1st Day of 7th grade for Kate & 1st Day of 3rd Grade for Dillon

Look how big they are getting. Just like I named my blog "You're Gonna Miss These Days", is exactly how I felt this morning dropping them off at school. Where does the time go? They were off for new adventures today. With Kate starting middle school and Dillon being at a school by himself without his sister. I can't believe that my oldest is in Middle School.

Kaitlyn was excited for school this morning. She is going to miss sleeping in though. She isn't a morning person. Last Thursday, Kate and I went to her school for a 7th grade orientaion. I am so glad that her school does this. It was great. It was just for 7th graders, so that meant that 8th graders weren't there to get in the way. We got a tour of the school, she got her picture taken for her I.D. card, found all her classses and met her teachers. I told my mom that I wished she went with me on my 1st day of 7th grade because it was scary being at a new school and trying to find all your classes by myself. It made Kaitlyn's 1st day of school so much easier, not worrying about where her classes are and trying to get to them in time. She was so excited not to have to wear school uniforms anymore. She liked wearing her named brand clothes to school. I can't believe that she is in Middle School. She found out that her school has school dances. She was so excited, but when she told her dad, he wasn't very happy about it. He told her she can't go. I think he is just not happy about her slow dancing with a boy. She told her dad that he can chaperon, but he still wasn't very happy about the idea. We will see what happens when the time comes. She didn't get any of her 7 classes with any of her friends. She wasn't very happy about that. But I think she will do fine. I told her to just look out for someone who looks nice and make friends with them. I know it isn't easy when you don't have your friends in your class.

Dillon was excited to get to school to see his friends and play soccer at recess. He loves soccer and is really good at it. Soccer starts in a couple of weeks. He is hoping to get couch Jaime again. Dillon looked so handsome even in his school uniform. He was excited that he got the teacher that he got. His teacher is his friends mom. She is a great teacher and she is so nice. Dillon will love having her and I hope he has a great year. His teacher was so excited to have Dillon in her class. She loves Dillon. Who doesn't? He is a great boy.

Well Lexie starts preschool on Monday! I am so not looking forward to that. She is my baby. It is going to be so weird not to have any kids here in the morning until I pick Lexie up. She will be going to school just 3 days a week and only in the mornings. I have been a stay at home mom for 12 years and to not have any kids home with me is going to be so weird. But I am looking forward to having some "Me Time". I am not sure what that is, but looking forward to finding out.

Well I hope Kaitlyn and Dillon have a good day. I will be thinking of them all day!! Lexie sure is happy to have her brother and sister at school today. She has been playing and watching her shows without having to watch what her brother and sister are watching. She is enjoying this.

Back To School Sleepover Party!!!

The kids start back to school on Monday. I can't believe that 8 weeks have come and gone already. Where does the time go? Well, Kate and her friends Ashlie and Taylor wanted to have a sleepover one last time before school starts. So yes, the party was at my house. They called it there "Back to School Sleepover Party". Any excuse they can come up with to have a sleepover. They had pizza and rootbeer. They wanted Jason to put the tent up in the backyard. They were so excited to sleep outside. They swam at 10:oo at night. They love swimming in the dark.
They watched T.V.
Jason helped them blow up our air mattress for them to sleep on. No roughing it here!
Here is Jason putting up the tent for the girls. What a great Dad he is. Shhhhh............I think he did it so it would be quieter in the house with the girls being outside. Ha, Ha!!! I remember sleeping outside on the trampoline with my friends. That was so much easier than putting up a tent and blowing up air mattresses. What happened to the good ole' days? I never thought I would say that!!
Once the tent was up, the girls put their air mattress in the tent and had to pose for some silly pictures. They were having fun.


Good Night Girls!!! Yeah, Right!!!!!!!!!!!!

Welcome Home Kate ................. We Missed You

Kaitlyn went to girls camp for 4 days and got home Saturday, July 19Th. When she came back, I had made this sign and taped it to the garage door to welcome her back. My brother, his girls, and my mom were coming over that day to swim, so we decided to make it a "Welcome Home" party for Kate. She enjoyed the party and was happy to be home. Below are some pictures of the party.

The next morning was Sunday, and we were getting ready for church, when we got a phone call from Brother Weeks, asking that Kaitlyn would give a talk in sacrament. We got the phone call at 10:15 a.m. and church started at 12:30 p.m. YIKES!!!! So Kaitlyn and I quickly went to the computer and started typing up her talk. She was asked to talk about "What was her experience like at girls camp"? She had to talk for 4-5 minutes. So here is her talk because she had a great time at camp and a great experience and I wanted to share it with you......................

Hi my name is Kaitlyn Hooley. This was my first time at girls camp. I turned 12 on May 31st. I was excited that I was old enough to go to girls camp this year because you had to be 12 by July 31st. I was the second from the youngest to go to girls camp from our ward.

I was really excited and a little nervous to go. I had never been away from my family for that long and when I am away from my family, I am at least able to call home and check in. We were not suppose to at girls camp. By the second day there, Sister Shields (Bishop's wife) noticed that I wasn’t myself. I was kind of quiet and didn’t really want to participate. She knew that this wasn’t like me. One of the leaders talked to me and I told her that I was homesick and she asked, ”What would make me feel better”? I told her calling home would make me feel better. I didn’t know this until I got home, but Sister Shieds called my mom and told my mom what was going on. She told my mom that she was going to let me call my mom, but encouraged my mom not to let me come home if I asked. I thought about going home because that was the easy way out, but I knew that if I did go home, I would be really unhappy with myself. I had to do this! I had to stay! I called my mom and she told me to stick it out, and that she would say a prayer for me, and how important it was for me to be there. I am so glad that Sister Shields called my mom. I felt better after talking to my mom and knew that she would say a prayer for me and that her praying to Heavenly Father to help and protect me, would make me feel better. And it did. I still felt homesick while I was there, but I felt so much better than I did. It was hard to see the other girls there with their moms. But I just had to tell myself how important it was for me to be there. This was a learning experience for me. I learned that I depend on my family a lot to do things for me. It made me more thankful for them.

My favorite part of girls camp was doing the skits and learning so many different songs. Anyone who knows me, knows how much I love to sing. I sing all the time. Probably too much. Singing songs also helped me when I was feeling homesick. Singing always cheers me up. I liked the skits because it took my mind off of being homesick. It was fun to pretend and to act silly.

I am a girly girl and camping really isn’t my thing. I had to get used to dirty clothes, dirty fingernails and only having one shower while I was there. But after a while, I didn’t really care because everyone else looked like I did.

I enjoyed the friendships with those that went with me. We had a lot of fun. I got to know other girls from other wards too and hope to keep in contact with them until I see them next year at girls camp. The songs were so much fun and I learned so many of them in just 4 to 5 days! They were really fun and I can’t wait until next year to sing them again with my friends.

I really enjoyed rock climbing. I had never done this before and I was a little nervous climbing up there, but I am glad that I did. At times it felt like my foot was going to slip off the rock, but I just pulled my way up there. We had to work together and I had to trust that they wouldn’t let go of me.

I am so glad that I went to girls camp and can’t wait until next year. (end of talk)

I am so proud of Kaitlyn that she stuck it out. I know it wasn't easy for her, but she was so proud of herself that she did it. She really did have a lot of fun. It was a really good experience for her. She was one of 4 girls chosen to talk in church that day. She was very excited that she was chosen to talk by the bishop.

Also, only 2 girls were chosen for a special gift and one of those girls was Kaitlyn. She found this out that day at church too in Young Women's. The theme for this years girls camp was "Dr. Suess". So Kaitlyn received a "Cat in the Hat" blanket. With it, was a note. It said, I am so proud that you came to camp this year. It isn't always easy being away from home. You are a great girl and I hope to see you next year. Sister Wise and I decided we would give one Cat in the Hat blanket away to a young women we felt deserved it. That's you! We hope you had a wonderful time. Always remember to endure to the end and you will grow stronger. Love, Sister Stewart and Sister Wise.

I know this was a personal letter to Kaitlyn, but this is a lesson to all of us. Endure to the end and you will grow stronger. I know Kaitlyn did. And so did I. Having her gone wasn't easy for me either. 1 Corinthians 13:7 "Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things."

Family Picnic/Fishing At Lodi Lake

We had a really nice picnic in the shade. We got sandwiches from Subway.
It was a nice day at the lake.

There were a lot of butterflies and dragonflies, so Lexie got the fish net and tried really hard to catch them. She ran all over the place swinging her net around. She laughed and squealed and had a lot of fun. She did get some in her net. She was so excited.


Dillon decided to help her.

When we first got to the lake, we saw that there was a turtle right by us in the water. He was hanging out on a tree branch getting a tan.

Leave it to Dillon to find a frog! It jump right by his foot. It was the only one that we saw.

And of course, Lexie picked me some flowers. Isn't she sweet? Dillon's nickname that he calls her is "flower child", because she is always picking me flowers.

The kids are watching Jason get the fishing pole ready for some fishing. They were so excited. They couldn't wait.

Dillon gets a lesson on how to cast.
There he goes....................
And he did it.

We didn't catch any fish, but it was nice to spend the day together at the lake.

Happy 4th of July

We had a really fun 4th of July. I had to take a picture of the kids in front of the house before everyone got there. They looked cute in their 4th of July clothes. We had a B.B.Q./ swim party at our house. Nana and Grandpa Stan came over for a B.B.Q. We had Tri-Tip, corn on the cob, macaroni salad and baked beans. And of course, I made brownies. I make brownies every year for the 4th of July and we had vanilla ice cream to go with the brownies. It was all so good. The kids had a great time swimming in our pool in the backyard and running through the sprinklers. It was a beautiful day. It wasn't to hot like it usually is on the 4th of July. After dinner and swimming, we all went into the house and played on the Wii and waited until it got dark. The kids had a good time watching Nana and Grandpa Stan play on the Wii and Nana and Grandpa Stan had a good time watching the kids play of the Wii. When it got dark, we all went into the backyard and sat in our chairs and watched the fireworks, that we can see from the lake. Grandma and Grandpa Hooley came over and watched the fireworks with us. It is really nice that we can see the fireworks from our house and we don't have to go to the lake and have to deal with all the people. It was nice to spend that time with family and have a good time in our backyard.

This is everyone playing on the Wii.