My Big 1st Grader

1st Day of School!!!

I can't believe Colben is a 1st grader- where oh where has the time gone?
He's so handsome- even early in the morning!
Sitting at his desk just happy to be there!

That feeling lasted until right as we were about to leave and then he started crying--- I couldn't just leave him there so I walked over to him and asked why he was so sad. He said "I don't know what the teacher wants me to draw" I started getting a little teary-eyed because he was so concerned that his teacher hadn't told him what to draw and he just wanted to make sure he did the right thing. Ms. Kelch came right over and told him that she wanted him to draw his family and when he was done she needed him to be her helper for the day- he perked up a little when she said that and I felt better leaving him. He's such a sensitive little man and this just reminded me how wonderful of a son I truly have.

Meet your Teacher!

Meet your Teacher!!

Colben sitting in his seat- his table are the Zebra's! It's so fun to see the progression of going from circle tables to rectangle tables that have the little cubby underneath to put your supplies!!
He loves the reading corner-they have little couches with a little ottoman- very "grown up"
His cubby where he puts his back pack!
Colben and his new teacher, Ms. Kelch
She is soooooo awesome and i'm so happy she is his teacher!!
Colben's name is on the 3rd row down first name on the left.
The Music Room- I took these pictures mostly so my mom could see how cool the room is.

I love the rug
Mom- does this look familiar?
Outside his school. We actually don't pick them up in front like we did at his old school. We pick them up in the back!

We can't wait for tomorrow!!!!

Bring on 1st Grade!!!

Day Before School Party!

My friend, Michelle, put together this great party for the kids the day before school started. She had activities and games for them and it gave us moms a chance to visit. She is awesome and the kids had a great time!

Pin the worm on the apple- Danika decided her worm needed to be on the bricks!
Colben got really close!
The kids decorated bags to use on the scavenger hunt!
The group!!!
This was Colben's team for the scavenger hunt!
She had school supplies hidden throughout her back yard and Eric's mom read clues to them and they had to search for the goods!
It was a really fun way for the kids to get together and play before the new school year began! Thank you Michelle for such a great activity!

Our Amazing Trip to.....Decatur?

I know, I asked myself the same thing-- where is Decatur and what's there?

Well apparently, there is a motorcycle track, a little town square and a fun playground and that's about it!

I'm assuming this is their County Courthouse or Town Hall or something. It had some really neat architecture so I thought i'd snap some shots!


Danika loved this swing- so did Ben!

There were bells you could play- kinda got annoying after a while!



The playground was really cool and looked like the town!

Danika and her Daddy

Daddy's Little Girl!

Ben had a double header softball game so in between games we stopped at Burger King (Queen in this case) and had dinner. She's got him wrapped around her little finger!!

MY NEW TOY

I am the proud new owner of a dirt bike!!!

After watching an episode of MTV's "Made" where a snobby, prissy girl learned how to ride a dirt bike and even entered a race I thought to myself "I can do that!"

That wasn't the only reason though, i've always loved motorcycles and while watching Ben race I imagined myself doing it and how much fun it would be.

Ben didn't need any more reason than that to call the motorcycle shop the next day and have a Honda CRF 150R ready for us to pick up!!

I still don't have my gear (on order) but i've got everything else so we went to a friends' house in Bartonville who has some property and I rode around for a while. This actually isn't my first time riding- as soon as we brought the bike home I rode it around our house and had a blast.

I felt like such a goober riding in my jeans- I compare it to seeing someone on the ski slopes skiing in jeans- just not cool!!
Ben had me work on cornering so I found 2 trees and did figure 8's around them.
Proud to say I haven't wrecked yet!!!

Our friends have Donkey's so Danika wanted to play with them the whole time.

Danika took this picture of me!

Our Crazy Conversation

So i've read on a lot of people's blogs conversations that they've had with their children and the funny things they say so I thought I would blog my conversation I had with my kids today as we were running errands!
Colben: Can I drive us home?
Mom: are you kidding?

Later as we were on our way home:
Mom: Colben if you had a million dollars what would you buy?
Colben: I would buy a new movie player in our car because ours is broken and I really want to watch lots of movies in the car.
Mom: Colben, if Mom had a million dollars, what would she buy?
Colben: A juice maker
Mom: A juice maker? Why that?
Colben: I don't know- you know, a machine that makes juice!
Mom: Danika, if you had a gazillion dollars, what would you buy?
Danika: A toy.
Mom: A toy? What kind of toy?
Danika: A Star Wars toy.
Mom: Danika, if you had 1 dollar, what would you buy Daddy?
Danika: 2 cars
Mom: What color cars would you buy him?
Danika: a sweet blue car (she said this with a little help from Colben who explained that when you say sweet it's like saying something is really cool)
Colben (to Danika) you want to go to the dollar store and buy Daddy 2 sweet blue cars?
Danika: Mom, let's go to the dollar store right now so I can buy Daddy some cars!

This is when we pulled into the garage and Colben said to me "If I had a dollar I would want to go see that new Star Wars Clone Wars Cartoon- can we go do that tomorrow?

Isn't it kinda nice to look at money the same way that our children do that have no concept whatsoever of the value of a dollar?

Last Minute Trip to Utah

I took a last minute trip to Utah after being home for only 48 hours from being in Idaho. Unfortunately it was for my best friend's husband's funeral. I am just really glad I was able to come and show my love and support for LaShon. I brought the kids with me so they could see family.

The kiddos on the plane- thank goodness for portable electronic devices!
The New Harley Davidson Shop in Lindon- a lot of the materials that they used to build this building were from scraps used at Geneva Steel. It was the neatest looking building and the inside was really cool too. Very rustic.
The kids were so excited to see Baby Tatum- as soon as we walked in they completely swarmed him and I think he was taken off guard at all the madness!!
Colben missed Texas!
Baby Tatum- the last time I saw him he was only 2 weeks old so it was fun to play with him and interact with him.
This was at the luncheon after Ralph's funeral. LaShon looks soooo good. Allison joined us and we had a good time talking and laughing about old times.
LaShon is due on Election Day and just looks so good pregnant!
We will all miss Ralph very much.
After the funeral I met my sisters at the park where we had a good time playing in the heat!

Danielle and Danika goin' down the slide.
There was a duck pond and we brought bread to feed them. The kids got a kick out of it.
Colben ran around to the other side of the pond and wanted to run all the ducks into the water- he chased them around but I don't think any of them actually ended up in the water.
Nicki and I took a walk around the ward with the kids in tow.
The kids liked being pushed in the red wagon.

I'm not sure what Danika is thinking in this picture.
My old Elementary School- It has been around forever and they are now tearing it down (I think they're keeping parts of it) to make a school for gifted children. I wasn't able to be there when they let people come in and take whatever school supplies they wanted (chairs, tables, books etc.) but my sister has some great pictures of the inside before they started tearing it down. My mom also went and grabbed a bunch of great books for my kids. I was very sad to see it in this condition so I guess my memories will have to be good enough.




I think my best memory is when as 6th graders we were so sick of the school colors (Brown and Orange) so we started a petition and walked around all the classes and had all the students sign it if they wanted to help change the colors. We then took the petition to the Principal and he actually took us serious and changed the colors to Red and Black. Just in time for us to leave for Junior High!!
OHHHHH Give me a Great, Groovy, Grand Grizzly growl to show spirit for our Grandview School. (I don't know the rest of the words to our school song-help me out any alumni)

I took the kids to their cousin's house in Lehi for a slumber party (which promptly ended at 10pm when Lara called to tell me Colben was really scared so I went and picked them up but brought them right back the next morning so they could keep playing)
The only way I could get Danika in the picture was to sit with her-The Bangerter girls are so grown up and look so cute.
Some of the girls own lambs that they take to different shows to try and sell so here is Catherine and Colben as they take the lambs out for a walk.

Becca and Danika.
All the kids and the lambs.
Danika really wanted to ride one. She is not scared of anything!
When they got back from the walk they jumped in the pool! I didn't know they had a pool so I didn't have swim clothes for them so Danika is naked and Colben had to swim in his undies!! Thank goodness we're all family right?
Colben loves playing with the noodles!

Danika and Nicki being silly with the balloon.
Nicki telling Danika a secret through the balloon.
Danika sharing a secret with Nicki.
The gang at Brick Oven.
I really wanted to get pictures of the grandkids and both sets of Grandparents!

Grandma and Grandpa Bauer
Grandma and Grandpa Mayo
I decided I wanted in on the fun!
Colben wanted to help grandpa with "pooper scoopin" I watched just cringing with memories of having to do that. I would give up halfway through the yard and just mow it over hoping I wouldn't step in it. I figured it was fertilizer for the lawn!!
Danika took this picture of Jake- he's my parents Malamute and a very silly dog!!

Don't let his size fool you- he's a goofy K9.

Sorry dad, hope this doesn't embarrass you but I had to get on camera what you dress like when you mow the lawn. I don't know anyone else who works out in the yard in a button down plaid shirt!
Nicki and I took the kids swimming at Veteran's Pool-I remember going to this park as a kid back when they didn't need slides or any fancy toys to make it fun. Boy have times changed, I don't know what I'd do if I took the kids swimming at a place that didn't have those fun things to play with and slides to go down.


Colben wanted to teach Danika how to do a back float. He teaches her all sorts of things in our bath tub.

Before I left I really wanted to visit again with LaShon and let her know how much I love her and that I'll always be here for her so Amy and I went over to her mom's house and hung out for 2 hours. She is such a strong woman and i'm so glad we became best friends in high school. I look back and thank Heavenly Father for blessing me with such good friends.
When we walked outside her mom's house to get in the car Amy looked up and said "look, a silver lining" I couldn't help but get a little choked up feeling so grateful for my Heavenly Father and for this beautiful reminder that even in the hardest times, there is a silver lining in there somewhere and we need to have faith that Heavenly Father is looking out for us and that he loves us. I know that he is watching out for LaShon and her unborn son and is giving her the strength and love that she needs to get through this rough time.
Danielle and Chan had a BBQ at their house and the kids loved the fire pit!
Colben loves Baby Tatum!!
My sista and me!!

Danika wanted in on the picture fun!

We put all the kids in the tub and it became "blackmail time" for the parents!
Look at the bum on that one!!!

Look at those tan lines!
Danielle thought it would be fun to have a little fashion show with Tatum's clothes------ by putting them on my kids. Danika ended up wearing part of this outfit home and cried the next morning when I had to take them off so we could get on the plane to come home.
What's funny about this is that I bought this outfit for Tatum (it's a size 24mth) and he can actually fit in it right now- he looks like a homie and it's baggy on him but the fact that my son who is 6 1/2 fits in it too makes me wonder.