AHHHHH...She's a teenager!!

I am at a loss for words...my baby is a teenager. How is this possible? Luckily for me, she is the sweetest, funnest, most obedient and happy teenager I have ever met. I simply love this girl! She just wanted to get a pedicure with Mom (YES!), go to dinner at Pizza Factory and have a pancake-cake. She also got spoiled with some great dollar store gifts from her siblings and a jean skirt that she had been begging for. Then, she got to go to Lake Powell...one of her favorite spots!

A Walk in the Woods

The weather has been so nice lately that we decided it would be fun to go on a walk up the canyon for a Sunday activity. So, we invited the Clark Family to come over for dessert and a walk in the woods. Rylee wanted to make "s'more cupcakes" with marshmallow frosting, which was delish! Then we headed up the canyon. It was so beautiful and the weather couldn't have been more relaxing. We only wish more of us would have been able to make it. Good times!

All I want for Christmas...

Look who lost his 2 front teeth!! He looks so cute! I will be bummed when he big boy teeth come in and close this sweet whole in his mouth.

After walking around looking like this for about 3 weeks...

It was actually nice to see him look like this!!

6th Grade Student Council

Rylee has been looking forward to running for the 6th grade student council ever since Karlee was a part of it 2 years ago. Rylee is a planner...so she has been thinking about slogans and coming up with all sorts of ideas. The time finally arrived and it was like Christmas for her! The first step is to fill out the paperwork, including doing a couple hours of community service (she baked cookies for her soccer team, helped clean up a ward party and helped Grandma clean her house) and write an essay. Then she had to give a 15-20 second speech to her class. The class then voted for 3 kids to move on to the school elections. Rylee's speech included a short dance segment ( so cute!) and she was voted one of the 3 in her class to move on. So, there were 9 kids total running in the school-wide election.

The next week was school election time. She decided on the slogan "A Vote for Rylee will make you Smiley!". We made posters and stickers for her to hand out at school. She had to do a speech for the school election, as well. This speech also included a dance segment and about 10 of her friends...she said a few short sentences about why you should vote for her and then said, "Besides, a vote for Rylee will make you smiley. Afterall, just look at these kids who voted for me..." Then the song "Happy" was played while her friends danced by...but Spencer walked by sadly, she pulled him out of the line and said, "Wait, you didn't vote for Rylee!" and then the dancing continued. It was pretty clever and cute! Lastly, I made Rylee a shirt to wear on election day. She came up with what she wanted and I put it together for her.

The way the election works is that the 4th-6th grade students all vote for their 3 top choices for student council. The student with the most votes becomes President, the 2nd most votes is VP and the 3rd most votes is Secretary. I was so nervous for her to come home on election day...I knew she would be heartbroken if she wasn't elected to something. I was prepared for a bit of drama. But, to all of our delight, Rylee came home beaming...she was voted President! I know that Rylee is a good friend to everyone at school and she is just so dang fun to be around and I couldn't be more proud. She is the first girl ever elected to be President at the school. Love her!

"Brace Face"

I have been trying to tell Karlee for several years not to get excited about braces...but like all kids that age, she wanted to be like her friends! Our family is SUPER slow at losing teeth and she is young for her grade, so this made the wait for braces seem like an eternity for her. But, the day has finally arrived! In order to finally get her started they had to pull 2 of her molars out...so, she got braces and 2 teeth pulled in the same day. It was 3 hours in the orthodontist chair, 2 times getting her gums numbed and 3 times she watched "Wreck It Ralph" in the chair...but that was 3 hours in the fabulous massaging chair for parents (I love Warren Orthodontics!). She was such a trooper and while eating is a bit of a challenge, she came out unscathed. Plus, she looks adorable!! It will totally be worth it, Kars! Love you!
BEFORE!


AFTER!

Learning to be Responsible...I hope!

In the hopes of helping my kids learn a little responsibility, a little work ethic, a little gratitude and how to make homemade jam...we made 9 batches of peach jam today. We picked the peaches off the tree in our backyard. Then we got all the stuff to make the jam and put it into containers. The kids were great to help and then it was their job to sell the jam to friends, neighbors and family. This was to help offset the cost of all of the competitive sports!! I am proud of them, they did a great job and didn't complain at all!

It begins again...

Well, summer wasn't long enough and we could have partied for several more weeks...but school has come and we must submit. Truthfully, it came so fast this year I didn't feel as prepared or ready as I usually do. As I got them all ready for their first day it seemed weird, but they have returned and we are back to waking up early and staying busy all day! I know this will be a fabulous year for all of them! Karlee is in 8th grade at Mapelton Jr. High, Rylee is in 6th grade with Mrs. Antares, Audree is in 4th with Mrs. Robbins and Spencer is in 2nd with Miss Sayers.

P.S. about a week before school started I went to give Spencer a haircut...the idea was to cut it a little long so that we could start putting gel in it like he likes it for school. I must have lost my mind though, because as I started to cut (about 2 stripes into the cut) I realized that I had completely forgotten to put a clip on the clippers. So, he got a MAJOR buzz. It will be about a month before he grows enough hair for gel. Yikes, Mom of the Year award goes to me!

Nephi

With school starting in only 3 days we had to make a trip to Nephi for the big Demolition Derby! It did not disappoint...I found kettle korn, there were crashes and fire, lots of dancing in the stands and good times! What a great redneck way to end our summer of fun. We love it!

St. George

We like to make one last trip to St. George as a last 'hurrah' to summer! Luckily it worked out to do that this year. We even got to go to Tuacahn to see "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat". It was a super fun show and the kids loved it...even if it did rain on us most of the night. Good thing for ponchos!! We did a little school shopping and swimming and made it home with just a couple days before school starts!

Boating

This summer has been cooler than usual and our trips to the lake on "Boaty" have been fewer than we had hoped...but when we got out there, we made the best of it!! Always good times!

July 24th- Pioneer Day!

This Day is always a fun one! We hit the Spanish Fork Parade to watch Karlee and Audree do their thing (and collect bag fulls of candy!) and that evening we went to our favorite fireworks of the year in Mapelton. It was fun to have lots of family join us this year...we danced, played soccer headers and ate treats until the dark hit. The fireworks were fabulous this year and the day was complete! What a great tradition!