Back to the Classroom

Over the summer, we decided that it was time for me to return to the classroom. I have been back for a few weeks and I have really liked it. There is only one reason for me to be able to go back and teach in a regular school--Brian.
I am so lucky that he has been so supportive of my going back to work. He is absolutely amazing!!! He has taken over the duties at home and I don't have to think about what we will eat for dinner, when I will clean the bathroom, and I wonder if the kids have gotten off to school okay. Brian has made it so that I can go to work and completely focus on what I am supposed to be doing rather than worrying about our house and the little boys. I am so grateful for his willingness to allow me to work on my career while he is taking care of everything else.
I love him for making me breakfast each morning.
I love him for getting my car filled with gas and making sure I'll be safe traveling everyday.
I love him for getting my lunch out and ready to go.
I love him for taking Tom to school each day.
I love him for staying with Charlie every day and putting up with his issues.
I love him for going to the store and making dinner for our family each night.
I love him for watching Brianna's volleyball games, Pete's and David's football games, and Tom's and Charlie's races.
I love him for taking care of Relief Society issues while I'm not at home.
I love him for letting me nap most days.
And most of all I love him! because without him our family would stop! He's the best!
I didn't intend for this to be an ode to Brian, but our life wouldn't function without him--for that, I am grateful.

Officially A High Schooler

I have been hesitant to post our back to school post, but now that it's Labor Day weekend, I no there is no return to summer. We had a really fun one too, but now it's time to return to school. The following pictures are of Brianna only. Now that I have gone back to work, and Tom leaves after I do--I didn't have a chance to remind Brian to take a picture before he left for school, so we'll have to have a beginning of school picture during the third week of school. (Refer to previous post for more on our situation.)

Here is Brianna on her very first day of high school. My mom and sister took her to get a bunch of new outfits for school, so for the first few weeks, she's worn really cute stuff. She had a good first day. There was enough time for her to walk home during lunch with a friend. It's nice that we only live about 2 blocks away from her school.

This is her first "B-day" outfit. At her school, they have block schedule, so they go to 4 classes one day and 4 different classes on the next day. She has a really hard schedule, but has seemed to do a great job the first little bit. I think that she'll have a good year.

Our Summer Vacation

This summer we bought season passes to Lagoon for the whole family. We live fairly close and we thought it would be something fun that we could do for the summer. We've been a bunch of times and we have had a fun summer vacation.

Here's the beautiful mountains in the background of Brian's least favorite ride. We would ride it, and he would walk the park to meet us at the other end.

There's a little roller coaster for kids in the kiddie land. Brianna and Thomas rode together and Charlie and I rode together. Brian tried to get our pictures and this is what happened:
Then we went of Brianna's least favorite ride. This is a giant ship that goes back and forth. It's not my favorite either, but I can ride it once while we're there. The boys really think this is fun. Charlie likes it 'cause it makes his belly feel funny.

Thomas and Brianna went off to ride rides together after this, so Brian and I took Charlie on some rides. That's why he's the only one in these pictures.

He really had to go to the bathroom on this one, but usually he thinks it's pretty fun. It is supposed to have shooter noises so you can shoot the space ship in front of you, but I think they don't work now.

This is his most favorite one. He loves to run into everyone and laughs so hard when he does. This is always his first pick when we walk in.

This is in line to a family favorite--the Log Ride. We all pile into the hollowed out log and see who gets the wettest. Tom asks for this one the most.

It was really fun to spend some fun days at Lagoon this summer. This is what we love the most--being together and having a good time. I'm glad we were able to do that these past few months.

A Special Summer Visitor

Grandma Charlet and Grandpa LeRoy came from Ohio to spend some time with us this summer. We were so excited and couldn't wait for their arrival. They had big plans during their visit, but we were lucky enough to spend an afternoon with them in Salt Lake and the Joseph Smith Memorial Building.
Here's Brianna and Grandma in front of the fountains on the 10th floor. They have huge observation windows that look out at the city and up to the University of Utah and the other side looks into Temple Square. It was such a beautiful day. Here's Charlie, Tom, and Brianna. While at the Joseph Smith Memorial building we were able to watch a movie about Joseph Smith. It was amazing to see all the things that he persevered to continue the work he was called to do. My favorite part was after he got tarred and feathered, the movie showed him conducting a church service with patches of hair missing and still bloodied and bruised. Then I thought about my self and how I try to use anything to get me out of church. After our Temple Square visit we went to our favorite lunch spot...Crown Burger. We were so happy to have a fun afternoon with our special visitors.

July 24th--Pioneer Day

A new tradition that my sister, Emily, has tried to implement is playing water baseball with the cousins. (We tried on Independence Day, but it was WAY too cold.) We had a great game until someone got hurt (me.)
Here's Chuck getting ready to hit.

Brianna's on deck with Jayne and Tom cheering on the batter, or the pitcher. Brian always has that duty. If he wasn't so darn good.

Tom's turn at bat. We hit from the end of the slip and slide, first base was the wading pool, second and third were both buckets of water, and we had to slide into home on the slip and slide.

It looks like Brianna's on first, while the rest of us are taking a break before we head to second. I was waiting here with the others and when it was finally my turn to run, I made it through second and third and while sliding into home I landed on my ankle funny. After that the game went downhill. But we had a TON of fun while it lasted.

After our baseball game, my mom had a barbecue ready for the water logged athletes. It was an amazing spread--like always--and it was fun to have a picnic in the backyard. Here's Charlie's plate of mostly fruit, chips and a hot dog minus the bun.

They sure love playing with their cousins.

Charlet, sorry the camera got put away before you got there. We would have liked to have pictures of you guys too.

We Love a Parade

We love going to the Pioneer Day Parade in our city. We went with all our friends/family. We got lots of candy and saw lots of funny people. It was very hot, so we had to buy some Popsicles to help cool us down.

The boys stood right up front so they could see all the parade activities--or to catch all the candy that was thrown to the watchers.

Charlie got right up there too. He liked the bands and the floats that had lots of music.

Grandma and Grandpa found a small piece of shade with the boys. If I heard right I think everyone enjoyed the Popsicles while waiting for the parade to start.

Here's a picture of our family and the strangers that we sat next too during the parade. If you look really close you can even see Brianna trying to get away from the camera.

Feast or Famine

I have to apologize about the lack of posts lately. It's not for the lack of exciting things. So it's either 100 posts in one day and then nothing for a week or so. I promise that I'll be better about posting.