When did she decide she could grow up?!

So today I had to deal with that day that every mom has to go through.  I had to finally admit that my little girl isn't so little anymore. *sniff, sniff*  

(I love this picture of me and her!!!)

Brenna started kindergarten today!!  She was soooooo excited!  She usually sleeps in until around 7:30 ish, but today she was up at 6:30am wanting to get dressed and ready for school.  I didn't even have to fight with her to eat all her breakfast this morning.

Of course I did the mom thing and had to take a ton of pictures of her.  Isn't she the cutest thing ever?!  I finally gave in and got her some skinny jeans, and now I'm wishing I would have got her more than one pair because they look so stinkin' cute on her!

She loves her backpack.  It is purple, of course, and and has hearts and skeletons =)

We walked to school (have I mentioned that I love living in walking distance of her school?) and took her to her class. 

 Jason didn't have to work this morning so he got to come too, but I don't think he got as hung up on everything as me.  

Once we got there, Brenna immediately made a friend.  I think it was a little girl she met at the Mother-Daughter night this past weekend because the girl came right up to Brenna and said "Hi, Brenda." (she gets called Brenda  a lot, kinda annoying but she'll learn to deal with it).  It looks like she is off to a good start with making friends.  The little girl in green was the one who said hi to her and when we left they were sitting next to each other on the floor cor circle time.  I was kinda bummed that she wouldn't have her friend Eleanor in her class, but Natalie (her mom) and I have realized it is a good thing because the girls will either be talking the whole time or trying to tell the other what to do.  This will keep them friends longer. =)

Of course, Ian didn't want to be left out of the fun.  He saw the little chairs and immediately wanted to sit in them and join in.  If only.....then maybe I could get caught up on my scrapbook....or I would just spend that much more time on facebook.....

My little girl is just growing up so fast.  I can't believe she's in school already!  I'm sure I'm not the only mom going through denial that they are old enough to have a kid in school.  I'm so excited for Brenna to start.  She will learn so much and have so much fun.  This will be a very good experience for her.  I'm just glad it's only half a day so I still get the rest of the day her =)  Plus, this will give me time in the mornings to hang out with my other little monster and he can get some one-on-one mommy time =)

My birthday

Usually I don't like to draw attention to my birthday.  After all, who wants to admit they are getting older?  But I have to show off my cute presents.

As you know, I got a new jeep about a month ago.  I've been talking about getting some stickers for it to make it "mine."  I love Tinkerbell.  Brenna helped pick out these stickers to go on the windows.  Of course, they're purple too, my favorite color.  If I could have a purple car, I would =)

Jason picked these out for me too.  Well, obviously they're not for me exactly.  I've already got the spots picked out in the kids' rooms for these.  I fell in love with the boy quote awhile ago when we were trying to do some decorations in Ian's room, and I guess Jason remembered that I liked it.

I had a quiet birthday since it was Sunday and since Jason had to work.  But it was a relaxing day and the kids behaved themselves, what more could I want?  We even all got to take a nap after church.  I think the best present I could ever ask for is just having my kids with me.  No matter how much they drive me crazy, I love these kiddos to death.

(Ian was pushing his blanket around in Brenna's stroller)

Crashing cars and playing with the animals

The Weber County fair was last week.  The only day we went to any of the stuff was on Saturday.  We went to the demolition derby.  We went a little early and walked around the fair for a bit.

I thought these were pretty neat.  These are made completely of sand.  I can barely make a sand castle using a bucket shaped like a castle.

Ian was so excited to see horses!!!  He loved seeing the officers on the horses when we drove in.

My brave boy isn't afraid of anything, he even wanted to pet the pig.  I was brave and did too =).  Their hair is very prickly, they're not as soft and smooth as you'd think they were.

Of course Brenna liked the cows since she had been to a dairy farm for preschool.  She was excited that she was able to pet one of the calves.

One of the booths had some cowboy hats for only $2 so I could resist getting my buckaroos some.  Ian's is very flexible so he can't destroy it. =)

Brenna loves her new red cowgirl hat.  Now she says she's Jessie from Toy Story.  Funny girl.

 

Lovely picture of Jason, huh?  He was wearing Ian's hat and I took this picture while he was shaking his head, kinda like how a dog does.

Now, on to the the derby part.  I was vastly disappointed.  In the town I grew up in, the demolition derby was a big deal.  People would come from all over the country to come be in the derby in Morgan.  There were always tons of cars.  I think there were usually about 7 or 8 in each heat, at least 6 heats and the main event.  Then there was the grudge match (one of my uncles won that one year =) ) and then the powder puff round.  This was where any car still running could be driven by a woman.  Those women got vicious.  My mom drove in it one year.  So coming from this kind of a derby background I was expecting a lot more from a supposedly bigger town derby.  There were only 4 or 5 cars in each heat, one only had 3 cars, and there were only 4 heats, no grudge match (there were only 2 cars that wanted to do it) and no powder puff.  There was one woman driver but she couldn't get her car started so she couldn't even do anything. 

The lawnmower race was almost more excited at times than the actual derby.

The real excitement for the night came during the main event.  I guess there was an ongoing rivalry between 2 cars, the red car and the orange car (my camera died right before this match so picture in your mind).  From what I heard, the orange car hit the red car on the driver's side door, which is a big no-no in the derby world. The red car got mad, went to the other end of the arena, revved up his engine, got a running start and smashed into the orange car head-on.  The next thing we hear is the announcer telling all the cars to stop immediately and they need the paramedics in the arena.  Then we see some people running in into the arena, the cops follow to keep them out, one lady had to be restrained by 4 cops (we later found out she was the orange car drivers' mom).   One person was escorted out in handcuffs.  After this, a fight broke out in the stands (this was across from us so we weren't in any danger from it).  The cops swarmed the stands, they bring out the mounted cops.  Things finally settle and they walk out of the arena again with someone handcuffed, and this was a big guy too.  Then they bring in 2 ambulances, one for the car driver and one for someone from the stands.  Then they announced that life flight is coming in.  They get everything settled, the ambulances leave, the helicopter came.  During this, another fight almost broke out in the stands again.  I guess that's what happens when there is alcohol readily available and tempers are hot.  They finally got everything going again and the main event lasted about 10 more minutes.  I think the red car ended up winning it all.  I don't know what happened to the orange driver, it's possible that he had a neck injury or he was knocked out by hitting the suicide knob on his steering wheel.  If anybody has heard anything, let me know.

Ian loved watching the cars crash and he kept saying "boom, boom."  When they were done between heats, he kept saying "more cars."  Brenna liked it too.  She kept saying "go, hit him, wahoo!"  

I think next time we go to a derby I'm going to a small town one like in Coalville or Morgan.  Those are the best.  But all-in-all, it was a fun evening to spend together.  We had Jaydon with us so it was nice to see him.  He has had scout camp outs every time we have tried to do something with him.

Family game night

We don't have many games that we can all play together, but Twister is one of them.    Brenna and Ian may not play exactly by the rules, but they try =)

Te good thing about this game is that it helps teach Brenna her left and right....I still have issues with that...Jason kept telling me "your other right."

Ian is trying so hard to join in and play.  If it wasn't for the diaper this would be a nice plumber crack shot =)

He found something he could do!  He loved to spin the spinner....the only downside is he couldn't tell us what it landed on =P  Plus, he kept spinning it before we could look and see.

Primary Activity

They finally caught up to me in the ward and gave me a calling about a month ago.  I haven't had one since we moved into the ward.  It's been kinda nice.  I think they were just waiting for Ian to be old enough to go to nursery by himself =)  I am the 1st counselor in the primary presidency.  I've been in the primary before, but only a s a teacher so this has been fun.  I feel bad because I can never remember all the kids' names, but I do recognize all their smiling faces.  In our ward here we have a lot of inactive and nonmember families.  But in the past month we have had 2 girls taking the missionary discussions.  One was baptized about a month ago and the other one is getting baptized this Saturday.  I love the ladies I work with, especially since one of them has a baby girl that is 3 months old....so cute!!!  There is also a teacher that has a baby boy about 3 months old and our singing leader just had a baby girl last weekend.  Love all the babies!!!  I can get my baby fix without getting the baby weight =)  Anyway...back to the reason for this post.  We ha
d our quarterly primary activity last Saturday. It was pretty fun.  It was "Nephi's Journey."  We had the kids do different things to represent different parts of Nephi's journey to the promised land.

(This is Brenna....she's such a dork, but I love that girl!)

The first thing they had to do was get ready to leave Jerusalem.  They had to put on their robes and walk to the wilderness.  We had them put on bathrobes, and then tie a scarf on their heads to look like clothes Nephi wore.

(This is Eleanor, Brenna's best friend!)

Then they had to wander in the wilderness (they walked on the cement between the grass) and then the Lord called them back to Jerusalem.

(This is McKenna, she'll be in Brenna's kindergarten class)

They then had to get the brass plates and take them with them.  We had them carry a hard-boiled egg on a spoon to the middle of the cement.  

(This is one of Brenna's other really good friends, Jade.  Her mom has the baby boy I get to cuddle with sometimes)

Then they had to hunt for their food after Nephi broke his bow.  They got to throw water balloons at a target.

(This is Brenna.  She did so good by herself!  She lost her balance once and fell in the "water.")

While in the wilderness they had to cross lots of lakes and streams and one of those they had to cross a log.  We put some tarp down (represent the water) and they crossed the log.  If they needed help we sent the "Holy Ghost" (one of us) to help them cross.

Then they had to build their boat and cross the ocean to the promised land.  They had to drink a juice box and then when it was empty they had to blow it across the tub to the other side.

Then they gathered in the promised land =)  But alas...peace didn't last long.....

There were leftover bow and arrows (water balloons).......can you guess what happened next?

I took this behind my back as I was running away.  She was bound and determined to get me =)  She looks like she's having fun huh?

The kids all had a fun time.  I think I'm going to like this calling.  I get to sing and play at church instead of having to sit still and be quiet =)