The Big 32...

Another year and another birthday has come and gone. Between all the soccer practice, games, gymnastics, dance, school, and church, we managed to celebrate Justin's big day. According to Zach, we celebrated Dad's "Jimmer" birthday. 32 has become a very important number around these parts. For his big gift we finally purchased a Grill. Yep, you heard me right, our first BBQ in almost 10 years of marriage! We can hardly wait for it to be delivered. Happy Birthday Justin! We love you. And yes my kids' are sporting their blue Gatorade mustaches, which for the moment is their beverage of choice. Zach calls it "G serious." I am going to miss all of his pronunciation mistakes one day.

Zach and Kate's First Day...

Zach started first grade at his new school, Bonny Slope Elementary, this week and has come home everyday just loving it! He has gotten himself ready every morning, dressed, lunch packed, even teeth brushed. Zach's teacher is Mrs. Weber. Her room is OCD organized so I love her already!

Kate has also been getting herself ready for school, especially with making sure her bed is made, boy I hope this routine lasts long. She finally started pre-school. This has been a long time coming. She has been more than ready, even though she won't let you know she loves it...she does! Her teachers are Miss Patty and Miss Valerie, aka "Miss Valerina". They are high energy. I guess you would have to be if you are going to be a teacher to pre-schoolers.

This week has been crazy busy with errands, soccer practice, etc. and it will only get worse as next week we add the second soccer team, gymnastics and dance to the already chaotic schedule. But I have loved watching these two take on some responsibility and can' believe how independent they are becoming.

PS - I think it's time for a new camera!

Beachy Beach...

We headed down to Cannon Beach over the weekend for our last hoorah of the summer. My sister Heather had been down there all week, so we bombarded and came down to play for the day. Nothing like a little swimming, getting a little sand in every nook and cranny, a run to Bruce's Candy Shop, and roasting s'mores on the beach, to say farewell to free weekends and no schedule.

The kids start school on Tuesday and I can honestly say I am excited to get on a schedule again, but am dreading having to get up in the mornings and having to become the homework police again.

Zach's First Camp Out...

What's a summer without a little camping right? Over the weekend, Grandpa took all the boy cousins and their dad's up to Mt. Hood. This was Zach's first time ever camping and he loved it! He raved about being able to sleep in a tent and talked long about the nature obstacle courses they imagined up in their heads and played on. The hike up to Ramona Falls was said to be about a 4 mile hike round trip, so when it actually turned out to be 7, I think they were all amazed the boys kept up and finished it out. I get a kick out of all their walking sticks. What's the point of those anyways? I have a feeling they were used as swords or ligthsavers of some type instead. They all had a great time and look forward to doing it all again. These are some of the pics the guys took with their phones of their weekend excursion. As always, Justin is representing in his gray BYU Soccer shirt. I swear he will be taking that shirt with him to his grave. Just for the record, I do buy him other shirts to wear...

Eagle Crest...

Last weekend Justin attended a Dental Conference up in Central Oregon with my brother Andy, at a fun little resort called Eagle Crest. The kids and I were able to tag along on this trip, as well as Mari and the cousins.

The weather was perfect! I wish I could say we did a lot of things, considering how much Central Oregon has to offer, but really everything we did involved the pool. Zach and Kate could spend the entire day in the pool. Kate is a little fish and by the end of the weekend started swimming back and forth between me and Justin.

Brian and Marnae and their kids live up in Redmond so we got to meet our newest cousin, Jace, Marnae's latest addition. He is so cute and just a sweet little guy. I can't believe I did not take any pics of him, so you will have to click on her blog to see him.

Brian's parents live in a community that has their own private pool, so we spent an afternoon over at their place and had the entire pool to ourselves. The only thing missing was the boat to ski and tube behind.

What a great little getaway. One to be taken again hopefully.

Thank Goodness for Our Phones...

As we drove off to the airport some couple of weeks ago to surprise Grandma and Grandpa with a little visit from us, I leaned over to Justin and asked, "You put the camera in my purse like you said you were going to do right?" Do I even need to explain the response I got? I hardly go anywhere without the camera, because if you know me, if it is worth taking a picture of, it is worth scrapbooking! His response?... "My phone is just as good!" Seriously? Needless to say this is our Droid documented summer vacay, and the uploads are tiny. I am thinking the phone is not the best for pictures. Until I get some pics sent from Gramdma(hint hint) these will have to do...

It was so fun to show Zach and Kate where we used to live. Ahh, good ol Colony! I don't miss it, but I do miss the memories and the friends we made, and the memories that were made in these apartments. I kept thinking about the races we used to make the kids do to the mailbox and back just to burn their energy. Ha! Going back to church in Valley Forge was like we were coming home, seriously, as if we never left. I loved seeing everyone there. We hit it right on testimony meeting, and I loved it because we got to hear from all our favorite people. It couldn't have been more perfect.



Everyone knows you gotta hit up Rita's when you go back east. It's that good!



The one summer we were in PA for the 4th it rained so hard that we didn't attempt to go see fireworks with Zach, who was only 2 at the time. But this year, we finally made it to the Lower Perkiomen Park Firewoks Display. We just happened upon some of our favorite friends, the Behunin's, Low's, Linn's, and Bro. Hope, and watched the fireworks with them and all their kids. So Fun!





These cupcakes were so YUMMY! What a great 4th of July.



We took Aunt Jayne down to Reading Terminal Market and walked to the Liberty Bell, even drove down Broad Street, past the dental school, pretty much gave her the grand tour of Philly. We just hope we didn't bore her to death. Justin got his cheese steak on!




We hit up Monkey Joe's, always a kid favorite and spent a day at "Pershey Hark", as Kate says. (Pics to come hopefully...Grandma hint hint)



We had a couple s'mores parties around the fire. Turns out ski poles are great roasting sticks!



You can't leave PA without stuffing your face at the best Breakfast Buffet, Shady Maple, plus it was grandma's birthday, so she got to eat for FREE. And you most definitely can't leave without passing through Intercourse. Amish people watching never gets old.





After Daddy left we hit up Rita's again! We also did a bunch of other fun things not pictured like shop the Pottery Barn Outlet, swim in the hot tub, go see Cars 2, etc.



We even hit up our old stomping grounds, Spring Valley Y, to get relief from all the humidity! I saw some old friends and it made my heart happy to hear that my classes are missed.



What a great trip! We were sad to say good-bye. We love Grandma and Grandpa and wish we could have the best of both worlds, with them and Justin's work in the same state at least. It is a nice to have someone who lives on the east coast though, not gonna lie, to enjoy the perks of being so close to NYC and being able to re-live old memories without breaking to bank on hotel stay...just sayin.

Oh and the good news? If you want to view these pics bigger, you can just go to my facebook! Phone Pics + blogger = Bad Phone pics + facebook = Good

Kate's On Two Wheels...

It's true, Kate is riding a two wheeler! There are quite a few kids that live in our new neighborhood, and one of the favorite activities is to race on their bikes. They even have a "Finesh Line" chalked across the street. Yesterday, Kate had been riding our neigbor's balance bike all morning. When I came outside in the afternoon to check on them, she begged me to take off the training wheels on Zach's old bike. Honestly, I didn't want to, only because I was more afraid of her hitting the pavement. She is persistant though, and I obviously gave in, and now she's practically a pro! It literally took her one try with me holding on to the back and running along side of her. She kept pedalling faster and I was soon left in the dust.



This is footage I took of her right after she learned yesterday.

Oh Kate...

There are really only two ways we find you these days. One,is in your swimsuit,which once again we caught you fast asleep on the couch, and Two, is in your "Lillytard" aka "The White Dress". You are obsessed with these items and your world would not be complete without them. Your latest favorite thing to do is dance around the house to your "Primpess" music. We have recently unpacked some old toys, and you re-discovered your Disney Princess Portable CD player. You have been in heaven ever since, dancing around on every surface of Grandma's house.