First day of School!

Another year begins...
Dallin started 4th grade...Holy Crow! He was a little bummed about beginning school again. He was excited to see his friends but he hates school work. His teacher is pretty darn young and she's "cool". She lets all of her students call her Brooke...oh ya, that's cool!


I took that picture of Dallin in his classroom, and he was like "Mom, get out of here, you're embarressing me!" He didn't actually say that but it's written in his face as you can see. "Mooooom!"

Eden, on the other hand, was thrilled about starting school again. She was literally counting down the days. She and Marion have been very excited about their new matching clothes too! They like letting people think they are twins :) Eden's teacher is Miss Laura Lamb...how sweet is that!


Marion doesn't actually start Kindergarden until Friday so I'll have to post about her actual first day later. We did meet with her teacher for an orientation on the first day, her name is Ms. Corly and seems very nice as well. Marion was acting very shy when we met her :) But she is anxious to begin because now she is one of the big kids and gets to see her siblings at lunch and ride the same bus as them on the way home...oooh!

Our Reverent Prayers

Usually, family prayer feels a lot like this:

"Kids, come on, it's time for prayer...get in here...guys get your tushes in here...it's time for prayer...now, I mean it! Alright, everyone on your knees, fold your arms, bow your heads, and close your eyes or so help me...we are going to feel the spirit darn it!!"

Lately things have gone a little differently:

Two night ago, one of the kids was saying the prayer, and Emmalyn tooted (hence the nickname she has had since birth, Tootie), we fell apart halfway through the prayer in complete hysterics!

Then just tonight, Marion was saying the prayer. She has a tendency to speak very quickly and sort of slur her words together when she's praying so it can often be difficult to understand her sometimes but there was one sentence that we all heard very clearly: "please help us all so we can learn spanish" Again, complete hysterics! We were completely out of control, even Marion was laughing though she had no idea what was so funny. Then when we explained that we're learning Indonesian not spanish it was a revelation!

Failed Miserably

So the kids have accused me on a number of occassions of eating vast amounts of junk food (sweets to be particular) in the evenings when Mike is out of town. There is some truth in this statement. Therefore, I decided that while Mike was away this time, I would refrain from such weakness and not eat anything deliciously sweet and dilectable after dinner. Mike left this morning. I didn't make it one evening. Loser!! I ate two pieces of Jello Toast on homemade bread. Delicious (thanks Ashley!) Jello toast: buttered bread with a thick layer of powdered jello on top of the butter, then baked in the oven just until jello is melted and a little crispy ...Yum! Great for those Family Home Evening's when you forgot to make a treat.

Bali Vacation

What an excellent, fun, yet relaxing vacation! Just what the doctor ordered. We stayed at the Club Med Resort which I thought was terrific! Unfortunately, since we always have to get 2 rooms, it was way too expensive for us to ever do again. We spent a lot of time swimming at the big pool which was one of the highlights for the kids (which included getting thrown off moms shoulders) along with our day down at the beach building sand castles. It rained for nearly 2 days straight while we were there, during that time we participated in some of the indoor hotel activities but mostly we stayed in our room, Mike and I sitting on the veranda reading, while the kids played in the room and watched Nick Jr. (yes, we traveled all that way and spent a fortune so that our kids could watch Nick Jr...grrr!)

The beaches in Bali were better than any beaches I've been to in the states (aside from Kawaii) but I hear they are nothing compared to Australian beaches.

Dallin spent 2 days at the kids club. He found a bunch of boys to play with and they had really fun counselors that kept them busy doing all kinds of activities and sports. It was like a summer camp. One day they built boats out of plastic bottles and balloons then raced them across the swimming pool.

Mike and I spent one morning playing tennis, golf, and a little pool. Then together as a family we did a little trapeze, kayaking, boche ball, and circus juggling. There were these really cool lizards in the pond that we kept watching, one of them was at least 4 feet long!

My only complaints were: Everytime I ordered beef it turned out quite grissly, and the fruity drinks were lame! The kids loved the food! They spent 5 days eating french fries, pizza, breads, and chicken fingers. Not to mention the 2 ice cream cones each every night for dessert! Heavenly!

We went for a walk the first day that we were there and found a bunch of animal statues along the way that we thought were really fun. When we saw the first one, a frog, we thought "hey, let's take pictures with as many different ones as we can" after taking the first picture, Dallin says, "guys, I think they're trash cans". So then we had to take pictures of them because it was so hilarious! There was a squirrel one that was very anatomically correct (picture not included for that reason).

Enjoy the pictures!