First Day of 1st Grade!

This year, we decided to switch Rylee to a new school. A brand new school opened by our house and we loved that it was so much closer. We figured it was the best time to switch her since everyone will be new so it's an easier change! She hated the idea at first and didn't want to switch. But after much discussion and prayer she changed her mind and was excited to go to the new school. I think what really sealed the deal is when we went to the school's information night, a friend from her old school was there and was in her new class!

The night before school started we had a back to school dinner for Rylee. She requested steak, potatoes, corn on the cob, and she helped me make star shaped biscuits. My kinda meal, that's my girl! She was back and forth emotionally about going back to school. She didn't want summer to end and neither did I! Back to scheduled life and homework! 

Her new school is uniform which made it incredibly easy to school shop! Here she is on her first day of 1st grade!

Haylee didn't want to let her go!

My 3 silly kids, love the expressions.

They let all of the parents wait with the kids and it was a hot mess! It was humid and hot and a lot of waiting around trying to figure out what we are suppose to do. Eventually their teachers lined them up and we said our goodbyes. They walked inside to the classrooms and I could tell Rylee was sad. I did good but Haylee was a wreck, she hated saying goodbye.

Haylee, Zach, and I went to our last summer movie together that day. It was a fun way to spend the day while Rylee was gone. It was my first time taking Zach and he did surprisingly well!

Rylee had a good first day but wasn't thrilled about going back to school. She would say she had a good day one minute but the next she would be breaking down and saying she hates school. She even said at one point that she wants me to home school her. She made it through her first week though and now that she has made friends she enjoys it.
I said I did good the first day of school letting her go but the second day got me again this year! I had to just drop her off out of the van and I hated watching her walk away all by herself sad. She's my baby and she's growing up way to fast!

July

Mid-July our brother-in-law and our niece and nephew came to visit. We only got to see them for a few hours but we loved seeing them! We went out to dinner, and it was the first time in almost 2 years since all of the grandkids have been together. We went back to Grammie and Papa's house and went swimming. Grammie ended up in the pool with all of the kids (and dogs).

A few days later, the guys were busy getting ready for the grand opening of my in-laws gym so Holly and I hung out with all of our kids.

Lately Zach loves reading. He will take any opportunity to sit in my lap or lay next to me with a book. And he doesn't rush to turn the page, he actually lets me read it to him which is different then the girls used to let me do!

I took Rylee out, just her and I, to go school shopping in mid-July. School already starts July 30!

The craziest dust storm we have ever seen rolled in one afternoon.

It started out tame at first, enough so that Scott thought it would be awesome to stand out in it. He regretted that choice quickly...

It then picked up intensity to the point that our whole house went pitch black, at 3 in the afternoon, and the windows were all glowing orange! It was crazy!

The pictures don't do it justice, but it was completely orange out. It was like being on another planet.

Rolling away from our house.

My Mother-in-law took Holly and I, along with her best friend to get massages and brunch! It was fantastic!!! It was a birthday treat for the 3 of us who have summer birthdays/the guys always go golfing so its our turn type of treat! While we were gone Scott took the kids out to lunch. They loved that!

At the end of the month, we took a week long vacation to the cabin. It was wonderful. Rainy and cool. Scott and the kids enjoyed the hammock often.

Zach "blowing" bubbles

My favorite part was eating all of our meals out on the deck. Once morning we woke up to rain and it was the perfect breakfast.

We attempted to go to the lake but when we got there it started rainging. We started walking down to the water but it was coming down pretty hard and it was cold!

We waited it out under the trees and Haylee and I shared Scott's jacket. =)

It cleared out and the kids were able to play in the water.

Zach had no interest in the water, which was strange because he loved it last time. He sat on his rock the whole time.

Cruiser was in heaven! He hasn't been on vacation in years and he loves the water. He swam the entire time and everyone around us loved him. He's seen here with his fetching water bottle that he found floating in the lake. He fetched that bottle until he couldn't swim anymore.

Scott built a ladder for the tree which the kids loved.

Just a cute shot of Rylee and Zach playing.

They loved walking on the "balance beams"

More hammock time

We went for icecream on our last day when boredom set in.

It was so hard coming back to the heat!

My Birthday

The morning of my birthday, I woke up bright and early and went to breakfast with Holly. When I got home, I walked into a fun surprise!

Scott then met us for lunch at Joe's Farm Grill so I could get my free birthday meal.

Then the kids and I met Holly and her kids at a splash park. The first one we went to was super lame. We spent 10 minutes trying to get everyone ready in the hottest humidest day this summer and when we walked over to the splash area, it wasn't even on! We waited a bit and finally 2 little sprayers came on and that was it! It was pretty crowded with little water so it just wasn't cutting it. We went to another one nearby and we had the same problem minus there was only one other family there! Only one sprayer would spray at a time. After 15 minutes we were hot, sweating, and done! We needed a pool at that point!

So we gave up and went and got ice cream!

Afterwards, we went home for a bit to wait for Scott to get off work. Zach fell asleep on my shoulder as we waited.

We then went out to dinner! I ate a lot that day, ha!

Speaking of eating a lot, Scott got me the giant fudge cake from Costco. Yowzer!

A Little July Randomness

We planted sunflowers in spring and they just bloomed. Two grew taller than the girls and almost taller than our fence! So cool.

Colby, Avrie and Tade, came to visit and we all got together for dinner and swimming. All of the grandkids rarely are all together so they loved it! We are missing 2 of the grandkids in this picture here but they were all having a blast. Especially when Grammie jumped in too!

Snuggling with Papa and Grammie.