New shoes and a new year.

I'm having a hard time with this one, he's a Senior this year. This was his last first day. He's all laid back and easy going about it, (or so he seems)I'm a wreck. He is afterall, just a newborn y'know.
And the Sophomores at SHHS better watch out, because here comes some serious SPUNK! She is on Dance Company and had a love hate relationship with her clothing on the first day. These shoes are absoloutely AWESOME that she got to wear as well as the sweats and she got to perform at the opening assembly amidst thunderous yelling and applause, but she had to wear her hair back, and that shows off her HUGE forehead and big head. So, she had to "suffer" through the day and all the compliments about their dance even with a big forehead. AAAAAH, high school!!!! FUN!
The traditional "back to school"breakfast with treats. (I always give them a little treat on the day they go back, this year it said "We know you're a smart cookie, and that you won't blow it, do your best this year, just chill and you'll do a great job!") attached was a pkg of cookies, kleenex and "chill" trident mints. They were thrilled because after today, it's cold cereal all year!!!! Ha Ha

The new shoes are a very, very, very important part of the experience. Gracie even put on her cool converse, even though her school doesn't start till next week. Josh also had extremely amazing gold Nike's that he thinks are personally touched by angels but he left to quick for me to take a picture of them.
One 6th grader, one fourth grader, one first grader. They are all excited. I have mixed emotions, I'm happy for them to have a schedule, I'm happy to have a semi clean house for a few hours. But, I miss them when they're gone. I love having them around and I love being their mom. I cried after they left for my biggest boy on his last first day, my biggest girl being in High School, my two middles who think they are so dang big and tough, my littlest boy who is in school all day and will soon call me by his teacher's name because he sees her more than me, and for my baby girl who will be lonely without them. And for me, because, WHEW, now I can go get some new shoes for myself...............without ANY help at all!!!!!!!!!!!!! (those were tears of happiness!)

GOOD LUCK GUYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The "rest" of the summer!

We had a great weekend with the Chisholm's. We did lots of fun things, but most of all we really enjoyed being together! We had a weenie roast and had a fantastic time roasting and throwing marshmellows!
Tubing the Provo River was fun, except it was freezing, raining and thundering and a few people (grandma included), fell out of the rafts!
We went to Yuba for boating, skiing and playing, it was a teensy bit windy!
We love to go tubing and boating!
Cousins camp with all the Bennett cousins! We went swimming, had treats, made a craft and played all day!

On the 24 of July we went to Monroe for the "BIG" parade, went swimming and got to go "plunking" with Grandpa!

We had a great time going on the Pioneer Trek with our stake. We got to be Ma and Pa to seven great kids, (not including our own!) it was an amazing experience and we learned a lot about the pioneers, their sacrifices and gained a better appreciation and testimony of them.
We went to the Stadium of Fire on the fourth of July and saw Carrie Underwood and loved the fireworks!!!
Canada Day was lots of fun, we got to have a BBQ, fireworks and a concert put on by all the cousins!

It's been a great summer, full of fun, family and friends. Even though we're sad to see it end, we have lots of great memories to remember and now it's time for new school adventures!!

41's the new 31!

Happy Birthday to my sweetie! This is my absoloute very favorite picture of him when he was about 6. For a long long time, this was the ONLY picture I had of him when he was little! I love those little mischevious eyes!
If you know anything about my family, you will see a VERY striking resemblance to our oldest son in this picture. A little bit eerie! What a cute, cute 17 year old he was!
This little "toy"of his is Jon's favorite thing over this past year, and I'm very proud of him, he hasn't even got a ticket......YET (and certainly NOT because he's very very good at following ALL the traffic rules, no no no, quite the opposite! He's just sneaky about it!) He babies it like a newborn, and is extremely particular about how and when it is driven.
I am so happy to have this birthday boy in my life. He is the greatest husband, father and best friend I could ask for and I love him so much! Happy Birthday babe!

19 years on the 19th!

We took a little getaway to Park City to celebrate our 19th anniversary! Jon enjoyed the yummy wontons we had at a little Japanese grill, YUM!
I enjoyed the beautiful roses I got from my honey! Look how cute the little towels shaped like two swans with rose petals were on the bed! I thought they were too cute to ruin, so I slept on the floor.................ok, not really.
I'm glad we got to get away even if it was close to home and not too extravagant. It was just really nice to spend some time together. It's amazing to think 19 years ago wasn't just yesterday! We've been through a lot of things, good and bad, but I can honestly say I love this guy more now, much more now, then I ever thought possible. Happy Anniversary Jonny! Love you so much!

15 Candles!

The traditional birthday pancake!!!! (on the birthday plate, of course)
That's ALOT of presents! All she asked for was texting and a facebook page, unfortunately we are extremely mean parents and got her all this instead! Notice her way cute outfit she got at the mall earlier in the day for part of her present!!!!
Sakura is her favorite place to go, she loves the show they put on to make the food!!! YUM! She even got some ice cream with a candle in it!!!! (which she graciously shared with her brothers and sister!)
15 candles! WOW! It's crazy to think she's this old! High school this year, driving, lots of fun things to look forward too! We love this sweet, cute girl! Happy Birthday Jen Boo!!!!!!

He's 17!

What do you do on the big 17 bday?

Eat a yummy basketball cake, with a bunch of candles! (yes, he ate most of it himself, he is a GROWING HUNGRY boy!)

Play with airsoft guns, go to his very favorite restaraunt and have chicken parmesan (his favorite), then go to a movie!
Open presents, (this year he got a whole bunch of gift cards for dating, eating out and GAS!)
And of course, traditionally on his birthday, he always gets fireworks since he was born the day after the 4th and fireworks were going off right outside his room the night he was born! We love this big 17 year old boy. Glad he's ours, glad he's good, glad he's big, but now stop.....cuz I can't handle the next few birthdays......that will mean he's TOO big! HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOSHIE!!!!!!!!!

Something fun, everyday. WEEDING.

My kids ask me daily, so what are we doing for fun today? REALLY? Do we need to do something BIG EVERYDAY? Yes, it's called WEEDING And LOTS OF IT. We do lots of other things, like swim, play with cousins, friends, movies, sleepovers, BBQ's, camps, ball, dance, play the WII, go to parks, snowcones, Lagoon, you know the drill. BUT, we live on 5 acres. 5 ACRES, I tell you. And there is an overabundance of WEEDS. So, along with all the fun, guess what we do almost EVERY day for FUN? We WEED. Get used to it kids. That's your big fun thing everyday. Did I mention, 5 ACRES?
Partying it up with the Fam! (yep, a little weeding happened before they all came for swimming, BBQing and playing!)
Seven Peaks.................too big, too crowded, too many people, but lots of smiles! (they had to weed before we went!)
Happy Father's Day to my Jonaroni, Jaemon picked out the cool Alien shirt, to match his. It was a fun day with all the family here. (yes, we weeded before they all got here, lots of it. Remember, 5 stinkin' ACRES!) We took the day off of weeding in honor of Dad, at least for that day!

Fun dance recitals, Gracie and Jen did a FABULOUS job!!!! (yes, we weeded that day too)
Brennan got to go to Shadow Mtn camp for a few days and also to a BYU basketball camp with a few of his best friends. He had lots of fun, and got out of weeding for a bit!
Lots and lots and lots of swimming, swimming lessons, swimming pools, swimming in the backyard which waters the weeds to make them grow, which means more weeding for us :) Notice Josh is absent from this whole months worth of pictures. He is at basketball camp, basketball and more basketball. In his spare time he goes to play basketball. Oh, and by the way, BASKETBALL, is where he is 24/7. He will be weeding when he gets home! We have 5 acres remember, guess what his next big fun thing to do is?????????? Yep........ WEED! FUN!