First day of school! First day of school!

Gavin has been asking and asking if he could be home schooled. At first I would just LAUGH HYSTERICALLY, but after a while I realized he was kinda serious. I couldn't get any answers from him as to why the sudden interest in torture--I mean, time together-- but I'm pretty sure it is just nerves. I tried the excuse my parents gave Shannon when she asked why she couldn't have her own room as a kid, "Sorry, but in heaven, when they asked if you would rather have your own room or brothers and sisters, you chose brothers and sisters." My version, "Sorry, but in heaven, when you were choosing your mother, you chose a slightly crazy, very unorganized mother instead of a high energy, skinny, overachieving one." He has to learn early that CHOICES MATTER! :) Anyway, he's ok. Just nerves.

To help the situation, I thought I would make things really fun and have a big super party to get everyone excited for school--kinda like the Nie Nie Dialogues lady does every year. I had HUGE EXPECTATIONS, but like I said, I'm slightly crazy and very unorganized, so my version ended up being not so cool--and kinda anti-climactic, and not quite like I was imagining it would be.

First up: Fall harvest dinner! Grilled zucchini & squash, grilled chicken, corn on the cob and fresh, yummy bruschetta! In my dream world, everything would be from my own garden. Reality was the vegetable stand down the street. The beautiful decorations never made it past the planning stages. Aunt Amber came for dinner and to braid the girls hair so it would be CRILLY--not curly--it's crilly at our house. (Check out the nerves taking over Gavin--poor kid.)Next up: FASHION SHOW! Aunt Tiffy hooked these guys up with a BUNCH of new school clothes. I thought it would be fun for them to strut their stuff and put on a show for us....apparently, I was the only one who thought so. I did talk them into at least putting on their first day of school outfits, but I was too frustrated to take a picture.

Next up: FHE & back to school blessings. This actually turned out great. Nothing like the spirit to change a bad mood. Kesley did say that instead of helping her, her blessing actually made her more nervous!

This morning went pretty good. I ignored Gavins outbursts and knew he was just trying to let out a little of the tornado of nerves going on inside of him. He wouldn't let me get a picture of him until we were IN FRONT of the school...and even then...School is in. It's going to be a good year!

No excuses...the fact is--I'm just lazy

Summer is winding down fast. I keep thinking I will catch up with some posts, but who makes the time? I'm not busy-- just really, really lazy. So, here's my catch up report in pictures.

Aunt Tiffy came down for the day! We grabbed cute cousins McKay & Cy and headed up to Payson Lakes for the afternoon. Tiffy brought her raft--which took an hour to blow up and then had a hole in it so it started sinking fast! I did manage to get one picture before they unloaded from their .03 second ride.I tried to make Gavin & McKay jump off this fishing dock thing. It was about a 15ft jump and it didn't seem like it was a big deal--that is until you were in this position considering a jump. I will admit that after this picture was taken, I climbed back over the rail and never did make the plunge! I was extra proud when Gavin became the first one to brave the jump...I knew he was SCARED OUT OF HIS MIND and only trying to show off for bigger cousin McKay. :)Cy, Kesley & Jenna

Summer boredom is taking over--we've had an AWESOME summer, but we are kinda at the "been there, done that" phase. These cups occupied one whole morning--and Jenna, well, she apparently had a little itch right at the moment I took the picture...didn't catch that.

Jenna & Kesley enjoying an afternoon rainstorm in their super cute rain gear ala Aunt Amber!

School starts next week. I haven't felt this way until the last few days, but BRING ON SCHOOL DAYS!--minus the homework. :(

South Fork bash

How is it already August and this is the first cousin South Fork venture? Summer is flying by at warp speed. I think we had all the cousins, except for Lauren and Christian. Lot's o kids--makes for lots o pictures. I never said I was a great photographer--and I don't have a super nice camera--but I hope these give you a flavor of our day.

I have to post this short video of Jake diving for rocks first. Love this dog.


Here is a picture of all the monkeys--I mean kids first. I'm not sure if everyone is in the pictures, but I had to snap fast because we were LOOSING em fast!

Side 1

Side 2

Our home base for the afternoon

Max

Kesley, Megan & Mellissa

Dan & his snazzy new braces

Mercedes with her new earrings!
Shannon (who is having baby #6 next week!) Aaron & Timmy
Kyle & Jamison

Katherine & Kiera

Issac on a mission

Jenna, Kiera & Paige

The Three Stooges--otherwise known as: Kyle, Eli & Jamison

Ian

Jacob--stud! always taking care of the littles--

The TWEENS--Allison, Grace & Adria

Mellissa & Rebecca

Tanner Dude

Mary & waking up Issac

Jenna taking pictures with my cell phone

Liz wit Ashton & Mercedes

Julia, Rachel and Heather (you'll notice Heathers fancy new "SWOOP" bangs

Jamison, Kyle, Kevin, Jacob & Gavin

Kevin all grown up

Katherine bustin out the bubbles

Naomi

The perfect summer day--minus the Hindu Tourist attack

It's been years since I have been up Payson Canyon. I have memories of camping at Payson Lakes, only to be awakened by COWS roaming through camp at midnight. I really don't even remember ever seeing the lake. Yesterday my friend, Holly, called and we jumped at the chance to head up Payson canyon with them for the day. We had A BLAST and, yes, we did see quite a few wild cows.

This place is called The Grotto. Totally cool place that was only a 10 minute hike to get to. Jenna wasn't very excited when I said we were hiking to a waterfall--memories of the 4 mile trail of tears to Stewart Falls, I suppose. She said, "Is it just going to be ASPENS and ASPENS and ASPENS and ASPENS???" You can't really see how cool it was in this picture. It was a little cave in the middle of nowhere. Like something you would see in The Count of Monte Cristo.

All the kids (minus miles)

After a bus load (or so it seemed) of Hindu tourists arrived, we decided to keep driving up the canyon to Payson Lakes. Neither of us had been up there for years and we thought it would be fun to go hike around and eat a snack...or two. When we got there and saw how AWESOME the lake was, and how much fun people were having swimming in it, we stripped the kids down to their skivvies and let them have at it! They had the time of their lives with nothing but a big log. Next time we will come prepared with swimming suits and maybe even a raft...SO FUN!
We ended the day at my house with hot dogs, corn on the cob & watermelon. It was a perfect summer day.

As requested...

Blogging blues. Same stuff--another day--why post?

Kesley saved the day. She is begging me to post this video she just made with Jenna. It is her big film debut and apparently, Jenna's directorial debut--Thanks Amber for helping them both get started out on the right track with some pretty snazzy equipment! I'm sure this will be the first of many...

I did it....now please, PLEASE do not let me run into one of these people...

I just deleted 50 people from my facebook friends...just did it...not sure how I feel. Liberated? Not sure. Now I only have 102 friends--and some of them are still questionable--the others are mostly family. What does that say about me? Am I a looser? Kind of. I guess I'm ok with that.

But, I finally showed all those stupid popular girls who's boss...right?

Old friends

There is a saying that goes something like, "You can't make new, old friends." I am TERRIBLE at keeping in touch with people. This week I have been able to reconnect with an old favorite mission companion--I am lucky enough to have two (You were missed, Mary!) and my two best friends from high school. I love that no matter how long it's been, it always feels the same. You can't just make a new friend that you have known for--20--or in Chrissy's case 30 years!!

Chrissy, Marianne & Me

I like this picture because we are all laughing at the absolute mayhem that is going on around us... Here is a cute picture of the mayhem--I mean offspring of ours--minus the kid in the red shirt. Not too bad for 3 wannabe hippies from the 90's!It's not like that with all my old friends. Facebook, as much as I love it, also makes me realize there are some old friends that make me feel insecure, or drained when I talk to them--or even angry and frustrated just by seeing their name! Why can't I delete them? Why do I still agree to play dates? Am I scared? I think I'm scared they will see that I deleted them and then...I won't be popular anymore. Ja-know-what-I-mean? Why do I keep these people in my life? (Obviously none of these people even know about my blog...that I write to myself...)

Then there are others that I still have not looked for yet, or haven't been able to find, or I see them once every couple of years. It kinda makes me sad. Why do I let so much time go by without tracking them down? Why aren't they tracking me down? grrrr. So much of my life is in memories they may have of me--because we all know I can't remember any of it. My memory really sucks.

You can't make new, old friends. It was a good week.