My kids started school yesterday! They were so excited! Tuesday night we went to back to school night for Jackson, we got to meet Mrs.Avery and see lots of his friends. Before bed we talked about the school year and Parker gave Jackson and Chloe a father's blessing! Wednesday was the big day. Jackson was up, dressed, bed made, with backpack on before 6am. Can we say excited? I made french toast and cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Jackson could not hold still or stop smiling...I love that he's so happy school is starting! We got to school and he gave me a quick kiss and ran all the way to class.

Chloe also had her first day. We went together to Miss Ann's house to meet the kids in her class and go over some rules. It only lasted an hour and Chloe wasn't ready to leave. I'm so excited for this school year, I know it's going to bring lots of fun and excitement, hard work and learning, and new friends and memories!!!

Jackson is ready to go

Let's not keep him waiting...

Bye, Love you! Have a great day.

Chloe was so excited to see Miss Ann

She was acting so silly!!!

Ever since Parker and I have been married we have had a dream, we've tried every year to achieve it. Some years I was pregnant or nursing, others we were out of state, and even on a few occasions we were packed and ready to go only to find out mother nature had different plans. This year the date was set for August 1st and we had decided whatever stood in our way we were going to fulfill our dream. So, at 5:30am we woke up, got in the car and headed up the canyon! We arrived at the Timpanooki trail head and started our hike up Timpanogos mountain. The sun hadn't come out yet and it was quite cold, but it was beautiful! The wild flowers were amazing! There were waterfalls, chipmunks, deer, mountain goats, snow, emerald lake, and some in our group even saw a moose! We had a fun group...my dad, brother Scott, sis-in law Chelsey, her sister Charee and husband Tanner, Stephan Moulton and wife Rachel, Amy Moulton Schmutz, Parker, and I. It was a long, rough hike, but we made it all the way to the top and got to look over the entire valley!!! I felt awesome to have achieved climbing the entire mountain with Parker. We stopped for lunch, and then headed back down. We slid down a glacier that never melts, it was SO steep. I was wearing my silk soccer shorts which immediately rode up and I had some pretty good bruises on the back of my legs (not as fun as I had remembered when I hiked it 4 times in high school). 1/2 way down I met up with Parker, I was freezing and hurting, so he let me use him as a human sled!!! It was great! At the bottom of the glacier it feeds into Emerald Lake. I had told Parker that I jumped in every time I have hiked Timp, so he decided to do it! He dove in, came up and couldn't talk for about a minute. It was freezing! I called him my polar bear the rest of the way down. The entire hike took us 9 1/2 hours! By the end we were tired, hungry, sun burnt, hurting from the waist down and SO happy that we had hiked Timp!

It was such a gorgeous day!

There were so many waterfalls

Charee was so much fun to be with!

Thanks Parker for taking this, I wish you were in it though

The wildflowers were amazing!!!

I loved hiking with Parker

We made it to the top! YES!!!

Emerald Lake view from the summit

Charee and Chelsey

I was so proud of myself for not dying on the slide down.

It was so steep. Parker went first for our group and grabbed

2 rocks to hold and use as rudders, it worked so well that the

15-20 people watching on top grabbed rocks for themselves (it was funny)

Pumped and ready to jump

There's no turning back now!

He had to push through the ice to swim to shore! He's my polar bear!

Dad and Scott

I love this picture of my brother

We love boating! My parents invited us to go the morning after visiting the rodeo and we were excited! There was a lot of wake boarding, but we also did some surfing, swimming and of course lots of fun conversation and laughing! It was a beautiful day out on Deer Creek. When we were done we headed over to Great Harvest for lunch! Thanks Dad and Mom, it was a perfect day.

Jackson's awesome at body boarding

Chloe was playing with her licorice. She's a rhino!

Wakeboard hottie

Uncle Matt and Ella

Chloe is a fish. Everytime we stopped she asked if she could jump in

Jackson loves being on the boat

I love my sis!

Mom and Dad

It's so fun to watch Parker wakeboard

Ella loved swimming

My brother Scott

Go Dave! I think this is the only picture I have of him

where he's not sticking out his tongue

Swimming with Daddy

Uncle Scott playing with Jackson

Chelsey

We got to go to the Spanish Fork Rodeo in July with my family. My kids loved it, Ella would squeal every time she'd see a new horse, and say "horse, horse" (you can imagine how often that was). When the cowboys would ride the bronco's she was worried that the horse was getting hurt! My kids kept us laughing and totally entertained! I loved watching Jackson as he sat down by the bars and intensly watched as kids his age rode sheep in " mutin'bustin' ". Chloe was full of questions and fun facial expressions. I loved being there with Parker and the kids!

Daddy's girl!

Ella looks like she's about ready to cry.

I love this picture! The clown had just told a farting joke, Jackson

oviously thought it was funny! He is all boy!

On the 4th of July Parker and I spent most of our day driving home from Lake Powell. Our kids were staying at my parents house. Megan helped them decorate their bikes and took them out into the neighborhood. Every year instead of going to the parade my parents ward does a bike parade where the kids decorate their bikes, ride around and then they have a picnic. So fun! They also brought in a huge fire hydrant and sprayed the kids!!! We got home in time for fireworks (we were so excited to see the kids!!!) and then went to see the stadium of fire fireworks. My Dad and Mom also took Jackson and Chloe to see the hot air balloons take off early one morning. They loved it.

Watching the hot air balloons take off

I remember doing this as a child

Such cute kids!

The bike parade. Jackson and Chloe still have their bikes decorated

Picnic time

"spray us, spray us..."

sopping wet

Grammy bought my kids these darling 4th of July outfits.

They loved watching fireworks.

My amazing parents! Love you both!