July

Mia's birthday party at Mesquite Aquatic Center

Even when the R.S. activity is free drinks and cookies at Twisted Sugar, almost nobody comes. Being in the presidency has made me realize how few people value Relief Society and it makes me sad. 

Happy 16 years to our family! Our actual anniversary was the day we flew home from Nauvoo. Travis and I got into the rental car and all the kids murmured, "one, two, three... HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!!" It was so cute! Truly made my heart happy. I thought we ought to at least have a cake after we got home. Ice cream cake from Dairy Queen... very appropriate.

Grandma gave me a bunch of tie tacks that look like the key from Liberty Jail, after we got home. Olive got a key necklace. They were so excited about them.

Shelley and I met up with the kids for a swimming day. We started at a YMCA type place in Phoenix that was super lame. They wouldn't let Tanner and Della do anything. So we got our money back and went to good ol' Brimhall pool! Then dinner at Casa Reynoso!

Lucky us! We got to watch baby Nora again!

I took Tanner to Kindergarten testing at Greenfield and was waiting in the hall for his turn when I read the bulletin board. Hmmm. "Horray?" What kind of establishment is this?! I felt funny about telling someone but come on, that is embarrassing. 

We were going to be gone for meet the teacher day, so Tanner got to meet his teacher, Morgan Miller, and see his classroom after his testing. 

We hadn't seen Camilla and Posey in forever so we planned a little dinner date at Oreganos.

There were no other weekends that worked for everyone's schedules, so once again, I went camping on my birthday! What every girl wants. I actually like family camping, it's just a ton of work and I prefer my own bed at night. Travis was very sweet and took all the kids in the suburban and let me drive his truck in peace and harmony. It was lovely. 

Camilla's text messages are legendary. I have no idea how she comes up with the stuff she writes! I die! 

Poor Weston took a spill on a dirt bike. He wasn't wearing any pads and got some pretty bad road rash. 

I ordered a yummy, organic cake from Abbey's friend so at least we had good dessert that night! It was fun to celebrate with my seesters. Happy 39 to me! We did all the normal things on this trip... card games, hammock swings, RZR rides, camp fires and Red Vines aplenty!

Getting four kids ready for school is no joke. At the end of one day I realized my dress had been on backwards all day. Very indicative of how I'd been feeling.

Gilbert public district went back to school July 26. Two weeks before ALA started. So Weston and Tanner started 6th and Kindergarten together! We had the traditional Mickey Mouse pancakes for breakfast. I drove them on the first day, then they took the bus after that. Tanner LOVED the bus. We had missed Meet the Teacher, so Weston got to meet his teacher, Mrs. Black on the playground. Travis and I actually went to school with her at Mesa High. Here name was Nicole Armenta back then. She's really good friends with Kristen Arnett. Small world! I loved getting a picture of Weston and all his friends from Jackie Cottrell later that day. Tanner seemed pretty excited about everything until it was time to line up and leave me. Then he shed some tears and the school counselor tried reassuring him. He was very brave and followed his teacher when it was time to go. My heart! My baby is off to Kindergarten. 

Some more backstory is that a few days earlier it crossed my mind that I had never prayed about whether it was the right decision to send Tanner to full day Kindergarten. Last year, when it was time to enroll, I worried over the decision, what with him being a summer birthday. I even wondered if I should put him in Kindergarten at all or wait another year! But it just so happens that Tanner was incredibly difficult that week, crying and being stubborn and whatnot. So I very happily thought, "Well kid! You just made my decision easy! It's off to school with you!" And that was that until two days before school started and I had that thought about praying about it. So that night I knelt and prayed and oh my goodness if I didn't get the WORST feeling ever. I have never experienced anything like it. It was such a dark, awful, yucky feeling that I got off my knees just to make it go away. Then I was distraught! Was I making a bad decision? Should I not have him go to Greenfield? I started frantically searching for other options and found a charter school right across Power Rd. from us called Leman Academy of Excellence and it had a half-day Kinder program. I called and they still had openings so I filled out the application. They weren't starting school until the next week so I decided I'd still have Tanner go to school at Greenfield for a week, then we'd go to Leman for Meet the Teacher and make a decision from there. Well, after a week at Greenfield, Tanner was not loving it. Full day was long and hard and he complained that the boy who sat next to him was mean. I know these are normal things and would have been fine to work through, but given where I was at mentally, it made it easier to switch to Leman. He went to his first day and I asked him which school he'd rather go to. He wanted to go to Leman but her REALLY wanted to ride the bus. It was hard to give up the bus but ultimately we stuck with Leman and I'm so glad we did! He only had 17 kids in his class plus a full time aid. His teacher, Julie Stojanovic is amazing. She is organized, productive and loves teaching. It was such an emotionally stressful week making hard decisions, but I feel so good about where we landed. 

Here comes the cold sore! Naturally. I have been the biggest stress case.

No better Primary choristers out there than Jennifer Breese. I love getting pictures of their antics.

While Weston and Tanner started school... Collin, Rusty, Lindi and Olive did a volleyball camp at Mesa High! Goooo Jackrabbits!