First Day of School

The girls first day of school was back on August 10th (I told you I have a lot to catch up on). I'm not sure how excited they were to start school but we managed to get through the morning without any tears.
Peyton started 5th grade this year and I can't believe how quickly she is growing up. She decided to chop a lot of her hair off right before school started. I was a little nervous to let her do it but it has made her hair a lot easier to manage and it still looks cute.

Hailey started 1st grade this year. I was a little worried about how she would react when we took her to school so I made Ryan do it (she had been crying and worrying about 1st grade all summer). Ryan said it went well and she hasn't cried about going to school in the almost 2 months she has been going which is a huge improvement from last year.

Alexis didn't start school but she wishes she could go. She loves to put her backpack on and pretend she is going to school too.

Here's to hoping that this is another great school year.

Cardon Family Reunion

Our last vacation of the summer was our Cardon Family Reunion in Munds Park, AZ. This is where we grew up going since my Grandma and Grandpa Gaisford had a cabin there. They owned it until 2002 when my Grandpa sold it after my Grandma passed away. We rented an awesome cabin that had 2 kitchens, 2 family rooms, 6 bedrooms, a tennis court, a huge deck, and lots of land to play on. It was just perfect.
Here is my family just after we attended church in Flagstaff.

The tennis court wasn't in great condition but it made a perfect kickball and baseball field since it was enclosed so the ball couldn't go too far. We had so much fun playing and my mom even hit a home run. Boy was she excited.

Here she is running to home plate with her hands raised in victory. We also had a family talent show which was so much fun. My neice Summer wrote a skit for her and some of the kids to perform. It was so creative and funny.

Alexis started to sing a song but then she got too shy to finish. I guess she got stage fright.

My sister-in-law Michelle did a hilarious skit about a pirate. She is so much fun to be around and keeps us laughing.

Ryan wrote a few lymrics that were funny and everyone was impressed with his poetry skills.

My sister Rachael, her boyfriend Steve, my brother Andrew and his wife Michelle did another funny skit about exercising. (those are Steve's legs Rachael is holding)

My brother Scott and his wife Megan did another funny skit.

At the end of the talent show my parents and all of my brothers and sisters got up and sang our old family talent show song we sang at a family reunion when I was 8, "Somewhere Out There". We all remembered the words and it was fun to think about past fun times we had together as a family.

While we were there the kids played lots of card games.

We hung out and talked a lot while enjoying the beautiful weather.

The kids played outside most of the day and enjoyed each other's company.

We took a walk up to our old family cabin (which has changed a lot since we sold it) and of course had to take a picture. I am sure the people who bought it from my Grandpa did not anticipate the amount of visitors they would receive over the years who just wanted to take a picture or see what the inside looked like. They probably think our family is crazy and need to let go of the past but we have so many wonderful memories there it is hard to let go (I don't think any of us ever will).

Alexis loved having so many cousins to play with and take care of her. Her cousin Jacob is just the sweetest kid and loves taking care of the babies. We can always count on him to be so sweet and kind to the little ones.

Ryan was able to play some tennis with his brother-in-laws and his sister-in-law.

One of the highlights of the cabin was the zip line they had. The kids loved going on it (even the youngest ones) and could have done it all day long.

Here is Peyton riding on the zip line.

We had such a fun time at our reunion and can't wait to go back again in the next few years. Thanks mom and dad for helping us relive our childhood.

Swim Team

This summer in between all the vacationing we did the girls also participated in swim team. This is something that I did as a kid and so I have carried on the tradition with my kids. Hailey really enjoyed it and loved getting ribbons at the swim meets. She really improved over the summer and really started learning how to do all 4 strokes correctly.
This was Peyton's 4th year of swim team and her enthusiasm is fading fast. This was the first year she had to swim 2 laps for her races and that was really hard for her. She isn't sure she wants to do it again next year but I hope I can talk her into it. It is such great exercise.

We decided to go out for frozen yogurt after their final swim meet. The girls enjoyed this and Lexi especially loved it. I'm really proud of Peyton and Hailey for trying their hardest and doing the best they could do.

Utah and Wyoming

This summer we took a 2 week trip (we spent 40 days on vacation this summer) to Utah, Wyoming, and then back to Utah again. Our first stop was to South Jordan, Utah where we stayed in my brother Andrew and Michelle's beautiful new house. The girls had a great time playing with their cousin Drew and Ryan and I enjoyed hanging out with Andrew and Michelle. We went to the Children's exhibit in the LDS Art and Church History Museum. My girls love going there to play.
They had dance clothes you could try on and learn how to do some Mexican dancing.

We also went to the splash pad at Liberty Park and they girls loved splashing in the water and soaking in the sun.

We also made a quick stop at BYU to go bowling.

The girls and I went to visit the Museum of Art on BYU campus and we came across this exhibit of used college books someone had built into a huge square. It was really awesome to look at.

Before we left to go to Wyoming we went out to dinner with Andrew and Michelle and my sister Rachael and her boyfriend Steve. We ate lots of good food and had a great time talking.

After a few days in Utah we left to go to Cody, Wyoming to spend the 4th of July with Ryan's family. Ryan's mom grew up in Cody and Ryan spent a lot of his childhood 4th of July's in Cody. He was really excited to go and relive his childhood. His parents, his brother Tyler and his family, his sister Ashley and her family, and his sister Amber and her family all came to Cody to celebrate. Their were 19 of us and we probably doubled the population of this small town. We played at the park a lot and just had fun being together.

Here are all the grand kids waiting for the kid parade to start (there were 3 parades that weekend). Grandma Ferrell loved being surrounded by all of them.

Peyton and Hailey really wanted to get feathers in their hair while we were at the big celebration at the park. It was really cheap so I let them.

One of the highlights of the trip was going to a real professional rodeo. The Cody Stampede Rodeo was so much fun and the girls loved watching it. Hailey even got to sit on a real bull and take a picture with her cousins.

On the morning of the 4th of July they had a huge parade. I have never seen so many horses at one time in my life. It was fun to see what parades were like before they had huge floats and cars.

Here are the two that made this trip possible for all of us. Thanks mom and dad for showing us a great time.

While we were at the hotel we swam a lot with the cousins.

Here the girls are at another park.

Here we all are (just to prove we were all there together).

Lexi and Peyton loved to snuggle on the hotel bed together.

That night we went to go watch fireworks at the top of the mountain. It was a great show until it started pouring rain and we had to run back to the car. We had such a fun time in Cody and it is a trip we will remember forever. It was great seeing how Ryan spent some of his childhood and one of the best parts was getting to see the Ranch that my mother-in-law spent her summer's at.

After our fun trip to Wyoming we drove back to Utah to spend time at the condo in Provo. We spent one day swimming with Michelle and Drew.

We spent a day hanging out with some of our friends from Irvine (who now live in Utah) the Lopez Family. The girls had a great time playing with their old friends and they didn't want to leave their house.

We also got to spend time with our friends from our days at BYU, Beth and Eric, and Matt and Stacey. We had fun catching up with them and the kids had fun playing with their kids.

We spent some more time at BYU and then it was time to head back home. It was sad to leave Utah but we look forward to going back in October for a week.

Hailey's Birthday

Hailey was born on Father's Day 6 years ago and this year her birthday fell on Father's Day again. The day before her birthday we threw together a little party with some of her friends and cousins. She was so excited to have her own party (I'm not big into birthday parties so it is rare). Here she is with her friends and cousins.
She really wanted a pinata so Ryan was nice enough to go buy one and fill it for her and set it up. The kids had a great time hitting it and getting the candy.

All she wanted was cupcakes from the store and that sounded great to me. She got to pick them out herself so she was super happy with them. She got a lot of great presents and had a fun time playing and laughing.

On her birthday the Ferrell family got together to celebrate Father's Day and they added her birthday into the celebration. Grandma Ferrell even got Hailey her own cake. She loved it and felt really special. I can't believe Hailey is already 6. She is growing up so fast.