First Day of School

Handsome E just

before he left for his first day of 4th grade.

Cute Alex

before his first day of 2nd grade.

Of course this morning

I had to wake D and P up

to walk the boys to school.

E's teacher is Mrs. Young.

Alex's is Mrs. Smith.

The boys both reported a 

very good first day!

I can't believe I have a 4th and 2nd grader!

Hard Work

Aaron took this past week off to do some major home improvement!  

He even worked through a terrible cold

and some sort of flu!

Now that's dedication!

He knocked out the wall at the bottom of the stairs and moved the two doors.  

It is so nice and open now.  I love it.

This view is at the bottom of the stairs to the left. 

The door has been moved and a new giant closet was built.

He then built a wall down the middle of the boys' room, 

so they each have their own room now. 

They're enjoying it already!

Thanks for spending your vacation hard at work! 

You did a great job!  

Now we can't wait until September 

when Uncle Wimp comes to help Aaron finish!!!!

Soccer Boy

P got into D's closet and brought me this outfit. 

He slept in it last night

and is still wearing it!

Almost daily he tells me, "I 4 and I get to play soccer. 

If you don't let me play my soccer team will put you in time out!"

If only they let 3 year olds play soccer.

He just doesn't like

kicking the ball to me in the backyard.

He wants to be on a team!

I just love this little guy!

A Bear

Tonight was Pack Meeting.  Ethan has been working hard.  He earned 2 red beads, Map and Compass belt loop, a gold arrow, and his Bear!  Way to go E!  If he continues to enjoy scouting, he'll have no trouble getting his Eagle long before he's 16.

The new Bear

Photo courtesy of Alex

Go E!

Summer Days

A couple of weeks ago we finally got some great patio furniture!

It has been so nice to be able to enjoy the back yard.

We've eaten outside almost every night. Last weekend we

even made Smores on the grill. Delicious!

Alex enjoys reading outside while

Peyton colors.

Family fun!

Happy Fourth of July

We started off the 4th with a hike to Battle Creek Falls.

 It was a great hike for all the kids.

Drew insisted on carrying the backpack and did a great job.

The boys have decided we need

to do a new hike

once a week.

Battle Creek Falls

E, Alex, and Drew

loved playing right near

the waterfall.

Peyton was a little nervous when the trail got narrow and steep, 

but hiked the whole way, 1.3 miles one way, without being carried. 

This may need to be a new 4th of July

tradition.

Happy Birthday!

Peyton had a great 3rd birthday!

He chose everything.  At first

he wanted an elephant party with a

doughnut cake.  However,

when we got to the party store

he changed his mind.

He chose a Choo Choo Train

party and

a baseball cake with

a choo choo train candle.

Look who's definitely a

big boy!

Way to Go!

Baseball season is officially over. Alex's team took 3rd place in the tournament which was awesome! Alex has turned into quite the hitting machine. He loved playing baseball! He had great teammates and wonderful coaches! After he got his medal, he told me how special the medal was to him. He's such a cutie!! Congratulations Alex!

Alex is a Hitting Machine

While the title might imply that Alex likes to whoop on his brothers, actually it refers to his BASEBALL skills. Yeah, Alex is a stud, he can do this all day long. See for yourself.

A New Boy

Before.....

AFTER....

He's so cute! I love the new summer hair cut!

A Trip to the City

Alex and Drew love big cities. Well, this past weekend we took a surprise trip to Salt Lake CITY. D was thrilled to hear there was a city near us. First stop, Temple Square.....

The boys loved all the exhibits. They especially loved all the water features.

D was so impressed with the Salt Lake Temple. He kept telling us over and over how it took 40 years to build.

After Temple Square, we headed over to the Conference Center. I never seen the boys sit so reverently...

We then went to the Church History Museum where they have a cool I am a Child of God exhibit. There were so many neat interactive exhibits.

We ate dinner at Tucanos which all the boys loved! Then off to spend the night at the Sheraton where the boys promptly changed into their swimming suits even though I would not call it warm.




What a fun trip and now D wants to know, "When can we go back to the City?"

Preschool Graduation

Today was Drew's graduation from preschool. He was so cute. While we were waiting for the program to start I heard him tell his teacher that he was coming to her class forever. Then when Mimi arrived he said, "Teacher, this is Mimi and she is going to graduate with us."


They put on a darling program.


Then each graduate received their diploma....

I can't believe he starts kindergarten in the fall!

Travel day from ... well you know.

Seeing how much I travel this really doesn't happen that often, but when it does it seems that it really hits the fan. Yesterday was one of those terrible travel days. It didn't start out well, with a 4:17 am wake up call from Delta telling me that my flight had been delayed until 10:30 am. Ok, so at least they called. I couldn't go back to sleep and I waited until it was time to leave. Half way there, another call, flight canceled. No reason just canceled and I was rebook through Oklahoma City, what?!?!? So I gave them a call and you would think that with as much flying as I do and the fact that I bought a full fare ticket would get me a good flight, but they claimed there was nothing they could do. Great, cross country in steerage...no worse, Regional Jet steerage.

Here is the view on the way back to the house.


So, I finally get to the airport and as I'm getting on the plane the flight attendant tells the people to please move into the rows to allow people behind to board. The douche in front of me mouths off to her. She thinks it me because she refuses to serve me a snack or drink during the flight.

After two hours turbulent h*ll on an RJ, with "Angry, I'll show him" flight attendant, I get to Oklahoma City. Hungry, thirsty, tired and just as I exit the plane, the snack shop closed. Enjoy the pictures because I waited here for the late plane that made me miss my connection to Alabama.

Downtown OKC.


The Terminal

That's my flight at the top, late by an hour and 10 minutes.

Look Mom no plane!


So, I finally get to Atlanta at about 10pm having missed my connection. I make my way to the hotel. I wait outside for a good half hour, board the bus and actually get to the hotel without problems!! Finally one good thing happens, I got upgraded to a junior suite. At least I will sleep well.



Ok, so today went without incident. Crummy prop plane ride to Dothan, Alabama and a 30 minute drive to Ft. Rucker.



I hope the way home is easier.