The day has finally come...

Our little girl has been waiting to start real school for some time now. She is so happy that she can go to the same school as Carter and feel big like him. She was excited to take her new Hello Kitty backpack and show off her new sandals. Ashlynn was wondering who her new friends are going to be. I love her optimism! On the second day of school she wanted to walk to class all by herself. I know that doesn't sound too difficult, but her class has to walk to the back of school to their own class door. Now the nervous part is she has to walk past 2 playgrounds to get to her door. Oh, I know the temptation is there, but she was given strict instructions to not stop and play. She loves her class and teacher. We are so proud of her and she is going to have an exiting year!

Bear Lake Outing

We spent the 24th of July holiday at Bear Lake. It was sunny with a slight breeze to cool us off. The water was great and fun to take the water toys out in. We just love this place! We finally got an umbrella to provide a little shade during our Bear Lake adventures. It definitely came in handy.

11 years...

I have to just acknowledge that I am not sure how I got so lucky to have such a good husband. He has been working so hard around our new house that he surprises me of his capabilities when it comes to handy work. He is also always willing to go along with our little adventures even when I have pushed him into crowds and we all know that Matt does not do well with large amount of people around him.

This is Matt painting the most difficult part of the house. I am still not sure how he finished some of the parts that the ladder could not reach. I came home from the hospital and it was magically done.

He also has a crazy sense of humor. This picture reveals his quirkiness.

The 23rd is our 11 year anniversary and I just want to recognize that we still like to be with each other and we both feel our marriage has been smoothly sailing with maybe some light breezes along the way. Hopefully, it can stay that way.

Welcome Aboard the S.S. Ricks

We are off to a great start with 2nd grade, his teacher left for vacation on the 2nd day of school and will gone for a whole week. What a way to start the year with a substitute teacher. I am still impressed with his teacher she is very nice and Carter seems to like her of what he saw on the first day of school. Carter has already made new friends and he says that he likes school. His class is in a portable classroom outside and he is just thrilled to be closer to the playground. His teacher decorated the classroom so cute with a cruise ship theme. She wore a captain hat and her aide wore a sailors hat and the kids were all given a flower lei as the boarded the ship to begin their adventure in learning this year. We are excited for a sucessful year!

Ashlynn was able to meet her teacher on the 1st day of school and scope out her class. She doesn't start full time until next week due to the Kindergarten testing week.

Ashlynn's Concert Picture

Ashlynn's concert picture turned out so cute! I had to share it! This is the costume she wore for her birthday dance for the end of the year concert. We are going to miss Expressions Dance.

Its hot out here!

We have had some hot weather, to say the least! Summer has definitely snuck up on us. There has been thunderstorms forecasted, but we have yet to see one. We are getting out and staying cool in the water.

Cherry Hill Play Day

We spent the day with friends at Cherry Hill. What a fun place to enjoy the hot sun and stay cool. We has never been so it nice to tag along with people that new the place. We all had a great time and will definitely do it again!

These mat slides were fun! You could ride down two to a mat, so it made it fun to ride with someone.

Cardiac Canyon was very fun, but can be a little frustrating when you get stuck.

We all were slightly red from the deceiving sun hiding behind the clouds, but we had an awesome time! One more week before our summer days are cut short with school starting.

Let it be known...

So for those of you that knew about my first experience of getting a pedicure last year. It has taken me a whole year to get back into a pedicure chair since my last toe cutting nightmare. Thanks to my sweet sister-in-law Tracy and her friend Krista (which turns out that she lives a street away from us). I have now experienced a normal pedicure without a drop of blood. Wahoo! I was surprised how quick and easy the whole process is and it shouldn't take an 1hr and 45 min to get one done. Thanks Tracy for making the arrangements. I love my new toe nails. Maybe one of these times I will have to go for the deluxe and get the leg wraps, but for now I am sticking to the simple pedicure. Don't want to take any chances.

Celebrating our Freedom

We had quite the celebrations for the 4th of July weekend. The holiday lasted 3 days and it felt like we really celebrated our countries freedom. We started on Saturday morning with our neighborhood breakfast. It was nice to not to be in charge of the festivities and just enjoy our new neighbors. We then headed to Lagoon for some fun in the sun and cooled off at Lagoon-a-Beach. We had fun with Carter taking him on the slides. He was excited that he is now tall enough to ride them this year. Ashlynn will have to wait one more year to grow those extra 2 inches. Then, we ended Saturday at our neighbors "culdasac of fire" fireworks display. The culdasac was loaded with people, snacks and lots of fireworks. Sunday we headed back to Bountiful to celebrate the 4th with a BBQ and homemade ice cream at Craig and Gail's and then we played with some sparklers with are old neighbors. Monday, we saw the local parade in our new hometown. It was quite toasty sitting in the sun for 2 hours, but we survived and had a crazy and exciting weekend.