Bitter Sweet Back to School

Back to School! I must say that today was a Bitter Sweet Day for me. Jordan and Sadie were really excited for school to start. Jordan was definitely the most excited out of all of them as it was his first day of school and the big Grade 1! You can tell how excited Kailey is in this picture to be going back to school!


The cutest thing was the day before school started I happened to look out the window and Jordan was outside snuggling and talking to his cutie wootie (Black Jack). I heard him saying "Now Black Jack, things are going to change around here tomorrow cause I am going to school all day. I won't be here all day with you but you can keep mom company while I'm gone. Don't be too sad Black Jack, it will be alright! I'll see you when I get home every day." It was so stinkin cute and brought a tear to my eye! Things did change around here today.

There's a whole new world out there for Jordan to

take on and he is more than ready for it!

Jordan waiting in line for the bell to ring. I think he is wondering

why this girl is standing so close to him!

I wasn't going to go into the school when the bell rang because he didn't really need me to. I never walked my other kids into their classrooms on the first day of school but I found myself following the line up of kids. I must admit I had a bit of a hard time letting go. I am so thankful I have independent children but today I guess I was wishing that Jordan needed me just a little bit! He marched right into his classroom, put his indoor shoes on and found his coat hook with his name on it.

He knew exactly what to do. He spotted his name on his desk

and sat right down ready for business.

As I left the classroom he turned around to wave to me and that is when the tears started. Not for Jordan, but for me! It is a bitter sweet day to see your baby wave good bye to you as he starts his journey at school. I'm so excited for him and all the fun times he will have at school but it is going to be an adjustment for me not having my little buddy with me 24/7. The house was quiet and Black Jack kept me company. I think as a mom you look forward to the day when all the kids are gone to school and the house is quiet but when that day actually comes (for me anyways) it is a little more bitter than sweet!

Happy Birthday Jordan

Happy 6th Birthday Jordan! The chosen theme for this years party was football training camp. Does that surprise anybody who knows Jordan?? I must admit I didn't love being pregnant in the heat and having a summer baby but the nice weather comes in handy for birthday parties with lots of boys!

The boys checking in for training camp.

Cody and Weston (JJ's cousins).
Jordan was so excited to have Weston here for his birthday
party because Weston lives in Utah.



JJ and his buddy Drew

And last but not least the coaches! Boy do I love having big kids around to run the party! Carson and Dallin did a great job with the kids.

Cabin Time

This One's for You BG

First of all I want to say how much I LOVE my new camera! These are a few of the pics I caught of Brandon on his first ski of the summer! PRETTY AWESOME BG! Not bad for an old man!

I am just in awe of the definition of the spray of the water and the details of the individual ripples and droplets!

Cabin and Critters

This is our home away from home in the summer. We left to go to Grandpa's cabin the day after school was over. As usual, the kids couldn't wait to get there. It seems like so many times the pictures we bring home from the cabin are the same as the year before except the kids are a little older. Then there are always a few fun experiences that make each summer stand out from the others.
During our time in July we made a few new friends and had lots of good laughs. Our first little friend was the inch worm that Jaden found. He was really cute and so fun to watch inching along his way. They really are amazing little creatures.

The other friend we made, the kids were not so excited about (and Grandma was very upset about). This snake was living under our dock. The second time we saw him out sunning himself we yelled at Darcy to catch it. One of our first good laughs was Darcy dancing around on the broken dock pretending to try to catch this snake with a stick in his hand (he was actually scared of the snake and didn't dare touch it with his bare hands). It was hilarious! Finally the snake jumped into the water and slithered towards the shore where we were all standing and yelling for Jeff (he is our reptile/critter lover) so he ran down from the cabin to scoop the snake up.

I'm sure all the neighbors were wondering what the heck was going on because all of the kids were screaming their heads off (and Grandma was really screaming)!

Finally after Jeff got the snake coiled around his arm some of the kids were brave enough to touch it. He then took it over to show our friends a few cabins down the way where he also subtly let it go around their dock (this made Grandma happy).

Our next adventure was with some black crows that were waking us up really early in the morning. They would caw and caw at each other so loud. Finally after a few days Grandpa had had enough and he came down and said "Jeff, get your gun and get rid of those birds". You didn't have to tell Jeff twice that he was aloud to shoot something besides pop cans or targets so that night we heard the crows come back and he ran out to dispose of them. He shot the first bird and the other dispersed. (Needless to say they never came back to bother us again!)

This happened in the evening when Grandma and Grandpa were out visiting some friends and Carson was out playing with some of his friends. Of course the devious boy that Darcy is decides it is prank time. Darcy and Jeff hang the crow from the clothes line and then drape a few towels over the line and one covering the crow. The prank was to be played on either Grandma or Carson. With the right timing Carson became the bait and I asked him to run out and grab the laundry off the line while I dished him some ice cream. We had the video camera going and boy did we get a great reaction when he realized it was a dead bird hanging under the towels. We all had a great laugh and it took Carson a few minutes for his heart to start beating normal again.