Mini's...

We found out at the end of the school year that Kate had made the Mini Performing Team at Elite!  She started rehearsing for their first performance in early September for the Beaverton Parade as the summer was winding down.  They danced for 2 hours straight!  She was hot and exhausted by the time it was over, but absolutely loved every minute of it.  She is the youngest and smallest of the entire team which means she will be doing a lot of growing up this year. I am predicting too fast actually! 

Great First Day...

 Zach and Kate had a great first day of school(well technically 2nd day of school because of our trip to Utah).  They are all decked out in their Nike gear, which seems to be all the rage and the trend around here.  It might have something to do with the Nike headquarters being located in Portland, might!  Zach is in 4th grade this year and his teacher is Mrs. Taylor.  She loves sports so I think it will be a perfect fit for him.  Kate is in 1st grade and her teacher is Mrs. Henely.  She wasn't too sure about Mrs. Henely at first because she remembers her from last year and that she taught Kindergarten, but I think it will be a great fit for Kate.  She is a very no nonsense kind of teacher and shoots it straight.  There will be no sugar coating things.  Her class will grow up fast! I am just now beginning to see these years flash before my eyes now that zach is just 2 years away from Middle School! Ahh!  

Grandpa VanValkenburg's 80th Birthday!

Great Grandpa VanValkenburg turned 80 in September.  His birthday wish was to have all his family and grandkids at the temple at the same time.  In order for most of us to be able to make his birthday wish come true we celebrated a little early, labor day weekend.  

Before heading up to Vernal we stopped off in Draper to visit the cousins at their new High School.  Parker had a game in Springville that night so the kids tagged along with Uncle Jeff and Aunt Britt while Justin and I took Ryan to BYU's campus for a little trip down memory lane.  We sure do miss living in Utah and being able to hang out with the cousins! It's nice to pick up right where we left off though, except for the change in height.  Holy Moly they are so grown up now!

The next morning we headed to Vernal.  It was our first time ever in Vernal. What a special day it was to all be in the temple together, and to see Grandpa in his element so to speak.  He is such a wonderful example to all of us and we are so glad we made the effort to celebrate with him.  Lots of great memories were made and I hope Zach and Kate remember this experience.   It's always fun to re unite with family. Kate and Lexie became fast buddies and were pretty much inseperable.  And it was fun to get Mason and Ryan together, as they are just a week apart! Grandma and Granpa came all the way from Philly as did Uncle Gary and Aunt Debbie from Iowa.  I wish I had a picture of the whole crew! It was so nice to catch up with everyone, and to see all our extended family too.  It was hard to say good-bye. On our way out we stopped by Grandma Van's grave.  We miss her so much! Grandpa Van made her headstone so beautiful.  They have such an amazing love.

We ended our fun weekend with our BFF's, the Broadbents.  They're pretty much family.  It's so nice that we have managed to remain close to friends from Dental School. We spent labor day in Park City. The kids loved the alpine slides. Ryan even got in on the fun. One day we will be neighbors! This was definitely on of our best labor days to date!

  And no trip can be complete without a trip to Cafe Rio! But before that we rewarded the kids with an afternoon at the new discovery museum in Lehi, for being such great road trippers.  We put 800 miles on our rental car within a 4 day period.  Lots of candy may or may not have been consumed...

Whew! What a great weekend and last hoorah for the summer!