First Day Of School

The first day of school is finally here and the kids are so excited!! They had their clothes laid out last night and were ready to go. We woke up a little later than we had planned, (Rough night with noisy neighbors. Maybe more on that later.) so it was a little more rushed than I would have liked.

Check out Hailey's backpack. It wasn't enough to have just a plain purple bag, I had to glam it up. Riley told Hailey that she will have the cutest backpack of all the girls at school. What a good brother!

We got Hailey to school just in time to jump into the end of the line and walk into her classroom. I'm kind of glad it turned out that way. I always get a little sad with them leaving for their first school experience. (The girl behind Hailey was having a hard time, or was it her parents, so it made it impossible to get a picture of Hailey without the whole family.)

Riley had a little more time to hang out and play before his class started. Kindergarten starts 30 min. before the rest of the school does. He was really excited to find out that he had the same teacher he had last year, she moved up to third grade this year, and that one of the boys from his soccer team is in his class.

I think they are both going to have a great year and a lot of fun. Sydney and I have been having a lot of fun so far today. We read a few stories, watched a cartoon, and now she is playing with blocks and animals while I do this. Carley is down for her nap. Although it is tough for me to say good by to the older kids and let them go, I must admit this is pretty nice.

Rain Gutter Regatta

Last night Riley competed in his scout groups rain gutter regatta. We received the boat kit on Sunday. With the race on Thursday it created a bit of a time dilemma. Monday Ryan and I walked part of our precinct for Prop. 8, Tuesday Riley had a soccer game, leaving Wednesday the only and final day to work on the boat. Ryan and Riley stayed up late sanding, painting, and gluing. When Ryan left for work the next day he left us with a few final instructions to finish off the boat. We were not too optimistic of Riley's chances since it was all so last minute, but you never know what may happen. Riley came out the victor. He only lost one race when his sail fell down for a moment. For winning Riley received a bunch of baseball cards, two baseball pins, a baseball poster, and some free tickets to the Midway Museum for him and his sisters. It was a lot of fun to watch. Way to go Riley!!

Too Easy

Now I know why I always loose at the bargain guessing game, I make it way too easy. The dress cost 10.00. I am still really excited about the deal though. Thanks to everyone who guessed. A big thank you to the person who guessed 25.00, you made my day!

Bargain Hunting

I love finding a good bargain. When I find an especially good one I love having people guess what I paid for the item. It is fun to see their surprise when the price is way lower than they expected. Ryan use to be my favorite victim for this. However he has become so good at guessing the price that it isn't fun to ask him any more. Now that I have access to a bigger audience I am going to try it here. If I find a particularly good bargain I will play my little guessing game with you. Good Luck!

Your first challenge is this beautiful dress I found for Hailey. It is a Marmellata. It is fully lined satin with an intricate lace overlay. It has buttons up the back.

LeAnna Ng

LeAnna Ng

January 20, 1980 - August 4, 2008

LeAnna was my cousin (my mom's twin sisters daughter) and a friend. It came as quite a shock when I was told on the 4th that she had passed away. I hope she knows how much we loved her and will miss her. She was beautiful in so many ways. She had a beautiful voice, was very talented in the arts, drawing, painting, decorating, and she loved people. She was kind to everyone and everything.
The kids and I traveled up to her funeral on Friday. We got a little lost when we got into town and got to the church just as the funeral was starting. I was really sad about this. I really wanted to see her one last time and tell her good by. I know she wasn't really there in her body, it was more of a closure thing for me. My Mom, seeing how upset I was, arranged for us to go over and view her after the family dinner. I was relieved. The funeral was beautiful. Her parents gave the eulogy. Her husband Chuen spoke on the wonderful and simply gorgeous person she was. Finally her stake president, who also happens to be a cousin, Pres. Thompson spoke on the plan of salvation. It was perfect.
After the dinner we headed over to the funeral home. I was a little worried about what the kids would say and think. They had never been to a funeral before. It actually turned out, of all things, fun. She was gorgeous. She looked like a porcelain doll. What made it fun was the kids comments. We all got a good laugh, and I think LeAnna would have too. Maybe she was whispering to them what to say. Here are a few of my favorites;

Sydney- "Mommy pick me up so I can see the princess!" (LeAnna always
referred to herself as a princess).

Sydney- "She's a fairy princess!" (LeAnna also loved fairies.)

Hailey- "Mommy is she The Tooth Fairy?"

Sydney- "Mommy, Shh! You are going to wake her up!"

Riley's questions and comments were more serious opening up some good conversation and teaching opportunities.

LeAnna was a wonderful person! I look forward to seeing her again.

Timber!!

For the last few days we have been watching the trees by our house be slowly whittled away to stumps. A guy from the phone company decided that the trees had to go because they may fall on the lines. He marked them with a white X so the workers would know which trees to cut.
When that happened both Ryan and I had a good laugh. We just knew that
when they started cutting they were going to release "Hexis"(if you are confused at this point, you need to watch "Fern Gully").


We even had a tree eating machine come that he could take over, but no such excitment was to be had. Now the trees are gone and we didn't even get to see any fairies.

While we are glad that we don't have to worry about them falling on our car anymore, we were a little sad to see the big trees go. They were pretty and provided a lot of shade.

July--It's a blast!!

It has been one crazy month. It started with Weston and Becky -Ryan's sister and her husband- visiting for the Fourth of July. We tried to spend a lot of time visiting with them. Which included going to the beach three times and having them over for dinner one night. We even went to the beach on the Fourth of July. Yes we are crazy!! It actually turned out okay though. Hailey and Sydney made a cute new little friend, Ryan and Riley got to work on their surfing skills, and Carley and I got to hang out. That night we went to see the fireworks at Aviara golf course. It was a great show, and location. The kids had a blast rolling down the hills, playing in the sand pits, and collecting golf balls while we waited for the fireworks to start. Once the fireworks started it was a different story. Both Sydney and Carley were scared to death. I got Carley to calm down, but Sydney cried through the entire show. --Sorry to everyone around us!!--
We said our goodbye's to Weston and Becky and started getting ready for our trip to Utah. We had not been planning one because of gas prices. However our apartment needed to be tented for termites, so we made a deal with the owners. Instead of putting us up in a hotel, paying for our food, and gas for three days they gave us gas money to drive to Utah. I think it was a great deal for both of us. It made for a quite crazy week getting ready to go. We not only had to pack for the trip, but pack up our entire house. This includes food inside fridges and freezers. It was crazy and a lot of work. I would never have been able to do it without help from my friends The Travis', The Linvilles and The Scotts. -Thanks so much guys!!-
With our entire house completely bagged up and packed away we headed for Utah. Monday and Tuesday we left Carley home with Grandma and took the three older kids on rafting trip down The Green River. We had a lot of fun. Sydney was a little nervous at first and would cry when rapids came. Hailey, trying to help here sister feel better, renamed the rapids "mad Carley's" to make them a little friendlier. It was a very cute attempt to make her sister feel better, but didn't work. Finally Ryan took her and she calmed right down. She just needed her Daddy. When we got into camp Sydney decided the trip wasn't so bad after all. She loved playing and rolling in the dirt. Hailey and Riley were having a great time too. Riley caught his first fish, which we took home and ate-yum-, winning a bet he had made with his dad on who would catch the first fish. The next day Sydney decided the river really wasn't that bad and fell asleep for the last hour and a half. A lot of fun was had by all.
On Thursday we impatiently waited for news from the hospital on when Kenny and Tasha's new baby would enter the world. He finally made it about 5:13. We all rushed over to greet our newest family member. He was so CUTE!! The kids got to see him through the window as Kenny, the proud daddy, held him up. Jackson was very cooperative and looked back at his new cousins wide eyed and alert. After the hospital we went bowling and had a blast.
The next day we shed tears and said good bye, -It was really hard to leave that that adorable new little baby.- and headed out to visit with Weston, Becky, Michael, and Rebecca (Michael's girlfriend). p.s. Michael--Way to go, she is beautiful and sweet!! We met them at Deer Creek and went boating and wakeboarding. It was a lot of fun. The next day everyone went swimming, well Carley and I stayed home so Carley could get a greatly needed nap, and played with Weston's underwater camera . After the swimming party, we had a wonderful lunch and celebrated a belated birthday for Michael. It was a lot of fun. After that there was nothing left to do but drive home.
We made it home Sunday afternoon to our house waiting for us to unpack it and to find that the gas had been turned off. It was beyond frustrating to find out that we had no way to cook dinner or give the exhausted babies a warm bath. It had been turned off for safety during the tenting of our apartment. Not the best end to a great vacation.
We got the gas turned back on on Monday and spent the rest of the week trying to get everything unpacked. I am hoping August will present a calm entrance back into the school year, but with the soccer season warming up and two weeks of swimming lessons around the corner it doesn't look to promising. It's okay, we love every minute of it.