first day of school

First day of school. Josh in 8th grade, Aaron in 6th, Tyler in 3rd, Alycia in 1st. Tyler and Alycia rode the bus for the first time they were so excited. Zach was excited to go pick them up

Trip to Utah

WARNING THERE ARE A LOT OF PICTURES!!!!!!
We went to UTah for my mom's family reunion. It was great to see family again, I come from a large family with my mom being one of 12 kids. There were 183 people at the reunion. It was a lot of fun. We got to see friends and Kierstin and temple square. It was a great trip.

Ed and his boys walking to church in Layton, UT, they are so cute holding daddy's hands.



We took a trip to Temple square, it had been a while and most of my kids had never been there before, was so pretty and could feel the spirit there.




We got to see my niece Kierstin, my brothers daughter, while we were in Utah, she is now 17 and has grown so much since I last saw her when she was 10. Josh loved being with her and playing in the rain with her, when you saw one you saw both, I am glad they got a long so well. I liked seeing all the teenagers playing games together, they seemed to find friends fast amongst all my cousins kids.







the kids loved playing at the park, Tyler playing basketball, Alycia and Zach on the playground and building sand castles, Josh and cousins playing games, it was a great day they all had fun.
Caught Ed taking a nap on the grass, he looked so peaceful.

Alycia making a craft at the reunion she loves to make things.
Went and visited a good friend and met her husband and her step kids, nice to see her happy again, been a long time since I have seen her, was a good visit and went out to lunch was fun to see Cathryn and her family again.

Josh's 13th birthday

Josh had 2 friends over for his birthday party, we went ice skating, then went for ice cream at Rizutos then home and had pizza and cake and ice cream. Josh had fun with his friends. Zach played with them on the trampoline trying to make them die by hitting them with a tubey thing. They loved it and played that for a long time. Can't believe Josh is 13 now, time sure goes by fast.

waterworld

Took the kids to waterworld as and end of summer blast, we went with some friends and it was so much fun the kids keep talking about wanting to go back next year. This place has so many slides and things to do we were there from open to close and still didn't see it all, it is like a Disneyland with water, lol.

Potty Training

It has been a few weeks, so this post is a little late, but still EXCITING. In February I tried potty training Zach, but then my heart wasn't into it so I stopped. In June right before I left for girls camp I started again and Zach did great for 2 days then I was gone. When I got back I went straight to under ware on Monday and he did great, by the end of that day, Zach would come and tell me AFTER he had gone ON THE POTTY< and I would go and check and sure enough, I was so shocked that I wasn't having to keep ask him if he had to go, but that he knew when he had to go. So after a week of him doing this and having no accidents, we took a trip to NE, I wondered if I should put a diaper on him, but then thought that would just push us back and I DIDN"T want that, I want to be DONE with diapers, 13 years is a long time of changing diapers. He did SO good, half way there he said he needed to go pee so Ed pulled over and he peed, I was so happy, no accidents the whole drive. I can finally say Zach is potty trained (except for at nights, but I am OK with that). GOOD Job Zach.

Big Day!!

As most of you know Alycia has LOTS of hair, it is the thing she is known for, cute hair do's, blonde hair. We have had a lot of family and friends have cancer and a few that have passed on from cancer. Alycia kept saying that when her hair got to her bum she would cut it and donate it, like her cousins have done, she was so excited. The snag was HER DAD, lol. He really loves her long hair and didn't want it cut. Yesterday she saw that I got a coupon in the mail for Great clips and asked if she could do it NOW. I was shocked and thought I am not going to do it without asking your dad, or he would come home and be SHOCKED, so we called and he said he was ok with it and that it was for a good cause, so off we went to get it cut. She was so excited, and after it was cut she kept flipping her hair around. It is shorter then I thought it would be, but looks cute. And I am glad hair grows so it can be long again, but for now I will enjoy not having to brush it and "DO" something with it everyday. I am so proud of my little girl for donating her hair, it was so beautiful and now someone else can enjoy it.