First half of September and ALL CAUGHT UP!

Marlee Jane loves laying in Casen and Brinley's beds and pretending like it is hers. She seriously gets the cutest little excited smile on her face!

For Brinley's first homework project she was supposed to fill a cereal box with items she could share with the class for them to learn more about her. Decorating it was optional, but she had a fun creative idea! All on her own she said she wanted to put hers, Casens, and Marlee face on the cereal box so that they would be the little elves :) I think it turned out to cute. Such a crack up!

For Labor Day we headed up to Mnt. Charleston with our friends Ben and Dawn Brown and their neighbors Adam and Shawna, and ofcourse all our kiddos! The kids had a great time running around. This little stinker was a total mess and into everything!

Marlee insisted on having her own pop! Notice the dirty pants... you can't even see the ketchup and mustard on the back of her bum from sitting on someones plate :)

My two favorite boys!

Brinley and Bailey! These girls had so much fun together! I love Brin's crazy face :)

Meg and Bailey rode back with us and the girls had so much fun in the back seat. Poor Case and Mars were missing out on the party!

It was getting cold and dark up on the mountain so we headed back to the Browns for some over-the-stove s'mores!

Casen on his first day of Preschool! He was a little nervous, but still excited. He had a fun first day. His teacher, Ticia Stolt, is so great and we are excited to have him in her class! She told me he's her favorite... not saying she doesn't say that to everyone, but I kinda believe her :)

I know this picture is so blurry but I just loved it too much not to post it, Marlee was loving playing with Dad!

Our friends the Deardens are moving to Vegas next month. They lived in Mississippi with us and then lived in Vegas with us for a year back in 2009. We are excited to have sometime with them here before we move in June! They came house hunting and we took advantage and had a fun night swimming with them at Santa Fe. The kids had fun in this little "pool" at the top of the waterfall.

Jackie had baby boy #3, Kash, in July. He is such a little sweetheart and it was so fun to meet him! She sure looked cute talking to him!

After swimming we headed to the park and grabbed a pizza. It was fun chatting and letting the kids play. They ended up getting soaked again in the splash pad. Marlee was having a blast trying to fill her water bottle :)

Marlee with her first very own coloring book! She was pretty excited :)

Brinley was invited to her friend Jansen's 7th birthday party. It was a scientist party and seriously so cute! Brinley had a blast! Brinley Boo showing off her bracelet.

I love Jansen in this picture with his awesome pose. He is so cute and such a fun friend. Brinley loved all of the fun scientist activities they planned!

Marlee and Emmy in the swings! I love these cute girls... kinda sad to think that by the time they are actually old enough to really play well that we will both be moving!

Marlee started Totnastics! It is a Mommy and Me gymnastics class. She cried the first 15 minutes of the first class during warm up and stretching, but once they got to do the activities she loved it... and now after going 3 times she loves it all!! I am glad to be able to spend this time having fun with her and also let her have her own activity instead of always just dragging her to the other kids activities!

Marlee enjoying the old food she should have been throwing to the ducks :)

We went to Floyd Lamb with another gal from the ward and her kids (Trisha, Bella, Gus, and baby Nicholas). We were both husbandless that night so we had a picnic dinner with the kids and were having a great time chatting when BOOM! The sprinklers came on full force! It was hilarious, I just couldn't stop laughing, it seriously made the whole night. We were trying to grab our food, drinks, bags, babies, etc and run away from the water! The kids loved it and couldn't stop riding through all the water!

Casen and Gus, these two were a perfect pair! They had so much fun!

Brinley and Bella! Oh these cute girls had a blast! Wish we had got these two together in the past!

After the sprinklers went off they had fun riding through this giant mud puddle, this is after only having rode through it once... their shirts were destroyed from the mud by the time we left! And might I add, Casen FELL in the pond 5 minutes prior to leaving! Poor Casen.. but glad it was him and not Marlee!

Brinley got 100% on her first 2 spelling tests so far and we celebrated with some ice-cream. Marlee and Casen are Brinley's biggest fans... they love ice-cream :)

Casen crashed riding his bike at the skate park. He took it like a champ though. He "jumped" his bike and came down too front heavy, slammed right into his chin. I am so glad it happened on the smooth cement they have there so that it just got skid and bruised, and not on asphalt that woul dhave worn his poor face up! Pretty good little battle would. And don't worry, he hasn't let it stop him, still as crazy as ever!

My little brother Brett gave us a surprise visit on his drive up to college!! It was such a fun surprise, short visit, but great. He started school at BYU-Idaho the beginning of September. 

Brinley drew this picture in one of her journals at school. I think she must have been copying something but I think she did such a great job!

August has come and gone!

Brinley and Natalie wanted to do the photo-booth at Flip N' Out, so I did the photography for them :)  Cute girls!

After 9 weeks of being in San Fransisco Ryan finally came home! We were SO excited to go pick him up from the airport!

Marlee was so cute, I loved seeing her happy face :)

Welcome Home Daddy!

 

Helping Dad with the suitcases!

Fort in our cupboard :)

Came downstairs after showering to find the kids "cleaning" out the pantry for me.

Marlee didn't like watermelon the first few times she tried it... and with watermelon being my favorite food, naturally I was concerned. Fortunately after a few more tries she loves it as much as I do, and ate half this bowl :)

We got to go to the YMCA pool with the Knudsens and had such a fun time!! Brinley passed the swim test and had fun jumping off the diving board. Casen loved following Aaron around.

Brinley, Marlee and I had a pizza picnic outside while Casen was at a Superhero party! Marlee had fun mixing her pizza and breadsticks into her water cup... and yes, proceeded to drink it!

Casen had a blast at Graham's super hero party and was so excited to have an all boy night! He's had a lot of girls around him lately!

Cutest superhero gang ever! Thanks to Michelle for such a fun party!

After destroying our street they finally re-paved it! Yay! The kids had fun watching the re-paving machine.

Two monkeys in the back yard!

Yet another thing broke at our house! I had a knock on the door one Saturday morning and Dale Mary our neighbor said I had a "water problem".  We had to turn the main outdoor water off and spend the next few weeks watering the grass with the hose!

A few months ago Marlee started folding her arms any time we would say "pray" or "prayer". She knows the bedtime routine pretty well... jammies, brush teeth, etc... scriptures, and prayers. One night after scriptures right as I was saying it was time for prayers and I look to find this... little 18 month old Marlee KNEELING down with her arms folded... heart melter.

More of the cupboard fort. Brinley and Casen split up, and this is Brinley reading in her newly decorated fort.

I bought Ryan tickets to Garth Brookes for his birthday over 6 months ago, and the day finally came! Picking up our tickets was a wreck... long story :) But we finally made it in 10 minutes into the show.

The show was AMAZING! Garth was hilarious and his voice is incredible. It was great getting to go with the Jolleys. We grabbed dinner at Maggianos before and dessert at Applebee's after. It was fun chatting and catching up with them!

Marlee walking in high heels for the first time and loving it! She was seriously so cute running around! Sadly she fell a few minutes later and conked her little head.

I had been craving fruit pizza and finally had a chance to make it when we had the missionaries over for dinner!

After playing for an afternoon we walked our friends outside to find it pouring! Just too irresistible to stay out of! The kids had a blast playing in the rain... made me miss being a kid :)

Marlee loves her big sister and wants to do everything she does. Naturally she had learned to love coloring just like Brinley.

Isaiah turned 7 and we all got to go to his birthday party! We hadn't seen them for a while so it was fun to spend some time with them!

Brinley started first grade on the 27th of August! Seriously can't believe my baby girl is in all day school now! Here she is ready to go on the first say of school!

We forgot her backpack for the pic, dang it! Brinley choose her own outfit and two braids for her hair.... ofcourse!


Brinley was excited for the first day of school, but came home saying it was the "worst day ever."  She is in an integrated classroom and an autistic girl sat by her... she was pulling her shirt, hitting her and tearing up her papers. So sad to start the first day of school like that. She felt unsafe and insecure without me there and had serious anxiety afterwards. The rest of the week was so tolling on both of us 30-45 minutes of tears, comforting, bribing, encouraging, reassuring, etc. to to and get her into class. Thursday I left the school in tears, literally not knowing what to do. A lady in the front office who used to go to church with us stopped me on my way out and I told her the issues we were having. She (Monique) offered to help by letting me drop Brinley off to her and then she would take her to class. That day Monique talked to Brinley at recess and let her know she was my friend and that she loved and cared about her. That day when I picked her up Brinley was happy as can be and told me that she had met my friend who would always be at lunch and recess with her. She said "She said she loves me! I don't know why she loves me, but she does!" It was just what Brinley needed, someone to make her feel special and loved at school when she was having such a hard time. The whole 2nd week I had a hard time getting Brinley to school, but once there she would give me a hug and go to class with Monique. I literally don't know what I would have done with out her help. Brinley's favorite teacher is Mr. DeRose, the art teacher. He knew about Brinley having a hard time (I think the whole school knew about my break down!) and so he tried to make Brinley feel extra special too.... he gave her his "special" plush cow and told Brinley it was his when he was little and he wanted her to have it since she was his favorite student :) It made her feel so good and so special, and again can't say how much that means. It has been 2 very hard weeks, but I am grateful for the help and support from people!  Things are going much better now and she has fun with her friends in the class. Hopefully we can get Brinley going to class on her own soon.