1st day of school, 2012

 It begins again... It blows my mind that I have been doing this first day of school thing for nine year.  That makes me feel really old.  There is something about the first day of school that feels a lot like the new year.  New beginnings, new clothes, new teachers, new routines and new goals.  I love that waking them up is so easy that first day, almost like Christmas morning.  The first day of school we always have "pancake dippers", for some reason my kids think this is really cool.  The funny thing about this little tradition is that it was totally unintentional.  Several years back on the first day of school I tried to figure out a way for them to have pancakes without them spilling on their new clothes,  So I made the pancakes long and skinny and put syrup in a little side container and called them pancake dippers so that it was okay to use their fingers.  For some reason it caught on and on the first day of school this is the request.  I never make them any other time, so apparently I only care about syrup on the clothes on the first day, necessary for pictures I suppose.

Check her out, 8th grade, 13 years old, and a whole lot of boy crazy.  I'm so grateful for her friends and how talented this chick is.  She was busting at the seams to get back to school, so the smile is totally genuine.

Dude, 6th grade, 11 years old, Legos, basketball and the Utah Utes are what occupy his mind almost constantly.  He is an amazing kid, I love how he is so respectful of me and his sisters.  He is fun to work with, I'll miss the talks we had working while he is in school.

Super cute, 3rd grade, 8 years old, painting, playing the piano, and following her older siblings around is what she does best.  She has gained an enormous amount of attitude(the cute kind) and spunk this last year.  She is witty and funny and is a lot of fun to be around.

Need sunglasses?  He saved his money and chose this pair, he loves them.

After school banana bread.  It looks like it was a successful day.  Let's hope the smiles stay for the whole year.

The Lake

The day before school started we decided to end our summer with a bang, or at least something more than watching T.V.  So we packed up and spent the afternoon at the lake.  We met our good friends there and enjoyed the sunshine that will soon leave, I miss summer already.

We roasted marshmallows and made s'mores.  I think the kids thought it was pretty cool that we didn't even have to start a fire.

Cambelle took her umbrella, the reason I love this so much is because she used to do this when the sun would stream through our windows in the dining room.

These two were  just as excited for the first day of school as they were for the first day of summer.  Farewell summer, sun, and days with no schedules.  As much as I will miss warm sunny days, I welcome routine, schedules and opportunities to learn and get back into the normal day in and day out kind of things.

Table Rock

There is a mountain near the Grand Teton that for me as a child was legendary.  It was the mountain that my older brothers climbed for scouts.  When I heard people had hiked to the top I would think two things, first, "they are CRAZY, why would anyone want to do that?" and second, "I wish I could do something like that, but there is no way."  Three years ago Troy and I and some of his family decided to go ahead and hike that mountain, Table Rock.  We did it again this summer, we took J.T. along and it was a fantastic day.  One I will remember for a very long time.

We went up "the face", a little steeper but you save miles for sure, we started up and were met with this sign...

This was one of J.T.'s summer goals, I loved that he knew it would be hard but still wanted to push himself.  I want him to know that he can do hard things, and succeed.

Crystal and Norm went with us.

To be fair I am sure I am doing this as well, I just did not make it into the frame of the picture.  It is a really steep climb, I think the elevation at the top is about 11,200 feet.

There is a giant rock field right before you get to the final climb.

Nothing tastes as good as lunch does at the top.  It took us about five hours to get to the top.

The wind was blowing and it was pretty cold at the top.  J.T. was AMAZING!!!  He did not complain once, he kept moving and did so well.  We had such a great time together.

Do you like the death grip I have on J.T.?  Seriously, I don't love heights but the views are usually worth it.

Speaking of the views, there were so many fires that smoke filled the sky and you couldn't see much of anything, which was disappointing.  The Tetons are only about a mile away from the top and this was all you could see.

Table Rock from a distance, it's kind of fun to think at one point we were on the top of that.

Vince and Kaylee hiked with us the entire time.  We probably held them back a little, but I am sure glad they stuck with us 'cause they were fun to talk to.

THE END,  stiff, sore and a little tired.  I'm guessing some toenails were lost but it was well worth it.

Camping

I didn't know that I even liked camping until Troy and I had the opportunity to go on Trek three years ago.  I realized I didn't mind sleeping in a tent, I liked cooking in a dutch oven and there was great freedom in not wearing any makeup.  I wanted to go with my family and create memories that I hope will last a life time.  Since then we have tried to get at least one night away every summer.  This year we made it to Teton Canyon campground, which is one of our favorites.

Troy only spent a little time trying to find a signal to send an e-mail.  The rest of the time we had his undivided attention.

One thing I love about camping is being away from everything electronic.  No DS's or i-pods allowed.  We spend time reading or playing card games.  I wish we could camp more often,

Sara spent some time with my camera.  She found some great  shots.

There was a creek near our camp site and J.T. and Cambelle loved playing and exploring.

J.T. started our fire, and both Troy and I kept trying to give him advice.  He just said, "I got it."  Troy and I looked at each other knowingly that he was doing it wrong.  That stinker, totally got it started the first time.  He did a great job. 

We didn't want to take the camp chef, so we decided to cook EVERYTHING in tin foil on the fire.  Salmon, baked potatoes, corn on the cob, carrots, and for desert brownies baked in the peel of an orange.  So yummy.

We had eggs for breakfast, Cambelle does not like eggs, therefore she made a peanut butter sandwich. 

J.T. made a fish trap on the creek that we needed to check before we left.

Before we headed for home we went to Jackson Hole to ride the Alpine Slide, always a huge hit.