First Days of School

 The first day of school was last week.  These three girls were very excited to go.  Back to School night was good for me to meet their teachers and get a feel for what this year is going to be like.  Rachel is starting 4th grade.  Katie is in 2nd grade.  Sarah begins Kindergarten.  I love that they can walk to school and they will be walking together. 

 The First Day of School is always exciting for the kids, and a bit of a fiasco for me.  At least that is how it has been for the last 3 years.  This year I called in the reserves, and it was the best thing for all of us.  Each child is supposed to have a "caring adult" to attend the first couple of hours of school, and I have always divided myself between them, while hauling along my other children.  I didn't think I could do it this year, with 3 in school and two to haul along and being pregnant.  So my mom and my sister Carla were able to come and attend.  Then I had a friend call and ask to take Bekah and Nathan while we were at the school.  It was the slickest first day, and I might have to beg them to help me again next year, it was wonderful.

 So, this is one of the little people who will be staying at home with me this year.  Bekah does her hair like this every time I forget to close the bathroom door.  Headbands.  She loves them.  She usually has all of the hair elastics on her arm also.

Then, here is my boy.  I don't really know why I chose this picture, but he will be my other buddy while we wait for the girls to get home.  Already we have noticed that his sisters kept him running around, and he kind of needs to get out a bit more.  I am excited to have more time with him in the afternoons while Sarah is at Kindergarten.  He is so fun, and is already asking for his own school time, like I did with Sarah the last couple of years. 

Here's to the school year of 2012-2013!  Here we go!

Summer Part 2

 I know I said in the Summer 1 blog that this Pioneer Workshop was a lot of work, and then I put a picture of us in our Hawaiian gear, but we also had a lot of fun.  At a place called Dry Creek, there is a sand river, and if you dig deep enough you can come get water.  So, we were in teams, and the first team to fill their cup of water, won.  This is my winning team!

 Well, while all of that was happening, our children had a great time with Grandpa and Grandma Z.  We have never left our children for a whole week, and I was nervous, but they did such a great job, I think we are going to Will our children to them if David and I die.  Happy thoughts?  Well, our kids were very happy when we picked them up.  Nathan did have to be run to the doctor for a popcorn kernel up his nose, but if things like that didn't happen, where would the excitement be?

 This is what the weather was like when we got back.  Rain, rain, rain.  We were so grateful.  It saved our lawn and garden. 

 I know this is probably silly for some people.  But it is important to me that we work with our kids, and that we remember working together.  There is a lot of value in work.  Rachel and Katie helped me clean all the windows in the house also, and to tell you the truth, I couldn't have done it without them.  I love working with my children. Its exhausting and I'm not a chipper person the whole time, but I do love seeing the kids clean up by themselves, start the dishes without being ask, and when things like making applesauce come around, that they are right there with me, working.

 Grandma Nana came for a visit also.  She is always so kind and loving when she comes.  We love having her over!

And this sums up the rest of our summer.  Random, creative and fun.  Katie has taken tons of pictures of what the days were like, and they were silly.  But, we need our fun, silly summers, and now, we're ready to start another year of school, and get back to business.

Summer - Part 1

 We have had a great summer.  The end of June, we went to Bear Lake for the annual Zollinger Reunion.  David warranted a picture for riding in a boat and kind of enjoying it.  The kids loved it.

 This is the reason I did not ride in a boat.  Here are the Pregos of the Zollinger clan.  Jenn actually just had her baby a couple days ago, I'm due in October, and Melanie is due in the next couple of weeks.  Its funner to be pregnant with company, we can complain to each other and it feels better somehow.

 Our family at the Bear Lake overlook.  I love this place.  We won't be going there next year, and I'll miss it.  We're going to try vacationing at a different spot, but we'll miss Bear Lake a lot.

 Bekah found her new love.  Corn on the cob.  She'll eat 3 cobs of corn and ask for more.  So cute.

 David's dad came for a visit.  We went to St. George to be with David's brother Michael's family.  Its always fun to get together, and since David's dad lives in Michigan, the visits are few and far between.  We're so grateful he could come!

 Cox Reunion.  We haven't been to a Cox reunion since we moved to Parowan.  We miss seeing Grandma Cox, she is a special part of our lives, and our family thinks she's great.  We got to see a lot of cousins, uncles and aunts, but this lady is the main reason we go.  We love you, Grandma!

 The next few pictures is a Pioneer Workshop we did with David's work.  It was a good experience for David and I.  We spent a week visiting church history sites along the Pioneer/Oregon Trail.  We took a lot of notes, a lot of pictures, and made a lot of friends.

David is at the top of Independence Rock.  We had to wake up at 5:00 each morning, and would rush from one site to the other trying to cover as much terrain as possible.  This was a good break in the middle of the trip to take some time and hike this rock.  Names are still visible and it was a good reminder of Jesus Christ as the Rock on which we should build.

Father's Day

 David comes home from work in a suit each day, and usually doesn't change because of other meetings.  So, he ask for an apron for Father's Day.  We think he looks pretty great!  Here are a few things that we love about David.

 This may not make much sense.  But, David has been concerned about swimsuits for the girls and I agree.  Swimming is a sport, but our girls are not swimming for any sport, they swim because they love it and its fun.  So, David gave me an unlimited budget to find swimming suits for the girls that they liked.  Rachel got online with me, and picked this swim shirt and shorts.  They are so cute, they protect their bodies, and they don't get sunburned.  This is not unusual for David, clothes are something that he doesn't care the price, just make them modest and not sloppy.  We were really excited to find these, and the girls love them.

David has been working on these bunk beds for the past few weeks.  He finished them on Saturday, and I was thrilled.  About 7 years ago, we owned a candy business, and our office was next to a business that would receive large packages, and the wood used to carry the inventory was usually junked.  David ask if he could salvage the wood, and this is what he made with it.  The side boards we bought, but the rest David put together with junk wood.  They look amazing.

 More scrap wood.  The girls saw a Wishing well and wanted me to buy it.  I showed it to David and he told the girls if they could wait until the summer, he would make them a Wishing Well.  They have loved it.  I still need to paint it, but everyone was very happy.

Katie was eating breakfast Saturday morning, and couldn't eat her cold cereal because her tooth was so loose, it bothered her.  We told her to go wiggle it, she came back in, and her tooth was sideways with the bottom sticking out across her top lip.  She said it wouldn't come.  David told her to just give it a tug since it was hanging on buy a thread, and now we have our toothless Katie.

Katie's tooth doesn't have much to do with David, but it was part of a great weekend we had with a wonderful Dad.  We love you David! 

The Receiver

Your heard of "The Giver".  Well, if there was a book called "The Receiver", I should have wrote it.  We are blessed to have people give us things all the time.  Our friends, gave us this kid jeep.  They camouflaged it for their son, but it has remnants of the Barbie original colors.  It is really in great condition.  One of those things that I would never buy my children, but won't turn down.  They have had a blast.

 The same friends, gave us this mini four wheeler.  Nathan and Sarah are the only ones small enough, but again, they just gave it to us.

My brother and sister in law gave us this wonderful crib.  Bekah loves it, and it sure makes the room look plain.  Katie tried to decorate and put her art pictures up, but we'll have to add to Katie's improvements.

We have been given clothes in abundance.  I am always so grateful for what people bring over.  I had one friends tell me she feels bad, but I told her we love it.  It saves us so much money on keeping up with clothes.  My sister just brought over two cute new bed spreads, and matching sheets that will look so cute in the girls' room. 

Again, we should be called the Receivers, but we love it.

Zion's National Park

 When I was young, my parents took us camping at least every year in the summer.  I loved it.  David and I have taken our family camping a few times in our 10 years of marriage, but the more children we have, obviously, the harder it gets.  Rachel is 9, and the need for family time, and making memories seems to be going faster than I like.  We planned a lot this summer.  David's job makes it hard to vacation during the school year, so most of our adventures will happen in the summer.   This is our trip to Zion's National Park, and our family loved it.

 Loading up our van is always tricky.  7 people, 2 tents, 7 sleeping bags, 3 air mattresses, a grill, 7 pillows, 7 bags of clothing, 1 cooler, 3 boxes of food, paper products, and cooking gear....plus whatever else we needed took up a lot space, but it fit.  David is an amazing packer.

 At Zion's National Park, they have a shuttle bus to trasport people to all the different locations.  It was probably one of the highlights for the kids, they loved riding in it.

 Just one of the majestic pictures of Zion's huge moutains.  I was continually amazed and awed at the scenery, it was beautiful.

 Bekah and David on one of our hikes.  The trails we went on were paved and it made taking Bekah in the stroller easy.

 Rachel, Nathan, Katie, and Sarah.  They posed for about everything.  There were a lot of fun trails just right for kids.  I told the kids to stay on the trail, and Sarah said, "I just want to explore."  And it was a great place to do that.

 We set up two tents, Sarah, Katie, and Rachel, got a small two man tent.  They spent most of their time giggling themselves to sleep, but, for those of you with sisters, that is what you do, right?

 Tadpoles, the kids were fascinated with them.

 This was the Riverside Walk, on the way to the Narrows.  It was beautiful, and full of fun water to play in.

 My camera abilities are improving.  This was a lone flower on the trail.  So pretty.

 Every squirrel we found, Nathan was chasing.  This is Nathan on his knees, trying to coax a squirrel to be his friend.  Those little squirrels were everywhere.

 Our campground was perfect.  It had enough shade to cool us down in the heat, and space to have a fun time together.  We only got yelled at once to keep our baby quiet.  The ironic thing was the people who yelled at us were the ones staying up till midnight playing really loud games.  I was tempted to poke Bekah awake to keep screaming through the night, just for fun.  David is more saintly than I, and was more dilligent in keeping Bekah quiet through the nights.

 The park has a nature station that is geared for kids.  They can try on ranger gear, play with puppets, take classes on animals, color, study insects with a magnifying glass...we didn't sign up for the classes, but I might try it next time, the kids had fun just looking this time.

 Fish

 Wild turkeys.  This was the only one we saw.  I tried to get a picture of Nathan and Sarah chasing it, but I was laughing too hard.

 Sarah is holding a tadpole.  She and Nathan found that they could catch them and let them go again.  They were pretty brave compared to the rest of us.

 We saw a lot of deer, and the kids never got tired of it.  This one was not afraid of anything, and came really close to us.

 Weeping Rock was a really short hike, but just beautiful.  We got kind of wet, but it was one of my favorite scenic landscapes.  This is just a picture I liked from the area.

 Okay, this little lizard was found in our tent when we were cleaning the tent out.  David caught it, and I have a feeling it might have been there with us for the whole trip, which kind of gives me the willies.  I like sleeping free of living creatures besides family.

 Katie found a fun whole in the rock.  All the kids wanted a picture in it.

Bekah was filthy for most of the trip.  I tried keeping her somewhat clean the first day, but after that day, I was too tired to keep up, and we were both much happier when she was dirty.

We really had a wonderful time.  I was excited by how much our family could do at this park, and how much fun each of our children had.  We traveled about 1 1/2 hours, and camped for three days.  It was worth it all, and we plan to go there again.

Hidden Haven

 Hidden Haven might become a tradition for our family.  I love this hike, which is just up the canyon.  It is so easy for our kids and they have so much fun.  We did it for FHE last year, and the kids have been begging to up again now that the snow is gone.  Our friend, Kelley, came with us, and we had so much fun.  We love that girl. 

 Katie, Rachel, and Sarah, led the pack the whole way up and back.  They got pretty far ahead, and then I found them up the mountain, ready for a picture.

 Bekah was amazed with everything, but especially the water.  She was pretty wet by the time we got home, but she loved it and was happy.

 Nathan was also fun to watch.  He explored and also got a bit wet.  David was good to keep up with him the whole time.

One of the best things about a family is being part of something great.  I feel that often when I am with my family.  I am not saying that parenting is easy or fantastic every second.  But, I do feel like I am part of something that is special and great.  That the time I spend with my children talking or hiking is important.  I love that the gospel centers on family.  That it makes no apologies that the family is central to our Creator's plan.  I am so grateful and blessed to be part of this family, they each make me so much better than I would be without them.