School has begun

The first day of school was a success.  The girls were excited to meet their new teachers and see all their friends.  Amree was less excited to see them go.

Anna started 4th grade, her last year at the elementary school.

Jaina started 1st grade.  

Jaina is so excited to have her friend Bailey in her class this year.  We thought they were moving but we are so excited they are still here.

Kalissa started Jr. High.  7th grade!

They all had a great day but a full day of school was a little much for Jaina. It will take a little getting use to for her.

3rd Trip to St. George in 2014

A lot of this happened on our 9 hour drive to St. George.  After making our 3rd trip this year I have decided that I love the scenery.  It is so BEAUTIFUL down south.

Franklin ended up driving down with Uncle Dave but we met up at Rebecca's house and then came to stay with us at the hotel. Amree and all the girls were excited to play with him.

We drove by the temple on the way to the hotel. It was fun to see it lit up at night.

I promised the kids that we would swim when got to the hotel.  Luckily the pools were open until 11pm and it stays warm ALL night.

Everyone in bed.  Mya spent the night with us and shared a bed with Anna, Jaina slept by herself, Franklin and Kalissa wanted the air mattresses and Amree slept with me.  We all slept really good until some giggly loud girls knocked on our door around 3 in the morning.  Luckily Kalissa and I were all that woke up.

Finally all eating! Getting food for 6 kids was interesting.   

On Saturday morning we met Grandpa and Grandma at the Children's museum. The kids had so much fun!

Anna as Betsy Ross

Franklin figuring out how to make a really big bubble.

Kalissa made the biggest one but it only lasted for an instant.  Luckily I caught on camera.

Amree putting on a puppet show.

After the museum we had lunch at Becka's and Jared's and tried to get our fill of hugging this babe. 

Uncle David took the older kids to a movie in the afternoon so Jaina, Amree and I drove to Santa Clara to pick up some really good sugar cookies.  They are President Monson's favorite and quickly becoming ours too.

Emmitt modeling his blessing outfit.  Good thing it fit.

Grandma giving Franklin and Jaina a little push.

Some more night swimming.  The kids were in heaven.

Even Amree decided she liked swimming.  Andrew got her to be brave enough to jump off the stairs to him.  It was pretty amazing considering she hasn't ever enjoyed the water before.

Blessing day for Emmitt. 

Aunt Terri's funeral

On July 25th Aunt Terri was hit by a pickup while running and passed away.  It's still so unbelievable to us.  Because her family lives in St. George we didn't see her as often as some of our other family members but when we did we always had fun.  She was such a crazy, spunky lady!  We were happy that when we were down in St. George in May for Emmitt's birth that we were able to spend some time with her.  We went down for the funeral and were able to have a nice time visiting with so much family.

On the way there Jaina lost her first tooth.  It had been loose for a while and she really didn't like it and was upset about loosing a tooth.  We had made it to about Brigham City before when she said, I think I lost my tooth.  We looked and she was right, it was gone.  I asked her if she new where it was but she didn't.  After a little while she told us that she thought it may be on the floor of the car.  She said that when she was eating her chicken nuggets as we left Rexburg that she thought she had bit into something in it so she through it on the floor.  We figured that must have been her tooth.

When we got to Uncle David's that night we looked for it but it was really dark and we couldn't find anything.  Luckily the next day when it was light we found it right under her seat.  She's decided to not give this one to the tooth fairy.  She wants to keep her first one. (It is currently lost somewhere in her room. :) )

This is kind-of how we all felt that day.  Hot, tired and a little sad.

Amree had fun dancing around with Addison.  They were pretty cute together.

Although some of the family was missing this is a whole lot of it.

Terri's favorite flowers were sunflowers and daisies.  There were so many beautiful flowers.

Rebecca and Jared took us up to Dixie Rock that overlooks St. George. We took pictures from both sides.  The city was really pretty from up there and the red mountains are always fun for us to see.

We got off the freeway at Payson for a break on the way home.  The temple is still being built but it is a beautiful building!

Grandma Lusk's 80th

Grandma Lusk turned 80 on July 28th.  We had a double celebration at her home.  We celebrated her 80 years of life and the return of cousin Jon from a mission to Mexico. 

While I was making flowers for Grandmas cake the girls made flowers with their play-doh.

Anna helping frost one of the cakes.

Finished cupcakes.  I frosted them and Anna and Jaina added the flowers.

The girls wanted red on the cake because that is her favorite color.

A few Grand-kids helping Grandma blow out the handful of candles we put on the cake.