Mason and Ethan-1st Day of School

Wednesday, August 27th was Mason's first day of kindergarten. He was so excited to go! Mason goes to Rees Elementary School and his teacher's name is Mrs. Jenkins (we both like her alot!). 

He lucked out that he knows quite a few kids in his class already. Braiden Stubbs, Ammon Gathercoal and Brooke Martin (and there may be more that I haven't noticed) are all in his class, and in his CTR6 Class at church. I thought I would get emotional about leaving him, but he was so excited about it, that I couldn't help being excited too. Next year will be the killer. I don't think I'm going to handle all day school very well.

After we picked him up we got McDonald's and went to the park and library to celebrate his first day of Kindergarten.

Thursday, August 28th was Ethan's first day of Preschool. Ethan was super excited too. After watching Mason go to preschool all last year, Ethan couldn't wait to get to go.  I was pretty nervous, because Ethan is definitely my clingy child, but thankfully, he only clung for a minute or two, and then he relaxed and started playing. When I picked him up, he was so excited and happy and he told me that he loved it. He goes to "Country Kids Preschool", which is run by a lady in my ward, Chris Kelly. Thankfully, it's just a minute down the road, so it makes drop-off and pick-up time super quick.

Game Night

We lucked out this last week and got to have 2 game nights with the Davies and Lloyds. We love playing games with these families, they seriously are the best! This is Brandee Lloyd, with cute little Stetler above (isn't he the cutest little guy ever?)

We played 2 games, "A to Z "(one of our all time favorites) and our new favorite "Panic". Dan and I are undefeated when it comes to playing "Panic", which I am very proud of, because it's the only game we ever win.

Ryan and Dan asked Jeremy if they could eat some jalapenos from his garden, so Jeremy went out and fresh picked them each a jalapeno. It was hilarious to watch them sweat and drink milk and eat cookies after it. 

Jeremy decided to have a little nibble of the stem of  one of them, but luckily for him, didn't eat the entire thing like the other brainiacs. Dan and I feel so blessed to have such awesome friends to hang out with. They are fun, hilariously funny, and most of all, they're always there when we need them. We love you guys!

Sunny Ridge Ward Party

Saturday night was our Ward Party, and it was so much fun! We went to Canyon View Park and had a great dinner, then played games and visited.

Dan and I did a three-legged race, and then Mason and Ethan did one. They were so adorable, they were the last to cross the finish line (they kept falling down) and when they did, all of the older kids cheered for them. They thought it was great!

They also did an egg race, and I'm pretty sure they came in last for that too! They had so much fun doing all of it though. I was surprised that Ethan was so into it, because he doesn't usually do too well in crowds. 

Dan helped with all of the games (just because he's so cute!), so by the end of the night, all the kids loved him, as well as all the adults. They also played water-balloon toss and kick-ball. 

Our poor little Aidan got his first bee sting while he was playing. He was way tough and only cried for a minute. Dan made me suck the poison out of it, since we were nowhere near our black ointment, and we can't believe how quick it healed. I think we may do that from now on, instead of the black ointment! (sorry, that was an odd sidenote)

Safety Fair

We went to the Safety Fair at Macey's this last Saturday and we were surprised by how fun it was. The kids got to look at a LifeFlight Helicopter, a Firetruck, an Ambulance and a Police Car. 

They also had a blow-up castle for the jump and slide on, which is always a huge hit! And they had games and contests that were lots of fun. Dan's favorite part was the snowcones they had for a quarter. 

We ran into Val and her kids while we were there, which cracked me up, because I had a feeling that we would see them while we were there. Val is always doing fun stuff with her kids.

Aidan's 2nd Birthday

I got a little carried away with my Cricut trying to make something for the top of Aidan's cake. I can't believe that Aidan is already 2! He is growing up way too fast. He is such a fun little guy. He makes Dan and I laugh so hard all the time. He's talking a ton now, and I love to hear the cute little things he says.

My cute Mom and Dad came to watch Aidan open his presents. Unfortunately, they got him his favorite presents of all time, which made him extremely upset, because we didn't get them out of the boxes fast enough. I will never wake a child up from a nap to open presents again! They bought him a bunch of little tools, some of which really move. He loves them so much!

Aidan's toys were a huge hit, and not just with him. Mason and Ethan haven't stopped playing with them all week. Some of his other presents included: A blow-up ball pit, 2 new sets (one is an airplane) for their GeoTrax trains, 3 new baby-movies, a toy sword, a leapfrog magnetic animal maker from our family, a fun book from Papa and Nanny Hubbs as well as all the fun tools, $30.00 from Papa and Grandma Oldham.

Aidan's Birthday was the same day as Dan's work party, so Aidan had the biggest Birthday party ever! They had lunch, cotton candy, snow cones, a rock climbing wall, big inflatable bouncers and slides and face painting. It was tons of fun!

My Birthday

I'm falling behind on my posts, yet again. I realized that I still haven't posted anything about my awesome Birthday, and I need to get it done so I can post about Aidan's birthday. 

So, girls, get ready to guilt your husbands.............Dan gave me THE BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!!! I spent the morning of my birthday (the 11th) driving home from Oregon, but I got home around 2:00. When I pulled into the driveway, I saw that Dan had put up this huge birthday banner with balloons on the front of our house. It was so cute.

 If you look closely, you will see that there is a picture of Marilyn Monroe inside of the letter "d". I'm a huge Marilyn Monroe fan, so I thought that was a perfect touch. Then, I came in the house to find that Dan had flowers for me on the bar, flowers on the bedside table, and a HUGE bouquet of the most gorgeous roses laid on our bed. 

Also on our bed was "Breaking Dawn" which I was putting off buying until I got home from my trip so I could really enjoy it. There was also an envelope filled with coupons that Dan had made for things like...."Go to the mall and buy yourself a new shirt"......and "Good for one night of Dan watching the boys"......"Good for 2 new cricut cartridges" and the list goes on and on!!! 

Then, he had presents for me hidden throughout the house, and he told the boys that if they could find them, that he had prizes for them too. So, we went from room to room and they found my gifts, which were: 3 new shirts, 5 new bottles of perfume (yes, FIVE!!!), new pajamas, a new pillow, lotion and bubble bath. So, as if that wasn't enough, he also took me to Pizza Factory for dinner (my pick, I was craving their salad bar) and then he let me go rent two chick flicks, which he watched with me. Seriously, has any woman ever been as spoiled as me? I still can't believe how out of control he got. Normally, an awesome birthday for me would have consisted of ONE of the million things he did for me. He is honestly the cutest husband on the face of the planet. So, do you think he missed me a little bit?? Heeheehee.

Family Pictures

We had our family pictures taken the day before I left for Oregon and Meredith posted a few of them on her blog. If anyone needs a good photographer, she is seriously AMAZING! Take a look.

Oregon-Part 3 "The Beach"

We took a day and went to the Tillamook Cheese Factory (always a highlight of our trips) and then to Cannon Beach. We ate at the Cheese Factory and got their amazing ice cream (seriously, the BEST ice cream in the world!) and then headed off to Cannon Beach. The pictures look like it was cold, but it was actually pretty nice, just overcast and breezy. I was way surprised by how warm the water was. Usually the Oregon ocean water is freezing, but it was really nice this time. 

After our fun beach day, we went back to the Longs house and played games. Here I am with Marissa and Aidan. They're such cute little stinkers.

Oregon Trip-Part 2 BEWARE-not for weak stomachs!

Well, this was the part of the trip, that really stunk. I mean that literally, my cute little Aidan stunk to high heaven! He'd had stinky breath for a few days before my trip, but as he had just gotten over strep, I didn't think much of it. Well, after a few days in Oregon, I suddenly realized that the smell was just getting worse, and that it wasn't really his breath, it was his nose. His right nostril stunk really bad (like manure) and I couldn't for the life of me figure out why. Then suddenly, it hit me. I realized there must be something stuck up his nose. I looked up it with a flashlight and I could see something white in it, but no matter how hard I tried to suck it out with a nasal aspirator, it wouldn't budge. Finally , Buff's Mother in law told us that I needed to take him in, because if it was stinky, it was probably infected. So, I took him to the ER and waited 5 hours to be seen. While we waited, Aidan charmed every single person in the ER waiting room. Everyone was watching him and laughing at him and when I explained why we were there, they howled with laughter. Most of them knew him by name by the time we left. Well, we finally got to see a Doctor (two of them actually) and they were the biggest jerks on the planet! They wouldn't listen to me, all they heard was that I thought it was something stuck up there, and that he had recently had strep. They looked up his nose, but said they didn't see anything that shouldn't be there (such idiots!). They gave me a totally useless antibiotic, telling me that it was just a sinus infection and sent me out the door. But not until they let me know that they had "panicky Moms" in all the time that thought their kids had stuff up their noses, and it never turned out to be anything but an infection. Well, I gave him the antibiotics, all the while thinking, I don't think this is going to help, but the Doctors know best. Needless to say, it didn't get any better and a few days later, he was crying and out came this little wad of string that stunk so bad. Well, a few hours later, I realized there was more stuff up there, so I got a bobby pin, my Mom held him down and I pulled out this huge piece of batting (from one of his quilts I guess-the picture is above). The smell was instantly gone, and he could suddenly breathe again, the poor kid. So, my trust in Doctors is somewhat shaken. Dan is going to call the hospital and give them a serious talking to. They actually sent me a survey and man, I gave them an earful. This is proof to me that when it comes to my kids health, I need to be more forceful and not such a wuss. So, that was one of the more exciting parts of my trip, and gross. Sorry if anyone is feeling nauseous now.

Oregon Trip-Part 1

Well, we're back from our trip, and if I avoid posting for much longer, I will go crazy. We had such an awesome time in Oregon. We went for Brandon Herbert's baby blessing (pictured above). Brandon is my best friend (Buff, or Valerie) 's newest baby. She also has a little girl named Marissa, who is 2. Buff and I have been best friends since we were born, and we try hard to keep in touch and visit each other atleast once a year. Last year, we met at Disneyland (with all of our families, who are also best friends) and the year before that, she came to see me, so this year it was my turn. It's always so awesome to get to see the Long Family. Even after being apart for 12 years now, it still just feels natural when we're together. My Mom and Saesha and all our 6 kids were all there, so it was crazy, but way fun. Mom and Saesha stayed at the Longs house (Buff's parents) and my boys and I stayed with Buff in her new house.

One of my goals for the trip was to finally visit the Portland Temple. I'd been there as a teen for Baptisms for the Dead, but I'd never been there for an endowment session. It was so gorgeous, inside and out. Buff and her sister-in-law, Emily were nice enough to watch all our kids for us so we could go together.

One of the other things we always like to do when we go, is visit the Pittock Mansion in Portland. When I was a teenager, my Mom and I got to take some classes that they had here, and because of that, we got to take the very first tour they'd ever given of the entire mansion, including the attic and the basement, which had never been seen by the public. It's such an amazing building, and I love getting to see it.