This little girl just turned eleven. 

 She loves to hang out with her sister and her friends.

 She's totally awesome and gets to leave on a jet plane in the morning to New York City. 

She's very excited to be able to go along on a business trip (it's her turn!).

I went downtown L.A. to go to the jewelry and fabric districts and had lunch at an awesome restaurant called Bottega Louie.

Not only was the lunch exquisite, but the French pastries were gorgeous.

 And the macaroons amazing.

And this little girl lost a top tooth last night.  She's a jack-o-lantern in time for Halloween. 

Her other one is loose, too so she'll be asking for front teeth for Christmas I think. 

This and That

It seems like not a lot has happened to blog about since school started, but upon further consideration, there has actually been quite a bunch.

Christian and his girlfriend Kate kickin' it at the beach on Labor Day.

Having fun burying Ashlyn in the sand, until they were ordered to cease and desist by the lifeguards!

It's illegal to now dig a hole deeper than 18" at the beach. 

Come ON!!!!!

Be sure to bring your ruler next time you're at the beach. 

Oh, and if you're loading up the car to go home, be sure and not lock all the doors with the car running before everyone gets in.  

Otherwise, you might have to wait 45+ minutes for AAA, unless of course the fire dept happens by first.  Lifeguards can't do it, Highway Patrol can't do it, City Maintenance can't do it (and yes, they all happened by), but the FD can unlock the car door!  And they are especially happy to do it when you are blocking the parking lot and they want to get by!  No wonder they are always called heroes.

(By the way, it was our friend that it happened to, NOT ME).

 I think the only good things about this awful humid weather is are the beautiful clouds and sunsets.

Uncle Adam installed a gnarly swing from a super tall tree in their front yard and the kids had a blast with it.  

Other happenings:

*I started a BYU religion class (like institute) - every Wednesday morning

*I work (volunteer) in the Middle School office every Thursday answering phones and whatnot.  It's fun.

*I'm the DAC (District Advisory Committee) Rep for the elementary school so I get to go to big meetings at the school district headquarters once a month.

*I'm the SSC (School Site Council) Rep as well, which means another monthly meeting. 

*I'm the Laurel Advisor.  Love it. 

*Back-to-School night was tonight for the elementary school and we only had 2 classes to visit. It's so fun, and I will be adding many more things to my list as soon as the teachers narrow it all down (library helper, computer helper, math helper, classroom helper, etc......)

*I lost a little diamond in my ring. :-(  
Need to make a trip downtown to the Jeweler soon.  

*My gym of 11 years closed.  So sad!!  We joined the YMCA for the whole family.  The gym is small, but adequate and nice, and they have great classes for the kids and an indoor pool.  Madison and Brooke started a youth fit class (2x/week) and the instructor said they were so athletic that she's going to come up with something different for them.  Total confidence booster.

*Also, they made the school's Volleyball teams.  WooHoo!! 

*Cub Scouts started this week.  Christian is thrilled! He's ready to move on to Bear, but can't until January.

*I've been searching for a piano teacher and found an excellent one.  However, she's expensive, inconveniently far away, and booked!  The only time she had was during mutual.  Luckily when meeting with her, she liked the girls and recommended her top student to me who lives near us, and doesn't charge very much since she's a senior in HS.  Score!  We now have another teacher, at least until she goes away to college next year. 

Madison with Arnela Ervin

*Brooke started up voice lessons again today.  She's working on a piece from My Fair Lady.  It's fun to hear her develop a Cockney accent.

*Her coach has a business called Cocoa Metro.  Try it - it's totally awesome.

*I went to the Republican office today and picked up a Romney bumper sticker.  I just might use it, too.

*I'm taking Brooke to NYC in two weeks!  It's her turn to go and she's excited.

*Today is my mom's birthday.  We met at Wood Ranch in Northdridge for lunch.  It was a lot of fun: me, Dre, Adam & kids, mom, dad, Matt & Cyndi.    

The Sound of Silence

The kids all went back to school today, which is always bittersweet around here.  We love summer, and never want it to end, but there is always the interesting prospect of a new year, new friends, new experiences and growth to look forward to in starting school again.

They were of course nervous and excited and had a very hard time falling asleep last night.

Brooke is starting middle school and has studied the school map with Madison (multiple times) who gave her tips on how to get around.  We've been to the locker, practiced the combo lots of times, toured campus, and got all ready for a new chapter in life.

Madison is ruling the school as an 8th grader.  She received her schedule with two PE classes, and no math!  That's a bit confusing, but working with the AP and the Counselor, got it all figured out.  Turns out that because she is in all honor classes and the Discover Magnet program along with Spanish, there wasn't room for Algebra, as it's taught the same time as Spanish.  Unfortunately, she had to drop Spanish for Math, even though we were secretly hoping that PE could somehow count as math credit.  ha!

Christian is a big 3rd grader and is super excited to have is best buds Harrison and Max in his class. 

Christian and Ashlyn will now have the same recess and lunch.  He told her he'd look out for her during those times to make sure she's OK and they could be together.  He's so sweet!

Ashlyn is in 1st grade.  She told me she was nervous about going to school all day as she has never done that.  But she was really concerned about me being "alone" all day without her.  She told me I would have to "find a friend to hang out with".  She mentioned something like that almost daily so she really was concerned about me.  Don't worry Ash, I think I can keep myself busy.

 They are all ready to have a fabulous year!!

Christian with Mrs. Triplett!  We are so happy to finally have her for a teacher.

See that look of nervousness?  It's genuine.  She froze.  She didn't want us to leave.  But I know that she'll be awesome when we leave. Especially when her BFF Cooper arrives.

Mrs. Warner and Ashlyn.  She's in a 1/2 split.  I hope it works well.

Off to the Middle School!  I asked Brooke if she wanted us to drop her off or walk her in, and she really wanted us to go in, so sorry Madison - you get to walk in with your parents!

It was fun to see their reaction when they opened their lockers which were decorated late last night by John.

We ended up walking Brooke to her first class and the teacher came out to introduce herself.  She was super nice - they really take care of the 6th graders well.

Now I'm home and it's so quiet.  I can hear the refrigerator humming.

I can also clean up a mess and it will actually last . . . 

... until 2:35.

Then and Now

What a difference five years makes!

Aloha ~ Hawaii ~ Day 14 ~ Saying Goodbye to Paradise

Our last day in paradise!  So sad!

We packed up, checked out and went to the driving range at the resort.

 It was fun for the kids to have a first experience with golf, and I think the most fun was driving the carts!

Then we did an activity the resort offers called Bamboo Pole Fishing

Ashlyn caught NINE tilapia!

Christian finally had success!

Wow, Madison.  That's really big.  Good job :-)

Then we hiked up the Sleeping Giant

We didn't go all the way to the top, but made it to this great vista.  Everyone was hot and tired, because it was very hot and humid in the sun.

Chickens, roosters everywhere! 

Cooling off with our last Shave Ice

After one last swim in the pool, and relaxing in the Ohana Lounge, we got on the plane at 10:00 p.m. for a red eye home.  

We made it to LAX, and most everyone slept a little on the plane.

But everyone crashed on the car ride home!!

John went straight to work, and the kids went to sleep, and slept until 2:00 p.m. They were very exhausted and worn out from a wonderful 2-week vacation.  

We had a great time and now it's back to reality :-(