September 2018

September is always a busy month with birthdays and start of school activities.  This month was no different.

We started the month with a girls trip to Las Vegas.  It was for Jennifer's 50th birthday but since it was also my birthday it was all the better.  We started the weekend on Friday, my actual birthday, with breakfast at my parents.  Then we drove to Las Vegas, which went by so fast when we just talk and sing songs the whole time.  We stayed at this nice Marriott off the strip which was great.  That night we ate dinner at PF Changs and then had tickets to Michael Jackson One: Cirque de Soleil.  It was sooo good.  We were so stressed cuz we almost walked the entire strip trying to get from dinner to Mandalay Bay and walked in 2 minutes before it started.  As we walked in and tried to go to our nosebleed seats in the back corner, they told us we could move up and placed us in the front section center.  It was sooo great.  We were so excited and the show was incredible.  The next day we sat out by the pool, did some shopping and ate dinner at BJs Pizza.  Then it was home on Sunday but it was such a great and fun trip!



While I was in Vegas, Shane took the kids with Shad and family to Usana Ampitheatre to see Jurassic Park as the Utah Symphony played along.  They had fun and I was glad they liked the movie and weren't too scared.  Jaron made a little 'friend'


The next weekend I drove the kids up to Eagle, ID to visit the Pace's.  It was a fun weekend.  We went to downtown Boise one day, Brigitte and I got to go out to dinner one night and then we just hung out playing.  The kids always have such a fun time together and makes it an easy and fun weekend.



Jaron was star of the week in Kindergarten.  I got to go tell the class all about Jaron and then Shane got to be the Royal reader and go read Jaron's favorite story to the class.  He read 'The dog that cried Wolf'  aka known in our house as Moka.



Maybe the biggest event in our house this month was that Aria lost her first tooth.  She had been wiggling it a ton and had told me she was going to pull it out.  I didn't really believe her and actually had thought she would cry and be so scared when it came time for it to come out.  But sure enough she walked into the bathroom (I didn't even go in there cuz I didn't think it was loose enough to actually come out) and she walked out with the tooth in her hand!  She was so brave and so excited.  The tooth fairy came that night and gave her $5 for her first tooth.  Siena is very jealous and asks almost daily when she is going to get her first loose tooth.



My sister Lori was diagnosed this summer with Hodgkin's Lymphoma.  Yes the exact same chemo I had 10 years ago.  Crazy...and they say it's not hereditary!  So I got to go with her to one of her chemo treatments.  She went to a different clinic but it was still weird to watch everything they did.  She got the same chemo regimen I got but only did 6 treatments instead of my 12 and didn't have to do any radiation.  They also found that if you take Claritin when you get your Neulasta shot that it reduces the bone pain...crazy how things have changed in just 10 years.



Speaking of 10 years...I hit my 10 year anniversary of being cancer free.  I decided to have a mini celebration one night.  I went and got some sugar cookies and celebrated with the kids.  I told them the whole story of how I had cancer, when I had it, how I lost my hair, etc.  They had never heard the story so it was good to tell them.

We got to go to a BYU Football game with Jennifer from tickets from her friend.  It was so fun to go to a game as it had been 5 years since I had been to a game and the first time taking the kids to a game.



Ridgeline also had Grandparents day.  I got to help in 1st grade and it's always fun that my parents live close and get to come and attend each year.

Aria and Siena turn 7!

Aria and Siena turned 7 this year.



For their birthday they got to open one present before school and then off to school they went. I got to go to school and tell their class a little bit about them and pass out treats.  Then it was early out day so we went to Provo Beach and played there for a little while.  Afterwards, we went to dinner at Pizza Pie Cafe and came home and had brownies.



That Saturday after their birthday we had their friend party.  It was a unicorn theme and they had fun playing games, doing crafts, having a pinata, pizza and cake.  I was kind of proud of the cake I made for them and thought it turned out cute.



Maybe the highlight of the day came when we got our first pet in our family.  They had seen this YouTube video of a stuffed rabbit turning into a real rabbit if they used a Harry Potter wand and said these certain words and then while blind folded, turned around 3 times.  So we tried it and we turned a goldfish cracker into a real fish!  So we have a blue beta fish they named Diamond.  And oh they love this fish.  They talk to him, feed him, try to get him to do tricks and even decorate his fish bowl for special occasions.  Welcome to the family Diamond.



Aria and Siena are at such a cute age.  They are gaining a little more independence in doing things themselves and are eager to act grown up even if they still want me to dress them every night.  They've recently started getting up on Saturdays and getting their own breakfast (this is my favorite because then I'm forced to stay in bed!)  We had to move their beds parallel and right next to each other this summer.  There are countless nights now that I go in and they have their arms/hands touching and if one of them is scared the other one is right there to comfort them.



They love 1st grade.  They love going to school all day and feel so grown up eating lunch at school and doing all the big kid stuff.  They love playing on the monkey bars at school and came home quite a lot when school started with blisters on their hands.  They even started walking home (well until it got too cold, now they insist I pick them up) but this is my favorite scene as I look at my window while I'm working and see their heads coming up the hill and turning the corner onto our street.

August 2018

We had to fit in a lot of activities in August before school started and since my work project finally calmed down enough that I could go do some things during the day...so hang on while we fit all of summer vacation into 2 weeks.

We used our get out pass quite a bit and went to Funtopia to do some climbing.  The kids loved it and keep asking when we can go back.



We went to Cowabunga bay.  The kids LOVED the lazy pool and would have stayed in it all day.  They were all pretty brave and tried some of the bigger kid slides but thought the water was cold so they preferred the small kid slide, pool, and lazy river.  Jaron was the only one brave enough to stand under the huge bucket of water when it poured out.



We went to Highland Fling the night they lit up the hot air balloons and watched fireworks.  It was so cool to watch them all lit up but was a bit nerve wracking as the wind picked up and they started moving and had to be taken down right where everyone was standing.



We went to Lagoon and had a great day.  It wasn't very crowded so it was super fun.  We did a ton of rides.  Jaron was tall enough to go on the Bat ride.  Aria went on Cannibal with Shane and I talked Siena into going on the Spider with Aria and I...which was a mistake as she screamed/cried the entire ride.  I thought it was so funny and then she got mad at me for laughing at her dramaticness...oops.  She is definitely not a roller coaster girl which is hard for me to understand as I have always loved roller coaster so I need to be more understanding about that.  Aria is exact opposite and will go on anything, although she was so scared to go on Collosus cuz it does 2 upside down revolutions (I don't think she realizes the Wicked, Cannibal all go upside down too but she just can't see it.)



We went back to the Ninja gym, which they love to go to and helped start their now obsession for monkey bars.


Christy and family came to town and we had a fun afternoon celebrating Mia's birthday going bowling with all the cousins.



We took a trip to Bear Lake which I'll save for another post.

We went to a rodeo with The Pace's when they came to town, they mostly liked the treats and seeing the Pace's.



And then...school started.  I thought I was going to be totally fine sending them back to school after a long summer but as we pulled up and the girls jumped out of the car, their teacher happened to be standing right there and gave them a big hug and I thought 'great, now she gets to spend all day with them and I don't!'  Jaron has Mrs. Reckling, who the girls had last year and has 2 friends from the ward in his class.  The girls got Mrs. Correa who their friend Sorena had last year so all my kids went to school the first day so excited for their teachers.  The girls leave an hour before Jaron so it's nice to get them off and have some time with Jaron in the morning.  All of them have done great so far.  I heard 1st grade was a hard adjustment but besides maybe a little more tired at night, they've done great and think that 1st grade is the best thing ever.  They love eating lunch at school and buy lunch every Wednesday when they have Pizza.