Back to School

So there's this awesome girl who is just starting her photography business. She has taken my kids pictures the last several years just to practice and in August she got a new lens she wanted to try out. Of course I was happy to volunteer my kiddos for the experiment and as always she got some amazing pictures. Since school was starting they all wore their new outfits and we had a back to school photo shoot. Here are some of my faves...

Taryn with her new short hair do. It suits her so well and I love it. More importantly she does too.      

Jocelyn was in some kind of funk and not into smiling but she still looked beautiful and dream like.  

Cami was also looking pretty dreamy.    

All four kids hugging a tree...

Creedy boy just happy to be included and hanging out in the sunshine.

Oh half a smile....the mischievous half...

Taryn with sunlight in her hair and a hint of a smile.

Cami with sunlight in her hair and thinking about a smile...

Man sometimes I look at her and realize she is totally growing up WAY  too fast.

So these are the actual first day of school pictures...The older girls started like the 11th ish and Jocelyn started like the 18th ish....It seemed so early this year. Maybe summer just felt too short. The girls were ready and excited to go back even if I wasn't ready for it all to start. On the first day Cami and Taryn were so excited that they "borrowed" my phone and took each others pictures while I was getting Jocelyn and Creed dressed so we wouldn't be late (from me taking twenty different pictures). Jocelyn's first day had similar excitement until we got to school and then she wasn't sure she wanted me to leave her. Creed and I stayed and played with her until she was good to go and that was that. Now three days a week it is just me and Creed at home for 2 1/2 hours and it feels really strange and quite.

Locks of LOVE and lots of love

Every year before school starts and after summer swimming all the kids get hair trims. For the longest time Taryn's hair didn't grow very fast or thick. I kept it in a short bob hoping that eventually it would thicken up. She hated her short hair and always begged to grow it out like Rapunzel...it got worse after she saw Tangled....So after her prekindergarten cut I let it grow...and grow...and grow with just a few trims when it needed it. This year when we went to get everyone trimmed Cami went first and got it trimmed a very little bit. Jocelyn got hers trimmed a very little bit. And Taryn hopped up on the chair and told our lady I want to go short this time....We discussed it for SEVERAL minutes and as always she knew exactly what she wanted and stuck to her guns...I told her if she was going short she could/should donate it to locks of love. And so she did and she looks soooo cute!

A year ago I let each kiddo choose one thing to grow and Taryn chose sunflowers that were as tall as our house. This year Jocelyn and Taryn wanted to grow sunflowers so we ended up with a ton of them that were very loved and watered. They grew taller than our house...

Kolob Camping Hiking and playing oh my

A couple of weeks ago we met up with Brent's two sisters' families and Papa Weight and camped at Kolob Reservoir for four days. The kids all had a great time-when they could move (post hike was a little rough)...

Wednesday we went up and got settled in and the kids ran around playing and exploring. There was an awesome five minute mountain thunderstorm that soaked us enough to be fun but not enough to freeze our nuggets off. It smelled soooo good then it rolled away. 

Thursday all of the older kids and adults hiked the West Rim Trail at Zion National Park which starts a few minutes away from where we camped. It was supposed to be a 12-13 mile trail we thought...but then apparently it meets up with another trail and after 11 hours and 17 miles in the hot summer sun Brent, Cami, and Taryn made it out alive...Papa got awfully nervous when it got dark and the hikers still weren't back...

I got nervous when two skunks wandered into camp and weren't at all scared of me. I did manage to keep them away from the dinner that was out and waiting for the hikers but it was amazing how comfortable they were.One just planted himself in the middle of our camp site and ate Creed's left over licorice..

It was really impressive to see the determination and stamina all the hikers had, especially the 8 yr old and 10 yr old. Cami did end up walking funny for several days but she carried her pack the whole way by herself too...

While the older kiddos were gone Jocelyn, Aubry (cousin), and Creed had a great time eating a lot of licorice, playing Barbies, and looking for cows on a mini hike. Creed full on rolled in the dirt and Jocelyn and Aubry had a great time sprinkling pixie dust (aka ash) all over me all day long...Needless to say they all seriously needed a dip in the lake..

Friday we hung out at our camp site having a speed tournament and went canoeing in the lake. Creed enjoyed watching the sailboats and riding his first canoe...Jocelyn was a big fan too. Cami wasn't 100% but did have fun watching everyone (later we discovered she had a horrible UTI and fever of 102). She felt better once she got some antibiotics...

Saturday we slowly but surely packed up and headed to our house with everyone. We opted out of the boating/skiing that was planned (everyone was sooo tired and sunburned) and instead went swimming and ate pizza (and got antibiotics)... Sunday we had a nice dinner with the cousins and we were sad to say good-bye afterwards. It was as always a blast to be with family and a blast to be camping. Below are tons of pictures in random order....

The end of the hike and no one is in tears...a huge accomplishment

One of the many rest stops during the first leg of the hike...

Cami at the top of the trail.

Still at the top of the trail...Brent told me he took a lot of pictures at the beginning but by the end he just wanted to be done and he didn't have the energy to take any more...

Don't believe everything that you read....or do believe it just be aware that it might not be all the facts.....

Canoe wars for those who could still move after the previous days hike...

Brent and Fred comparing their whitey tighties...just kidding...but they were comparing who was whiter....

Sand temples...

If you look closely this is Jocelyn's first canoe ride...

Cami who was unbelievably tough/miserable yet still so stinking beautiful...

Jocelyn making sand angels...

Creed kept trying to swim out and get Brent...

Oh so happy and oh so dirty!

look they like each other and I caught them in the act....

Creed's first canoe trip and Amy and Brent clearly working hard....

Cami slept in the "big kid tent" with her cousins....Apparently the one in the middle got freaked out in the middle of the night when skunks made animal noises outside and jumped in between the other two which resulted in this awesome picture of cousinly love....

Exploring 

Racing back for dinner

Moseying back for dinner