How do you eat your kiwi?

On Friday, I brought home about 18 perfectly ripe and sweet kiwi fruit. After school my kids were excited to eat some. (I don't buy them often apparently.) Each of my kids have different way to eat them. They are on the menu at school sometimes, and they are forced to fend for themselves instead of relying on me to peel them. Porter will just eat the whole thing. I am not even kidding! Fuzz and all. He really likes them that way too. Chloe peels off the fuzz, kinda like I have done my whole life. And Ellie. She has converted me! Genius! Why didn't I think of this? Do you all know this and I'm just the last to clue in? Anyway, I love eating kiwi! More than ever!

A grapefruit spoon works best.

Hmm. Good.

Delicous and easy...and not messy!

I just can't resist this little man! He loves playing the 'neenee' or in english, the guitar. He grabs the guitar hero ones or this recent fav, Ellie's Hannah Montana guitar. He is hilarious, and sings along as he is strumming! We just laugh! He says something like 'nananana'.

Back to the Grindstone!

Ok. This is the first year I have really been excited for school to start. My kids are so great...like I keep telling you, right? :) But they have really been arguing a lot the last few weeks. I was getting so frustrated. So, when school started yesterday, I had really mixed emotions. I am going to miss seeing them all the time, anytime. And yet, they can't be poking or teasing or picking at one another. So, on to another great school year.

Ellie (4th grade) and MJ (1st grade) were so excited! I bought them each an alarm clock this summer and they set it for 4 am!! What? I was tucking them and was able to convince them that getting up at 6:15 would more than sufficient! (School begins at 7:45) But Ellie must have set her internal alarm, because she woke at 4, then woke MJ. They were dressed, with teeth brushed and beds made, room cleaned, the works by the time I rolled out at 6:30. It's not like it was Christmas or anything, but if I didn't know better, that's what I'd think. Christmas morning! They had a great first day, even with the lack of sleep. :)

Chloe and Porter are both at the middle school this year! It is just weird. Porter in 8th and Chloe in 6th. I remember those years. I was really old and mature at that age and my kids are not. :) Anyway, we had planned to go early to go over Chloe's schedule one more time. But her hair was much more important and we spent way too much time doing it. And there was a lot of traffic and the kids only had about 2 minutes to get to homeroom when I dropped them off! Porter was so annoyed. He wasn't worried about finding his classes, he just does not like to be late. This year may be a challenge for him!

Oh, wait...Chloe needs to adjust her lip gloss. Check out Porter...it might be a long year while he waits for her!

OK, take the photo, Mom. Chloe is ready!

Welcome to the World Baby Beau! And Happy 30th to Liz!

My sweet, fresh nephew, Beauden Charles was born on Sept. 1st. We went to meet him yesterday. And he is precious. So little and perfect. He has that newborn silky hair and skin. We are all smitten with him! He was 8 lbs. 1 oz. and 20 inches long. Small compared to his 10 lb. brothers. :) But big compared to my 6 pounders! Anyway, it was a real treat to spend the day with them.

MJ takes her turn with Beaudie.

So, it's official, Liz and Charlie have 4 kids! Whew. :)

Liz turns 30 years old on Monday! She is so beautiful...despite this recent shave with death called childbirth! :) She delivers c-section and we always worry about her. Since we wouldn't be out there on her actual birthday, we had an early celebration. As I was taking these photos I realized how tired she was. And we quickly ate the really yummy chocolate cake and ice cream and left for home. I am so happy I live near her! I wish we could be neighbors. Wouldn't that be the best?! Sigh. I love her so much.

Rachelle comes to visit!

I am so lucky to have Rachelle as my friend. I've always loved her. We became friends back in 7th grade. That summer, Chelle, Brett (her brother), me and Rebecca (my sister) tried to break the record for the longest phone call. We talked for like 36 hours! I can't believe my mom let us do that! :) Even though I moved the middle of 9th grade, we kept in touch. She visited me often in Mesa, and I went Show Low lots too. Now, she's married to a great guy, Ben and has 3 cute kids. We had such a fun time when she was here. She is so awesome and still makes me laugh! One of my favorite things about her is that she makes friends with everyone. She has like 450 friends on facebook! :) Anyway, I love her. We talked till the wee hours of the morning every night. I had to catch up on my sleep when she left!

Catching some rays...Chelle and Lu. At the beach, Ellie and Rachelle spent a lot of time boogie boarding. I went out too. We tried to teach MJ how to do it too. That was cool.
Max and MJ

More dress up. Ren and Bryn.

Chelle and Lu, again.

Ren loved holding baby Lu.

15 Years!

Where has the time gone? More on this later.

What do you do in the summertime?

Our summer has been fun. I think I speak for all of us when I say we have loved the little to no schedule. We have stayed up and slept in too late.

Porter has played many video games...thank goodness for gamestop. They buy and sell used games for cheap.

And dress up. Hours of dress up. Ellie and MJ helped Ren get in the action too! We have mostly girl dress ups as you can see. Ren did eventually find the superman costume! :)


He is so pretty, he could be a girl!

They are getting ready to whip up some pancakes!

Ren found this Santa hat. MJ thinks she might be Santa for Halloween this year. That might be interesting!

Ellie gets really into character when she puts on her costumes.

And swimming...lots of swimming! We don't have a pool and we really don't need one here. But it is really nice to have generous friends who let us use theirs, whether in their yard or community. Our ward has a pool day once a week and a beach day once a week. Those are fun because all the kids can find a friend or two.

How many kids does it take to fill up a jacuzzi?

Cowabunga! Chloe and Maile take a plunge!

Ward Campout

Kumbayah!

The outdoors brings out the stick lover in all of us!

Me, Elizabeth and Blake.

Ellie and her friend, Karina.

We enjoyed the ward campout...from the warmth of our soft beds. We decided to go home after dinner and the campfire activities. I don't love camping as an adult. I did love it as a kid, but now that I have to do all the work, not so much! :) It was really fun actually! We ate yummy burgers, watermelon and other 'outdoor' foods for dinner. We sang, ate smores and told stories around the campfire. I didn't see my children much, in fact when it got dark I started to worry a bit. They must have worried too because they came and found us.