Kynlee's First Day

Today's my first day of the new school year! Mom woke me up bright & early, helped me get dressed, did my hair with cute, colorful ribbons and made me one of my favorite breakfasts: Warm Oatmeal + Honey and a Banana! I eat so many bananas I think I could maybe turn into one, tee hee hee!

Mom's hoping I don't pull out my pretty hair-do (something I like to do ALL the time...) maybe I'll be so busy that I'll forget all about it and surprise her with all my bows in place when I get home. Cross your fingers, she would love that!

Mom loves my face in the picture above, she says it's my "gettin' ready to say something funny-face" or my "thinking of something silly-face" it always makes her smile & laugh, and I like that!

I can't wait to see my teacher and give her a hug, I also get to push the button on my way into school that says out loud "Hello Everybody, I'm here..." I miss that. The braille typewriter is calling my name, that is one of my most favorite things to do in school. Maybe it's because I like to play the piano and they are similar, I'm pushing keys and they make a noise. Cool, I know.. that's what I say!

I was kind of a stinker when I had to walk out to the van, but once Mom helped me get in my seat I felt right at home and didn't make a peep. I can't say for sure... but I have a little feeling that this new school year holds something great in store for me! Oh, and thanks to all of you who remember to pray for me and my learning, I know it really helps and blesses me.

Off I go!!!

Splish-Splash he was takin' a bath

I love it when we...

"GRAB SOME SNACKS -N- GO!!!"

We all pile into the car with our goodies and it goes like this:

The kids ask, "Where are we going?"

and we say, "I don't know..."

then an hour or two later... we're somewhere like this!

Ahhh- a breath of fresh air~ I love a country setting.. it makes me want to run through the fields and open spaces like "the hills are alive" & sends me straight into my full height of gritty glory!

Divine Temptation~

***WARNING***

Drop the ice cream scoop.. and step a-w-a-y from the freezer!

I'm tellin' ya, this stuff is sooooooo delicious, I haven't been able to refrain from a serving a day since it graced by grocery basket and made it's way into our freezer. I've conveniently kept it's creamy, with a touch of gritty graham cracker goodness a secret from the kids and Andres just so I can devour it all myself. I know.. how rude of me-

I was actually on my way to get my other new found favorite ice cream "Great Value Blueberry Pomegranate" from Walmart when I saw this Banana Cream Pie flavor and decided to try this one too. You most definitely need to add these to your grocery list, I'm just sayin'... you can thank me later! {Except for Kim of course, I can't believe you don't like bananas, such a shame.. but do try the Blueberry Pomegranate - I know you'll love it!}

*I feel like buying a years supply of it since it's probably one of those "now ya see it - now ya don't" deals.. ya know the limited time offer flavor that you fall-in-love with and then you go back to get more and it's gone forever and you feel as if you've been robbed and violated. LOL I hate that!

*Oh and I take it back.. I HAVE shared a little bit with McKynlee, but only because I knew she wouldn't tell anyone. hee hee hee She gives it a thumbs up too!!!

Tanner Drew's first day!

What a handsome little guy... that's all I have to say!

That has got to be uncomfortable...

This is how I found Tanner last night when I was on my way to go to bed. From the look on his face you'd think he was sleeping on a nice feather bed, I'm just glad he didn't twitch or something and start falling down the stairs asleep, that'd be a rude awakening...

First Day of School

I can't believe it.. M&C are in 4th grade and Sydnee is in 3rd. They are growing up way too fast... I was thinking yesterday that if McKynlee didn't attend the school for the blind, she too would be at school with the kids in 1st grade. It kinda makes me sad in a way, I'd love to see her running up to the school doors with the other kids, all excited to play with friends, meet a new teacher and say "bye Mom, love ya..." but for now it's just the three oldest, Tanner will be joining them at their school next year when he starts kindergarten.

Tanner got to go meet his new preschool teacher and he has his first day back to school tomorrow morning. I've never had one of my kids attend the morning schedule for preschool or kindergarten because I'm so not a morning person... but this year I decided to give it a try. I figured it would be nice on Fridays when the older one's get out at noon for early day out, if Tanner was done too. Then we can all have a little bit of time to spend together maybe going to lunch, to play at the park, etc... before McKynlee gets done since she doesn't get out early.

So off we go into a new school year and I'm hoping it will be a good one for everyone!

Stay-Cation: Day 5 ~ Game Night

Friday was supposed to be our day out on the lake fishing with Grandma & Grandpa but we had to make a last minute change of plans due to the weather, it started to get a bit stormy with lots of wind, and the lake is not a place you want to be in those conditions so early that morning we cancelled our fishing trip and decided to just stay home, rest, relax, recoup from our previous days big hike up Timpanogos, play with friends, and have a fun family night with pizza, treats & games. The kids were pretty bummed that we weren't going fishing at first, they've been really looking forward to it... but we told them that we'd try to fit it in on a day next week before they go off to school.

The kids had SO MUCH FUN playing this Sorry Sliders Game!!! It's a simple, quick game and the giggles were endless. If you don't have it, you should get it. I've been trying to find it forever it seems and could only find the regular Sorry game and I FINALLY found it at Target yesterday so I snatched it up in a jiffy for our game night.

Stay-Cation: Day 4 - Timpanogos Cave

After we bought our tickets, we had about 30 minutes before we could start our hike up the trail so we crossed the street and over a bridge to this nice little shaded picnic area. Ya gotta love Marcus' face on the the picture above.. if ever it's a "say cheese" picture, he hardly ever smiles.. so I was teasing him about it and he really laid it on good for this one. Little stinker!

A Ladybug without spots??? This big ladybug landed on my shirt and then my water bottle and the boys kept telling me that "the big one's without spots" are piousness. I said, "No they're not," and acted like I was going to eat it and they all freaked out!

Once it started to get a little closer to our hike time, we went back over to the visitors center so everyone could go potty and when we got there I asked Tanner where his water bottle was and he had left it on the picnic table across the street and over the bridge. Andres volunteered to go back and get it and on his way back he found this little stick that looked like a tail and told Tanner when he got back that he had found his tail too! Tanner didn't seem to think it was funny until he saw all of us giggling about it and taking pictures like it really was his or one our tails...

Hiking time has arrived!!! Get Ready, Get Setty, and Here We Go~~~

Here's Chandler letting us know that he has a pretty good feeling that he doesn't approve with what we've gotten him into... and we've only just begun. He doesn't like heights at all! He actually did really well though, he just stuck to the mountain side of the trail all the way.

Tired, silly faces...

...colorful scenery...

...and gorgeous views, half way up the trail!

What's up with that, the entrance door to the cave is nicer than the front door to my house! Go figure...

Eeewwww, this gives me the heeby-jeebies! I've never seen anything like it, it reminds me of being on the inside of a dinosaur or something way spooky...

The little intricate details of all the mineral deposits and build-ups were amazing to look at,

..and this.....

..this is known as the "heart of the timpanogos cave."

I've always loved this grand & beautiful mountain that I live right below for it's beauty on the outside... when I had no idea of what existed on the inside. Now when I look up at it everyday, I will see it in its entirety and enjoy it even more!