First Day of School

Rachel started FIRST GRADE on August 6th at Ishikawa Elementary and has Ms. Margerum.  I am thrilled for her to be in school again!  I love summertime, but I also love that she is learning lots at school.

She was so excited for school to start and was especially excited to go school shopping - she has quite the style.  I swapped babysitting so her and I could go shopping together (because I know if I pick it out, she won't wear it).  Her other clothes requests recently have been a church outfit that is a separate skirt and top and a tankini swim suit.  Her and I basically had to compromise on everything.  Her very favorite thing we found was a long maxi skirt.  She would wear it everyday if I let her.  Lots of animal prints and animal shirts too.

Rachel also picked out a Ninja Turtle backpack (thank you, cousin Kennedy)!  I asked her for about it for two weeks before I bought one because I was afraid she'd change her mind, but she was sure!

Also, on the first morning of school when I was taking a couple pictures out front, her teacher walked by so she jumped in one of the pictures.  Score!  

Email from her teacher about Rachel on 8/20/14:  "I just have to tell you that she is such a great kid!  She is so respectful and sweet.  I love having her in class!"  This was such a simple note from her teacher, but means so so much to me (and it seriously brought a tear to my eye)!  It's hard to describe the relief and gratitude I feel to know that a teacher cares for my child (at church, school, extracurricular activities, etc.).

Rachel's first grade teacher, Ms. Margerum

School clothes shopping date!

Home, sweet, home - Utah, Part 9

We took the scenic route and stopped at the Grand Canyon, which added about 2.5 hours onto our drive.  It was the longest day ever!  And totally my fault, because I always have begged to go to the Grand Canyon.  It was not the best idea with the three little ones and we were rushed to get back on the road.  Check it off the list, we saw it and it was totally impressive.  I just wish we could have seen more  and under different circumstances.

Right after our detour, I got seriously sick with the fever and body aches and was in and out of sleep for the rest of the drive.  The kids had a movie marathon and were as patient with me as they could be.  We let them choose a treat at a gas station, and out of all the treats, Andrew was so happy they had candy corn and he loved them.  Brandon and I both despise candy corn, so this was pretty funny to us.  

We did finally make it back to Arizona!  I think we left around 8:15a and didn't get home until 10:30p, and although there are some time changes in there to account for, it was still a very long day.  

 

Taking photos - Utah, Part 8

I took pictures of the Winchell's and my brother's kids, and I left taking any pictures of our kids to the very last minute.  The stars didn't quite align (they have swimming eyes, Andrew fell asleep on the way there, and Kendall was exhausted), but we did find a great orchard … and technically we were trespassing since they weren't home for me to ask, so I was stressed.  It was kind of a disaster.  My lighting was all screwed up and it was getting too dark.  Darn!  oh well...

If you are an avid reader, I just added a handful of more pictures to Utah, part 6.  :)

Good eats - Utah, Part 7

We had a little taste of Christmas in July when Grandpy Val made his mint julep drink - a Hale family Christmas tradition.  We are big fans!

We had heard lots about some new places to try and they were all very tasty!

Hokulia - snow cones as big as your head

Swig - sugar cookies and soda 

Orange Leaf - frozen yogurt - this may become a regular for us!

Station 22 - restaurant in downtown Provo

We also visited all the regular favorites like J Dawgs, JCW's, Costa Vida, etc.  

I met Sheena & Shalauna one night at Orange Leaf for a girl's night out and we had a grand ole time!  We stayed out until at least 1am and my dad was waiting up for me - he said he wasn't, but it was still cute.  

This trip, I also surprised Brandon with a boys trip to Burrville, Utah with Chris, Kyle, & Tyson to help ring in his 31st birthday.  We sent them with a cooler of food and a strong reminder to try to remember to act like adults and not post any pictures online that they would later regret.  Thankfully, only one video surfaced from the trip, and they came home with some funny stories and good memories.  

Girl's Night Out with Sheena & Shalauna

Things we did - Utah, Part 6

- Took Zoe on walks and chased her around Nana's house
- Played in Nana's fairy garden in one of her backyard flower beds
- 7 Peaks with Andrew & Rachel (Rachel is so brave and will go on anything & Andrew is a big wimp, but he's a cute wimp!)
- Visited some new kitties
- Played with the Worthen's at their house
- Bean museum
- BYU bookstore (brainwash them young!)
- Playdate with some AZ friends who were in town
- Aquarium in Draper
- Museum of Curiosity at Thanksgiving Point (impressive!)
- Discovery Children's Museum in SLC (impressive!) with the Dobson clan
- Visited Temple Square
- Zipline in Nana's backyard
- "Helped" build Papa & Nana's treehouse
- Nana babysat 5 of the grandkids and took them to the movie theater
- We celebrated anniversary #9 with dinner at "Les Miserables" at the Scera Shell outdoor theater (we tracked down Juliette who was working there too!)
- Bridal Veil Falls with Gma & Gpy
- Held baby Luke as much as possible
- Swimming at Riverside & at Aunt Marilyn's
- Firework Show with the Parker clan
- Brandon hiked the Y with Andrew & Rachel
- Enjoyed the weather!!!

Boom.  We played hard, and had a great trip!

Zoe, my parent's dog

Nana's teeny fairy garden

Bean Museum

BYU bookstore

Rachel & Fisher (friends from AZ) - they were the only two interested in taking a pic

Aquarium

Zipline

Discovery Museum at Gateway with the Dobson's

Temple Square

Andrew, Conor, Emmi & Rachel

Nana with the grandkids - they were practically the only ones in the theater!

Happy 9th Anniversary!

Bridal Veil

Ready for some fireworks!

4th of July Festivities - Utah, Part 5

We absolutely love the 4th of July in Utah!  Our festivities get spread over two days!!

July 3

- wake up the kids early to go see the balloons 

- Kneaders for breakfast

- save parade spot - a SERIOUS task - thanks to Chad for spearheading this and for "sleeping" over

- people took turns camping out at the parade spot starting at noon the day before (although we couldn't technically put stuff down until 3p, you have to be standing there much earlier)

- cul-de-sac of fire party at Grandma's house

July 4

- wake up the kids early again for the 1 mile kids race that starts at 7am

- parade (not worth all the hassle of saving a spot, but it is tradition!)

- bbq #1 - annual Hale candy drop with "celebrity" appearances and waterfight

- attempt to take a nap

- bbq #2 - Parker family

- watch Stadium of Fire fireworks from outside the stadium

Highlights:

- Andrew's first 1 mile race and he did way better than I thought he would - I love this tradition we have started

- Brandon's celebrity impersonations of Donald Sterling and Kate Kelly (wore a crazy wig) at the candy drop

- Kendall was a good sport for the waterfight, but they were relentless to even her, and it was hard for her to understand what was going on (she wasn't the only one that got creamed - when Jade showed up in his wheelchair, he got soaked too, and he can't even fight back, but has a great time with it)

- After Brandon and I saved the parade spot for a few hours, the next shift was Grandpa Thompson and Shalauna & Zac :) - see everyone really does have to pitch in

- Brandon making small bombs out of fireworks and he blew up a tomato and cantaloupe for the Parker families (plus his patriotic sailor outfit was pretty awesome too)

- Mom wanting a picture with Tyson (Chad & Cindy's nephew on her side) and Andrew because Tyson reminds her of Andrew

- Brandon trying to get the kids to not be so silly in the car at 11pm on the way home from fireworks - they had a serious case of the giggles and Brandon wasn't having it  :)

My kids made friends with this random, large dog

Not sure on the official time, but under 15 minutes for sure!

Ready for the parade!

My daddy is so darn cute!

Cindy & Hailey

Kyle & Andrew

Tyson Stoddard, Nana & Andrew

Zac & Shalauna

Candy drop - Donald Sterling in the house

Cantaloupe bomb

The bomb spectators