Holly Turns 10

I still can't believe she's in double digits!

Well as far as birthdays go, I think this was a pretty good one. She finally got her ears pierced! She's been waiting for awhile now. So that was her big present, but here's the day from the beginning:

It started with some pumpkins pancakes for breakfast. Then she got to open a few presents.

Gram sent her a jewelry box which she had really been wanting ever since Sadie got one for her birthday:)


She'd also been asking for a scarf and a cute belt so I took care of those plus some cute gloves for the cold weather coming up.
 

Oh I should mention she'd been dying to get her hair cut and nice Aunt Mames cut it for part of her birthday present. Also, it was fall break so it was pretty awesome not to have school on her birthday.

So next she had to get ready. She wanted to look cute for getting her ears pierced and going out for her birthday. So we picked out her outfit and OF COURSE took a few pictures!
 
Next we headed to the mall. She was pretty nervous!
 

Here we go!
 

No tears, just pretty ears :)


Next we went to the puppy store and then browsed the Disney Store and then played a few minutes at the play area with James while Sally fed Lucia. We were so happy they got to be part of Holly's special day.
 


Then off to Chipotle for lunch.
 

Look at the camera Lucia! :)
 

When we got home we relaxed and watched Holly's "baby movie". Seems like yesterday...


And we sent a picture to Grandma of what Holly got with her birthday money. Now Sadie's owl has a friend to play with.
 
And fed Lucia a bottle :)
 

That night we had a cake and ice cream. These girls did a great decorating job!
 




Happy birthday to one amazing and sweet girl. I'm going to include a letter that a girl in Holly's class wrote to her when the class made Holly's Student of the Week book. It's one of the best things I think I could ever read as a parent. I feel so blessed to have such a kind-hearted, good girl.
 

Love you so much Holly-Doll! :)

Sally Comes to Visit+Conference+Our Fall Breakfast

Adding all these together (see title) made for a pretty fantastic weekend!
 

Cousins! (Just missing little Berky!)
 

I had a lot of help this year and so the breakfast was extra delicious. Like a Thanksgiving breakfast!
 



It was so fun having a baby crawling around the house:) She got lots and lots of kisses.
 

The kids had so much fun playing with both her and James.
 

We were always trying to get her to smile or laugh.
 

Which really was not hard to do- she's such a happy little girl.
 

Eli got to go with Dana and Uncle Dan and the Olsens to the priesthood session.
 
He's growing up!
 

Monday was sweet Campbell's 7th birthday and we went to Freestone Park and went on the rides to celebrate. It was a lot of fun :)
 


The train ride was probably the favorite. Emma got to be the sole teenager because Tatum and Jane had Trek.
 
Happy birthday Campbell! We're so lucky Sadie has such a sweet built-in BFF:)

Shadow Your Student

I was so excited to be able to Shadow my 7th Grader :) on the Friday before fall break.
 

I didn't take pictures in all his classes like I did Emma. Mostly because I was sitting next to him for almost all of them so it was harder to get the perspective of him in his class.
But I got a couple:)...

In PE, we parents got to watch them play a football-soccer mix game.
 

And in his favorite class, science. He has a really great teacher which of course makes all the difference. (He's smelling a rock to see if it's a rock or a mineral).
 

He's been working hard so far this year and I'm really proud of him and what a good kid he is! Love you so much buggy!

Butcher Jones Cove

This summer we discovered the fun of going out to Lake Saguaro. We don't have a boat and honestly, both of us being California natives, we are just constantly learning about fun stuff to do in AZ.

Our home teacher one Sunday casually mentioned "Butcher Jones Cove" being a fun place to go so we decided to try it out. Afterward, we were like "We've lived here 10 years and we just found this place!?" We went on Labor Day which meant Miranda had the day off to come with us:).

First off, we got up way early and were out the door at 6:30 AM. We've seen how crazy it can get out at the lake on holiday weekends and we wanted to beat all the crowds. And beat the crowds we did! When we got there, there were a handful of fishermen at the cove that really didn't seem all too excited to see a bunch of kids park all their beach gear nearby and then head to test out the water. But they lucked out because there were a bunch of bees at the beach so we decided to start our day with the hike next to the beach.
 



The kids (and Dana:) LOVE exploring and started noticing lots of the same types of spiderwebs along the trail. Lots and lots (and I think they stopped at every single one:) of them.
 

They would lightly tapped on the web with a stick or leaf and the spider would come out for lunch. But they were smart little fellows and quickly caught onto the trick so pretty much only peaked out for about 1-2 seconds.

It was a pretty hike and it felt good to be outside in decent weather before it started to get too hot.
 


Along the hike Dana noticed a little shady section that would be good to park our stuff and also appeared bee-free. He's got a good eye for things like that whereas I'm much more prone to follow the trail.
 
It was perfect and we stayed and enjoyed the spot for hours.
 


Soon we realized though that all our floats, our chairs, our cooler were back at the beach. Dana said he'd run back the mile or so and get some of the stuff. I said get the cooler and maybe a chair. But I know my husband. This is the guy that brings in all the groceries in from the car in one trip with a bag on each finger, wrist, and forearm. I started to saying to Miranda "What if he comes around the bend with everything- including the blown up shark." Then of course that exactly what happened and we were all laughing and laughing and luckily I was semi ready with the camera. (Even though he had already set down the cooler that he was probably holding with one finger).
 
I tell ya- I'm a lucky girl. I try not to swell up with pride when he does things like that for his family.

People kept paddling by with their canoes and paddleboards (and we got the impression our little spot might be other people's little spot as well), but our kids had a great time with our floats and just swimming around.
 
We swan-explored too but of course I couldn't take a camera with me.
 
When we were all done and headed back to the beach- a few more people had arrived.
 
It was a great day. Dana already took the kids back once since then. Happy we have a new place we can go to cool off in the summer. :)