Back to Preschool!

Dallin has been back in school for a few weeks now and Parker has been counting down the days until he could go back to school too.
Today was his big day! We're changing the preschool thing up this year and doing a co-op preschool with some friends. Parker loves the fact that he gets to be with his buddies.

Landon tried to tag along. He grabbed an old backpack and followed Parker around saying, "Lets go a Preschool!!!"

Wow.....1 kid for a few hours feels like vacation to me! Who needs summer vacation? Haha!

Countdown is on!

I am SO excited about the sequel coming out in just a few days!!!!
(Hunger Games is WAY better then Twilight!)

A fair is a veritable smorgasbord orgasbord orgasbord ...

Every time I hear the word FAIR that ridiculous song from Charlotte's Web comes to mind........

Tonight for FHE we headed over to the fair to support the no alcohol/ no smoking family night. We missed out on all of the fun/people watching last year so we promised the boys we wouldn't miss it this year.

Of course Parker was crazy about all of the tractors and the tractor motors:

Dallin loved the silly pictures you could put your faces in:
Landon liked seeing all of the animals and especially feeding the baby goats:

The 2 older boys LOVED riding on the roller coaster:

And one little boy was TICKED that he was too small to ride the roller coaster:
So we got some cotton candy and churros right after the ride to help that little boy forget what he was so upset about:

It was a fun night spent together! Until next year Western Idaho Fair!

Happy 31st Nate!

Nice picture huh? We got some new family pictures done this past weekend and of course Nate couldn't resist striking a "Zoolander" pose for a shot or two.

Happy Birthday to my best friend! Hope you enjoy your "gift" this year. 3 days on a biking retreat with all of your biking friends sounds like a pretty good gift to me.

We LoVe YoU!!!

*Quick Side story: Parker was so cute this morning. He wanted to give Dad a "surprise" party for his birthday. He went downstairs and hid in the garage and waited for Nate to finish getting ready for the day. I told Nate to go down in the garage and as soon as he stepped inside Parker jumped out yelling, "Surprise DAD! Happy Birthday!"

1st day of 1st grade!

Today Dallin started first grade. I've had mixed feelings about it for the past few weeks. There have been moments when I couldn't WAIT to send him off and then there were times I couldn't help but tear up thinking about him being gone all day long. Be as it may I have a first grader and I am trying to embrace it. He is growing up and as hard as that is for me to admit, I know that he is going to be just fine. He wasn't worried or afraid. He has been looking forward to going back to school ever since the day he got out in June. I think knowing how much he loves school makes it a little easier.....on me anyways.

Parker on the other hand has been having a hard time. He has been asking all day when Dallin is coming home. I am sure things will get easier once Parks starts preschool in a few weeks.

Dallin likes his teacher and knew a couple of kids in his class from last year. When I asked him if it was okay if I left the classroom his response was, "You can go whenever you are ready Mom." Yeah....I guess hanging around the class really was more for ME then for him.

I cried the whole way home.

Whitaker Family Reunion

I really did marry into a fabulous family. Anytime spent with the Whitaker clan is a fun time. The Whitaker Family Reunion was great this year. We had about 50 people....we're getting pretty huge! Almost everyone made it this year although we did miss Grandma and Grandpa We were thinking about them the whole time. Grandma is dealing with some health issues right now and we are all hoping and praying for the best.

We went camping up Alpine Canyon over by Mt. Timpanogos. Lee put in so much time and effort getting everything ready for everyone. The food was fantastic and the company was just as wonderful! The kids had so much fun playing with cousins. We went hiking, kayaking, fishing, and just enjoyed spending time together. It was pretty chilly considering it IS August so a lot time was spent keeping warm around the fire! The last night we were there we played a game where you have to spell a word with your hips. Each person is a letter and you have to guess what the word is. It was pretty funny! Here are some of the guys busting a move:

and Aunt Suzan had some pretty killer hip moves as well:

Skip and Logan found this little bird on their way to the reunion. It was the cutest little chick....Kelsey named him Winston. Sadly, Winston died soon after this picture was taken...poor little guy.
After 3 days of fun, we headed home. A couple of little boys I know were pretty exhausted:

We're looking forward to the next reunion in a couple of years!

Back to back to back trips!

We've been gone 10 days yet it feels like its been a whole month! We have been busy busy cramming in the last of our summer fun since Dallin starts 1st grade this week. Boo Hoo...but that's another story which is sure to continue later this week.

We started off by heading over to Rexburg to see Nate's sister Kelsey and her hubby Logan. Uncle Logan took us over to his job site and let the boys drive REAL tractors. Parker's dreams have literally come true! They moved huge rocks and piles of dirt and even busted up some concrete.

Even the biggest Starnes boy was in on the tractor action! After playing in the dirt with the "big boy toys" I mean....tractors....we played with some adorable little farm kittens. SOOOO cute! (Even though I am SOOOO allergic!)

Later that evening we headed over to Idaho Falls to cheer Nate on in the Allan Butler Twilight Criterium.

Nate had an absolutely AWESOME race! He ended up with a very close 2nd place finish! We were all screaming and cheering like a bunch of nuts! I'm not gonna lie....I'm pretty proud of that man of mine. It is incredible how far he has come over the last year and a half.

After that, Nate headed back home and so the boys and I met up with Grandma EE and we cruised on over to Yellowstone for a couple of days. Yellowstone really is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. We did lots of walking and the kids were troopers about it. We saw buffalo, lots of elk, deer, squirrels and a yellow bellied pot gut. They boys loved filling out their ranger packets and recording the animals that we saw.

Our favorite parts were the geysers, (Old Faithful of course) the paint pots, and the waterfalls. The boys weren't too fond of the sulphur smells though!

Yellowstone is one of EE's most favorite places in the world. I know it was HER dad's (my Great Grandpa Carlson's) favorite place to go and so I was glad that she could share her memories and stories of Yellowstone with my kids. We had some stressful moments which is bound to happen with 3 boys in tow but overall it was a fun trip and I am glad that we made the time to go.

After Yellowstone it was time to head to Utah for the Whitaker Family Reunion.......that post to come later..............

BOYS CLUB!

I feel like a slacker in the "play date" world this summer. They boys have been asking for months if they can have this friend or that friend come over.

I decided to nip it all in the bud by hosting a "BOYS CLUB" party at the house. What do you do at a boys club party you might ask yourself? EVERYTHING BOY!

Here's what we did:

Built stuff with sticks and glue:

We made gack/slime/flubber. Whatever that sticky concoction is called:
Took shirts off and flexed after we playing with fingerpaint:

Went CRAZY playing with shaving cream:

Played some water balloon games:

Which of course was followed immediately by an out of control water balloon fight.



Then we enjoyed some dirt and worms for a snack:

Then it was time to send all of those energetic and NOISY little boys HOME!!!

I realize that I must technically be a little insane thinking I could handle 10 boys by myself. Luckily my siblings came over to help with crowd control! It was such a blast...I think I had just as much fun as the boys did!

This boys club meeting is adjourned!

We love RS!!

Roaring Springs is our favorite summer "stay"cation destination! Thanks Jas for coming along to help out with the boys. Even though we decided not to get passes this year we have gone a few times. We probably won't go again this summer so I just wanted to post a few pictures!

Run into the ground.....

My sis took this picture of Parker from our last boating excursion and I decided it needed to go on the blog. He is SOUND asleep and stayed that way for a good long while! He is definately all STARNES...those boys can fall asleep anywhere at anytime. All of this summer sun can really wear a guy out!

My afternoon project

We bought some barstools for a screaming deal 2 years ago when we moved into our house. They were on clearance at Target for about $18.00 each. I didn't LOVE them, but they would work just fine for 2 little boys who were excited to eat up at the island in the kitchen.

I thought that the microfiber seats would hold up alright...or at least I hoped they would.

2 years later......it doesn't matter how hard I scrub, the food, marker, glitter glue, grape juice, and pen stains will NOT come out. It disgusts me every day.

My mother in law suggested I recover them. Today I finally did it. I took the old microfiber off and gagged when I saw how nasty it was underneath. 3 boys really did a number on those babies. I found a cute print and put some heavy duty PLASTIC over the top of them. I staple gunned until I got a couple of blisters on my hand and VOILA......here they are:

I LOVE them now!! I keep thinking about all the TIME I am going to save cleaning up after meals!! Good idea LeeLee....I should have listened to you earlier!