Kindergarten

This morning I sent my baby off to school for the first time. She loved preschool so much last year, she couldn't wait to go back this year for Kindergarten. Last night as I was putting her to bed she was asking me about Kindergarten...and if she was going to have homework.  As soon as she asked that, I remembered that her teacher gave her an assignment to do, a getting to know you page, to bring back on the first day of school....CRAP....I totally forgot!!!  Lame Mom!!!  So I had her wake up early to do it!!....haahaa...I am not setting a very good example on the FIRST day of school!!

When we were done, we started to get dressed.  I had  picked out a cute skirt outfit for her to wear.  She saw it and said she didn't want to wear it.  She wanted to wear her new "Hello Kitty" shirt. I was a little sad...normally I just give her clothes to put on, and she'll wear what I tell her.  I guess she decided that she was big enough to pick out her own clothes. ...tear...

We took our traditional pictures by the front door, and we were out the door.  I was fine up until we started driving to school.  Then I started the water works...I was amazed on how she knew where to go and what to do.  I didn't have to do anything, all the Kindergarten doors have an outside entrance, she knew where to line up and her teacher took her in.  ....and then she was gone.  What a big kid.

Splash Pad & Berry Picking

 Her first hair-do.  She looks so grown up.

 Ben showing the girls how to pick the good ones.

 I think he ate more than what ended up in his bucket!

 These girls picked some perfect raspberries.

 The Alba's were even able to join us.

Char and Jared were in town visiting, and we were able to spend the day with them.  We took them to the splash pad in Alpine.  Then we went to a U-pick berry patch in Mapleton.  It was super cute and it was a "eat while you pick" policy!  The kids LOVED it!  We will definately have to go back!

Getting Ready for School

 At lunch with mom and dad!

 Gabby needed to pose too

 trying on some of her new clothes

 I just had to throw this one in....my cute girl!

At back to school night.  Mikayla, a girl from her preschool class is in the same Kindergarten class.  They were best buds in preschool, and were so excited to see that they were together again!

Last weekend we took Charley out to lunch by herself, and went shopping for school clothes!  She loves this day.  It is something she gets to do without her sisters, and she loves the attention. This year we took her to Applebee's for lunch, and then a bunch of stores for clothes.  When did my baby get so big?!

Sunrise

Last weekend my parents were in town to drop off Lexi and Ruben at BYU.  While they were here our Stake had an activity.  They had organized a group of people to hike Mount Timpanogos starting at midnight, and getting to the summit just in time to see the Sunrise!  Since my parents were here, we took advantage of the opportunity to go!  I hadn't hiked Timp since I was single.  It was a 16 mile hike round trip.  It was a little challenging, but we made it to the top. We even saw a few moose on the way!

From drab to FAB!!

 This table was my mom's, then she gave it to my aunt, then while I was back in Omaha, my aunt gave it to me.

 Sanded, painted white, distressed and added new knobs.  (Courtney, those are the knobs you gave me, they were in a basket you had)

 This was another part of the entertainment center Cal & Courtney gave us.

 I sanded it down, painted it yellow, and stuck it in the garage for shoes and other kid stuff.

 Another part of the entertainment center.  This section was where the TV was supposed to sit, and the DVD sits inside.

 Welp, Cal cut the top off, then I sanded it down, painted it yellow, then sanded it and put stain on top of the paint. I modpodged chevron paper on the doors and then lackered it all down!

 This is the girls desk. It houses all their school stuff, and the little table inside pulls out just low enough for them to sit with their little chairs.

And the last piece of furniture I have done recently is this dresser.  Our neighbor was giving it away for free, so we took it!  It was a little banged up.  We had to glue a door back together, but a little TLC and it is perfectly new again! This is for the girls.   They already have a dresser that is blue with green doors, so this one is going to be the opposite, green with blue doors. Gabby with get this one and Charley will get the other. I am still working on it.....I painted the doors before I realized that the old knobs that were on it weren't standard....so when I went to put the new ones on I bought they didn't fit.  So I had to fill in the holes and drill new ones.  Which means I will have to repaint them.

Work in Progress

 These two top pieces used to be part of an entertainment center Calvin and Courtney gave us, and Cal cut up for us!  I didn't need an entertainment center, but I did need nightstands

 This was right before I started painting.  I forgot to take a before picture of my room, so this will have to do!  One Saturday I painted the ceiling white and the walls grey.

 These are the results of the old entertainment center.  I painted white, distressed and put contact paper on the inside, and added new hardware (which isn't shown in this picture....I added it later).

 My room!!! I still need to order the picture we are putting above our bed, get some lamps, baskets for the nightstands, and a rug for the foot of our bed....and there is a wall I don't know what to do with, and I need to finish our dresser.  There is still a lot to do, but it is slowly coming together!

 I found this mirror at Family dollar for $10.  If you touch it, it is plastic.  And it was a bronze color.  So I painted it and antiqued it.  It looks much better!

This dresser is next on my list. I think I am going to leave the top brown, but try to sand down as much black as I can and paint it white, and distress....and get new hardware.  

It has been a year since we've moved into our house, and I was finally sick of our room, and excited about fixing it up.  My goal for this summer was getting it done.  And with all our crazy stuff at the beginning and middle of summer, I've really only had a month to do it all.  And a month may seem like a long time, but when you re-do furniture and paint with kids around, I only get maybe an hour or so a day to work on stuff while they are napping or playing.   

I have a few other projects I also did this summer, I'll post later....a desk for the girls, a shelf for the garage for shoe storage, a sofa table, and another dresser for the girls. After looking around my house, I think 80% of our furniture I have redone. 

8 Years...

Seriously, Ben and I have been married for 8 years!!!  That seems like a long time!  .....and I am still 22, just like when we first got married!!!   It is kinda amazing how far we have come in those 8 years....not geographically though! :)  In 8 years we both finished our undergrad, Ben grad school, moved 6 times! Bought a house! Have 3 beautiful girls...our oldest starting school this year!  We've run races together, gone on trips, and all the while, have had a blast! ....and we still have a ton more great things to come! 

For our anniversary we got a babysitter!!  We went to dinner, and saw a movie.  It was great! 

On a total side note: I am not sure why I want to remember this, but i think this is funny.  In our last apartment and in our house we have a dish washer.  I have been so frustrated with them because I literally have to scrub the dishes clean before putting them in.  So all the dishwasher does is sanitize, and some times not even that.  Ben got a subscription to Consumer Reports and a few months ago the magazine did a report on dishwashers and soap.  Come to find out that the soap we were using (Kirkland dishsoap) was on the bottom of the list....which was one of the worst soaps....that pretty much did nothing. So I bought one of the better soaps. I stuck the dishes in, food and all....still skeptical on whether it would work, and it does. I am a little annoyed with myself,  all that time i wasted washing the dishes twice!  It was just me trying to be cheap!

I still need to post our trip pictures. But I want to do it in order, and our Omaha pictures are on Ben's work computer. I keep forgetting to take them off.  Maybe this weekend.

No-No-No

I think this is cute! ....just another one of her little "tricks".

I don't make this up....

 We signed Gabby up for Itty Bitty Soccer.  On the first day, it took her 40 minutes to finally warm up to everything and play.  

The second day was picture day, and it was a little better, but it was still crazy.  

Warm-up: She didn't want to participate because...."that's not soccer!"

Station 1: they were supposed to practice shooting the ball into a net.  What Gabby did:  dribbled the ball like a basketball

Station 2: they were supposed to practice dribbling the soccer ball.  What Gabby did: dance in the corner.

Station 3: they were supposed to use balloons to practice juggling, bouncing the ball off knees and feet or head.  What Gabby did: played volleyball.

Station 4: was pictures....Gabby just cried, and didn't want to....Good thing I didn't buy any!

Station 5 & 6: was a mini game set up in the back half of the gym.  At first Gabby complained that there wasn't enough balls.  So I had to help explain to her what a "game" was, and she was supposed to try and kick the ball and score a goal.  So she runs to the ball, touches it, and runs back to me yelling, "I touched it Mom!"

Today was her 3rd day of soccer, and it was a lot better. I was actually able to sit and watch her.  However, she still didn't want to do the warm ups. .....and SHE WORE HER SUNGLASSES THE WHOLE TIME!!!  And yes folks, Ittly Bitty Soccer would be indoors!!!

This station they were practicing headers.  They had small beach balls instead of the hard soccer balls.  

At the end of every practice, they get a treat.  Here she is, on our way out....still wearing her sunglasses. 

This girl is Hilarious!  ....at least I think so! 

I'm not sure soccer is Gabby's sport.  But she's having fun, and it is releasing some of that energy of hers.  But lucky for my girls, their mom is a PE teacher.  And they will always be involved in something.  And maybe when they are older they will have an idea of what they are good at and want to do!