It's that time again!

Where did the Summer go? Where did my babies go? The old cliche, "They grow up so fast" is truer every year. Grant started 5th grade this year. A whole new school (they have Intermediate School here for 5th and 6th) and 4 new teachers. Eliza started 2nd grade and tells me she can't wait to make new friends. It was definitly a bitter sweet morning for me. Just another sign that my kids won't stay little for long.

I am in love with his blonde locks!

They look so grown up here to me.

First day of school outfits:

Grant insisted on black high top converse (we could only find low top in his size) and of course Grant's signature piece, a Star Wars shirt.

Eliza planned out her outfit and hair ("two braids, wrapped into buns with pink bows) weeks ago. She even decorated her lunch bag with all sorts of girlish designs and swirls.

I know a lot of Mom's pick out their kids clothes each day for school. Some day's I wish they would wear what I pick out for them too, but I think it's important to let kids express themselves (within reason of course)so I rarely intervene when it comes to what my kids choose to wear. I actually love that Grant and Eliza have their own individual styles, and try to nurture that. For example, even though none of Grants friends own a pair of converse he was set on owning a high top black pair (unfortunatly we never found any in his size, so he settled for low top) We took him shopping at the mall and offered to get him some popular "name brand" shirts. He wanted nothing to do with them, which I was actually quite pleased with. He said he thought it looked stupid to have the word, "abercrombie" written across the front (not that we shop there, but there was a huge sale). I was actually happy that he didn't care for it, and even though Star Wars shirts aren't MY first choice, they are SO Grant and in a contest with Abercrombie, I'm glad Star Wars wins.

And look who I get to spend my days with. My two best little buddies. It's like having Grant and Eliza all over again.

And just for fun, here is a picture of them with clothes on. They are not ALWAYS half naked you know.

Happy First day of School Y'all!

Happy Birthday Z!

Zachary turned 4 this week! He is such a spirited, fearless, and bright child with a personality bigger than he is. He is always amazing me, whether it's doing a 100 piece puzzle by himself or learning how to swim like a fish at age 3! It's never dull when he's around. Happy Birthday ZZ, I LOVE you!! Zachary and his best friend Scott. He only wanted 4 people to come to his party. Scott (a 16 yr old), and three girls, Maddy, Ella, and Reese. So we decided to invite all of the families to celebrate with us.

We had loads of fun. We opened presents. I asked him what he wanted for his birthday, He said all he wanted was a knife. ; )

We played games in the yard.

Went swimming.

And what pirate party would be complete without a treasure hunt?

With some pirate booty at the end. It was a great day! Love you ZZ!

Top 10 things to do with my Family in California...

#1: Lake Tahoe! of course is one of our favorite family traditions! There is actually 15 people missing from this photo. It's NEVER boring with my family, and that's the way we like it! Let the craziness begin!Heads up!

Kim and our real life carebear, Lyla

Grandpa and Grandma always holding a baby
Teddy and Dolly

All Aboard!

The two platinum blonde's!

William and his beach buddy

Bella, James, Stephanie and Amy

Eliza, Naomi and Rowan striking a pose!

Kim and Sean

Jonathon, taking the 10th load of kids out for a ride in the boat

Grant and Heather two peas in a pod

Bathing Beauties, Merry and Jessica

The babies and the baby whisperer, Carl

The cutest group of babies ever!

#2: Go to Grandma Leen's for play day and how can I forget, Granddaughter's Day! (only my cousins, sister in law's and sisters can fully appreciate this statement)

#3: Playing with the cousins and Uncles from sun up till sun down!
The little brother Joseph never had

Up in the Apple Tree

#4 Walk. Sounds funny, but we really do just love to go out for a walk. Either around the circle driveway or the entire driveway. It is amazingly beautiful where my parents live. We all took turns walking a total of what seemed like 100 miles with this wagon. It was Ruby's most favorite thing to do at Grandmas. We couldn't ever get her out of that thing!

#5: take over the whole McDonald's play place at least once

#6: Go to the Sacramento Temple with my Mom!

#7: Sit around the living room and just talk!
#8: Go See a movie in the Placerville Theater with my Dad. He's a real movie buff these days. (Can't say I blame him after raising 13 children and only going to the theater a handful of time in 20 years) So it's a real treat to go with him. This time, since the movie we all wanted to see was Toy Story 3, all the kiddo's came along too!

playing outside the theater

#9: Go hiking, to the river, or both. Here we are on top of Lovers Leap.

#10: Big family dinner at my parents house with Everyone who can make it. My Dad makes the Best Roast Beef, mashed potatoes and he his famous for his Salad. (Sorry, no picture of this grand event)

Back in the car we go, next stop...Utah!

Total "Eclipse" of the Heart!

I've never been to a midnight showing of any movie before. I was actually afraid I might fall asleep so I stalked up on all my favorite candies just in case. My sister Bonny had set up this evening months in advance, and I was excited to spend the whole night with my crazy awesome sisters. I obviously had NO idea what to expect. We got to the theatre and there was a mad swarm of Vampire/Wolf loving girls young and old surrounding the theatre. Some girls were sitting on the ground with their blankets and pillows like they had been there for hours (which of course they had) some had homemade T-shirts and glitter on their faces (that would be us) You had to practically walk over girls to get inside the theatre. Luckily, my sweet sister Bonny and sister in law Jessica got there early to save us seats, so the rest of us only had to be there 2 hours early... I've never heard of such a thing! Little did I know the joys of sitting in a theatre with a bunch of giddy girls obsessed with the cheesy, highly addictive love triangle of a vampire, werewolf and a girl who loves them both! I'm getting excited just thinking about it ; )

All 6 sisters. Bonny, Amy (from Utah), Dolly (dressed up for the event), Jenny (from Oregon), Merry, and Me.

What do you do for two hours waiting for a movie to start?? You act like a total moron and take pictures of yourself and then laugh your head off. I love how our glitter looks more like drool, or sweat in the pictures.
Aawooo! Team Jacob shot. Notice our awesome t-shirt with barbie figures of Edward, Bella, and Jacob that my sister Bonny lovingly made.

Our Bella impression. Not good, I know.

One of our many vampire shots.

Merry, being merry, she's always cracking everyone up. Jenny was such a sport to come. Bonny and I had her watch New Moon the night before to catch her up on what was going on (she had no desire to see the first movie) and it was like watching Mystery Science Theater 3000 with her. She made fun of it he the whole time, I couldn't stop laughing, she was so hilarious. I did however make sure I wasn't sitting next to her during Eclipse ; )

My cousin Stephanie joined us that night. Amy and I thought our Vampire make-up was pretty good until we saw Stephanie. Look, she even has Yellow contacts. She was the Woman of the night! She brought ice cream and soda's for all.

My beautiful sister in law Jessica and my brother Willy! I think there was about 200 girls to every guy. He took it like a man and whooped and hollered like the rest of us!

Another Vampire shot. We got pretty good at looking scary.

The night was one of the most enjoyable nights I've ever had with my sisters. We didn't go to bed until 4am that night. Can't wait till next time!