First Day of School

There was a little apprehension buy mostly excitement for the first day of school. Carly has Mrs. Bradshaw (Anna's teacher from last year) and Anna has Mrs. Martin. Both girls are great students and are looking forward to a fun year.

Mac is going to Little Scorpys and a neighborhood Joy School. He loves school too! This time he gets to bring his lunch so it is super cool. The only problem is he doesn't get to go every day and he has a hard time waiting for it to come around again! Here is to another good year!

Trip to the American Girl Doll Store (a.k.a. the best day ever!)

Where do I even begin! The girls had been looking forward to this day for a long time. Melinda had told them she would take them to the store one time she came to town and it just so happened it was on Carly's birthday! We were so involved with going to the store we didn't even get a picture of Carly on her new bike! She loves her bike but the focus on her birthday was the Amerian Girl Store. They loved every minute of it! Anna couldn't fall asleep until 1 am because she was so excited. The place was incredible! When the girls first spotted the store they started screaming and running. It was classic.

Thanks the Aunt Melinda who made this whole day possible.

The girls could barely contain themselves for this picture since they had not been inside yet.

We browsed for a minute and then it was time for our lunch at the cafe.

Loved the doll chairs, dishes, crowns, balloons, and my personal favorite, doll holder in the bathroom. American Girl Dolls were just becoming popular when I was growing up so I did not really get into them. Rachel was living a childhood dream by coming here though.

Carly had such a special day. You really feel like a princess here. Kit (her doll) had a great day too.

The girls were all drinking with their pinkies up!

The cafe was super cute! The food was really good too. Most of the girls ordered the pizza and hamburgers but my summer salad with peaches and pecans was divine. The cake was incredible! It was seven layers and heavenly. They served us a five course lunch so we were pretty full by the time the cake came but somehow we managed to eat some of it. Luckily they let us take most of it home.

They had goodie bags for the girls and the dolls. Super fun. I loved every minute of it myself. The girls looked around for hours after our lunch. We were pretty pooped after we left but managed to have a couple 'freeze outs' on the way home with Taylor Swift.

Thanks Erin, Jenna, Lori, and Rachel for coming and making it an amazing day. A big thanks to Melinda for making it all come together. Best. Day. Ever.

Jack and the Beanstalk - Home Version

The girls decided they wanted to put on a play with our neighbors the Nelsons. Carly had done the play Jack and the Beanstalk in school and remembered everyones lines and the songs. The did such a great job and had so much fun planning it. Carly was a little discouraged that not enough people were coming to the performance (family just was not cutting it) so we invited over friends from the ward. We had a full house.

Carly was Jack's mother and the Giant. Here she is standing outside waiting for people to arrive and hand them their tickets.

Mac was Jack and Mia and Anna were farmers, geese, and lots of other roles. Mac and Mia are waiting to hand out the programs.

Anna was the ticket lady where you could check-in.

They even decided to have separate bathrooms. The boys bathroom was downstairs and the girls was upstairs because 'girls can hold it longer.'

The audience. Thank you for coming!

They spent lots of time on the scenery. This is a picture of Jack.

Luckily they clarified that this chair is 'not a seat.' It had to hold the cook's pots.

The beanstalk. Unfortunately all we have of the actual show is video! Needless to say they did an amazing job and all their hard work was worth it!

Carly's Backyard Beach Bash

We had lots of fun planning Carly's first 'friend' birthday party. We did a beach/Hawaiian theme. She is lucky enough to have lots of girls around her age in school and at church. We did relay races, learned a hula dance, did the limbo, played with water balloons, ate treats, played monkey in the middle, and played baseball with a noodle and a beach ball. It was a really fun party!

Learning the dance.

Opening presents and eating in the garage.

Hope you had a fun party Carly J!

Trying to go to Work in the Summer

During the school year McKay takes the kids to school and then goes straight to his office. In the summer it is a little harder to get out the door.

Mormon NIght at Dodger Stadium

It was another great year at Mormon Night at Dodger Stadium. We sat in the all-you-can-eat section. Love it. I only ate two hot dogs and so much of the other stuff I lost count. The kids love it and look forward to it each year. Elder Cook threw out the opening pitch.

Brad got a little restless but overall was really.

TJ and Jared got to come with us this year too. The Dodgers are not very good this year so we weren't super packed in our sections. That made it so nice for the kids to be able to move around a little.

Crazy kids!

We love going with our friends the Stirlings!

Crazy hair!

The best is on Friday nights you get to go on the field after the game and watch fireworks. It was a really good fireworks show! The grass feels like you are walking on carpet.

Can't wait till next year!