Girls Night In

Last Saturday Jasmine and I had such a fun little date. We went grocery shopping and she loved helping me, then we came home and had a picnic on the living room while we watched the Parent Trap, the new one, not the old one.

We painted our nails and made a little charm bracelet for her wrist and then had ice cream afterwards!

What a fun night, and I love that I have a daughter to share these fun "girly" moments with.

Jonas took Shay on a little date too, they went to Target to get a toy Shayden has been saving his money for, and then went to Hollywood Connection to play mini-golf. Sounds like they had fun too, but not as much as us girls, lol.

The night we danced

Being that I am married to one of Boys 2 Men's biggest fans, we just had to buy tickets and go down to Orem for the big concert! It was a really fun time and of course I am familiar with a lot of their songs from way back, and from him. I was surprised at the diverse people that were there, all different ages and types of people all ready to jam. It was packed!
We had so much fun and it was very romantic, listening to all the love songs. Jonas was in heaven, I tried to get him to spend the $40 to go backstage, but he opted to save the money. Way to go honey! He did get to go backstage years ago when he went to see them after his mission, so at least he got to meet them then.

Back to School Traditions

I wanted to document these so that next year I could know exactly what I did. If anyone has any other cool traditions, please share.
Mini Time Capsules
At the beginning of last year I had the kids fill out this little questionnaire and then along with a picture, roll it up into a toilet paper tube and wrap it in tissue paper.
I actually forgot about them and so luckily I found them in time (part of why I wanted to record this). We did this with our cousins and opened them on the night before back to school. The kids were excited to see what they wrote and they looked surprisingly different than their picture a year ago. Here is what they wrote last year, pretty funny. I think next year, I will have them first fill out the new form, and make the time capsules, before they open the old one so that the answers are more likely to be different.

Shayden's answers:

My name is Shayden

I am going to be in 1st grade this year.

The thing that I am most excited about this year is Science Class.

The thing I am least excited about is when it is taking a long time.

I hope my teacher is nice and fun.

My favorite thing about the summer of 2007 was when we went on a plane to see Brianna.

My least favorite thing about the summer of 2007 was when we were sitting in the car all wet.

My favorite piece of clothing right now are my flip flops.

My favorite toy is my fishing pole.

The last book I read was started Magic Tree House #1.

My favorite food is pizza.

My favorite movie is Transformers.

I hope this year I can do my best.

When I grow up I want to be a vet.

Father's Blessing-the night before

Read the "Kissing Hand" before bed- This is such a cute story, this year I decided to make this a tradition. Shayden's Kindergarten class read this and it stuck with him, now he asks for a "kissing hand" every now and then. If you haven't read it, go get it from the library, it's a good one.

Special Letter from mom- This year I wrote Shayden a letter (because he can read) going over some of my favorite memories from this summer. I also told him my hopes for him this year and how proud I am of him. I put it under his pillow so he could read it right before he went to sleep.

Pictures, pictures, pictures- Holding up the number of the grade they are starting with their fingers. By classroom, etc.

Red apple to Teacher- I may do the equivalent of this in some years (apple hand sanitizer from bath/body works, for example) but this year it was fun just to do an apple. The teachers loved it.

Pick Dinner- I let them each pick the dinner that they wanted to celebrate, Shay picked Lipton Soup (my one craving at the beginning of my pregnancy, funny) and Jasmine picked Mac n Cheese, so both were easy to appease.
Some years we may go out to ice-cream too :)

It seems like a lot but it was all pretty easy...

Another Year...Preschool

Jasmine got to start "real" preschool this year with a "real" backpack even!
Can I tell you how excited she was?

It's at a home close by...

She felt like such a big kid and was excited about making new friends.

Right when I picked her up she rattled off like 5 things that they did! What a change from Shayden, who it is like pulling teeth from to get anything out of.

too good to pass up

Jonas let the kids cut his hair!! I guess he should know the pictures would end up on here :)

I really like this new look honey!

Fishing Outing

To celebrate the first day of school we went fishing. It was a beautiful night for it.

The kids have been wanting to go all summer. Jasmine just got a fishing pole. She was so excited she caught her very first fish!
Shayden didn't have as good of luck this time, maybe next time.

Back to School...2nd Grade!

Shayden's school had a family picnic on Saturday night, they divided the kids by grades and got to play all sorts of fun games. It was a good chance for him to play with his friends before going back.

He was excited to go back to school. I can't believe he is so big.

There was a kid outside the door (going to a different 2nd grade class) that was hysterically crying on the floor, he didn't want to go in. I felt so bad for his mom and I was so grateful that my kids are okay being away from me.

As I drove away I wondered if there was something wrong with me because I wasn't crying hysterically, just a little bit teary eyed. But then I remembered that we have had some concerns about his new teacher and I think this comforting feeling was telling me that everything will be okay. I had a really peaceful feeling as I dropped him off and he seems fine, so I won't worry.

Except I will worry that he will lose his glasses :)

Happy Birthday "C"!

I think you are a talented kid with lot's of spunk! There is never a dull moment when you are around.

I'm glad that you and Jasmine are such good buddies!

p.s. great cake selection, the cookie dough was a nice touch

Cherry Hill Water Park

The kids and I went with my sister's family to Cherry Hill Water Park on Saturday.
Because we couldn't possibly start school without one more day of crazy fun! And besides, they hadn't been in their swimsuits enough...

We have been wanting to go for quite a while, and it was better than I had expected.
Jasmine loved this little slide.

My sister gave Jasmine this little tube and she was in heaven, jumping off of the side of the pool with it!

Perfect bliss on the boys' faces!

Pool Party at Night

I feel like the kids have been living in their swimming suits!

How nice that our friends invited us to their ward party where they rent out the Taylorsville Pool. Jonas and I didn't get into the water, mostly because it was a crazy day (Thursdays are my busy day) and I didn't have time to get my stuff together with the kids, but I kind of wish I had. It wasn't as cold as I thought it would be. And it's not every day you get to go swimming at night. The kids had a blast!

Hey Andersons, thanks for the invite!

Education Week 2008

After talking about going together for years, my sister and I finally made it for one day to Education week at BYU. It was a nice day of bonding for us. I love spending time with my sister. My 16 yr old niece came too but she was too cool to hang out with us so she went with her friends ;)


The classes were all amazing, I wasn't disappointed by any of them. They are all such good speakers and topics.

We took some really well rounded classes, here are the topics, not the exact ones but in my words:

1-How to be a more effective teacher of children (great ideas for Primary!)

2-Family traditions that help convert our children.

3-How to have a happy marriage.

4-For women-Choosing not to be busy all the time (what, you mean that's a bad thing?)

5-Celebrating humor in the Gospel by Vickey Pahnke which is normally a youth speaker, I remembered her from when I went back in High School, she was awesome.


Later we shopped for good deals in the bookstore and went and got a bite to eat.

My kids spent the entire day playing with their cousins at my sister's house. Which of course, they loved.

It was an inspiring day and hopefully I will be able to implement some of what I learned.

Friends come to Visit!

My friend Leah and her kids came for a visit this week, we had so much fun!

Sunday night we had a yummy dinner and just hung out and talked.
Monday we went to lunch at the park and then swimming at an outdoor pool I had never been to. It was hot and felt good to get in the water. At the last minute we made it a Monday Fieldtrip and more friends came. It's so fun to sit and talk to other moms!

After the pool, Leah and I took the kids to Wheeler Farm to see the animals.

That night Jonas took all the kids (and even had a little Family Home Evening with them!) and us girls got to go to one of our favorite places...Leatherby's! What a nice break that was. We just talked and talked...


On Tuesday we went to lunch in the park again (hey, that way we didn't have to make anything :) and then I took the kids to that fun splash park in Herriman so Leah could go to IKEA alone.

Then we all went to the Garden's at Thanksgiving point.


That place is huge, we didn't see ANY of the same things that we saw last time, and this time we also went in to the Children's Gardens. The kids got soaked!!!

It was nice and peaceful and for the most part, we were able to sit back and talk while the kids played. Then we got some dinner and headed home to eat it.


I never have enough time to spend with Leah, I always wish our visits were longer. And this time especially, probably because we are both pregnant and had so much to discuss! It was sad to see her go. And for the most part our kids got along well, the girls are becoming better friends each time. They played with ponies non-stop.

The trampoline was a hit:

Thanks for coming to visit us guys! Next time we see each other we will both have tiny baby boys to show off!

We love ya!

Daddy Date to Lagoon

Saturday we went to our annual Stake social, it is the biggest party of the year, for our neighborhood at least.

Shayden had his face painted like Harry Potter.

Then Jonas took the kids to Lagoon because my dad got tickets from work. There weren't enough tickets for me to go so I stayed behind and had a nice relaxing evening. Guests were coming the following day so it gave me a change to finish up some things.

They sure had a fun time, as they of course both love that place.

Jonas was laughing so hard after this picture~silly kids!

The Race is ON!

The race is on for the last week of Summer!

All summer Shayden has been asking me how many days before school starts and I have been counting them. The last time he asked me I said "20" and he said,

"then we better squeeze as much fun into those 20 days as we can!"

And he is right. Lazy summer days sipping a Popsicle? Not our idea of summer!

Neglecting my house and everyday chores for fun, fun and more fun? Well, you get the idea.


In my introspective, analytical moments, I theorize about how this need for me to do so much with my kids must be related to my own neglect as a child. Summer after summer, left alone to hang out with friends in my apt complex, watching t.v., doing nothing, essentially. Unattended, getting into trouble, bored. Not that I am blaming my parents, they did what they had to do to come to this country and I am so grateful for that. And I did get to go to a couple of fun summer camps. But not the kind of summer I want my kids to remember.

Not only that, but I have less than 3 months until this baby comes and suddenly I feel this urge to make sure I do as much with these 2 kids before I have 3, since I have no idea what I am in for.

So with only 6 more days to go, we have better hit the pavement and see get to squeezin'!