Alexa back to school

Here is Alexa having an after-school treat, ice cream--her favorite. It is hard to believe that she is growing up so fast. She is in Jr. high this year (7th grade)! You never think that the little kids will grow up, but then they do. Alexa is a beautiful, kind-hearted girl.

 

 

Hayden's first day of first grade

Hayden started first grade a couple of weeks ago. When he came home he told me all about how wonderful it was to be in first grade. He loves that he can eat lunch at school and that he gets three recesses. On the second day, he wasn't quite as enthused--I said "I thought you said you liked school" and he said "that is only the first day and the last day". I'm sure he will be fine. I got a really good report from his teacher the other day. Miss Robison was having a hard time breaking through to find out about Hayden, but she had him help her with music the other day and she said that he completely opened up and then when they did an art project in class and they needed to clean up, she said he just went right to work and he cleaned a lot more than just his own stuff. What a fun kid.

 

 

 

 

Katie's off to Kindergarten

I can't believe that my baby is off to Kindergarten! She has been so excited to go. I bought her a couple of pants during the summer when they were on clearance, but she dressed herself and I guess she had used them all Summer because they all had holes in them. I had to run to the store the next day and get some better pants. The neighbor had given her this shirt and she wouldn't wear anything else. Katie is a funny girl--she does what she wants! I guess next time I need to take a page out of Alexa's book and set out the outfits for the first week ahead of time!!

 

 

 

Before she went back, she went in for an orientation and she had to do some little tasks around the room--one of which was to pick out a puzzle and put it together. She had a really good time and she likes her teacher and her class.

Back to school wardrobe

Ok, no teasing on this one guys--she will kill me if she knows that I posted this. I went up to Alexa's room a good week before school started and she had her clothes set up in piles and lined up in a row for every day the first week or so. Some of them she even had a clean bra and her underwear. When Tracy went up a couple of days before school started, he came down just laughing. Along with the outfits, she had little strips of paper that told her how to do her hair that day. It will make a fun memory, but I'm sure she would die if she knew you all knew. Kids are too cute.

 

 

 

WHITNEY'S SENIOR PICTURES

Can you believe that we have a daughter that is a senior in high school already? They take the senior pictures for the yearbook just before they start their senior year. Here are a few of the pictures that they took--this is right before she cut her hair. We are so proud of her and all that she has accomplished and for her maturity and her zest for life. She is currently going to one class a day at the high school and she goes to cosmetology school 10-5 Monday thru Friday. She will be 18 in December and should graduate from cosmetology school shortly after that--and high school in May. She has been so much fun to raise and we are really going to miss her when she is gone.

 

 

 

 

Ross Family Camping

Here are some pictures from the Ross Family camp-out. We had a really fun time. Notice the picture of the kids in the Suburban as we are heading out--you can see Landon's messed up back--too bad you can't see Whitney's arm or Hayden's scraped up nose.
We spent time doing crafts and beading watches and bracelets. We painted shirts and had a fish pond. The kids had fun running around and exploring and heading off to shoot the paint ball guns.

 

We went on a couple little hikes. We went to the old cave we visited when I was pregnant with Katie, but it had water in it this year, so we didn't go too far back. We went to the sinks (after a nice scenic drive) and we had fun playing there for a while.





These are the best. I could not get good pictures because it was dark, but Dana was so great and she got the kids glow sticks and had them come out and dance after dark. Most of the rest of us were party poopers, but Dana gets right in there and dances with the kids. I wish the pictures had turned out better, but you can kind of see Dana doing the running man and Jason and Tracy going to town and showing us their moves--that was so much fun.

Road Rash

My camera is not working, but if I can find another camera around this place, I might take a picture to show you Landon's latest mishap. He called me yesterday evening from clear up the canyon. He rode up the canyon on his long-board with a couple of friends. His board isn't the best quality and it started wobbling and he was in the middle of his two friends with nowhere to go but forward off the board. I am still amazed that he even got service, because you usually can't up the canyon. He crashed pretty good. All three boys had their shirts off because it was hot after riding up the canyon. They had taken a backpack and put their shirts in there. The kid who had been carrying the pack started to complain about it and Landon took over carrying the pack and that probably saved his back more severe pain. He has a little spot on his left shoulder, but he did a number on his right shoulder and side. His right elbow ended up getting a pretty deep gouge and we worried that he had broken it.
No broken bones, just a lot of road rash that will take a while to heal. The Dr. had some good advice for him when he said that the best thing would have been to prevent a lot of this by wearing a shirt next time. I told him that he needed to wear helmet, pads, full clothes (hot or not). He said that pads were expensive. The expensive part is all the trips to the insta-care with this kid. We are glad that it wasn't worse and that it will heal shortly.

Girls Camp 2009

Alexa turned 12 just in time to attend her first girls camp. She was a little hesitant to go at first, but she ended up really liking it and she even bore her testimony. She took a few pictures while she was there. In their skit, some of the girls were chickens--thus the girl in the sweatshirt with her arms and legs in the arm holes! Here are just a few of the fun pictures that she took.