First Day of 4th Grade...

Can you believe it? I barely can! Yesterday was Nate's first day of fourth grade. He was NOT at all excited to go back to school. I don't blame him. He's only been out of school since July 2nd. That's that hard part about year round. But, I just keep telling him, he goes off track again in three weeks! That's the bonus!! Believe me, he'll like it when he goes off in three short weeks!

His teacher this hear is Ms. Hansen. She's going to be excellent. She has been a neighbor and friend for the last 12 years in the ward, and she is a wonderful teacher. I'm so excited he gets to be in her class. He also has several friends in his class from last year as well as a few others in the neighborhood who have moved to C track. I think I officially embarassed him in class! I've always been a mom with a camera, I mean really, I'm a scrapbooker. For the first time, he actually burried his head on his desk and said "Geez Mom". It took forever to get this ONE picture of him at his desk. (UGH. I knew the time would come!)

Anyway, he must have survived... He came home yesterday excited about earning their first "class reward party". Nathan is an excellent student and I know he's going to do well this year! Good Luck Nate!!

Freezer Jam & Family Night

I have lots of weaknesses, and this is definately one of them. I've noticed a lot of them fall into the "freezer" category. Ice cream, popsicles, freezer jam, frozen waffles & pancakes. Yep, call me weird.

Anyway, we made 8 batches of freezer jam last night. Strawberry, and just a few raspberry. The raspberries just don't come down cheap enough to make a bunch, so we only ended up with 4 jars. (1 batch).

Needless to say, our freezer is now full of these bright little jars! (This picture is one batch!!)

Nate has really been encouraging us to have scripture study and family night activities. He will even plan out the song, the scripture, the lesson, the treat and the activity. For a while, our activities have been a bike ride, playing catch with a softball, jump roping, etc. Last night we made jam and it was so much fun. I really miss taking time out of a busy "work" schedule and doing something that encourages Nate. I'm glad he "nudges" us to have family night, or it would be something that is always overlooked. I realize how important it is for us to do something together. They create memories for him and he always looks back and talk about them. We hope that one day the girls will be able to join us for some activities.

Bear Badge Down, Next Up, Webelos...

Nate has been working so hard in scouts! He groans about going sometimes, but in reality he loves it. Last night he earned his bear badge. He has a challenging time in scouts because for 5 months, he's the only one in his den his age. He moves up with the level ahead for one month, then to the level below for 5 months until they can form a den his age. He has great leaders that help him, but a lot of the stuff he does at home. He's now earned his bear badge and they are now splitting off the "bear den". So for now, he's going to work on arrow points, belt loops, and looking forward to December when he can start webelos.His dad was able to come see him get his award, and after that was the water rocket derby. Nate loved this, even though his egg cracked the first round. Nate actually designed his own rocket, decided on the bottle and everything. That's possibly why his is the "small" one. He went more for rocket height, rather than rocket structure. And Charley is always great about helping him (aka building it for him) and encouraging him to use his own ideas. Oh well, can't win them all, right! I'm just proud of all the work he puts into it, and I know it's rewarding to him in the long run.

Father's Day... "DAD" Book

As promised, here are the pictures of the father's day "DAD" book. We (well, Charley) has very few pictures of him and the girls when they were little, so I've been wanting to put them into an album for him. I thought this would be something fun the girls could work on when they were with us on the weekends. Well, turns out we had very little weekend time before father's day, but I still think this turned out great. I cut all the pages on the Cricut (cartridges used are George and Base Camp), put the book together, and the girls did the rest. Oh, and yes, he loved it.

Board Notebooks...

So I learned how to make these notebooks on my cricut with the design studio software. I LOVE them!! I am definately going to make more. They are just made from chipboard and have blank white cardstock between each page. Bound together with the bind it all.

I have a dear friend at work (yes, her name is Connie) who pretty much "donated" all her surplus scrap supplies to my friend and me. She had some great stuff, and I was able to start a collection of supplies for the girls... who by the way I'm hoping will be my life scrap buddies! Anyway, I made this book & beaded pens as a thank you gift for her. She loved it.

Nothin' Like Homemade...

Aren't these shirts cute? My wonderful friend Jen has the machine to make them! First we cut images in vinyl from the silhouette and burned them onto the screen. Then the machine does all the rest! Holly wanted twilight, and Lauren wanted Jack.


They were so easy that my sister in law Heather made 12 shirts for all her nieces and nephews in about an hour. They ranged from Jack to bionicles... and even some Tinkerbell. Ahhh, the benefits of a large family. (I think the twilight screen is still available... and Jen takes donations!! Just Kidding).


And a quick picture of the back of Holly's shirt... Yes, they are sisters and have so much in common. On the other hand, they are totally opposite! If one likes it, chances are, the other one doesn't. Here's a prime example... Holly likes Edward, Lauren doesn't!!


And here's a pic I'm just tossing in for fun just because I really like it. Isn't it cute? Here's the girls in the hoodies & leis we brought back from Hawaii. Did I mention that I loved the swap meet there? $15 hoodies!

Parasailing... An Aerial View...

The highlight of our vacation... Can you believe I actually did this?? Well, I am so glad I did! It was awesome! It was so pretty and believe it or not... peaceful... I would have never have done this by myself though! These tandem (side by side) parachutes are pretty cool. You sit on the boat and you're lifted up... about mid flight they slowly bring you down, dip you in the ocean, then bring you back up. Talk about a rush!

And this is my survival picture! You know, the one you take after the fact with the big smile on your face to show everyone you did it! I would definately do it again!

Scenic Hawaii...

Here are some scenic pictures of Hawaii. I took a TON! And I'm not normally a scenic photo kind of gal! LOL. It was just so pretty, I couldn't help myself.

These pictures were all taken from our condo. Either from the balcony, or by stepping on the back patio. We stayed at the Grand Waikikian at the Hilton Village. It was gorgeous! There was a lagoon right outside the back patio and shops that encircled the group of hotels.

This by far is the best vacation we have taken! We loved every minute of it, and can't wait to go back. Four days just isn't enough! We did try to extend our trip a couple days, but it would have cost a small fortune ($1100.00 in plane tickets to be exact), so alas, we came home. Guess I will start saving now :)