First Day of School--Aug. 17th, 2011

It's that time of year again! Asher started 1st grade. He was quite hesitant to go back to school but after his first day in Mr. Briggs' class he confessed that "I kinda like it mom."

We can't believe Jay is a 3rd grader, he is growing up so fast.

Ridge will start an extended day Pre-K in a couple of weeks
leaving me alone for 15 hours a week! Yikes, I haven't been alone in 8 years. It makes me a little bit sad but also excited, I know he will love it.

Here is Ash with Mr. Briggs. Truly an answer to prayer to be in this class he is WONDERFUL!
On the 2nd day he dressed up like a cowboy and is rumored to sometimes stand on the tables to give directions. Asher is loving every bit of it.

Jay was excited to be in Mrs. Park's class again. She was his 1st grade teacher and then moved to 3rd, so he was quite confident going in. He has mentioned several times that "I'm really liking 3rd grade so far!" Hooray!

Ridge is holding a caterpillar found on the way into the school. Asher told Ridge to make sure he didn't "kill it with his love."

Ridge joined right in with the pledge of allegiance, and managed to be quite gentle with the caterpillar.

First week of school was a success!

Yellowstone July 2011

July for us meant we got to take a trip to Utah & Yellowstone to see our Jeppson family. A great time was had by all. There are lots of pictures to post but only a few shots are "edited" so more pics will have to be posted later. I think these are the only family shots we got the entire trip as kids were constantly off playing with cousins or fishing, or exploring. The falls were the biggest they've ever been and were beautiful.

This is at the drop off. The sheer force and noise left no doubt as to the strength and power of this waterfall. The boys had fun throwing rocks in. For me, the speed was unnerving.

Poor Ridge had a bike fall on his face right before we left for the falls, his poor lip is swollen but he's trying to smile.

Oh how I love this man! I also love to tease him about his "fanny pack". He likes to carry 3 different cameras on his person and to my chagrin, one is always tied around his waist. I was hiking up behind him as the big black camera bag was bouncing around and I just couldn't take it anymore. I said "give me that thing you fanny pack grandpa!" His laughing reply was "why? I don't care if I look cool or not!" He only let me take it for a small portion of the hike though. Always the gentleman. I guess that makes me the shallow-anti-fanny-pack-ite.