Back to School

This year we have two in junior high and two in elementary. Boy, how fast they grow!

Cali

Kris thinks the black image on the right is one of the dolphins. Wishing for my other camera the whole time!

We just got back from a fun trip to California. We were trying to go to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, but thanks to connecting flights and all the tropical storms, we decided our odds were better flying standby to Long Beach instead. It was a nice, relaxing trip with time on the beach at Newport, swimming with dolphins and sharks, literally! I wish I had taken my SLR camera because I could have caught it on film, but we had our cheap digital camera which has the worst zoom lense ever. Zach and Hayley were out boogie boarding with the surfers, and within a half hour of being at the beach, we saw three fins among the surfers right by the kids! Zach's first thought was that it was a shark, it didn't help that we saw Soul Surfer the week before going there! The dolphins kept coming back throughout the afternoon, then right before we left, some locals noticed a baby shark swimming in the shallow water by us. It was only about 18 inches long, but the kids were sure excited! We also enjoyed a Colorado Rockies game against the LA Dodgers. It was Tyler and Justin's first MLB game, and they were so excited! Tyler is a huge Tulowitzki fan, so he was thrilled to see one of his idols in person. It was actually on our summer bucket list, so it worked out great seeing them there in L.A. while on vacation. So nice to have a relaxing vacation...

Graduation

The Graduate
Halla, Katelin and Hayley

Madelyn, Hayley and Kelly

Singing the last song of her elementary career!

School is officially out, and my second child graduated from elementary. This makes me sad, because now I will have two junior high students and two elementary students. My kids are growing up way too fast! Anyways, congratulations Hayley on moving on to the next big adventure!

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

Hayley up to bat

Hayley playing short stop

Justin

Tyler up to bat

Not sure about Tyler's form?!

Justin up to bat

Zach with his teammates after his first home run of the season!

Zach up to bat

Justin on third base

So, this is what we have been doing for the last 6 weeks (on and off, thanks to the rain)...Needless to say, most nights we have had a game (or two, or three and once four!) Good thing we love baseball (and now softball)!

Spring Break

Amidst a very busy week off of school, we were able to take a couple of days off and head to Moab. The kids enjoyed the sand dunes and the hikes in Arches National Park. Very pretty, one of our favorite national parks that we have visited recently (out of Zions and Grand Canyon, our favorite was Arches by far!)

Officially an Eagle Scout

Zach received his Eagle Scout this last Sunday, and as he said in his acceptance speech, "Now my mom and dad can get off my back," I think we will do just that and start working on the two younger brothers! Congrats Zach, so proud of you!

Busy Week

Happy Birthday Justin!
Hayley at the Spelling Bee

The 28 Finalists

Happy Birthday Hayley!

Right after hurting his eye. It was swollen shut for 3 days.

The color setting in.

One of Zach's basketball games.

We have had a crazy week. We had three birthdays in five days, starting with Justin's on Saturday. Hayley had the Davis County School District spelling bee on Tuesday night. She made it to the next round becoming one of the 28 finalists out of 155. On Wednesday, was Hayley's birthday. Right before we did cake and ice cream, Tyler and Justin were messing around like boys do, and Justin threw a ball to Tyer who was going to jump up and catch it landing on the couch, except he missed the couch and hit is eye on the arm of the couch. The arm is padded so who would have thought he would come out with a huge, swollen eye? Needless to say, the next day, on my birthday, I kept him home from school so I could take him to the doctor because the swelling still hadn't gone down. He is fine now, but it's going to be ugly for a few weeks! We ended out the week with a Jazz game on my birhthday, a high school basketball game for Kris' cousin's kid, 3 basketball games for Zach and one basketball game for Justin. Whew!