Ruling the School

Spencer, Tyler, and Ruby are all ruling their schools this year.  (Ella is not happy that she doesn't make this list!)  Spencer is maxing out the middle school, Tyler is dominating the elementary school, and Ruby is rocking the house in pre-school.  And all 4 kids are doing great!  Spencer is in 8th grade this year, and at 5'8" he is towering over the 6th graders.  He's singing in the Advanced Boy's Choir and is in Theater III this year (where he just got the part of Mr. Darling in their Fall show, Peter Pan).  He will have a very busy few months, with early morning choir practices and after school play rehearsals.  It makes me tired just thinking of it!  Tyler is in 5th grade and is making friends like crazy again this year.  He came home on the first day of school and told me, "Well, I made 6 new friends today."  And he did!  He's having a great time, and working hard.  He's on one of the 5 teams of 5th graders that do the morning video announcements at school, so he'll be conquering his fear of public speaking this year!  Ella is in 2nd grade and is loving school and friends.  She continues to work hard, and is making friends and having a great time every day.  Ruby is in Pre-K, and she is really getting ready for Kindergarten next year.  She loves going to school on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and is usually dressed and ready for school by 7:00 on school days.  Since school doesn't start until 9:00 for her, it is a long 2 hour wait!  Tyler and Ella are riding the bus to school this year, and so they have to leave the house at 6:50 every morning.  It is so early!!!  They are champions about getting up in the morning, though.  They just get up to their alarm!  Just like that.  Ella and Ruby show up downstairs at 6:25 dressed for school with their beds made every morning.  Tyler is always the first one down in the morning, although his bed is NEVER made.  Spencer rolls down for breakfast at the last second, rocking his PJs.  He has time afterward to get showered and ready, so he enjoys every minute of sleep he can muster.   It's always hard to go back to school in the Fall, but the kids are doing great!!  Here are their first day of school pictures.

Park City

After leaving Bear Lake, we headed straight to Park City to meet Bryan's family for a mini Family Reunion.  We all stayed at the Mountainside Marriott, and it was a really sweet hotel!  We had a great time, and there was plenty to keep us all busy and happy.  All the boys (Spencer, Tyler, AJ, Daniel, and Nathan) got to sleep in their own hotel room, and they thought that was the coolest thing ever.  I barely even walked into that room, because just glancing in I could tell that it was a total pigsty.  Little Gwen got to have a sleepover with her girl cousins, Ella and Ruby, and once she stopped crying at bedtime she was a good little sleepover buddy.  Ella thoroughly enjoyed talking care of her, and holding baby Samuel.  We spent the evening watching the Olympics (which was so fun!!) and the days swimming and playing (and even squeezed in a little shopping).  Mary was able to come up one day to hang out with us, and it was great to see her again - an extra bonus for the kids, especially!!  We went to Olympic Park one day and rode the Alpine Slide and ziplines.  We all loved it!!  The kids would have liked to ride over and over, but it's just too darn pricey.  I would like to boast and say that I, the world's most irrational, afraid of heights person, did the large zipline.  The steepest zipline in the world, I might add!  Once I survived the panic of the ride up, and the excruciating wait, it was actually really fun.  Yay for me!  Thanks to the Carlsons for an awesome week!!!!

Bear Lake

As hard as it was to leave Idaho, it was a good thing that we had somewhere fun to go!  As luck would have it, for the first time in...forever, the Fab Five and families were all going to be in the Utah area at the exact same time this summer.  Never has this happened!  We have been talking for years about taking a family vacation together, because we knew that the kids and husbands would all love hanging together as much as we do!  So when we realized the coincidence this summer, we had to act.  We (sadly!) said goodbye to our Mystery Weekend for the year in favor of a full up family affair.  In Bear Lake!  Tiffany and Jake were able to procure the Shulz family cabin for the long weekend, and we all drove from far and wide to make it there.  Let me see if I can set the stage for you - 5 crazy women, 5 understanding (and extremely cool) husbands, and TWENTY children...all in one cabin.  Yes, it was quite the crowd!  I wondered how it would go, how we would all fit.  Would the kids be always under foot?  Would we drive each other crazy?  Well, might I just say that it was fantastic!!!  Those kids - age 13 (Spencer was the oldest) down to 2 - had more fun together.  They played outside well past dark, never tired of each others company, and I swear we hardly knew they were there.  We had such an amazing time!  Spencer and the teenage crowd played cards together, swam together, and boated together.  Tyler and his crowd of boys (plus Kate!) tore around on the dirt bike and organized games for the younger kids.  Ella and Ruby lumped together with the younger crew, and they played on the playground and in the sandbox for hours on end.  Ruby had two little girls her same age, and the three of them were quite the buddies.  We spent Friday and Saturday at the beach, taking turns out on the boat, and we headed back up to the cabin just in time to have a 9pm dinner.  The adults were even able to sneak away one evening for raspberry shakes.  Summer vacations are the best!