Blake's First Day of School

This is Blake as we were leaving for his first day of preschool yesterday.  He is my shy guy lately, so this picture says it all.  We are having a little "preschool" with only 4 kids, one being his cousin Nixon.  I figured it would be a great way to help with his little bit of separation anxiety and give him something fun to do.  We had only visited the first house (Amy's) once so far and I wasn't sure how he'd do.  He cried when I left, stopped shortly after I left, and had a great fun time!!  In fact when we were leaving Amy's house, he wanted to go back!  So it was a successful first day!  We are just doing this for 2 hours, 2 days a week (and one of those days we'll all go to the park or on a little field trip) - just enough for our cute little Blake.   

First Week of School Pictures

Camden's First Day of 2nd Grade

Blake's second day of big brother being gone at school.

Back to fun together..This is Thursday night after their baths.  They took all their "special things" out of the house because it was about to "explode"...there is always some imaginary war going on that they are in the middle of.  They used the wagon as a barricade, and place to store their things.  I thought- great teaching moment...we talked about when Lehi and his family left Jerusalem and what they took with them, and the Pioneers leaving Nauvoo, what did they take? Apparently these were their most sacred things to them!!! :0)  They have such fun imaginations!

The First Week of School

So my computer is acting up again and I haven't been able to get my pictures off my camera from Camden's first day of school...Hopefully I will figure it out soon and share his picture.  

During summer Camden would ask how many more days left until school starts?  We would count, and on about day 48 (48 Days left of summer) he cried and cried.  He could not believe summer was almost over and did not want to go back to school!  I reassured him that we still had a lot of summer left and school would be fun once he started.  Then came 10 days left of summer and finally 4 days....at this point he said, "Don't even tell me I don't want to know!!!"  This was the day the classes were posted to see who his teacher was.  We read and found out that 7 kids from his 1st grade class were going to be in his class this year!!!  He was pretty excited to know who would be in his class.  He was most excited that Hayden Urmston would be in his class again!  They have been in every class together since preschool!  That helped everything.  He was ready for school when Monday came around.  He nervously sat in his seat and waved good bye.  He had a great day and so far a great week.  He said his teacher is the nicest in the whole school!  Although he is a little apprehensive each night wondering if the next day is almost Saturday or not.  Summer Fever should die out soon I think.... Our only adjustment now is getting to sleep on time, homework, and little brother boredom!  Poor Blake misses Camden so much!  All day he says, "Is Danden done now?"  We'll play something fun and again, "Is Danden done now?"  They have become such great buddies all summer and now Blakes best buddy is gone all day!  We have some fun things planned for Blake, but he still misses Camden. :0)

Fun with Cousins

My sister took this picture at my cousin, Emilee's birthday lunch.  I took it from her blog!!  I LOVE it!!  If ALL the cousins (1st & 2nd) were together for this picture, it would be gigantic!!!!   This is a mini version of the what the giant picture would be!  

Here is our end of summer slumber party with the cousins.  There was homemade pizza, games, a movie, and a little foot bath (for Carsyn....the only girl!!!  We needed Ashlyn or Emma to come!!!) The little guys, Blake and Nixon enjoyed it too! We love to play with cousins!  

Our Utah Trip

What a great trip!  First we traveled with Peter (Will's brother) and Dalton(Nephew) to the Gateway in Salt Lake to meet Pat (Will's Mom).  Then we stayed with my cousin Sharonda and her family in Saratoga Springs and went to BYU for a treasure hunt. We got to explore 4 museums and won a small prize!  Then Will did the 1/2 ironman in Provo and we drove up to visit almost the whole Larson clan (Pat, Carrie, and Beth and their families) in Smithfield/Logan.  We stayed at Carrie and Ryan's where the boys loved playing army guys in the basement. We went to church with Pat on Sunday then we got to see Beth and Jays cute home where they had a great birthday party for Blake.  We had a BBQ, a water fight and yummy treats- Pat bought Blake a cool Hulk cake for the party and boy did he LOVE it!  The next day we drove the whole way home to California, stopping at the new Draper temple under construction.  What a busy few days!!  Thanks everyone for the fun times in Utah!!!   Next trip we'll hopefully see Brent and Krissi, Ryan, Emilee and Andy, and Jill and Ryan!!!  It's great to have so many family and friends in Utah.

Here's our slide show!!  If it closes and you didn't get to see it all, just click on the x in the right corner and it will replay.

Utah Half Ironman

He did it!!!!  Will set a goal to do a half ironman when he turned 35.  On August 9th he did it!!! (I am a little late posting this) He was awesome!  He finished in 5 hours and 30 minutes.  That time was also his goal.  He swam 1.2 miles, biked 56 miles, and ran 13.1 miles. WOW!!!!  He is always so good at setting goals and achieving them.  I am so proud of my hubby! Way to go Will!!! 

Transition area after the swim (I didn't get a picture of the swim...too many guys with the same swimming cap on!)   This is his little nutrition break before he takes off on his bike.

Will's starting the run.  He's up by the trees running.  Although the lake was gross, the weather was great for the race day!

Race Entertainment.  Our kids love playing with all the Urmston kids during these crazy events that the Dads do.  (It's a long time to hang out)  We also drove with the Urmston group about 20 minutes away to watch the racers go by on their bikes and cheer them on.  (They were FAR away!!!) It was great having friends out there to wait with. 

He crossed the finish line with Blake this time.  I was amazed he could even pick him up after all that!!!!!

The boys got to go in the athlete only area with Daddy to get food after the race!  Camden is wearing the finishing medal!  Notice Will's lovely tattoo (It's permanent marker and a pain to scrub off!)

WAY TO GO WILL!!!!!!  I LOVE YOU!!!!

Great Times With Dalton!

Name that baby

 

At the Hospital 

7 Months Old

15 Months Old

It's hard to believe the first picture is the same baby as in the last picture and the ones to follow!!!  It is so amazing to see how he changed so much over the first few months!  He still has the same great smile and blue eyes, that you can't see so well in these pictures.  We sure love this little blessing of ours!!!  It's amazing that he is 3 years old now!!!!   (Of course, this is our Blake!!!)

Happy Birthday Blake!!!

This is from Blake's birthday on July, 28th....it took a while to post due to some computer glitches...so finally, here they are!!  Hip Hip Hurray!!