First Day of School

The kids had a successful first day of school at their new school--Goynes Elementary. Danny started 4th grade in Mrs. Sanders' class. Rachel is in 3rd grade with Mrs. Cupit and Aaron is in full-day kindergarten with Mrs. Gourley. They were all a little extra nervous since we moved into a new school zone with our new house. But they seem to be getting comfortable quickly.

End of Summer Bash

We had our annual End of Summer party. This year the big hit was water balloon volleyball. The kids loved it. Even Seth loved playing and he was the official "balloon getter". It was his job to reload the towels with balloons when we popped one. We zipped Ruby into the trampoline and she watched happily and safely out of the way there. We also swam and barbequed at our party.

Blue's Clues

We set up Netflix on our Wii this summer. And Seth was introduced to Blue's Clues. He instantly loved it and has watched soooo many episodes. He sings many of the songs from it. He "skadoos" (jumps and twists) all over the place. Then Grandma Linda came to visit and among the many treasures she brought was a little pumpkin-shaped spiral notebook. That has become Seth's prized possession. He puts a pencil in the spiral, just like Joe does. And he carries it everywhere. It makes him so happy to draw clues in his notebook.

Rachel is 8!

Rachel had a tye-dye themed swim party for her 8th birthday. She even had a tye-dyed cake that we were quite proud of. Rachel was so excited to have a swim party. (It's hard to think of things to do in Las Vegas for a birthday party in August that don't include water.) And she learned how to ride a bike so she could earn her party.

We are so thankful to have Rachel in our family. She is a wonderful sister. Her brothers and sister all adore her. She helps me so much with Seth and Ruby. She has a fun, easy-going personality. She is becoming quite the pianist and tennis player. She loves her friends. She has a strong testimony. I asked her if she's nervous or excited about school starting and she said both. Then I asked her the same thing about getting baptized and she said she's not nervous at all. I asked her about her testimony and what she knows about the church. She said "I know Jesus will take care of me". She said it with such faith and surety. We sure love her.

Legoland

After Grandma's party we went down to Legoland before going home. What fun. It was perfect for our kids. There were a few good rollercoasters--Danny, Rachel and Aaron all loved the Technic Coaster the best. In one of the lego shops they have all the pieces to make lego "guys". So we made each member of our family. We loved a couple of boat rides that our whole family could go on together. And the miniland was great. Star Wars and Las Vegas were our favorite areas. There were also several smaller rides that were just right for Seth and he loved it.

Grandma Monte's 80th Birthday Party

We went to Ryan and Venessa's to celebrate Grandma Monte's birthday. We got there Thursday night and Friday we went to the Hurricane Harbor water park next to Magic Mountain. We had a great time. The lines were long, but the kids loved the lazy river and wave pool. Saturday we went tubing at the lake next to Ryan's house. Danny, Rachel and Aaron loved it. Rachel was the bravest and got knocked off the tube. And that night we had Grandma's party and got to listen to her talk about her life and testimony. What a great grandma!

We also just had a great time hanging out at Ryan and Venessa's and being together. The kids took advantage of all the grown-up toys and borrowed ipads and ipods whenever they could.

Saturday we went to Ventura beach. It was cold and windy but the kids didn't mind. We walked the pier and then played in the water.