First Day at a New School

What a brave kid! Actually, what a brave mom! I was way more nervous for him than he was today, but I guess that's what we do as moms. I just wanted him to fit in and find new friends. He pretty much hadn't even though about those things yet, he was just excited to go to school and start something new. I don't really know why I worry, he is the type of kid that if no one is talking to him he'll scope the scene, pick out some kids that look like they are having fun, introduce himself and jump right in to whatever they are doing. And, true to form, that's exactly how he explained his day, he made himself right at home. I am so glad he trusted me and Corey that this move was for the best and he would do great! I love you buddy, you are such a great kid, I could learn a lot from your example.

2nd Grade (or peace out, whatever)Malik and Madi
(I hate this super cheese face, can't you just do a normal smile! He was just this excited!)

Final Friday Fling Before School Starts

Friday was our last outing before school started. We were so excited to have our cousins to play with for the whole day, so we decided to hit the zoo. My sister Colette and My nephew Anthony also joined us for the day.

Oh sweet! Check out how cute my little princess is, can you see her? She's the one in the middle with her finger up her nose!!!!! Nice Jorie!!!

I don't have any super funny stories from this rip but every time we go to the zoo, I always remember my favorite story from a few years ago when Malik was 3 or 4. We were looking at a small squirrel like animal and the zoo keeper had attached tissues to the branches in the cage for it to play with. As Malik walked by and his comment went something like this, "Oh look that squirrel's been decoratin'." My sister and I fell to the floor laughing and Malik had no idea what was so funny. I had to get a picture of the cage, so here is the actual picture from that day.

Summer Countdown

It's official, it's our last week before school starts on Monday. Our neighbors, the Hunter's, invited us over to play on their super cool blow up, water slide and pool. The day was so hot and the water was very welcoming. The stairs on the slide were kind of tricky to get up so everyone helped by pushing each other up and when the top person would slip they would take out everyone below them. It was super comical to watch!
Thanks Jamie and Colton for a fun afternoon!

The long awaited "Clone Wars"

On Monday, Corey and I loaded up 6 kids, took them to dinner and FINALLY went to The Clone Wars. Malik and Rhys have hardly been able to wait to see this new addition to Star Wars. Malik invited Madi and Easton to come and Rhys brought along his best friend Jacob, could it seriously get any better, awesome movie and awesome friends! We had tons of fun, but it sure made Corey and I realize that there is no way we could have 6 kids!

Lunch, Animals, Bees, Trees and Dr. Gray

From this picture you may not think our day with friends at Wheeler Farm was anything thing to brag about, quite the contrary, it was a blast. We met the Tolman's, Gray's and Rex's for a picnic then walked around looking at the animals. After all the animals had been named and given birth dates we headed for the kids favorite old tree that they can play on with a cute little playhouse for the wee ones. Not more than a minute after we arrived at the tree there was a blood curdling scream and Avery running towards us with her hand over her eye. Every child not screaming was talking over each other to explain that a bee had stung her just below her eye. Luckily, we were in the presents of greatness, Dr. Gray. She immediately whipped open her "mom medic bag" and prescribed one piece of Orbit Sweet Mint which immediately took the pain down to a manageable level. Just then, another blood curdling scream from behind the tree, it was Rhys with his had over his eye. That's right, another bee sting, right on his eyelid. And I bet you can guess what happened next, Dr. Gray to the rescue! Our Hero!

At the conclusion of this quite comical scene, Malik had a small piece of wisdom to add, " Well, you can be happy that those bees won't bother you again, because once a bee stings someone they die." Thanks bud, I bet they feel so much better that they had been the last ones to piss off those particular bees.

Anyway, fun day....

Spokane - Family Vacation, third leg

We arrived in Spokane a couple hours ahead of Ryan and Nichole, which gave us a chance to clean up and settle in a bit before we went to dinner to use the gift certificates that the boys won from their last golf tournament. Great food, great company and a bit of shopping made this night super fun!The next day after Parker and Aria arrived we headed for the Cour de Alene lake house to spend a few days in the water and sun. Malik tried wakeboarding and rocked the ski skimmer. Rhys after he got the hang of it, owned the ski skimmer and didn't want to get off. We were so proud of them wanting to try so many new things. There they go making their daddy proud again!! Malik, Jackson, Hayden and Tyler were inseperable, if they weren't tubing, playing in the water off the dock, or wakeboarding, they could be found watching Star Wars because tehy were too exhausted to do much else. Rhys, Olivia and Cam were also pretty cute together, I can't wait to watch them grow up together and become good friends.
Tyler, Hayden, Malik and Jackson
Ryan and Nichole
Rhys, Hayden, Olivia, Tyler and Malik
Shar and Brenda

The SHOCK Game!
Saturday night Eric and Shar treated us to the last of the regular season Shock Games against the Boise Burn (of course..........do they play anyone else?) I was a blast, we were able to sit in the owners box and have dinner brought to us while watching the game and enjoying each others company. The highlight for Corey is that Eric also has 4 seats right on the front row, it's so fun to watch them get so excited!
Eric, Ryan, Parker, Corey
All the Cousins (minus Jorie and Carter)
Rhys was so excited to get signatures from the players after the game, he was so patient and so excited to meet some of them.
Brenda and Aria - Can I just take a minute and tell you all how much I love my sister in law Aria. I am so glad we have been abe to become friends. I would do anything for her! She definately has become one of my best friends! I love you Aria!
Ryan. Ron, Baby Leif, Parker, Corey, Eric, Kevin
The ladies - Anita, Nichole, Shar, Brenda, Aria, Robyn
They Sister-In-Laws - Nichole, Shar, Aria and Brenda (missed you Lindsey and Hilly, it wasn't the same with out you!)
Shar, after taken' a Lickin!

OK, one more sappy moment! I love SHAR!! We have a lot in common and have a tons of fun together. She makes me happy and I am so glad we married into this same crazy family because I don't know what I would do with out her. Thanks for being my sister/friend, I really wish we could spend more time together, the little time we spend just simply isn't enought!! Love you Shar!

Eric, Shar and Fam.... thanks for such a fun trip, we want more!

Glacier - Family Vacation, second leg

Wow, just call me super mom..... I just realized I didn't take a dang picture for the whole 3 days we were in Glacier!!! We must have been having too much fun!

Our camp site was just inside the park near McDonald Lake. I think this was one of my favorites. We even had our own private access to the lake from our site. Our 3 days here were spent playing in the chilly lake, hiking, riding our bikes, roasting marshmallows, playing games and oh yes...... the long awaited public shower.

Malik and Rhys' favorite part was sitting around the camp fire asking Corey and I questions about when we were little and wanting to know as many silly stories about us growing up as we could remember. We stayed up for hours talking, I love this time with my little family!! These are the memories that are permanently burned into my mind, I will treasure them forever!

Yellowstone - Family Vacation, first leg

Yes, we are still alive, but just now being able to breath! We have had a whirlwind past month. SOOOO fun but we are glad to be home and getting back to normal (what ever that means).

We spent 4 days exploring Yellowstone and camped just north of West Yellowstone (accompanied by virtually every bug in North America). The boys loved to check out the maps and help decide what we were going to see next. We hiked a ton and saw a lot of things the boys were fascinated by. Jorie also loved the wawa (water everywhere!). They even did 328 stairs down and up so I could show them my favorite thing in Yellowstone, the Lower Falls! They were such troopers!
Lower Falls - My Favorite!!! I love waterfalls!!!Old Faithful - We only had to wait about 20 minutes (or 3 hours, in Malik's mind) for it to erupt. They were so cute, their eyes got so big as they were screaming "COOL!"
One of our favorites was the bear sanctuary. This is where some baby bears are brought after their parents have been killed. They can't survive in the wild because they don't know how to hunt. Interesting side note, eight years ago, Corey and I stayed in West Yellowstone and visited the bear sanctuary when two of the bears (a brother and sister) were just brought to live there. They were so tiny and cute and now they are huge and beautiful.
My little bears..... (Jorie hated this bear, she was not happy to take this picture)