9 years old

How can it be that Hallee had her 9th birthday. Time sure does get away to quickly! Hallee sure is growing up, she prefers to stay home rather than go with me and does great by herself, she can fix her own breakfast, she can do her own homework, loves to listen to her mp 3 player, and is almost as tall as me!

Hallee is very artistic- loves to draw/color, create things out of whatever, build with legos, play with sweetie the cat, having sweets- everyday she needs to have a few, and needs her down time of watching tv. She is a very good reader, does awesome with math, and is doing clogging again this year.

We had a birthday party for Hallee and my Mom(her birthday is 2 days before Hallee's), so we had a little party- and Hallee wanted a better than anything cake.

We also had a friend/ cousin party- Hallee invited her friend Savannah, then cousins met up with us and we went to I Jump, out to Hallee 's favorite place to eat- Sweet Burrito, then went for ice cream.

It was pretty wild, but the kids had a blast!

On Hallee's actual birthday Zak was gone and we had already celebrated with cake, so we had her next favorite thing- ice cream with all sorts of toppings.

She was one lucky girl- 3 parties this year. She sure is great!

School

 School started Sept. 4, which I was glad it was a little later since we had a crazy, busy summer. A lot has changed this year for school. 1st Blyss is in the 1st grade, so she is in school all day. 2nd the girls ride a bus to school- they catch the bus here before the time they woke up last year for school in Utah- they catch the bus about 7:45 am(school starts at 8:20), and they get home off the bus about 3:15pm, so they are gone a lot longer than they were gone for school in Utah. Riding the bus has been a whole new adventure for these girls- Blyss did not want to go to school for the 1st week of school, because she was so afraid she wouldn't make it home, that she would get on the wrong bus or miss her bus- but she finally got over those fears. 3rd thing, Hallee and Blyss are in different schools- Blyss' school is K-2, and in 1st grade there are nine 1st grade classes- the school is huge! In Hallee's school it is 3rd-5th, and in 3rd grade there are 8- 3rd grade classes. They get PE just once  a week, our school district doesn't have very much money, so there are no aides in my girls' class, in Utah they had a couple for each class- so I hope it doesn't effect their learning.

One thing that surprised me is Blyss wants to eat school lunch everyday and she tells me how good it was. This is coming from a girl who is so picky, doesn't like to try anything new, and hardly eats anything- I thought I would be packing her a home lunch everyday. But nope, that is Hallee who wants a home lunch everyday.

The girls are doing great with school- we've got a busy year- each girl and myself included is taking clogging- so we run 4 different times to the clogging studio, and then Blyss is also doing gymnastics so I run her once a week to Idaho Falls for that.

Sicaly started preschool this year- she goes 2 days a week for 2 hours each time, and she loves it- they get to play, have snacks, sing, and color- who wouldn't love that?

She is growing up way to fast!

So yep, I have a few hours to myself each week- and that is when I clean like mad! Because when Sicaly is home, she is bored to death with out her sisters her, so she expects me to be her constant play mate- some days I'm about to pull my hair out from playing Barbies so much! It is nice when the other girls get home to entertain Sicaly!

Getting on the Bus for school!

Last Part of Summer

Zak and I were able to go to Jackson Hole- our friends from Richmond invited us to meet them there where we hung out for the day having lunch and walking around downtown. Then later that evening we went to Bar J Wranglers. I haven't been in a really long time and it was so good, they really put on a good show. We had a great time catching up with our friends and seeing them.

The day before school started we went with my parents to the Eastern Idaho Fair where we got to see some pretty cool animals. But best of all and for some reason I didn't take any pictures was the monkey show- the monkey show had famous monkeys and they put on a really cute show- the girls loved it.

Our Randoms

Oh Sicaly, oh Sicaly. This is how she usually goes to sleep at night, while I'm in the shower- I started putting her in the bathroom when she was little, because she would never go to sleep and I would be so tired, so I would get in and she usually falls asleep. Lately she likes to have a doll or  a stuffed animal sleep next to her.  She gets them a little pillow, a blanket, kisses and tells them goodnight- so sweet.

Jefferson County fair- had cotton candy- oh what a mess.

toes- I put the zebra stickers on all our toes- we've got so many comments!

Look at all those pickles- 14 quarts and 12 pints!

Sicaly sitting in the doll baby carrier, feeding her baby!

Idaho Falls River

 For our 12th wedding anniversary we decided to take the girls to the river and to the Idaho Falls Temple where we got married. I forgot how beautiful that area is! We took bread and fed the ducks until a lady not so friendly told us it was against the law to feed the ducks- whoops we did not know that. The girls had a blast feeding them! We walked a little bit around the green belt- it was a beautiful evening and we all enjoyed it.

Feeding the ducks

The girls

Married 12 years!

The girls had to try out all the benches around the belt- I took a picture of this one. The appulosa horse.

The water fall

Hallee and Blyss best buds

Hallee with the falls behind her

walking through a little stream

My Kids love animals and reptlies

Hallee is always looking for bugs, insects, reptiles- she loves it! She has found a few snakes in our yard and then plays with them for awhile, until I say it is time to let them go.

One day while up at St. Anthony, Hallee found this toad. I have to admit it was pretty cool. It would croak and that was cool to see. I let them have the toad for a day and then told them they had to let the toad go.

More pictures of the toad

We finally made it to Tauphtaus Park Zoo, it is a fun little zoo. Sicaly got the biggest kick out of the tortoises. They were hunge.

The Lion

Lion

The Zebras- it was a fun little outing before school starts!