Fresh One

 Ashlin's first day at ASU!

Ashlin texted me the above 2 pictures.

I knew that with a treat in her hand, and fuzzy walls in the background... she had to be at the Institute building. 

That place is AMAZING!!

 Last May I went to the ASU bookstore and took these pictures. I was blown away at how much The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints invests in its people for each stage of their life. Below is the HUGE LDS building as ASU, with its own parking garage behind it. I cried when I toured it. Gym, lounge area, study area, chapel, religion classes, fun weekly activities, kitchen with fridge/microwave to keep their lunches... all right in the middle of campus.... for freeeee. Talk about a "refuge from the storm". 

I am so thankful for the church!

 Ashlin posted this picture on instagram with the caption:

#firstdayatASU #nailedit

I laughed out loud at Zack St. Martin's comment on her pic: 

"good job wearing something that lets people know that you ARE mormon"... ha ha ha

LOVE this cute little Art-Education-Major girl of mine!

PS: Ashlin did end up going to "Feed My Starving Children" with this group of friends she put together. I made this big mexican dinner for them, so they all met at our house first, to eat. (I wanted to meet these new "Singles Ward" "Return Missionary" boys she's been hanging with all summer. I'm so sneaky.)

♥♥I love you Miss Ashlin!♥♥

My Heart

 The following monday was SOPHIE's first day of preschool.

Next year she will be in kindergarten.

And I will cry and cry.

My baby girl.

She was so excited for her first day! 

She chose the necklace. 

I had to text Bruce, Ashlin and Dallin this. Because everyone loves her.

♥loving the cute stuff that comes home in her backpack!!♥

Construction School

On monday, 5 days after Dallin and Emma started school, Logan and Lily finally started too.

Their charter school built a new nicer location over the summer. 

-First they said school would start wednesday, 

on time with the rest of Gilbert.

-Then they said it was delayed until monday, but 'meet the teacher' would be friday.

-Then we drove by thursday and the school was still not painted, and there was no parking lot. ha ha. I told Logan, "How exciting! You are going to construction school!" ha ha.

-Then they changed 'meet the teacher' to monday morning before school started.

And thats what they did.

CONSTRUCTION SCHOOL:

 Even though it looks crazy, it looks so much more like a school than the week before, that I was just relieved. I walked through the inside of that school and was happy. 

True Story: I was chatting with Eddie Farnsworth (owner of the school) outside that morning. I was complimenting him on the school and telling him it looked great. (Because I figured he'd been through enough stress and complaints) He told me they did not get their C of O (Certificate of Occupancy) until 6:30am that morning. WHAT?! Crazy. But I didn't judge, because heaven knows I have been through plenty of stressful times developing and building the last few years. 

Lily and Logan were funny and didn't pick any of their new stuff to wear on the first day of school. I love them. I love their new teachers... and I REALLY love that they are both such good students.

SHARK NIGHT

We didn't even realize it was Shark Week on Discovery Channel, until it was already here. So we had to plan an impromptu party for 2 days later. We had one last year, and it was fun. So we did it again... with more people this time. We literally spent.... ALL..... DAY..... LONG..... saturday getting ready for our big night. Sophie kept saying, "this is the best... day... ever!" ha ha. Luckily the kids were having fun with all the preparations. 

We purchased goldfish for centerpieces... and Ashlin made a SHARK out of WATERMELON.

Swimming Centerpiece!

The kids and I had fun planning all the shark/sea decorations... 

Bruce was just excited for the Sea Food.

FISH FRY!!!

We had TWO kinds to choose from. Battered fish -OR- "SLAP YA MAMA" cajun breaded fish.... also clam chowder, shrimp, some kind of  yummy sea food soup Bruce concocted (we've never seen Mckane eat so much, ha ha)....

 mac'n'cheese, tator tots and other un-fishy foods.

We bought this flying AIR HOG remote control shark that really looked like it was swimming through the house all night... 

well worth the $23.99.

SHARK-FIN ICE!

~Shark Art Wall~

Last October Logan begged for a fog machine for his birthday. I forgot to get him one. Luckily my Aunt Bev heard about it, and gave him one immediately. Logan begged to use it at the shark week party. So we did.

He had it fogging up the entry way when people arrived. The living room got pretty foggy that night... ha ha:

 Cute Abigail prepared a SHARK REPORT to present to us during the party. Filled with all kinds of riveting facts and pictures. She hearts learning about sharks. Could she be cuter?

 Logan and Emma did their "fishy fishy" dance for us.

And of course we watched lots of this:

Cutest cupcakes by Sonnet...

 My kids told me their favorite thing was the big shark swimming around all night. ha ha.

Thank you to Logan, our Flying-Shark Control-Man!

(text Ashlin sent me, ha ha)