Out with the Old and In with the New

Goodbye Honda Odyssey...



Hello Dodge Caravan!



Lower miles and newer, I think I like it better even though it doesn't have as many extras as the Honda.

It was kinda funny how I ended up selling the Odyssey. I had posted it on KSL just sort of last minute. Then one day later, someone called me and said "Looks like you just sold your van, we are heading to Logan to buy it." They had not even test drove it! I was so unprepared; I was without a vehicle for a couple of days. I had another van in mind to buy, but looked at it and it did not feel right. It was filthy inside and the outside was pretty beat up. Also the couple selling it were a little shady. Anyway, this one came up and we felt good about it. So I sold mine on a Thursday, and bought this one on a Monday. It worked out just right.

Breakfast at the Schwab's

Dallin can get his own cereal now....


Good for my cholesterol? Hmmm, sounds good.

Guess I'll have me some more.

USU Homecoming Parade

Looks like it is officially a tradition. For 4 years now I have gone to the USU homecoming parade with my friend Heather and her kids. It is great to see Heather. She is awesome. I used to see her most every day when we worked together. I also used to babysit Rachel so it is fun to get caught up and see how much she has grown.

Cute little cheerleader. Go Aggies!


It is a good parade to go to, the kids actually get candy rather than just stand out in the heat for no reason (like the Pioneer Day Parade).


Waiting patiently.


Oh! A lollipop!


This is Dallin last year, I put him in Rachel's stroller.

This year I didn't expect it to be so cold, so I borrowed Rachel's sweater. Guess this is part of the tradition now too, to have Dallin in something girly.


Anyway it was fun to see the kids get so excited over tootsie rolls and smarties. Dallin was just taking it all in. His expression when the band passed was a little concerned but he didn't cry. And of course he liked the candy too.

We finally made it to Wyoming this summer. Brian and the boys look forward to going so much. It is great to see the family and have a good feast too.



Dad took each of the boys on the traditional motorcycle ride. Of course that was a hit. Then we walked down to take the boys fishing. These pictures make the fishing part look fun, but really they boys were all crying and whining. They kept almost falling in the water, then fighting, then throwing rocks to scare the fish away. Maybe in a little while I will forget the whining part and just see the pictures and say, "Oh, that was fun!"

Brians step sister Ellie lives there and she has a little farm. There were lambs there so I took my boys and a whole bunch of cousins down to see the animals.





Of course Blake saw the sheep and loved them!



This time of the year sure is beautiful up there. It was fun to get together and see everyone. I am glad the boys have so many great cousins to play with. Even though driving 5 hours round trip with 3 little boys is hard sometimes I am always glad we go. We come back with great memories.

Hawaii?

DirecTV has kept Brian so busy lately. It is NFL season and they are offering some great deals. Brian has been working crazy hours. It is busy everywhere, some places there is a long wait to even get an installer to your house. One of those places in Hawaii, apparently the wait is 4 weeks for an install. So DirecTV asked for volunteers to go to Hawaii for 3 weeks to help get them caught up. Brian volunteered and he was chosen! Yay! I never thought that would happen. Anyway, I got to thinking, what if I went too? There are pros and cons, and I still don't know what to decide.

It was our 10th anniversary this year. That would be an awesome trip for the big 10. Brian's flight is already paid for. Since he is working crazy hours out there, it doesn't seem like a good idea to go while he works during the day, I would be there all by myself mostly. Plus, he is sharing a hotel with some other guy. Wierd. So, what I'd like to do is have him change his flight home to 3 days later and I would fly out and spend those days with him. Sounds so fun! BUT, Delta airlines is being difficult. They want so much money for a flight change fee that it almost isn't even worth it. We would spend so much just changing his flight that we could just fly out some other time that's more convenient.

The other thing holding me back is my fear of flying. I hate it. Full on panic attack hate it. It is not so much the flying itself. I don't have claustophobia or anything. I just have this wierd fear that my house is going to disappear while I am gone. I realize it is irrational, but it is a strong enough fear that I almost don't want to do it. But I can't let the crazy win. So, I really should go to Hawaii, right? When else is something like this going to come up? We are going to keep trying to get Delta to change his flight for a more reasonable amount of money. If that happens, then I am going. If not, then maybe another time.

Canoe surfing looks so fun!

Grasshoppers

Summer isn't complete without pictures of the grasshoppers. We have so many of those creatures around here. I can't even have cute flowers without spraying the grasshoppers, they have a huge appetite. I have even had to spray our peach tree to keep the grasshoppers at bay.



The boys sure love them. We got out some tupperware bowls to catch them.



Dallin was surprisingly gentle. His expressions of fascination as he watched these little things jump around and move were fun to watch.



Definately summertime. Bummer that it is coming to an end. With all the rain we had in June and July it feels like summer was short. But fall is full of fun stuff too.

1st Day of Preschool!

Blake gets to go to preschool again! He has been looking forward to it all summer. He loves Mrs. Jones. I do too, she is awesome.



See that bald spot? Unfortunately, right before school started, Blake got ahold of some scissors and cut his own hair. He cut it pretty short. Since he is a boy, it isn't that big of a deal, but I had to cut the rest pretty short to match it.



Finally the big day arrived, he requested to wear his new Star Wars shirt, it is his favorite right now.





So cute! I love that he gets to do this, and that he enjoys it. He gets so excited and all the other kids he is around are great friends.

Back To School

It is official, I have a second grader! Kyle was dreading going back to school. He said he was not nervous, just didn't want to go back. But after we attended back to school night and met his teacher, he got excited and said it was going to be the best year ever. I hope so.








Look at this cute group of kids! These are my neighbors who my kids love! They are such good kids, they are always welcome at my house. Fun to have some great friends.

I am excited for a new year. Woodruff is a great school. They have high standards for the kids and I appreciate that. Kyle is expected to read almost 90 words per minute at the end of the year. So we are focusing on reading. I like the kids he plays with and hope he is a happy kid at school. So here's to a new year!

Wyoming

Our 10th anniversary was back in January but since Brian's mom is a school teacher it is much easier for her to stay overnight at our house with the kids in the summer. So we just celebrated our 10th anniversary this week. Yay! A decade!

We decided to go to Wyoming and go fishing. Ah, no kids fighting, no bills in the mail, no laundry or work. These pictures are from my phone so they aren't the greatest quality but aren't bad for my little cheapy phone.



The first place we went fishing was a lot of walking through tall grass. This picture doesn't do justice to the difficulty. It was a hard walk, lots of pokey thistle, barbed wire, biting flies and swampy land. But there were beautiful wildflowers, cute little frogs, and of course the beautiful river.





Brian caught the biggest fish that he ever caught out of these rivers. I caught a bunch of cute little ones. I like the little ones better.



We stayed at such a nice little hotel. We didn't want to leave in the morning.

Day two we went here. We climbed down this hill behind Brian. I am not the most sure footed person, so steep hills aren't my thing.

We crossed the rivers several times. Getting that deep in melted snow water was a little chilly. At one point I was up to my thighs and thought the river would sweep me away. But we made it. And then it opened up to this:



I had so much fun! It was a little adventure for us. Usually the most exciting thing I do in a month is make sure none of my boys have a meltdown at WalMart. Things have just felt so stressful lately, this was so needed. I am so thankful to Bonnie for coming and holding down the fort while we were away. The boys had a good time with her. Brian and I sure had a good time away! Maybe this will become an annual event. But it has been great to see my boys again. So, back to our fun routine. :)

Happy summer!

Cool Off

We turned the air conditioning on one night before bed. I guess the boys were hot, they both fell asleep right next to the vent.