The Grotto

The last weekend of the summer we finally decided to hike the Grotto.  We had wanted to before but we never thought of it until it was too late or just not a good time.  So Saturday morning we woke up and I told the kids if they did their chores, with out complaint, then we would go on the Grotto.  The kids woke up and did their chores quickly and efficiently and soon everyone was ready to go.

When we got up to the opening of the trail there were so many cars there.  We weren't the only ones that had decided to hike the Grotto that morning.  But we got all our stuff and started the hike.

Oakley had fallen asleep on the ride up the canyon so he was not in the picture taking mood...

 The 'middle kids' liked going up all the side trails and running back down to where we were.  Bailey didn't want to take a chance on popping back open her scars so she stayed down with me and Bruce.

 It was such a beautiful hike, everything was so green and lush

 We finally made it to the top!  There were so many people there but a lot were leaving and there was still plenty of room for us.  The kids had so much fun playing in the freezing cold water!

 Morgan was pretty hard core and was the only kid who would stand under the waterfall and let me take pictures.

 Oakley loved playing in the shallow water.

Morgan welcomed the warm sun!

 Owen wouldn't go under the waterfall and it really bugged Bruce so he went out there with the older kids and forced him in!  Owen was pretty mad but then later was happy that Bruce had made him go in the waterfall.

 On the way down the kids found more photo opportunities.

Owen and Reagan pretended that they were falling down the mountainside.

 They also found more trails that we didn't notice before and being wet, they got very muddy!

It was such a great hike, I think that we will have to do it more often.

First day of Jr. High

Bailey was so excited and nervous for school to start, she loves the routine that school brings but was nervous to go to a new school.  We had gone a few weeks before school started for her to pick up her schedule, find out where her locker was and to run through her schedule. 

Her locker was a bugger to open up.  The dial was stiff and it only opened up less than half the time we tried. 

We decided to run through her schedule a few more times when we ran into a teacher, not one of hers, but she asked us how everything was going and we explained that the locker was giving her troubles.  She came over to the locker with us and said that it might just need some WD40 on it.  She went to find a janitor but couldn't but she did find some WD40.  She sprayed it into the lock and on the inside of the locker and it loosened things up quite nicely.  Bailey and I went into the bathroom to get some paper towels to wipe up the excess grease on her locker. 

As Bailey was wiping it down we realized that it had the "f word" scratched into the front of it, first of all I don't want that to be the first thing she sees each day and second I didn't want to be charged for it!  So we went to the office and talked to the principal and she happily assigned Bailey a new locker.  We went over to try the new one out and it worked perfectly!  What a relief!

She also went over to the school another day with her friends to run through their schedules and practice their lockers.  By the time the first day of school was here she was more than ready!

Oakley, potty trained???

Oakley has been waking up in the mornings and from his nap completely dry for over a month. So for fun I decided to get a little potty chair that sits on top of the toilet.  Every morning when he wakes up I take him into the bathroom and he has gone pee 90% of the time!  I am so excited.  I think once everyone is in school and I can get into more of a routine maybe I will really work with him and take him throughout the day and not just when he gets up from night and naps.  Morgan was fully potty trained at 18 months so it's not that far fetched.  I hope he works with me on this plan! :)  I am sad to see my baby grow up but a life with out diapers is one I can't wait to see!

Haircuts!!!

It's that time of year again!  The kids needed their school haircuts!  I love the way Cami cuts their hair, it has always been exactly what I was wanting and I have never been disappointed, seriously she is the best!  I wanted to take pictures of all the girls getting their haircuts but my battery died so I wasn't able to.  But trust me they are all super cute!

Thanks Cami!  We love you!!!!!

Family Pictures

As I said, in between Ariel's endowment and Chuck-a-Rama, we had family pictures taken.  We all arrived at different times so Kim took individual family pictures of those who were there.  Then we took the big picture.  We called over some city workers that were working on the pond because Kim's remote wasn't working and she kept running to set the timer then run back to pose.  Now Kim is in shape but even this was wearing her out, not to mention that little one's were loosing patience!  We are thankful to that city worker (hopefully he didn't loose his job over it!)

 Beautiful Emily

 Morgan, Me, Oakley, Bruce, Reagan, Bailey and Owen

 Aarynn, April, Lily and Tom

 Cassi, Porter, Kim, Brent, Elsie and Madi

 Russell, Samantha, Sean, Sara, SJ and Bradley

 Abi, Alberto, Benjamin, Rachel and Kyara

 Katie and Andy

 Melodie, baby Seth and Nathan

Nate and Ariel