First day of school!

On the way to the big first day of school!

 

The kids started school on Monday and all were excited to go back (including me)! I know that sounds mean but after a really busy and great summer, I am just ready for a little routine and structure again. And, the kids were starting to fight and nit pick at each other so it was good for all involved. They were all so excited about the first day. They had their clothes picked and layed out, their backpacks were all ready to go by the door and a couple of them had a hard time falling asleep. I went down to check on everyone at 10:00 and Jordyn and Kaleb were fast asleep but Morgan had snuck in to Regan's room and there they were laying in bed visiting about the day to come. The morning went great and everyone was out the door and on the bus in good time except for Kaleb because he's a Kindergartener and they don't bus them until the 2nd week of school. He was rearing to go and practically pushing me in to the van at 8:00. He's so excited about his teacher, Mrs. Schuster. She used to be our music teacher at the school but unfortunately the music program was one of the programs cut last year so she applied for the job of Kindergarten teacher and she is AWESOME!!! Jordyn is in 2nd grade this year and has been excited all summer for her new year with Mrs. Funke. She's in our Stake and she often attends the children's baptisms that are in her class so Jordyn has already invited her to her baptism in October and is quite sure she'll attend.:) Jordyn spent much of her summer reading and was constantly begging to go to the public library. She's so excited for the AR program at the school and is hoping that she'll pass her 200 points that she earned in 1st grade. Morgan is in 4th grade this year and has Mrs. Jenkins for her teacher. She's also in our Stake and just a really great lady. I'm excited for Morgan because she has some of her good buddies in her class this year finally. Of all of our kids, she's pretty content to be on her own but I can tell that she's excited to have some kids to hang out with that she knows really well. Morgan does really well in school and also loves to read, in fact, she finished the whole Percy Jackson series this summer and she's rearing to go with the AR program again this year. I'm excited to see what this school year will bring for Morgan! Regan is in 8th grade this year and every time I say it out loud I get shivers up and down my spine. It's crazy that we'll have a High Schooler next year. Regan was so excited to go back to school and was much more relaxed than last year at this time. She's got a great group of girls that she hangs around with and the fact that she's figured the middle school scene out, helps a lot. Oh, and one of her best friend's, Lindee Andrus, transferred over from the Charter school to Rocky Mountain this year so she and Regan have spent the whole summer talking and planning out their year together!! I'm sure it will be another busy year for her between her involvement in sports and her busy schedule which includes some honor's classes.

Saturday evening, DJ gave the kids blessings in preparation for the school year. I'm thankful for the Priesthood that he holds and grateful that he's such a caring father. It was so cute because after he gave the 4 kids blessings, Porter ran right up and plopped himself up on the chair for his blessing. He was not going to be left out. Kami was being a grump so she didn't care to have one but the kids all thought it was so cute and Porter was just beaming. I think one of the kids asked DJ when he'd get his blessing for school and when would he be having his back to school night for his Doctorate Program? :):)

I stole my sister-in-law, Sara's idea of interviewing her kids after the first day of school so this is what they had to say:
Kaleb: I love it, mom. I gave my teacher hugs. She's nice. We went to recess and then we got locked out so the duty had to call Mrs. Schuster. She saved the day and let us in. she used her walkie talkie. No kids said bad words, dad's blessing worked, MOM!! Have you seen my classroom? I feel like I've been here before. It's weird. We went to Mr. Lord's office. He's the principal and his name is Jason but I shouldn't call him that. We also went to the library and it was fun seeing all of the books. We didn't get to sit on the couch and my legs hurt and I was thirsty. There was no hard work, I'm SERIOUS mom! We just did lower case letters.

Jordyn- It was Mrs. Funke's B-Day and we got to have root beer floats! I don't have homework. I did spelling. We go to go in the loft and read. We did math and I ate my lunch. I played at recess 3 times. I was going to walk the track but I got a major thing, my hair got stuck in my dress but my friends kept pulling and pulling and finally it came out. I love my friend Alyssa. There are lots of new girls, TONS! We took them on a tour of the school. My favorite thing was the root beer floats. I won't get a stomach ache because I didn't drink too much. School is the best!

Morgan- I'm boy trapped in my classroom. I sit between Justin and Gage. I turned in my lunch money and we had to write a poem in cursive and print. We could say it aloud and get a kiss, not a kiss, but a good kind of kiss, the chocolate kind. You don't have to get in the reading bathtub if you don't want to but I really want to (Mrs. Jenkins has an old fashioned bathtub in her room and they call it the reading tub) You just have to ask to get in and you get to switch someone every 15 minutes. We're already working on Idaho History. Sebastion didn't do anything bad today. He was really good. Actually, Tanne broke Cassidy's colored pencil so she sharpened it and it was really tiny so we all laughed. I'm going to to really like 4th grade.

Regan- I didn't actually interview her but she came flying through the door declaring that 8th grade at RMMS is the best!! She loves all of her teachers and she's so excited because Lindee is in lots of her classes. She says she's way more organized than she was last year because she's got an awesome binder that she vows to keep clean and organized. She's already got plans to run for student government and to be involved in as much as possible. She also said told me that she wouldn't call the 7th graders "Sevies" because that drove her completely nuts last year.

Here's to another great school year!

What we did this summer!

I can't believe how much stuff I missed blogging about this summer.  I kind of feel guilty about it but then again, I was so busy having fun that taking my camera along and blogging just seemed like too much hassle.  So, Sunday evening, DJ asked the kids if they could recall all of the fun things we did this summer and this is the list everyone came up with!  I wish I could say I'd follow up with some awesome pics of our fun but I'd be lying.  I'm so far behind in so many areas of my life it's pathetic so I'll settle with my exciting list!

*  June and half of July was spent participating in Gem State Track Club which was well worth the time and effort it took to get all the kids to practices twice a week and track meets every other week.  They all learned a lot and I think Kaleb may have caught the running bug. He actually ran his first 5k this summer in Cokeville.  He finished, with a little help from his darling cousin, Leona carrying him on her back for a couple of minutes.  Anyway, he was so happy with himself when he crossed the finish line and was even more excited when our family won a huge bag of Swedish fish for having the most members of the family participate.  (6 out of our 8) Grandma Teichert told him it was all because of him that we won so he felt like a big star for the day!  Oh, did I mention that the poor kid was so sore for a couple of days he had a hard time walking up the stairs.  :)
*  BYU-I Alumni week activities including the 50 lap relay and a 5k earlier in the summer
*  Rose family reunion at the Allen's in Logan- complete with a huge blow up water slide for their backyard!  (we're totally doing this next year)  Oh, and to make it even better, Uncle Stanton rented another backyard blowup slide and jump house for the next day and took us all to Cars 2!!   It was awesome to have everyone together for a day before Matt and Sara and their kids left for China where they'll be for the next year.  We're excited for them but soooo sad that they are so far away. 
*  The kids and I went to Park Valley for a day for my cousin's baby's blessing.  I got to see lots of my extended family so I'm calling it a mini- family reunion!
*  We spent a week at Music Camp in Rupert with the Wilson clan!  The week was full of classes, performances, and lots of time in Aunt Lori's swimming pool.  It doesn't get much better than that!
*  Several movie nights at our neighbor's house (Berrett's)  They hold it in their yard every Friday night and project the movie on the side of their house and invite all who want to come.  Seriously, it's so much fun and the kids think it's the best!!!
*  4th of July barbecue with the Berrett family
*  Johnson family reunion in Salt Lake- We got to spend a full day visiting and getting reacquainted with my cousins that I haven't seen in so long.  I think what I most enjoyed was seeing all of our kids have so much fun with their second cousins.  It just made me wish we lived closer to one another. I also loved watching my Grandma have such a good time.  She truly enjoys every minute with her family and we love her so much! 
*  Attended my cousin Nate's wedding the same weekend as the reunion.  Nate and Shelby make the cutest couple and their wedding was beautiful.  I'm so happy for both of them and so glad that we got to be a part of their special day.
*  We spent a day at Rigby Lake with the Berrett girls across the street
*  We also spent a day with the kids (minus Regan because she was babysitting) at Rexburg Rapids the new water park in Rexburg
*  We had several picnics at the park with friends
*  We enjoyed the 24th of July celebration in Cokeville with DJ's family.  We ran the early morning 5k with the the kids (minus Porter and Kamryn), attended the program at the church where Elder Perry was in attendance, enjoyed the afternoon with family, and then went and watched the big rodeo from the roof of Jonathan's house. Kamryn, Porter, and Kaleb all decided they wanted to try and catch the rabbits and chicken.  They weren't successful in their efforts and Kamryn was not pleased at all.  She was sure she was going to take one home.
* The girls had a fun sleepover with Grandma and Grandpa Rose which I hope to blog about soon.  My parents are the best and they really know how to throw a party!
*  We made a trip to Winnemucca, NV, for our nephew Zach's homecoming from his mission. 
*  We spent a fun day in Burley with Ann and Val where they took us boating all afternoon and then to the fair and rodeo that evening.  Morgan and Regan both learned to water ski and all the kids had a blast  riding the tube.  Oh, and DJ and I got to waterski again, it's always a thrill when the old people can get up on ski's!:)
*  Regan attended Trek for 4 days and Girls' Camp for 4 days!  She's had a great summer
*  We went to the movies,  ice cream, lots of trips to the library, and just enjoyed not having a schedule

Table Rock Hiking 2011 at OneTrueMedia.com

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Way to go, Regan, Morgan, Lindee and Dad!!!  This morning they all left at 5:00 and started the hike to Table Rock at around 7:00.  It took them 3:40 min to hike up and 2:15 to get down. They all came back sweaty, tired, stinky, achy, hot, and ready for a bath and bed.  Poor Regan still had to go to Cross Country practice and didn't get home until 6:45 this evening.  She's beyond hammered!!  This is Regan and DJ's second time hiking Table Rock and Morgan's first time.  Jordyn had planned to go and had everything packed, and was so excited about the adventure but unfortunately she came down with the nasty bug that I blogged about earlier and spent the night puking instead.  She's already gearing up for next years adventure! 
According to both Morgan and DJ, Morgan was a bit whiny and slow for the first 1/2 hour and then DJ came up with the cutest idea.  He nicknamed her "Morgan the Mountaineer" and told her they were on an expedition and she was the tour guide and he was the city slicker.  She had to lead the way and he'd follow and from then on, she was the leader of the pack!  Lindee and Regan nicknamed her "Sacajawea" which she claims she didn't like but she said that DJ's idea gave her a lot of motivation and made her excited for the rest of the climb.  Lindee and Regan stuck together during the hike while DJ and Morgan stuck together just ahead of them.  At about 2 hours in to the hike up, Morgan said, "you know dad, this is the most time I've spent with you at one time." He said it really hit him hard and he realized how much it means to the kids to have individual time.  I love DJ so much for taking the kids to do this even though it was really tough.  He is constantly teaching them and showing by example that they can do hard things.  They just need to be determined and have a good attitude and of course with Heavenly Father's help they can accomplish anything!  I was visiting with Morgan tonight while she was going to bed and she told me how much she enjoyed the hike. She said that in the first half hour her attitude wasn't the best but then she noticed some flowers growing along the path and they happened to be the same ones she'd learned about at day camp a month earlier.  She said she started to pay better attention to the things around her and then dad's challenge to be the leader changed her attitude almost instantly.  I'm so proud of her and I the best part is that she's proud of herself!!  Anyway, here are a few pictures at the top of the mountain and a little video to prove they did it!!:)

  

What do you get when...

....you say out loud to your kids the week before school starts, "Do you guys realize that no one has been sick in our family this whole summer?" 

You get sick kids!!  Extremely sick kids for that matter, 4 out of the 6 spent a couple of days with high fevers and endless puking. 

We're on the mend now and so far Regan and Morgan are in the clear.

So, if you are smart, keep your mouth shut and don't utter such things aloud!

Dummy

After my last post about Regan's Birthday festivities, I realized I didn't include any of her actual birthday pictures so I went to retrieve them and they aren't there!!  I'm losing it in my old age.  We celebrated a couple of days early because we were traveling to Nevada on her birthday.  She took a ton of time making her own birthday cake out of 48 cupcakes decorated in pastel colors.  It was so stinking cute and took her all afternoon.  Do you think I can find the pictures, NOOOOOO!  I'm sure they'll turn up just like the last bunch I lost but it's maddening in the meantime.  She had a fun birthday and got some really fun and cute things.  Grandma and Grandpa Rose took her on a shopping trip to Down East Outfitters before her birthday and spoiled her with lots of new Sunday clothes. She looks like a million bucks and is happy to have some new things that actually fit her right.  Grandma and Grandpa Teichert spoiled her with a big check in the mail so DJ and I took her shopping again and this time she spent the money on pants, jewelry, and hair stuff.  She's not a big spender and she's a really good bargain shopper so I never have to worry about her wasting money.  Grandma Teichert also surprised her with another shirt and some more jewelry on her birthday while we were in Nevada.  DJ and I gave her a new bedspread and desk lamp for her bedroom and a hymn book with her name engraved on it.  Morgan gave her several sets of earrings and made her the cutest journal decorated with scrapbook paper and flowers.  Jordyn gave her hand sanitizer for her locker and back pack because Regan's our "germ freak" and Kaleb gave her a locker mirror.  That night we watched a movie called "Soul Surfer" and then enjoyed her cupcake cake outside that evening.  I'm hoping and praying that I can find the pictures of her special day.

Here's what I did find. On our way out to Nevada we stopped in Jackpot for dinner at Winger's for Regan's birthday.  The food was awesome and Regan was serenaded by the waitresses and cooks while she sported a chicken hat!  Then they served her a huge platter of dessert with 8 spoons so we could all have a taste. She was embarrassed but I think she was secretly pretty happy about the whole thing. 

Doesn't she look embarrassed yet pleased? 

Doesn't our family look like a bunch of big pigs in this picture?  The kids couldn't wait to dig in the Regan's dessert and she was happy to share.  I just have to laugh at all 6 of them swarmed around one plate. 

We were all laughing so hard because Kaleb was a little reckless with his spoon and dribbled ice cream all over Regan's arm.  And then he proceeded to lick her arm clean.  I shouldn't have laughed but I couldn't help it!  I can only imagine what the people in the next booth were thinking;) 

Of course a few of the kids had to have their turns with the chicken hat.   

Happy 13th Birthday, Regan!

Um......can someone please tell me how it's possible that I have a 13 year old??  Okay, I know how, but I'm just wondering where the past 13 year have gone.  I can remember the day Regan was born like it was yesterday.  I remember being scared out of my mind at the thought of caring for such a tiny little baby and wondering how Heavenly Father could possibly trust little old me to take care of her.  I remember DJ holding her shortly after she was born and carrying her around like a little China doll.  He was one proud daddy!  I know Heavenly Father knew that we'd need Regan as our first child.  She's been the perfect example for all of her younger siblings and she's been an amazing help to me and a huge blessing to our family.  She's beautiful inside and out and strives to do and be her very best in all aspects of her life.  We love you more than you'll ever know, Regan!  Happy 13th Birthday--we hope this year will be filled with lots of great things!

My neighbor and friend (also our camp director) took these pictures of Regan in preparation for our ward Girl's camp!  (I think they are gorgeous but I'm the mom so I can think that!)

This is Regan at approximately a week old.  She was a tiny little thing and so beautiful. 

Here's proof that she did fill out after a couple of months! 

Here's a few things we love about Regan and a few things things she's accomplished this year! 

*  She's been working diligently on her Personal Progress for the Young Women program and she's nearing half way done already!

*  She earned a little bit of extra money this summer babysitting for a lady in our ward and was excited to have her own money to school shop with.

*  She attended Girl's Camp for her second year

*  She got to go on Trek and had a great experience getting a tiny taste of pioneer life for 4 days!

*  She learned how to water ski (just one day before her birthday!!!!)

* She ran "3" 5k's this year and ran great times in all 3

* She survived her first year in middle school and served on the student council, ran cross country and track and still managed to get great grades!

*  She hiked Table Rock with DJ, Morgan, and her friend Lindee (actually that is happening right now and we're anxiously awaiting their safe arrival home)

Some of my favorite things about Regan is that she's genuine, she's quick to forgive, quick to say she's sorry when she's wrong, and she tries hard to make people happy around her.  She's always looking for ways to help me around the house and can often be found doing the dishes and loads of laundry without being asked.  She loves holidays, loves birthdays (not just her own), loves candy, loves goodies, loves fancy dinners, loves running, loves organizing, in fact, she's spent the last 2 days organizing she and Jordyn's wardrobe's for the first couple of weeks in school, right down to the last piece of jewelry!:):)  She likes to cook, she's funny, sarcastic, and hates it when I play jokes on her.  One example was a couple of weeks ago we were headed home from grocery shopping and when we were nearing home she was being a big goofball and rocking out to some music in the car.  She was being seriously goofy so I pretended that I had just passed this cute boy that's in our stake that lives out in this area along side the road and he was just staring at her and giving her all kinds of weird looks.  I was having the hardest time keeping a straight face but apparently I did a pretty good job because she totally fell for it and was so embarrassed.  I know, I'm a rotten mother but I couldn't pass up an opportunity like that.  We were both laughing our heads off when I finally told her I was joking!  Regan loves spending time with her friends but she'll always choose her family first.  I hope that never changes.  Sorry if this seems like a brag-fest but I just want Regan to know just how proud of her we are.  She has a strong testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and she sincerely wants to make good choices in her life. We love you Regan and hope that you will continue following in your Savior Jesus Christ's footsteps.   

And now a random bunch of pictures I found while going through photo books.  They're all mixed up because I don't have time to arrange them.   

 

  

kids funnies!

During Jordyn's prayer she said, "And please bless Murissa Morgan's baby to be born wealthy"  (oops, I think she meant "healthy")
Kaleb retelling something that happened between he and DJ--"mom, I went in to the room and I had something in my hand and a big smile on my face.  Dad told me I had a mysterious look on my face,  (oops, I think he meant "mischievous look")
Porter and Kaleb are convinced that they are riding lambs in the fair this weekend.  Porter excitedly said yesterday, "I'm going Muston Button, mom!"  (that would be Mutton Bustin')
Kaleb said, "mom, I suffer from short-term memory loss."  I asked him what that meant and he replied, "I don't know, I can't remember!"
 

Hangin' on for the ride

We found out today that DJ is accepted to the Professional Practices Doctoral in Education program with the College of Education at the University of Idaho!  He's anxious to start working on his Doctrate as it's something he's been thinking about doing for a long time.  I think he and I are both not sure whether to jump for joy or bury our heads in a pillow and cry.  It's going to be a long road but I know he's up for the challenge and if there is one thing I can say about my husband is that he's a worker.  He's always been such a good student and is becoming a pro at juggling multiple responsiblities.  He's a great dad, a hard working Bishop, a valuable employee at BYU-I, a wonderful husband, and now he'll once again be a great student!  Good luck hon!