Valerie - The Girl Scout

Meet the newest Girl Scout. 

Valerie Joined Troop #350 today as a Daisy. 

   

 

After Valerie decided she did not want to do dance I started looking for something else that she might enjoy doing.  Her friend Emily Call was in Girl Scouts so we decided to check it out.  It is such a great program, and I will admit I love the cookies too. 

She is so excited to start this new adventure, and I am excited to do it with her. 

I get to be one of her Co-leaders. 

Look who's 40!!

Today is Ryan's 40th birthday.  I asked him if he wanted a big party, but he said no.  So instead to celebrate I made him a big pan of his favorite dinner, Mac and Cheese. 

 

I am so grateful for Ryan and all that he does for our family.  He is such an amazing husband and father.   

 

Happy Birthday Ryan!!! We love you!!!

Curls

Last night I put Curlers in Valerie's hair.  When I finished she jumped up and said, "I need to go look in the mirror to see if I look like Great Grandma Atkin.   

 I love that she said that.  Every morning for as long as I can remember my Grandma Atkin has put curlers in her hair.  When we go to visit her if we arrive early enough she usually will still have them in.  She would eventually go and take them out,  but I have many memories and a few photos of her with them in.  So for that to be something that Valerie has noticed was so cute to me. 

Back To School!!

Summer seemed to go by way to fast this year.  It is hard for me to believe it is already the first day of school.  Maybe because school started on August 19th this year.  That just seems so early to me. 

 Emily is starting 10th grade this year and is officially in high school.  She got up early and was already to head to the bus when the news announced that there had been a bomb threat at her school and school was canceled for the day.  She was disappointed,  but I have to admit it was nice to have one more day of summer with her. 

Joe is starting the 5th grade this year.  I know that the time is coming when he is going to be too cool to be seen with his mom.  I was hoping this year was not going to be that year.  I took this picture of the boys when we got to school.  I am glad I did because when we got to the back of the school where his class was lined up he suddenly wanted to pretend like I was not there. 
 

 Don't worry though.  I did my best to embarrass him.  I tried to take his picture and when he was having none of that I started talking to the other kids in line.  When I felt that I had embarrassed Joe enough I headed over to where Josh was lined up.

 

Josh is starting 3rd grade this year and is very excited because his friend Jared is in his class.  He was happy to have his picture taken with his buddy. 

 

The boys had a great first day.  The next morning Emily finally got to head off to school.  and she had a great first day to.

 

A week later was  Valerie's first day of Kindergarten.  She has been waiting for this day for years. 

 This is just a handful of friends that started school with her today.  In the picture is Mason, Valerie, Susie, Larkin, and Emily.  A few friends I can think of who are not in the picture are, Kaylee, Topher, Gabe, and Leah.  There are a lot of kids from our neighborhood in Kindergarten.  It is going to be a fun year. 

 Valerie is loves to learn new things and was excited to go the first week of school, but towards the end of the second week she started struggling to get out the door.  I asked her if there was something happening at school that made her not wasn't to go.  She said yes.  When I asked her what she said, "My teacher is talking to much and it is giving me a headache!"  Valerie is very chatty, and I wonder if the problem is not that the teacher is talking too much, but that Valerie is not getting to talk enough.  Either way she still loves to do the work and is always excited when she gets home to teach me the things that she has learned. 

This year is off to a good start and I hope it continues that way.   

Comic Con 2014

 

It is Comic Con time again and these three are ready to go with their Gold Passes. 

They have been planning for months.  Grandma helped Joe by making his costume.  He went as Kiato from Vokaloid. 

 Here he is all ready to go. 

All three of them love going to Comic Con.  Last year Joe was so excited because they made it into the panel with Stan Lee. They made it in again this year. He ended up saying almost the exact same stuff that he said the year before, so I don't know if they will try to see him if he comes again.  A new discovery they made this year was the show Studio C.  They were at Comic Con this year and Joe is obsessed.  Emily was excited to talk to some of the artists that were there.  She found a few new comic books and some markers that she can now dream of owning.  She loves everything about Comic Con.  Ryan says that they stay until the very end,  because they all hate leaving.  I am so glad that they have something that they love to do together.  Maybe next year I will join them for a day.

Seven Brides For Seven Brothers

Tonight Joe and I went to see Seven Brides For Seven Brothers and the Sierra Theatre in Orem.  No one else in the family wanted to go with us,  so we invited our friends and neighbors, Ashley and Makayla Pitcher to go with us. 

 

It was such a fun night and a great play.  I love getting to spend time with Joe, and I am so glad that he likes to go to plays,  because I love the theatre.  I hope he keeps loving it, so I have someone to go with me. 

Salt Lake Adventures

 Grandpa Bolander invited us to come to lunch with him before school started.  We love going to lunch with Grandpa.  The kids always look forward to it.  As part of the tradition we walked down to the Olympic Fountain after lunch, and as usual the kids got a little wet.  Everyone that is except Emily who somehow in the last year has decided she is too old for the fountain.   

After the kids became completely soaked they were ready to go home.  Silly me had not prepared for soaking wet children so I needed them to dry off before letting them get in the van.  Grandpa had to head back to work so I decided that we would go visit the temple grounds for a bit. 

We headed over to the TRAX station and waited for a train. 

It was a really warm day so it did not take the kids long to dry off.  I was glad we took a minute to go over to the temple grounds and walk around though. 

I love these kids and love spending time with them.  I feel like this summer has gone by really fast.  I would love to have a couple of more weeks to play.  This year is going to be a little different with all of my kids in school and Emily in high school.  They really do grow up too fast, but I love watching them do it.    

Pinewood Derby 2014

Today was Joe's final Pinewood Derby as a cub scout and Josh's first.  They had a great time making their cars.  They went wit a transformer theme this year.  They did not win their races,  but they both had fun. 

 

And to top off the event Joe received his Webelos badge and his Religious knot.  We are so proud of all of his hard work! 

Cove Fort

On the way home from Cedar City we stopped at Cove Fort.  I have driven by this many times,  but I don't remember ever stopping before.   

 

It was really interesting to take the tour and learn how people traveled through Utah back then.  One of the kids favorite parts of the tour was getting to climb up to the lookout. 

This was a great stop to get out and stretch our legs.  I think the kids learned a thing or two also.  Like how easy their chores are. 

Comedy Of Errors

Monday night Grandma Bolander treated Grandpa and Emily to a play at the Shakespeare Festival.  Ryan, Joe and I also got to come to the party.   This was Joe's very first time going.  I was really excited to be there. 

 

 

We went to see The Comedy Of Errors. 

 But first we went to the Green Show.

 

 And loaded up on tarts.   

The play was done in a western setting.  They kept all of the language the same, so I was really surprised how well it went.  It was such a fun night.  

Emily and Joe loved it too.   

Tour of Utah - Cedar City

The main reason for our trip to Cedar City was to see the stage of the Tour of Utah.  Ryan is a big cycling fan and love to follow this race and see as much of it in person as he can. 

 

 

Before the race started we picked out our spot and waited for the race to start.

 

 

When they peloton came flying by the kids loved cheering for them.  Emily in her batman outfit ran along side the racers for a bit like the people do on TV when we watch the Tour de France. 

 

 

 

While we were waiting for the peloton to come back around we explored the campus and headed over to the start/finish line to check things out.  Grandma grew up in Cedar City so it was fun to walk around town with her. 

This is Grandma in front of the Cedar City post office. 

 When the race finished we walked down to where the teams were staying and the kids got to meat a few.  The riders were very nice and talked to the kids and signed stuff for them.  They even got some Jelly Beans from Team Jelly Belly.

 Ryan loved this part too. 

 

 We were also celebrating a couple of very special birthdays today.  Emily and her Grandpa. These two are very special to me and it is so fun that they get to celebrate together. 



Cedar Canyon & Zions National Park.

Today was Grandpa's day.  We headed up into the Mountains for some adventure. 

 

After a big breakfast we headed up to Cedar Canyon to hike to see Grandpa Bolander's favorite tree. 

 

 

The Bristle Cone Pine.  It is such a majestic tree.  It is amazing that this tree has been on the earth longer than any other living thing.  I am sure it has seen much in its lifetime. 

 

 

Even though it as raining and muddy we could not miss a visit to the tree, and seeing the Joy on Grandpa's face as he sat in it was priceless.

 

Our next official stop (not counting the gas station and German bakery) was in Orderville to pay a visit to Great Grandma and Grandpa Bolanders Grave.

 

We also stopped by the house that Grandpa grew up in.  Great Grandpa Bolander built this home for his family. There have been a few changes by the new owners,  but it not many. . 

Grandpa wanted to take us on a hike, but he was having a little trouble remembering where the trail started.  While we were waiting for him to figure it out we snapped a picture. 

By the time Grandpa found the trail grandma had hiked enough and decided to stay at the car and read/take a nap. 
     Grandpa said that we were not going to hike the entire trail and that we would just turn back when the kids got tired.  So I took some scenic group pictures all along the way not knowing where we were going for sure. 

Here we are at the end of the trail......so much for not hiking the entire thing.  I am glad we did though.  The view was beautiful. 

And just for the record, I took a picture of where Grandma was.  At this point I think she was taking a nap in the car. 

 

All along the trail there were tons of Prickly Pear Cacti.  Grandpa taught the kids about all of the plants we saw along the trail.  There were tons of huge Prickly Pear Cacti.  Grandpa told the kids all about the delicious jelly you could make from the cactus fruit.  We found some at a shop and decided to give it a try.

It was just as good as he said it was.