two FIRSTS

yesterday was mia's FIRST day of FIRST grade! she was up bright and early to get ready for her big day! we got to school quite early so that she could find her line and have plenty of time to get to know the lay of the land...her new playground is a bazillion times bigger than the kindergarten playground. george and i stayed the whole time with her to make sure that she got into the school okay. as soon as she walked away from me i started to bawl. i didn't cry at all last year, but this year it hit me like a ton of bricks...she is growing up! george and i were quite lonesome for her all day long. it's sure going to be an adjustment not having her around. the bright side is that she absolutely LOVED her first day and got along great! she has already made some new friends, and her very best friend (in all the pictures) is in her class. here's to a great school year!

time with family is the greatest!

we recently took a 10 day vacation to utah to visit russ's family and some of our friends. it was so nice to spend a lot of time with russ's sister and her daughter, who is our kids' only cousin! it's so fun now that eliza is 2 because she can really interact with all of us, and she remembers who we all are. melinda and paul recently got a new swingset installed in their backyard, so we spent a lot of time playing back there. their yard backs on to a creek, which makes it so peaceful and cool! we really appreciate all the effort that melinda made to spend as much time with us as possible.

friends forever part one...

during our visit to utah we were lucky enough to get to spend the evening with russ's best friend and his family. they just moved into a beautiful new home, and this was our first time seeing it. it was also our first time to meet their adorable new baby boy! they have just darling kids who our kids love to play with. we had a great time hanging out and catching up. even though i had my camera the whole time, it didn't occur to me to take any pictures until we were gathering our stuff to leave. i was lucky to get one cute shot of 4 out of the 5 kiddos!

fish and flowers

one of the days during our utah visit we were able to meet up with eliza and her nanny at the aquarium. eliza knew her way all around the aquarium and even knew the names of some obscure sea animals. mia got up enough courage to touch a sting ray to which she exclaimed, "that wasn't so bad! it's kind of cool!" george on the other hand took a pass. our favorite exhibit at the aquarium was the penguin tank. they are the funniest, most entertaining birds.

grandma dolores lets mia and george pick ALL the flowers that they want when we visit. she has a beautiful yard filled with all varieties of roses and many other beautiful flowers. mia and dolores have a shared love of flowers. every day mia beautifies the house with several fresh flower arrangements.

friends forever part two...

while we were in utah we were able to visit our good friends who used to live in las vegas. mia and george had the best time playing and running around with caleb and spencer who are their exact same ages. i don't think i even saw them the first hour we were there because they were in the basement having so much fun. that was fine by me because i was snuggling their new baby, emma, who was only 6 weeks old. i also had such a great time catching up with jessica. we have always had a very easy friendship, and no matter how long it's been since we've seen each other it feels like not time at all has passed. i'm already looking forward to the next time that we get to spend time together.

a celebration!!

since the first of this year we have been planning a surprise 75th birthday and retirement celebration for russ's dad. russ's mom, sister and we gathered a bunch of pictures of george from birth to present so that we could make him a special book of his life. i spent a bunch of time scanning old photos and designing the book. russ, his mom and sister wrote a really nice history to go with it. it turned out awesome and will be a wonderful keepsake for all of the family (everyone got a copy of it). on top of that we planned a big surprise party at russ's sister's beautiful home. we told george we were going to melinda's house for dinner. the house was beautifully decorated, there was a giant birthday cake and a table filled with food. george thought melinda had gone to all this trouble just for the family...it never occurred to him that perhaps his request to not have a big party was ignored. after about a half an hour guests started arriving, and they didn't quit! so many wonderful friends and family came to celebrate george, and it was the perfect night!

mia giving papa george a giant birthday card...

papa looking at the book we made him...

mia, eliza and kylie

russ's parents have known this couple since before they were married. jackie was dolores' matron of honor.

dolores' friend brought her daughter's dog, rexie, to the party because she was dog sitting. mia spent the whole night entertaining the dog...well, i guess the dog was entertaining her!

george getting ready to make a wish...

russ grew up across the street from this couple. they were like a second family to him.

i love the expression on george's face here...

kindergarten graduation

today was mia's kindergarten graduation. her teacher sure went above and beyond with the presentation! the kids were decked out in darling graduation hats and performed a poem and 3 songs (all memorized) for the audience. they did such a great job!! miss whisler even made a slideshow presentation of pictures from the whole year, which of course made me tear up. each student was presented with a graduation certificate, and miss whisler also acknowledged several of the mommy helpers. it was a great day to celebrate all of mia's accomplishments! i'm having a hard time preparing myself for the fact that my baby is going to be in 1st grade next year and will be gone most of the day. i guess i had better really soak up these next 3 weeks with her.

mia and her teacher...

mia and her best friend...

mia with grandma and papa...

proud mama and daddy...

mia and her 5th grade buddy...

a healthy snack

the other night after the kids had baths, mia sat down to eat a nice, healthy snack...a whole tomato. russ and i laughed because russ's dad and my gramps love to do the same thing!

ah, nuts!

about a week ago papa steve invited us over one evening to pick almonds. mia and george had the best time filling their buckets with nuts with their favorite nut, papa! none of us can believe that the ground squirrels didn't steal all the nuts this year, but we're sure glad they didn't!

pioneer day

our stake knows how to celebrate pioneer day! every year they put on a {HUGE} event, complete with a parade, tons of games and breakfast! usually the breakfast is pretty good, but this year we got gipped. they advertised that scones would be served, and honestly who doesn't love hot, fried bread with honey and butter? they went a little cheap and served pita pockets with squeeze butter and honey to which mia asked, "what is this??" good question, babe! the past couple of years the fire department has come and hosed down the crowd, which is one of the highly anticipated events in the 115 degree summer weather we have. as you can see mia had a great time getting wet and muddy. george liked the mist but didn't want to get his clothes wet; hence, the somewhat dissatisfied expression. i had to miss out on the pioneer day fun this year because the heat has been making me really sick this pregnancy. staying home to clean the house hardly compared to the fun the rest of the fam had!