Back to School

I really hate this. Some Mom's celebrate "Back to School Day", but I love having my girls at home. It's too quiet! On the bright side, the house will stay cleaner and the grocery bill will get a bit smaller.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

They have really changed their style's again this year. With misty eye's I remember the days when Rylee would wear nothing but a dress and Brooklyn loved me to curl or braid her hair. What happened? Today they couldn't wait to put on their new t-shirts. I said "We just bought all these nice school clothes and you want to wear t-shirts?" "Yep!" Ah well, I do love their Independence.
After I did the drop off ("Are you sure you don't want me to walk you to your classroom?" Which was answered with some mighty eye-rolls.) I headed to Theresa's house for our annual "Back To School Brunch". That's right, us mom's get together when the kids have left and enjoy some adult time. Of course, we spend at least 95% of that time talking about our kids! I love my ladies! I may just have to drive to Carrington on the first day of school next year!

Dry Lake

Had an awesome day at Dry Lake on Sunday! Thanks Murphey's, Caylors, and Pedersons for an awesome afternoon!

Skyler

This one's for my Mom. She needed to show someone a picture of the Golden Child and couldn't access her e-mail but could access my blog! Sorry I'm not finding many of him by himself. Btu really, he looks better next to me anyway!

Another Pretty Girl

These are rough...I need to do some work on them, but here's a preview of a few of my favorites:
Haley Hertel - Class of 2010
This last one doesn't need any work. Wow...she's gorgeous.

Mobridge

Last weekend, Brooklyn and I headed to Mobridge to visit Dad, check out the sights and hopefully find a place to live.
Well, we visited dad, and checked out the town, but no luck yet on housing. Pray for rentals! We don't want to buy right away.

Brooklyn and Rusty at a little lake nearby.

The view from Ryan's home...The Wrangler Inn!

A little view of town from atop a hill. (There are hills in SD. And they aren't man made!)
Brooklyn enjoying the drive home.
And one of my favorite sites in the Dakotas. Sunflowers in bloom!

Rylee's fun in Utah

Last year, Brooklyn got to go to Utah without anyone else. So, for a year now, Rylee has been planning her turn. When we left last week, Rylee stayed for 10 more days, and has been all over the state! A few pictures of some of her adventures:
Of course, She had to pay a visit to her favorite store. Exciting to know there is one in Moab. More fun in Moab.

Then it was on to Lake Powell with Isaiah. And her favorite activity...looking for cool rocks.


I hope to get some pictures of her time with Grandma Muir and her time with Papa Dan (hint, hint)!

Happy Birthday Avery and last of SLC

After spending the morning at the cabin, we headed back to the valley and to Avery's 1st Birthday Party! We love this little doll so much and were so excited to be there for her birthday party.
After the party we stopped at a party store so that Jenn and Brandon could buy some supplies for the "Fiesta" they had planned with Brooklyn and Rylee.
If anyone ever needs tips on how to be the "cool" aunt and uncle, call Jenn and Brandon. They have it all figured out. They bought a Pinata, sombrero's and margarita's (non-alcoholic) and little Mexican flags to put in their margarita's and had a night-time Fiesta with Brooklyn and Rylee.
The next day (when the girls finally woke up, after 10:30) they went swimming and had a blast.
While Jenn and Brandon entertained out kids, Ryan and I met up with my dad, Paulette, Sarah, Andrew and Skyler for some Disk Golf at Solitude.
There are many things I miss about Utah, and the beautiful mountains are near the top of the list. Playing disk golf with my brothers and dad is a treat in itself, but to do it at Solitude, up Big Cottonwood Canyon is incredible. I love it there. I spent a lot of time skiing there as a kid and the scenery is breath taking.
In order to play the course, you ride a lift up the mountain and play across and then down. The brush is so dense and the hills so steep, it's very easy to lose disks (as Andrew can attest. He lost a few that day.) We had a great time and I was sad to say goodbye to my dad, Paulette and my brothers. It was almost time to go home.
We finished off the night with dinner at Debbie and Randy's, and a movie with Jason and Shelley, and then home to bed.
Monday I woke up with a terrible cold and fever. I layed around at mom's house all day until it was time to say goodbye to Rylee and head for the airport, and home. (Rylee stayed for an extra 10 days.)
Thanks to all our family and friends for the entertainment, food and love! We love you all. It was a wonderful vacation.

At the cabin

Friday night, after family pictures, Ryan, the girls and I headed up past Heber to the cabin for a night with Andrew, Debo, Izzy, Skyler, Alisha, Kaylee, Mom and Brick. Mom and Brick were being super mysterious about needing us to come to the cabin, so I was pretty sure they had something up their sleeve, and sure enough...
the "King of Toys" had bought a new one for his grandkids.
Brooklyn and Grandma quickly strapped in to test it out, even though it was dark. And Isaiah and Andrew were waiting on pins and needles for their turn.
The next morning (after yet another photo shoot ~ missed you Sam and Eish)
we headed down to the pond for some riding.
Isaiah (aka: Evil Knievel) only got in trouble once for speeding! He cracks me up. Such a boy. Scared the crap out of Debo.
Here's a few pics of our morning a the pond:

Rylee was super cautious, Brooklyn was more wild, but safe, and Izzy was a dare devil! Kaylee was stoked that Papa put a special handle in "Just for me?"
We had such a good time. Thanks Mom and Brick for an extra special weekend.

Meet the Muirs

Here's the family pics. I'm about halfway through enhancing these photo's, but I wanted to share anyway. Some may be posted again later as I spiff them up.
Thanks Miranda for the tripod. It worked well!

"Meet the Muirs"

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More SLC Vacation

So now it's Thursday in SLC. I woke up early to pick Ryan up from the airport. We were so excited to see him. He'd been working in Mobridge, and we hadn't seen him in a while. We went back to mom's for a bit and then went to lunch with Aunt Marlene, Jenny and her kids, Jeff, Rachel and their kids, and the girls' favorite...Uncle Brandon! We had to go to Cafe Rio because, well, you know, we love it!
After lunch, the kids went home with Uncle Brandon and Ryan and I went to take a nap. He'd gotten up at 2:00 AM to go to the airport and he was super tired. Uncle Brandon did his usual spoiling and when we got there to pick them up, they didn't want to go.
Next we went to visit my dad for a bit. Just hung out at his house and relaxed a little, and then it was off to Aunt Marlene and Uncle Larry's for dinner with the fam. It's a good thing they added on to their house, because the fam has grown since we lived here! Not only were we in town, but Jeff, Rachel and the kids were also. We haven't been in town at the same time in years and it was so fun to catch up with them and see their beautiful kids. It was fun to see everyone's kids. We hadn't yet met our new niece and nephew, Avery and Boston and were anticipating that moment all week. Aside from Boston and Avery, there were three more new babies we hadn't met. Ryan has always been so close to his cousins, so it was really fun to be able to have dinner with everyone. The girls went home with Grandma and Grandpa Muir, and Ryan and I stayed and visited with Larry and Marlene until 11:00. We are so lucky to have such awesome families. We love you all so much!
Here's the pictures:

This one is Brooklyn and Rylee with their new cousins, Avery and Boston.
Here's Bosty Boy getting acquainted with Uncle Ryan.
Avery's turn to get acquainted with Uncle Ryan...he's sometimes known as the "Baby Charmer" See, what'd I tell you? Here he is with another one! Isaac. I just love his rolls! I could eat him up!
These are Grandpa Jay's Great Grand babies. The number grew by five in 2008!
Rylee, Tanner and Issac. They look like they could be siblings! Sweet Bosty Boy And spunky little Avery. We loves these babies! And Brooklyn and Rylee being the bestest big cousins in the world.

The next morning, I had invited myself over to my dear friend Miranda's for breakfast! She's so accomodating. I e-mail her and tell her I want to see her house and so Treasure, Crystol, Meagan and I and all our kids went for breakfast! What amazing women my friends are. I can't even begin to tell you how much I love these amazing girls (missed you Chandra, Mandy, and Missy).

And the kids. Wow, remember when it was just Brooklyn and Landon?

My girls and Izzy had a good time playing with the babies, and Ryan enjoyed wrestling with the rest of the kids.
After Miranda's house, the girls and I went to the eye doctor. Much less expensive here! Brooklyn finally made another right of passage and was allowed to get contacts. She's so thrilled to be able to start a new school with no glasses.
And then it was on to Murray Park for a Muir family picture.