Magic

Yesterday I was bugging the kids to get their jobs done and Charlie was stalling so he was imagining how great it would be to have magic. He said, "Mom, if I had magic I would make all my toys do my job and straighten my room." I said, "Then how would you become a good and useful person?" He said, "I'd use magic and make myself a good and useful person!"
Wouldn't magic be great?

An Anniversary I Forgot

August 29 passed me by and I didn't even remember that it's been 4 years since Hurricane Katrina blew over me and my little crew. I wasn't worrying about anything at all that day and I didn't spare a thought for that wild time in my life. Today I was looking through old pictures and I realized that it was 4 years ago that the entire Gulf Coast was a complete wreck and people were lucky if they had water, food, and shelter. Thankfully I was one of the lucky ones.
I couldn't bring myself to take pictures of the storm damage at the time because I didn't want to remember. Finally in December I dragged the kids down to our little beach and took a few pictures. Keep in mind, this is a little over 3 months after the storm. I never did take pictures of any of the places I loved and lost. It was like taking pictures of a corpse.

This is a view of the Biloxi casinos and I guess I would have to have a before picture to appreciate the after. It was such a mess, though.

This was a little seafood store on front beach in Ocean Springs.

This was the apartment complex I lived in a year before the storm. We were even on the 3rd floor. I was glad I wasn't there during Katrina.

This is my little crew our first day returning to church after the storm. I included this picture because I can't believe how young they were. Rebecca was 6, Shari was 4, Adrian was 3, and Charlie was 1.

First Day of Kindergarten

The first day of school for everyone else was Monday and I didn't have my camera with me. They all looked lovely and were super excited. We are really happy with Rebecca's 5th, Shari's 3rd and Adrian's 2nd grade teachers. Today was the kindergarten welcome and Charlie jumped out of bed this morning and said, "It's the first day of school!!" He was so excited. He got dressed in his "cool" outfit and couldn't wait to go.
Here is my big kindergartner.


Adrian and Charlie had to do a silly pose for me.
They also did a cool pose.

I didn't get pictures of the girls this morning but they got cute back to school haircuts. Can you tell these heads apart? I have a hard time doing it.

They are happy and we get to curl their hair under or out every school day. They look so cute.

I'm getting back into the swing of things. I don't get much sympathy from Dan because he always gets up at 5 a.m., but 7:15 is early for me!!

A Visit and Another Trip.

I feel so lucky to have had Ane here visiting for a few days last week. I know it's a long way from Chicago to Salt Lake but I'm so glad they came. Here she is right in my very own living room with her doll baby Emerson. He's so sweet. You had to pinch him to make him cry and even then he wouldn't cry much.
After our Ane visit I went down to Mesa, AZ where all my sisters and brother's met up to celebrate Donald and Shannon getting sealed in the temple. It was so amazing to be there and so wonderful to spend some time with Donald and Shannon. The family stayed at a fun vacation home with a pool and everything. I should have taken more pictures of the scenery and vacationy stuff but I couldn't get enough of the people I was with. I wish I had a picture of everyone but this is who happened to be there when I had my camera out.
Here is my nephew, Isaac, after we gave him a bath. He was a super traveling buddy and complained less than I did on the airplane.

Here is Katie, Dallin, and Ashley. She makes a terrific superman. She acts like she owns the world and I'm certain she can do anything she puts her mind to.

Here is my dad running away from me with a camera. It looks all action packed and of course my dad is action packed.

Here's Katie all gorgeous. I hope you had a happy birthday, Katie. I am so glad we got you all there for the party.

Here's my studious sister. Amanda is finishing her Bachelor's degree so this is her bachelor degree face. You can actually see her getting smarter!

This is Amanda's daughter, Deya. She's not so studious but she does have a good imagination. While sitting at the airport we decided to use our forks as dinglehoppers instead of utensils. It was great fun and I think everyone sitting around us may have lost their appetite.

Aunt Jessie needed a little help with the dinglehopper as well.

When Amanda and I got home the kids were all waiting for us with signs up everywhere welcoming us home! Dan made a spectacular dinner and the house was so clean. I'm so thankful he was at home with the kids which means I didn't have to worry a bit. He made the party possible for me.

Summer is winding down this week. School starts on August 24th. Hopefully we can make the most of it.

Montana

We took a spontaneous trip to Montana last week so Dan could do some golfing with his Dad and brother. Because my sister is here I was able to leave 4 kiddos at home and just take Donald. It was really fun and I think Donald liked the mommy time as much as I liked time with him. We stayed in Helena the first 2 nights and then drove down to Gallatin Gateway where Dan's brother Ben lives. We were surprised to see this beautiful house in the works! We're so excited they have started building and we got to see it all planned out. It is so beautiful. When I first drove up I thought, "This house has the best curb appeal I've ever seen!" Just look at the scenery and the Gallatin River runs right through their backyard.




Donald was in love with Ben and Kara's dog Margo. She's super sweet and mellow. She was very patient with his constant attention and he just couldn't get enough of her.



Here's Ruth E., Kara, JudyGail, Margo and Donald.

My last morning there we put the soundtrack to Mama Mia on and Donald gained an appreciation for ABBA. However, Ruth E. is the one that put on the show for us with a little help from JudyGail. They are such fun sweet girls.

Church History and Primary

This month our primary went to the Church Museum of History and Art and participated in three little programs. They acted out a piece of art, they learned about different types of art in one of the galleries, and they learned to sketch a face and create a sculpture with clay.

After all the fun at the museum we had a picnic lunch right in downtown Salt Lake. It was so neat.



Charlie got to pretend like he was a pioneer making a campfire. It suited him perfectly because fire is his favorite part of camping.

Halloween in July

We are so lucky to have my sister Amanda and her daughter Deya here visiting! They've been living in Houma, LA so we haven't seen them since last summer. The day Deya arrived she got dressed up in her new fairy dress.

The rest of the kids decided to join her because she made it look like so much fun. She's so sweet.

Dan decided to dress up like a super cool statistician hanging out at home with his family. Here he is with his little bat princess.

Adrian, the ninja, had to show Aunt Amanda how to use his batting practice ball.

She had to try it to make me look bad because I can't do it very well. She can though.