frames better not even think about coming out)

I have a few questions. How long have they been in the house? Is it an old house or newer? It sounds like you would have to remove the drywall to fully remove them. For example, yesterday I removed one that had been there a year. The comb (this is wax with bee larvae, honey and pollen on it) extended over eight feet. I can put a one way trap on them but it will not kill the queen. The queen lays 240,000 bees a year. No matter what an exterminator says, he can't kill her. She is too protected in that fortress of theirs. The only way to get her out is physically remove her. A one way trap takes most of the bees away so that there is relatively little activity after. Just because you don't see them though, doesn't mean they are not rebuilding. The usually rebuild better time after time. I charge $50 to set a trap and it takes about a week, longer the better on them.

Let me know. I forgot my phone at that job last night so I won't have it til later.

Albert

www.UtahBeeRemoval.com

WHAT?!?!!? I was hoping they could gas the flying evil creatures!!! I know, I know SAVE THE BEES! OUR PLANET NEEDS THE BEES!!! Yes, but they don't need to be living in my wall!!! (chills again)

all I know is, every last crevice of my room, is being blocked off, and every item of mine is coming out before they tear down that wall!!! One plus is that I have a sliding glass door off the back of my room, so it should be a straight shot, but they want ME!!! So I will be sure to go out of town that day! (Chills again)

Secret Lake Hike

Finally got up and out of bed, I made a promise and my promise I will keep....

So after the doughnut falls hike went so well with the kids we figured we would try another easy hike with them! So we chose to do secret lake (also called cecret lake) it was harder than they said it would be, they described it as a stroll, and there were a few people that were on their way back down because they couldn't hack the steep rock hiking part, but not our kids...they did it!!! And I think I only heard them ask a few times if we were almost there. On our way up one of the families said they had just seen a bull moose up ahead so to be careful. I have a fear of wilderness ( I am definitely an indoor girl) so I made sure to talk loud and would clap my hands so I would scare it off before we got to it. Chad laughs at me, but I think it works :)

our little friend "squirrely"

me and the kids at the top of the "mountain" they climbed
Chad and the kids

Fearless Alyssa and her partner in crime-Haylie

When we got to the top, the lake was so pretty!!! There was this little squirrel who liked the sunflower seeds we were hiking with so it followed us around, especially the little girls who would tend to drop a lot of them. And then we think we also discovered a new species of fish! I know thats not the case but I have never seen one that looked like that. Half frog, half snake, half fish, it was weird!! My nephew Tyler was teasing that it was nessie the loch ness monster :)

We saw a big mound of snow that hadn't melted yet, so the kids played around and we had a little snowball fight. A snowball fight in July! Can you believe it??? The wildflowers were so beautiful I couldn't help but stop and take pics. even though the kids were annoyed with me :)

Austin our little explorer he loves hiking!!!

Alyssa helping her daddy :)

Ryan loves to climb to see how high he can get

Tyler liked climbing around too

Abby loving the great outdoors

Tyler and Haylie

Alyssa in the wildflowers

yes I told them to do this, thought it was cute, and it will be the last year they listen to me :)

the kids loved walking out on the rock into the lake

me and my girls

Austin looking for the new species of fish

the kiddos

gorgeous isn't it

me and my boys

me and my very patient man :)

Austin not quite mad yet at all the pics

Now he has had it

Ryan jumping on the snow mound

Alyssa with her snowball, I think she took a bite of this, oh so clean snow--YUCK!!!

I was hoping for a better pose from them :) still gorgeous though!!

Alyssa being sneaky

The kids loved playing on the way down, it took forever to come down after the hike

I thought this would make a cool pic

We made the kids carry their own camelbacks (its a waterbottle backpack thing) and boy did they drink them, GONE!!!! We had to stop at a gas station on the way home otherwise we would had some pee pee accidents :) I sure can choose them to, the gas station was the stinkiest gas station I have ever been in....woo-wee :(

Im not slacking already...

Just sick as a dog!!!! I am pretty sure I have a sinus infection, there is nothing like the throbbing pain in your sinuses when you lean forward, sideways, any way that would cause anything to shift, no, no mistaking that at all!! I am bed bound and hallelujah I have my husband and my mom to take care of the kids while I literally stay in bed all day!!! The only way I am able to type this is on the laptop other wise I would be updating this blog like crazy with pictures and stories of our summer!!! But I can't even make it to 2 feet away to sit upright in a chair :(

I would post a picture of me laying in bed, but I don't want to scare you all and have you never come back!!!

Good news though, Chad is in the shower as we speak getting ready for his job interview down at IHC! This would be a float position working 4-10 hour shifts in a Dr. Office building. and then he has his second job interview tomorrow for the other IHC job the phlebotomy training program, so hopefully one of these will be "the one"

Doughnut Falls...mmm DO-NUT (said in homer's voice)

No sadly to all of our surprise their weren't doughnuts flowing from the mountain. In fact no sign of frosting or sprinkles either!!! That's okay though, because it made the hiking we did, actually burn something :)

I have heard of the doughnut falls hike here and there throughout the years, then I finally decided to look it up on the net, and was so happy to find that it is an easy hike that even children can do!!! So we packed up the kids (our 2 and 4 of my sisters) and headed up Big Cottonwood Canyon. Chad and I were a little worried and weren't quite sure how this was going to go with 6 kids ranging from 2-10 years old, luckily they shocked and amazed us!!! No whining, crying, complaining, NOTHING!!!! Hallelujah!!!

We actually got to the falls quickly and thought there was more to the hike, so there appeared to be a man made bridge going across the river/stream thingy, so yes, yes we did. Chad and I got all of the kids across this river, without any of us getting wet!!! Only to find that, the whole thing was completely unnecessary because the only hiking that could be done beyond that would be rock climbing. So there we went rock climbing with the kids, JUST KIDDING!!! YA RIGHT!!! No we did get some cool pics, and Chad waited down with the kids while I climbed up to the doughnut rock, and then I did the same so he could. And then back across the stream/river thing we went, and still no one got wet!!! Amazingly so, because I am the clumsiest person I know, when I am trying NOT to be clumsy. If I am not trying I am just fine, but when I TRY I end up falling and tripping and dropping things all over the place. Well, if you haven't tried the hike, definitely go, and take your kids!!!

The boys doing what boys doing best, throwing rocks into water :)

Our Hike Leader

Our "bridge" we made across

Our family

The Diva....AKA Alyssa

The Scientist....AKA Austin

The trouble makers, AKA, Ryan, Tyler, Abby, Haylie, Austin and Alyssa