Bridger's First Day of Kindergarten

Bridger finally started school on August 28th.  He's in kindergarten and he goes in the morning from 9:15-12:08.  His teacher is Mrs. P.  His best friend Brody is in his class. There are seven other children from our ward in his class.  We're very excited to have Mrs. P.  We've heard excellent things about her. I was really impressed when we met her last week.  I think it's going to be a great year.  

This is a picture Bridger colored of him at his first day of kindergarten.  I love it that he even drew the puppy on his shirt.  

Rachael's 35th birthday.

Chase had his first day of school today. I don't ever remember a year when school was on my birthday. Alpine school district starts earlier than other districts. So I got up and went for a bike ride before the boys woke up. When I got home, Chase was awake and was all ready for school. I fixed him some breakfast and got him all ready for school. We actually drove over to the school because Bridger had an appointment with his teacher. Last year Chase wanted to walk to school all by himself but this year he wanted me to go to school with him. I loved dropping him off. Once Chase went into school, Bridger and I went over to meet is teacher Mrs. P.  She had us walk around the room first. Bridger was very excited to see her two gerbils, Dash and Flash. She also has a fish tank. Then Bridger sat down with his teacher and she asked him all kinds of questions. It was hysterical on the math questions. She started easy and then quickly went to the harder questions. She asked Bridger "if you have 15 cubes and you add one, how many would you have?" Bridger looked at her and sighed and said "16!" he knew all of his letters. At the end of the assessment she said "it's so nice to have a student so ready for kindergarten." I laughed and said "it's because he's had preschool for three years." I think she'll be a great teacher and challenge him. 

  Afterwards we picked up Shantelle and Aliyah and went to Kneaders for breakfast. I LOVE their cinnamon French toast! It was really sweet of Shan to go with me because she knows it's my favorite.  

Our pass of all passes included a Real soccer game so as soon as the Matt and Robby got off of work we headed to the stadium.  We were a couple of hours before the game so we thought we wouldn't have any problems getting tickets.  It the same thing we did last time.  But the stars were against us because when I went to get tickets, they were completely sold out.  He said that they sold out in two hours that morning.  All I could do was laugh because we were all dressed in our Real shirts and ready to go to the soccer game.  So we just went out to dinner.  Our waitress asked if we were going to the game (because we look like the biggest fan), but we told her we couldn't get tickets.  By now, we were laughing at the situation.  The best part of the night was when our waitress came out to sing me happy birthday.  She brought out an empty plate with a candle in the middle.  While everyone was singing me happy birthday, I was laughing so hard inside because I thought the empty plate was a joke.  But it wasn't.  It was just cheap Olive Garden.  Nice!!!!  As we were walking out to the car Bridger said "this is the worst birthday ever!!!"  I cracked up!  Even though we didn't get to go to the game, we still had fun going out to dinner.  

 

Chase's first day of fourth grade.

Chase started 4th grade on August 21st.  I never had school on my birthday so it seems a little early for school to be starting but hopefully they'll get out earlier.  Unfortunately, Bridger starts school a week later than Chase.  So Bridger has one more week with mom!  Chase's teacher this year is Mrs. Chase.  I keep teasing him to not forget his teacher's name.  We've heard she's really good at math and art.  Chase loves both of those subjects.  He has several friends in his class.  His really good friend Sam that has been in the same class with him for the last three years is in his class again.  Also his friend Easton is in his class.  Chase is still a later-gater so he starts school at 9:15 and goes till 3:30.  

Chase is lining up outside the school waiting for the bell to ring.

It was a "Wicked" anniversary.

Over a year and a half ago, my sweet friend Wendy was able to get us tickets to go see Wicked.  We decided to splurge and get really good seats and luckily Wendy was able to get us seats on the fifth row in the center.  It was awesome!!!  What a great way to celebrate our anniversary.  We saw the play a few years ago with our Minnesota friends but Mom and Dad really wanted to see it.  So they twisted our arms and we decided to see it again.  It was just as magical the second time.  Mom, Dad, Marilyn, Shan, Mylissa, Rob, and Maddy came too.  Everyone loved it!  It was such a fun night. 

 After the play, we were standing around the side entrance when Galinda and Elphaba came out.  So Mylissa and Maddy went over and talked to them.  Maddy was so exited to get her picture with them.  She was on cloud nine!!!  Elphaba was on the left and Galinda was on the right.  They were really sweet with Maddy.

Another party for Bridger

Bridger really wanted to go to Kangaroo zoo for his birthday.  We had so much fun last year that he wanted to do it again.  Since he had already had his "friend" party I told him only family could come.  The kids had so much fun jumping and sliding.  It was nice because it wasn't crowded.  Even Caleb played.  

 After an hour of running around, the kids were "dying" of thirst.  Their faces were so red.  So we bought them slush puppy drinks.  Everyone loved their drinks.  The drinks brought back fond memories of our CH days.  Shantelle had lots of stories to tell.

 Before we went to Kangaroo Zoo, Bridger opened his presents from Marilyn, Grandpa and Grandma R. and the W's.  Marilyn gave him a watch.  It's the cutest watch.  It has lizards on it.  Bridger was very excited to finally have his own watch.  The W's gave him the Playmobil speedboat.  When he opened it he said "I've always wanted this!!!"  It was a big hit.  Then Grandpa and Grandma R gave him the Playmobil western set.  It has good cowboys and bad guys.  What a lucky boy Bridger is.

Meet our newest family member...Sophie

In church a neighbor came up to me and said that her nephew bought a yellow lab puppy and has had it a week but his mom wouldn't let him keep it.  She said that we would be the perfect home for this puppy.  She has a 10 year old lab that looks just like Bailey that they boys love.  So she knows that we love yellow labs.  I told her that I wanted new carpet and not a puppy.  After church, she sent me pictures of the dog and then came over that night so we could "just see the puppy."  Who can resist a puppy?  We instantly fell in love with her.  She's eight weeks old and is so tiny.  We played with her for a couple of hours and decided that we should adopt her.  At first I had some reservations because she's more yellow than Bailey but Matt made the point that it's good not to compare her to Bailey.  We're not replacing Bailey, this puppy is a different dog.  She came with the name Sophie so we decided to keep it because I couldn't think of anything else.  She has a scratch just below her right eye so Shantelle thought we should name her Scarlet.  That's her middle name.  She's a very vivacious puppy!  We called our families to tell them the good news and everyone was very excited.  Maddy and Julie screamed in the phone and can't wait to come down and see her.  

The fun has come to an end

This morning Charlene and Ardell made yummy French toast. Jake came up late last night so it was wonderful to wake up and see Jake! It was really over cast which made the temperature in the 70's so Mike encouraged me to bike around the entire lake. So I did! The first couple of hours were perfect. But by the last 30 minutes the wind was beating against me and I was out of water and food so it was really hard. It took me three hours to bike 54 miles. I was so glad that I did it! While I was gone, everyone went to get shakes. Luckily the boys didn't eat all of theirs so I finished them off. Paula and Richard came over and spent the afternoon with us. Later that night, we had hamburgers and watched more Olympics. We played lots of games. Chelsy and Austin left in the morning and unfortunately Jake and Megan left after dinner. It's been such a fun week hanging out together. We've made wonderful memories. 

A Relaxing Day

 This morning everyone slept in. Amy and Mike made personalized omelets for everyone. I felt like I was staying in a fancy hotel. After breakfast I went for a long bike ride. I left a little before 11:00 so it was a lot hotter today. When I came home I learned that I was about 15 miles short of going around the whole lake. Oh well! It was still a beautiful bike ride. Paula and Richard came over and spent most of the day hanging out with us. Everyone was so worn out from boating that we decided to just relax today.  It's been wonderful! This afternoon I taught some of the girls how to make survival bracelets. Bridger and Chase made one too. They're getting quite the collection. Matt set up the ping pong table today in the garage. The kids have loved it! Chelsy and Austin even went down and played a game with the boys. We got out the WIi today so the kids have played it off and on. I borrowed Shantelle's just dance games. Sammee would play those nonstop if you would let her. It's been so fun to watch the kids dance, especially Bridger. Amy and Mike's family made tritip for dinner. What a feast!!! After dinner, we watched the Olympics. It seems like its always on because there is always something good to watch. Matt has been so excited to watch the movie "the Help" with his mom and dad. So tonight he was finally able to watch it with them. It has such a great message.