First Day of School

The girls were so excited to go back to school today. Almost as excited as I was! Just kidding. Although, it will be nice to get back on some kind of scedule and hopefully my house will stay clean a little longer. Ha Ha! Madison started fourth grade, Ashlyn second grade, and Kennedy started Kindergarten. I can't believe it! She seems so much younger than Madison and Ashlyn were. I guess she wont be five until October, but still. She's kind of just in her own little world. She is very smart, but kind of just does her own thing. I'm hoping she'll pay attention in class.

Kennedy with her new back pack. It's almost as big as she is! We had Kindergarten round up yesturday where she got to meet her teacher and see her classroom. At dinner last night she informed me that I didn't need to walk her to her classroom, that she could go all by herself, since she knows where her classroom is now. :(

I told her I was still planning on taking her. (and she let me,so that was good.)

Kennedy with her teacher, Mrs. Petroni

Ashlyn's teacher this year, Mrs. Haydn-Myer was Madison's second grade teacher too. Ashlyn was excited about that.
Madison's teacher this year is Mr. Eismen. I have heard alot of good things about him. Madison was excited to get him. He is at a conference and wont be at school the first week, so that is a bummer. But at least she was able to meet him when we were checking to see who their teachers were. He happened to be in the classroom doing some work. He seems really fun. Her friend Katie Dunlop from church is in her class this year too. So that will be fun for her.








Kennedy has such a fun little class. There are six kids from our ward and then Corbin and Tyce Kerr from the other ward. We had a few connections. Thank you Shelly! Corbin, Tyce, and Kennedy


Grant and Kennedy



Chloe Kerr and Ashlyn


Ashlyn lucked out and got two of her friends from church in her class this year.
Chloe Kerr, Natalia Loosli, and Ashlyn (with her eyes closed) oops!

Our Trip to Utah. . . NOW BOARDING!

Usually when we make our trip out to Utah Rob drives out with us, gets a round trip ticket so he doesn't miss too much work, flies back out, and drives us home. This year we tried something a little different. As we were planning our trip and looking at flights for Rob, we noticed that there wasn't going to be that much difference between the cost for us to fly or drive with gas prices the way they are. Especially when you consider the worth of NOT driving in the car with 5 kids for 12 hours (each way). So Rob sacrificed his trip to Utah to work on the wood floors, but we didn't tell the girls we were going to fly. The girls were really bummed when they found out that Rob wasn't going to be going to Utah with us. They kept saying it wouldn't be as much fun without him there (which he totally ate up!) and they were really concerned about him being sad about getting left behind, but he kept telling them that if they were good and would be happy, he would give them a surprise before they left that would make their trip "go by really fast". They had been pestering us for a couple of years about wanting to go on an airplane. We didn't tell them until the morning we left. We gave them each a boarding pass in an envelope - they were SO excited!

Saying goodbye to daddy for 18 days! :(Madison had the hardest time with leaving Rob behind. Here she is when we got to our gate already on the phone with Dad.
Madison and Ashlyn were really great about helping me keep track of Kennedy and Mckinlee, and keeping Jaxton happy. With two strollers and a car seat, I was really glad I had their help.

Keeping Mckinlee entertained was a challenge!Jaxton, always a perfect angel flying. This was his third airplane ride!
We made it! Defininately the way to go!
We've spoiled ourselves on all future trips to Utah!

A work in progress...

Rob and I decided we were going to attempt to put in hard wood floors ourselves. I got a little anxious and just wanted that carpet out of there. So, we decided we would get a head start on all the prep work so we would be all ready to glue when the wood came. I can't believe we started ripping our carpet out and taking the baseboards off before we even bought the wood. I didn't realize it would be two weeks before we would actually get the wood! We were told it would be a couple of days! The first week of living on concrete floors wasn't too bad, but after that it got a little old. Laying our first row... It was very exciting!!
Just cruising along... We were trying to get as much done together as we could before I left for Utah.We had lots of little helpers!

MCR Night with the Stockton Ports

*Sorry, I'm back tracking a little here. There was a couple of things I wanted to post before our trip to Utah, but wasn't able to because of our computer crashing.

Each year Rob's work buys tickets and invites the employees with their families to dinner at a Stockton Ports baseball game. We all made it out this year, and had a great time (even though it's the Minors). The girls were especially impressed with the Ports Mascot (what is that, anyways?)

Last day of dance

Madison and Ashlyn's last day of dance before summer vacation. Even Ashlyn, Kennedy and Mckinlee got to participate in Madison's Jazz and ballet class! Good thing they have such a fun ,easy going teacher because I couldn't keep them off the dance floor. It definitely made it a lot less stressful for me for the two hours.

Lots of catching up to do!!

I have so much to post I don't even know where to start! My computer crashed about a month ago and I finally just got it back this week. That's my main excuse. Also it's been a busy summer, we've had lots going on. Hopefully I'll find time to update soon. We just got back from a three week stay in Utah. So, sorry if I get a bit carried away with posting pictures. I love taking pictures!

Look what I can do!

Jaxton started sitting up all on his own last Sunday. He's growing up way too fast!

Who needs TOYS!!

Kennedy and Mckinlee had so much fun playing with this box. It kept them entertained longer than any of their toys ever have!

5 Months old

Oops! I forgot to publish this post!

Lovin the water

We went swimming at Don and Carla Valk's the other day (first time this season) and Jaxton just loved being in the water. This was his first experience in the swimming pool and he loved every minute!

Honor roll

We're quite proud of our Miss Madison. She got straight A's on her final report card and made the honor roll. Way to go Madison!

3rd Grade Choir Performance

Madison was selected to be in the third grade choir this year and has really enjoyed it. This was their last performance. This was one of the songs they sang.

Hooray for Madison!

Madison passed off all 13 Articles of Faith today! Not only did she have to recite them, but she had to explain the meaning of each one. I'm not sure I could do that! I was very proud of her.

A Birthday at our house

Ashlyn turned 7 today! (5/17)

Events of the day:

1. purple pancakes

2. swimming all day

3. dinner at her favorite restaurant,

Panda Express

4. cake and ice cream with family!

*Grandma Betty was sick last Monday on her

B-day, so we had a combined Birthday.

I think Ashlyn was a little exhausted from

swimming all day. She fell asleep on the way

to dinner!

Ashlyn in her new church outfit. I thought she looked so cute and grown up. Thank you Megan for the cute head wrap and flower!