The long awaited day

Valerie has been wanting to go to preschool forever! Finally her dream is coming true. She has been telling people for quite some time that her teacher is Miss Dawn. Well, now it is finally true! Although she is just almost five, she seems like she is going on 10. She knows her letters and numbers and is even starting to read. She is such a talker and story teller. It makes me wonder what her preschool teachers will be learning about our family this year!

Good bye Valerie
I'm sad to see her go and grow up so fast but I am kind of excited to be able to put down Ty for a nap and have 1 1/2 hours for 3 days a week to catch up on stuff without interruptions.

These two girls although sisters are best friends.
They love their matching first day of school outfits.

Ashley in now a Young Women

Ashley just celebrated her 12th birthday on September 10th. She could hardly wait to be out of Primary and start Young Womens. She is so looking forward to the Wednesday night activities. This year was a family party for Ashley but she did talk me into taking a few friends to Twin Falls. We had some fun girl time eating at Johny Carinos and shopping at the mall. We even were lucky enough to see people jumping out of planes over the canyon. At first we thought the people were birds because they were falling so fast but then they pulled their shoots. We all decided none of us would ever be trying that!

We came back just in time to have our family party which included watching BYU football play Texas. We were all so excited the first half and then got depressed during the second half. We did have yummy snacks though, which seems to be the most important thing to the kids.

Ashley doesn't like cake so we had brownies. Her favorite ones are from a box.
Doesn't get much easier than that!

She has been begging for a long time to get her nails done so Marilyn did them
and she got to pick the color of tips. She also got her hair trimmed by Melanie.

Eating at Johny Carinos.
These girls started out so hyper and eating the bread/oil so fast. By the end of our meal they were so full they were quiet. They still had room for ice cream though.

Matching shirts
Ashley, Shelby, Hallie

Back to School

Time sure does fly. It seems like I just got summer figured out and now we will be back to having to follow a strict schedule in order to fit it all in! I decided to have a BACKWARDS dinner for BACK TO SCHOOL NIGHT. Like usual, I seem to have the most fun planning it. For our dinner we had CHEESEBURGERS. But these were not the typical cheeseburgers. They were made out of cookies and frosting. So yes, we had desert first. I next served everybody PIE. It was really shepherds pie that I put in a pie crust and died the potatoes red.

The Poulsens came and joined us for our BACKWARDS DINNER.

So I had to take pictures 2 days in a row because everything was so rushed. It doesn't help that we have been going to bed so LATE and have difficulty getting up early. Scripture reading, breakfast, doing hair to perfection all takes TIME!

HAILEY 1ST GRADE

Hailey was so excited for 1st grade! She appears to everyone to be quiet and watchful but when you let her loose on the tumbling floor she can go wild. She has learned how to do her 3 back handsprings in a row and now is starting to work on her back whip. I have found that I really miss my Hailey Bailey Pudding Pie in the morning. She is so cheerful and helpful. She is adjusting to going to school all day. This year has already been a change for her because she says there are some kids who never listen and always get in trouble. She has such a tender heart and never wants to see conflict even if she is not involved. This seems to really bother her. Last year her kindergarten class had 23 girls and 3 boys. She knew everybody and she said everybody listened. Ohhhh welcome to the world my little Hailey. Its hard for me to leg go sometimes and not keep her under her sheltered life.

MIKAYLA 4TH GRADE

Mikayla is starting 4th grade. Her teacher is my cousin, Linda Hosteen. Sad to say she won't get to be in her class all day because she will be taking honors english and math. She will be getting back into the swing of practicing her violin and playing volleyball. Mikayla has been doing her own hair for a year. She can curl it, straighten it, crimp it, and do just about anything to it all by herself! I love it! She loves her skinny jeans and I love when I can find some that actually fit her!

ASHLEY 6TH GRADE

Ashley is my social butterfly. She was ready to get back to school and see all of her friends. She was also very excited to get feathers in her hair for the first day of school (Thanks Mel - it sure helps having a friend who is a pro at hair and does things after hours!) Ashley will be clogging this year with a girl team and a mixed girl/boy team. She is also participating in city league volleyball with me as her coach. Piano lessons are a must but I need to find a teacher!

CADE 9TH GRADE

Cade will now be in his first year of HIGHSCHOOL! He is starting his FRESHMAN year and I can hardy believe it. He is now taller than me at 5' 10 1/2. He finished Drivers Ed this summer and will have his license in January. I am finding he likes to run errands with me now so he can drive (he has to drive with an adult for 6 months). Cade loves computers and ended up getting in a web design class this semester but he is the only freshman in his class.

Gotta love this little guy!

Ty is growing up so fast! He is such a busy little body. I love him to pieces. He has the whitest hair ever. He is starting to say lots of words. He likes playing and saying peek-abo and pointing to everybody's body parts and saying the name. He loves, LOVES to be outside! He will take anything that he can push and pretend to mow the lawn.

He has had his hands wrapped or been wearing gloves for 8 1/2 months. When he gets his gloves off for a few minutes a day he likes to go from person to person touching their hands with his sweet little hands.

Ty's latest photo shoot.
I was shocked to actually see a picture of him looking at the camera.

Ty loves having a bath so he figures Chandra should too!

Ty moves at lightning speed. I was in the other bathroom cleaning up toilet paper he had unrolled when I heard Dave's razor going. I came in the room and found out the little monkey had climbed up into the sink and was shaving!

Hailey turns 7

Hailey invited over some friends and we took them for pizza and bowling. She was most excited to go get her ears pierced! She had been asking for this for quite some time. She was so brave! She didn't even flinch or yelp when she got them pierced. She chose pink heart earrings that look absolutely gorgeous on her!

Chandlier, Rylee, Averie, Valerie, Erin, Abree, Hailey, Brynn, Conner

Marked and Waiting

Tough Girl

All Done!

San Diego with the Kellers

Good Times with the Kellers
August 2011

What a surprise for the kiddos! We loaded up the tahoe and told kids we were driving to California to meet all the Kellers in San Diego. First we told them we were driving to Boise to rent a BIG van. We pulled into the airport and told Cade, who was driving to follow the signs to car rental. We all got out of the car and emptied our luggage. Just then Grandpa & Grandma and Cam & Erin pulled up. The kids looked around confused. We then surprised them by telling them we were going to be flying! Ashley was the most stunned and just stood there with her mouth open! Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for making that part of the trip so much more enjoyable!

San Diego Temple

We met up in CA with my parents, 5 brothers and families. We did a lot of fun things in San Diego but mostly we just enjoyed being at the rental house hanging out talking with each other and letting kids swim in the cool pool in the backyard.

The backyard at the house we stayed at in Lajolla

The kids LOVED this slide!

Grandma & Grandpa brought home panda bears for each of the grandkids from their recent trip to China. Grandma gave the kids some wise counsel and encouraged them to choose the "white" like the white in the panda bear. Choose to go to the temple.

Todd & Madison

Hailey cruzing down the slide

Gavin in the hot tub

The master bathroom was ginormous!
The kids had never seen a boude (bum washer) before. I will never forget the image of Valerie walking out of the bathroom with half her hair wet and standing straight up. She thought the boude was a place to wash hands so she turned the handle and it shot her in the face and head.

We celebrated Claire (4), and Hailey (7) August Birthdays with cake and candles from Mexico!

Padres Game

Good game, good food, and great firework show to top off the night!

Who knew paper plates could be so fun?
(Madison, Hailey, Anna)

Sea World

We all ended up having so fun on the water slide ride at the end of the day. The line was so short so we just kept going back for more. Even little Hailey couldn't get enough.

Ty's first ride ever.

Two newest Kellers, baby Juliet and baby Kaidence

San Diego Zoo

What a great day for the zoo. Not too hot and not too crowded. Too bad the Shirley
van was the last of the 4 van caravan and got pulled over on the way there for speeding
by a cop standing on the road!

Hailey declared she had a new favorite animal after watching the arrangatangs! These monkeys were so active and rolling all over the place.

Lojolla Beach

3 future volleyball stars!
Quincy, Valerie, & Claire

I took off Ty's gloves and he was in heaven exploring and feeling everything! It has been 8 months with his hands wrapped.

Even Grandma and Grandpa headed out to fight the waves.

Derek attempting a catch!

Thanks Mom and Dad for getting us all together and making this vacation possible!
We really do have a GOOD LIFE (like the song) and made lots of good memories.

I am so grateful that families can be together forever!