Back to School!

We have had a SUPER fun summer, and I am stoked to have the kids back in school!!

Tanner is in 2nd grade this year and has Mrs. Crandall.  He knows a few of the kids in his class from years previous, and our little neighbor girl that is his friend is in there too.  We don't know much about Mrs. Crandall, but she told the kids she has been teaching for 24 years, so I guess she knows what she is doing. (We hope anyway)

Colt is in 1st grade and has Mrs. Korson, who was Tanner's teacher last year, and we love her.  I am so excited that we get her again this year.  There aren't any kids in his class from the ward or neighborhood, but he doesn't seem to care.  He is excited to follow in Tanner's path and have the same teacher.

The boys have been walking to and from school.  There is a group of 5 kids in our neighborhood that walk together and as mom's we take turns helping them cross the busy street.  We meet them at the corner and make sure we don't have any problems.  It is working out great.

Braden is going to do a mom-teach preschool.  I have been really hesitant, but I was kind of pressured into it, and I think it will be fine.  I am not going to push anything, so if we have a lazy morning and don't make it, I am not going to worry about it.  We are doing a professional curriculum called Mother Goose Time and I am really impressed and excited.  They give you all the material and such from the story and game and calendar for circle time to the craft project, writing sheets, and subjects.  Very cool.  We will start that next week.  And it might be nice to only have Sabree for 2 hours twice a week.

I have also started to watch a little boy 2 times a week for 3 hours each time.  Vincent is 3 like Braden and they so far have played well.  I decided that it will be good for Brady to have someone to play with, plus who couldn't use a couple extra bucks each week.

As much as I love summer and all the fun, I am grateful to be back into a normal routine, and man could my house use a little attention.

Every spare second

So, we bought Dad's boat, and in the 3 weeks we have had it we have taken it out nearly 10 times.  We bought it with our friends/neighbors, and we spend a lot of time on the river.  The beauty of it all is that we live 10 minutes from the marina, so we can go when Dave gets home from work and play on the water until dark.  On the weekends we spend the whole day on Saturday.  Dave has gotten really good at the wakeboard and is jumping the wake and loving it.  The boys will tube every once in a while, but they mostly love playing in the sun and sand on the beach.  Even Sabree has a pretty good time.  We have had date nights and played as adults, invited families to come and play, and have really enjoyed it.  We have friends in the ward that we meet up with that drive $60K boats and have all the toys, and we have the "Pinto" of the boat world, but we are loving it, and the best part is that it is paid off and we have just as much fun as they do...for a lot less money.  The pictures are from Saturday when we went to Charboneau.  The Strattons and our friends the Carlsons were there with us.  We had the BEST day!

Ensign Ranch

I love camping.  Dave and I have different opinions about camping - I just like to be in the mountains, spending time outside, and enjoying fresh air.  Dave wants there to be no people, out in the wild and living simply. I want to do dutchovens and have running water. 

So, since I make the plans, we went to Ensign Ranch.  It is a church owned property about 2 hours from home.  We invited 2 families to come with us, and we got bunk houses. There was a slip-n-slide (which was a bit more dangerous than we originally thought), a pond, canoes, and grass, electricity, and flushing toilets and showers. I said it was camping in a glamorous way.  Dave thought there were too many people.  We had a very fun time.

Even Sabree had a great weekend!

Baby's name sake

Sabree Jeanne was given her middle name after my grandma Peterson, Lucy Jeanne.  Grandma isn't as spry as she once was, and has bad back pain so she wasn't able to make it to Amanda's farewell.  Luckily we were able to stop and see her on our way to Island Park.

I was so happy that Grandma got to meet our little Sabree.  I think both Sabree and Grandma were happy to meet each other too.

Love the crossed-eyes!!

 My boys love the old trucks and tractors that Grandma has, and they call her "Grandma Peterson with the crane-truck."

Although our visit wasn't terribly long, I was so grateful we were able to stop and see Grandma.   I love her so much and I want my kids to remember her, but time and distance keep us further apart than I wish.

Mills Reunion

It seems like in the last few years we have seen a lot more of the Mills clan all together.  This summer we met in Woodruff at Dusty & Brandee's and spent the day at Bear Lake.  The water was beautiful, but very choppy, so we mostly played in the sand and in the shallow swim area.  But we had a great time just being together. 

Everyone camped in the yard at Dusty's but me and Sabree got special treatment and go to sleep inside.  I was grateful for that because it got pretty cold at night and I was glad to not have to worry about a baby staying warm.  We tried to get pictures of everyone together, but for whatever reason that is a very difficult task.  How hard it is to look at the camera and keep your hands to yourself and not talk on the count of 3?

Dusty let us ride horses, which was awesome.  I am not sure if I was more excited or the kids.  All along I thought I married a cowboy, and come to find out the Mills boys only ride horses when they have to work.  It has been a disappointing realization.  I guess I might have a little cowgirl-wannabe in me.