Roommate Reunion

When I was in college, I lived with a group of girls that were awesome! That's all I can say about it.  And we (I'm including myself in the "awesome" category because this is my blog and I can) are still awesome so we decided to have a long overdue get-together! There were 12 of us who managed to get apartments right next to each other after we moved out of the dorms.

We stayed in a cabin in Heber (thanks Steph!) and basically had a blast! I cannot remember having that much fun in a long, long time. We left the kids at home and put our 2 days to work . We started the weekend by revisiting our stomping grounds......Elms, anyone?

We even had the audacity to knock on the doors and explore our old apartments.  A big shout-out to the girls who currently live there and actually let us in!?! Especially the ones who told us we were so cool.  And I'm not making that up, I promise ;)

We squeezed a ton of stuff into a short amount time including: a surprise baby shower, a trip to the Olympic park where we zip  lined and rode the Alpine slide, shopping at the outlets, lots of crafting/sewing, and some late night off-roading!

This is Amber.  Those are my feet. We got stuck half way down because of a scared little boy.  Way to ruin my speed!  Just kidding.  They let us go again.  But then we traded it in for the big zip line since the line was so long.

  Lunch at the Brick Oven!

We have a cosmetologist in the house! Jamie did our nails and cut my hair. We called it a "rustic hair cut."

 The dresses above are a pattern another super talented roommate designed (she designed the pattern and fabric).  I made the dresses for the American Girl Dolls and they turned out super cute.  We also went back to the dorms and thanks to EFY, we were able to sneak in and see all our old rooms.  What a trip down memory lane! We are already planning the next one!

Happy First Day of School

School's in session! And this year we get to go to school with cousins!

For the first day, everyone met and walked to school together.  It was fun for the kids.

Anna, Kaitlyn, Rachel, Kendri, Lexi, Jackson, Carson

And someone's certain that he's supposed to go to school too! Run, Jackson, run!

Braces for Lexi

Lexi has braces! Actually this is phase 1 of whatever they deem necessary for Lexi later on.  This picture is at the orthodontist office. Apparently they celebrate summer by having a snow cones at the office for a couple of months.  Pretty awesome! This was the visit right before Lexi got her braces on.  

It's actually a mouth expansion.  The orthodontist thinks she may not have to have braces on a second time (when all her permanent teeth are in) if we can get them to come in straight now.  Fingers crossed! For now, she has a new look for about 18 months.

I actually really like her orthodontist and his office. They send out texts to have you write a review for the office after you have an appointment. If you do, you get a gift card to Subway and you also can get 2 free movie tickets.  I've gotten quite good at writing a quick review.  I guess it could be my new job......

Grandma and Pa's Visit!

Grandma and Pa came out for a visit few weeks ago.  What did we do you ask?  Ate ice cream.  Several times.  And as you can see from the photo, Shayli enjoyed a dip cone.  On more than one occasion. My dad is somewhat of an ice cream connoisseur.  He's bestowed his wisdom on more than just his children.......

Dairy Queen has been a favorite of his for as long as I can remember and whenever there is one close by it requires our attention.

We also took a day to head to the city! Too bad for Lexi and Kendri......school started so they were hitting the books while we were riding the trolley.  We managed to hit most of the hot spots in downtown San Francisco before heading back to pick the girls up from school.  We started the day early and headed to the Bart station. The bart took us straight into SF where we then attempted to gather our whereabouts.  Luckily there was some nice man who pointed us in the right direction and also showed us the way of the locals. For a fee, of course. (No standing in the huge line for the trolley for us - we headed straight for the next line which was considerably shorter and supposedly a hot secret! Probably not.  But we aren't complaining. We gave the man a couple of dollars and called him "helpful".)

And if you know my dad, you also know he loves a cream puff!  (Are you starting to see where my sweet tooth comes from?) We could not go to San Francisco, be dropped off RIGHT by a pastry shop that specializes in cream puffs and not try them. T'would have been sinful to pass them up.

They were delicious and tasted very close to our own homemade ones.  Should I open a shop, perhaps?

And I can't believe there is another picture of us eating ice cream.  Seriously. Ahem.  I almost deleted it because now it's just getting embarrassing.  The one saving grace is that this is all over the course of a week and not one day.  Except for the cream puffs and sundae you see right below. He, he. We burned it off with all our walking. I'm sure of it. ;)  Anyhoo, here we are at the Ghiradelli chocolate square.  Can't go there and not try something.  T'is the curse of a true ice cream connoisseur.

And here we are at the end of the day.  The walking got the best of us by the time our day was over.  We took a cab.

Good-bye Grandma and Pa!  Until next time!

Officially Moved In

We are officially moved in!  It has been quite the chore to get things organized around here but I feel like we are pretty much done.  We got the big yard sale done a couple of weeks ago and just yesterday we took advantage of the holiday (Labor Day) and finally got the stuff in the attic where it belongs and put stuff in the shed and rearranged the garage so you don't trip over everything the minute you open the door.  Ahh. It feels nice!

The move has been an adjustment for everyone but especially the kids.  They miss their friends.  Kyson took a day and wrote postcards to all of his friends.  He was very insistent about what I write down for him.  Lexi went through a few weeks where she talked on the phone everyday with her friends from Valley Springs. I guess talking on the phone was almost like having a playdate?  We took them up there for a weekend so they could see everyone in our old neighborhood and at church.  I think it helped. I am hoping that in a few months they will be happy here and will have made some good friends.

On a positive note, we have had some visitors!  My parents were able to come out and see us for about a week.  But that deserves another post because we certainly had fun!  You'll have to wait and until I can upload those pictures......until next time!