First Day of School!

Yeah! It's finally here! This morning, we got up and got ready for the first day of school for Ian and Luke! It went pretty smooth, until Luke wanted the hair clip from Mason and then it went downhill from there! hahah! Ian was set to go, and not really nervous at all about going to 3rd grade! He was a little sad last week when he found out he didn't get the teacher he wanted and that not a lot of kids he knew were in his class, but I think time healed that, and now he is excited to meet his new teacher and make new friends! Luke had back to school last night and met his 1st grade teacher, and already seems to love it! I hope it will be a great year for both of them!

Ian - ready to take on 3rd Grade!

Luke - somewhat ready for 1st Grade - even though he couldn't have the hair clip... he wasn't cooperating for pictures this morning :(

Ian and Luke outside their Elementary School with all their gear, happy to go to school! (and mom is happy too!) :)
Mason didn't cry this year when they left... I'm sure he's gonna enjoy the break from them too, and he is excited to start preschool in a few weeks! :)

My Spontaneous Trip to Brookfield Zoo!

Well, I decided to take the boys up to the Zoo on Friday. I didn't want to go to the local zoo, cause it's small and we've been there a lot, plus, my sister in law, Angel, loves the zoo, so I called her up to see if she wanted to spend the day with us! It was last minute, but she said yes, and I am glad, cause there was NO way I was taking the boys by myself to the zoo! (Dave had to work!) So we picked Angel up and headed out. I didn't realize that Brookfield was so far away! But that's ok! We had a great time seeing all the animals. It was a quick run through of the park, because the boys attention spans aren't very long.
Their favorite part of the whole zoo, and was worth the money, was the StingRay exhibit, where you were able to pet the sting(less) rays, and feed them! The boys LOVED it! I thought it was slimey, and I don't really like touching fish, but I did it! I tried to feed on, but then I chickened out! Ian tried to feed them, but his arm wasn't long enough, and they couldn't get over his hand. But they really thought that was fun!
We ended our evening eating at a small fun little restaurant by Angel's house called the Polka Dot! The boys had a blast there too. It was a fun filled day for all! But man, I was wore out!

Father/Son Outing to Great America!!!

Dave and Ian got to go to Great America last Tuesday together (I couldn't go, because I am having issues with my heart, and have to see a cardiologist, and was told it wasn't a good idea to go on rollercoasters just yet.... BUMMER!)
But Dave and Ian got to go, and now that Ian is super tall, he was able to get on the BIG coasters! He was a little scared but excited too! I told Dave to ease him into them, but he insisted to take him on a big one first! Ian LOVED Superman and the Wizzer, and had a wonderful day with his Dad!

Ian's first time on the Demon.

Ian didn't want to go on Batman, he said it looked too scary, so he got his picture with the Bat Mobile instead :)

Everyone has to go on the swings!

Dave and Ian waiting in line for a coaster. I love my boys!

Of course, Ian wanted his picture taken with Doomsday... this is in line waiting for Superman ride.

This is Superman, the one that Ian LOVED!

Stake YW Camp! Treasure Island!

Our Stake Young Women and Leaders - Camp 2011
I am amazed that I made it through my second year as the stake camp director for the young women! Camp was SO wonderful this year! We had wonderful girls, and great leaders all helping out to make camp a fantastic week! Our theme was Treasure Island, and we had the whole pirate thing going on! Our 'treasures' are our 'VALUES', and that is what we tried to teach these young women all week! It was hot and sticky, but it was bearable! We did such fun things, and I'm so grateful for all the time and effort everyone put into camp this year! We did rock wall climbing and zip lines, dutch oven cooking, campfires and songs galore, daily challenges, canoeing, crafts that were amazing, eating food that was scrumptious, hiking, star gazing, orienteering hikes, swimming, digging up messages in a bottle, faith walks, testimony meeting, super silly skit-in-a-bag skits, saw lizards, lots of spiders, knots, knives, and a plethora of other fun things! It was a fun filled week and I am so happy with the results!

Some Highlights of the week:

Me and my camp assistant at registration. We're supposed to be making pirate faces, but Judi looks a bit worried! ;)

The first and second years before their hike (picture stolen from Judi) ;)

Me on the Gypsy Steps on the last day of camp - feeling high on life and ready to go home!

The Amazing 2year YCL's! They worked so hard and were the BIG SISTERS of camp!

The wonderful 1st year YCL's.... these girls did all the grunt work of planning daily challenges and super fun things all week!

The fantastic 4th Years, who despite there preconceived notions, had a WONDERFUL time on their primitive campout and thought their 'hole in the ground' latrine was awesome!

The awesome 3rd Years, who are such a sweet group of girls and know how to work together! They won the first challenge and there are only 5 of them!

The sassy 2nd Years! This group had the most girls in it, and they got to do a lot of fun things! They are sweet and most of all, they love me! :)

The little 1st Year girls! What a group of sweet and adorable girls! They handled themselves beautifully for their first year at camp, and I'm proud of them all for being there!

During this first aid challenge, the stake leaders were supposed to attack the YCL's like on a pirate ship and 'wound' them so the other girls could practice their first aid skills in a relay! It was fun, until I fell over one of the girls and couldn't move cause I was laughing so hard! Thankfully, Judi came to my rescue! ;)

Me on the climbing wall.

I made it!

After the zip line, bringing the line back for the next person. I LOVE THE ZIP LINE!!

My awesome assistant, Judi, and one of my leaders, Nikki, who is 6 months pregnant and still came to camp! They just got off the canoe after making sure everyone was done with the canoe race challenge! :) good times!

Porter County Fair with Mason!

A few weeks ago, on July 29th, I was able to spend some time with one of my best friends and her son, AND get some time with Mason as well! We got together and went off to the Porter County Fair! We got to see the 4H animals and all the other fun things at the fair. Since our boys are only 3 and 4, we didn't do a whole lot of rides, but we did go on the carousel and the ferris wheel! The boys had fun, and it was a nice time to get together with Carolyn!

Mason thought it was cute to sit on the barrels! They were really wet from the rain that morning, so he ended up with a wet rear end... oh well!

Mason liked the pigs a lot, but said they were 'stanky'.

Mason got to pet the goats, he thought they were cute! I still think they look like devils though. :)

Me and Mason on the Carousel.

Mason, me, Carolyn and her son, Ethan. Getting ready to ride the Ferris Wheel!

Mason and I on the Ferris Wheel.