Friday, September 13, 2013

Bear Lake

*These pictures are way out of order, but I don't have it in me to fix them.

Before my parents left, we wanted to have one last family get-together. My mom and dad flew Brett and Chelsea in for the weekend- this was a surprise for the kiddos. We discussed different things we wanted to do for the weekend from going to Yellowstone (this didn't work due to Brian being in China/Japan and then flying straight to Michigan), horse ride, golfing, going up the canyon, and Bear Lake. Bear Lake was the obvious choice. My parents and Nat and I and our families went up on Friday evening. We knew Brett and Chels would be arriving in the morning and were anxiously awaiting them to arrive to see the kids respond. It was as great as we thought it would be. We were all hanging out outside when they pulled in in my dad's truck. They kiddos were confused for a bit because we were all up there. It took a minute to realize it was Brett and Chels and then the screaming began. The kids and everyone else were so excited to see them. So we had basically 1 day to do a summer worth of fun at Bear Lake and boy did we do it!!! We were excited when Brian and Sher arrived too. The kiddos sure love spending time with their aunts and uncles. So to recap it all: we went Go-Carting, swimming at the pool and the beach, mini-golf, drove around a scooter, went on a "dog run" and had a famous raspberry shake, went and saw the Blackhawks that had been flying over the cabin all weekend, went to church, tried to get a family picture (tried being the key word), and had lots of quality family time and lots of laughs!! It makes me tired thinking of everything we fit in, but it was SO much fun!!

We also had a fun surprise when we were hanging out one evening and Garrett comes over and hands my parents a piece of paper. My mom starts looking at it and says, "what's this?" It ended up being a baby announcement from Brett and Chelsea they have a baby girl joining our family the end of December. (Later we found out the Sher was sicker than a dog the whole time we were at Bear Lake due to her expecting a baby girl the end of January.)




Saturday, August 17, 2013

T-Ball and Softball

Gracie started T-Ball and Brooklyn started softball. Although our month was crazy going from games and practices, we had so much fun watching them. They loved people to come watch them and especially loved going to get a treat after each game! We were really impressed with their coached and very grateful for people who donate their time to coach sports.










Horse Ride


One of Brooklyn's requests when school got out was to go on a horse ride. Greg saddled up the horses one afternoon and the kiddos enjoyed a nice ride!



Ella had a turn and LOVED it- she had the cutest little giggle the whole time!






Abby and Ella enjoyed playing pilots- Ella got hit by the swing at my parents house the day before- we were lucky she ended up with a tiny black eye.


End of School...

The kiddos finished the school year off- Gracie and Garrett had a fun water party at preschool. Gracie loved Miss Holly, going to preschool at the "little store" in Newton, and getting to go with Garrett. They were so excited when Miss Holly gave them their very own fish on the last day- the parents weren't as excited. Garrett's didn't last 24 hours- he woke up devastated at 5 A.M. to find his fish had died- Nat loved getting woken  up to that. Gracie's lasted maybe a week- she was completely heart broken when it died. They learned so much this year and can't wait for Kindergarten.


Brooklyn also finished the year off strong. I am so proud of Brooklyn for how she adjusted to her new school. Her teacher- Miss Aleece- was a blessing in disguise for us. One goal the 3rd graders set was to get the SOAR Award. They needed to read 1 book in 10 different categories, do 5 written reports, and 3 creative reports. Brooklyn worked really hard on getting this done on her own. I only reminded her twice to make sure and find out what books she needed done, the rest she did my herself- which makes getting the award that much better. When it came down to it, her and one other boy in her class of 31 got the award! We were super proud of Brooklyn. Miss Aleece rewarded them with lunch from Subway! On the 2nd to last day of school Brooklyn found our her 4th grade teacher is going to be Mr. Lish.



Thursday, July 4, 2013

Moving/Packing Day...

On May 28th, the packers came to get everything packed up for my mom and dad's big move to China. This was after weeks of preparation, lots of shopping, and late nights! We had to write down everything they were taking and the cost.

BEFORE




The truck arrives


Very random- I am sure Nat and I are studying something VERY important, but my mom looked up and saw us sitting in the same position and had to take a picture.


AFTER









They are set.