The Ferrells

Saturday, October 1, 2011

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.