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 =)

Happy Pioneer Day!

In Ogden they do a parade down Washington Blvd. every year on the 24th of July.  I decided to brave the crazy crowds and take the kids to the parade.  Since I'm not one of those crazy people that reserve their spot the night before, I woke up early and go to the parade route at 7:30 am (I'm one of the crazy people that wake up early) But I got prime parking and seating right in front of the announcer stand....too bad it was the side of the street where the sun was shining directly in our eyes (it wasn't when we got there).

While we were waiting the kids decided to entertain themselves.  There were horse statues along the road and they loved them!  Especially Ian.  When I wasn't looking he kept sneaking off to get the horses.

I decided to splurge and get Brenna some cotton candy.  She is always asking for it and I never buy her any  but I gave in this time.  She was so excited!!!  She tried sharing with Ian but he did not like it.  He kept spitting it out.

This was Ian snack of choice.  Popcorn!  And it must have tasted even better when he ate it off the road.  Every time I turned around he was eating it off the ground.  One good thing about our seating was we were right in front of the Wells Fargo building.  They set up a popcorn machine, snow cone machine and had cold water.  All free!!!  So the kids got some snacks and stayed a little cool for a minute with some snow cones.  The water unfortunately didn't stay cool for long since it was hot.

Isn't he such a cute little poser.  He loved watching the horses and the firetrucks in the parade.

This is Brenna and her best friend Ellie.  Her mom and dad met us there.  They had lots of fun hanging out together.  These girls always have loads of fun together!

I didn't take any pictures of the floats, cause I'm a slacker like that =).  We had to leave the parade early because it was getting too hot.  I was dying and the kids were getting pretty rosy cheeks.  I thought the parade would only last an hour or so so I didn't put sunscreen on, since it would be in the morning, and I didn't pack extra drinks.  We left at about 11am and it was still going.  The kids were getting grumpy and needed a nap anyway after being in the heat.  Plus, I had some fun plans to go see my Aunt Lisa and her family.  They were at my Grandma Lola's house for the afternoon.  They live in Price so we don't see them too often.  I think the last time was when Brenna was about 2 years old.  I know what you're thinking, Price isn't too far away.  I know it isn't, but we just haven't made it there yet.....but we need to!  It was so nice seeing them again.  Especially my cousins Shadayah and Shaylynn.  Those girls have grown up so much!!  I remember when I used to babysit them and they were such little brats (I love you guys, but you were brats =), but I think every kid in the Ezell family was a brat, I'm not exempt =)  )It was nice spending time with them and spending time with my grandma and chuck.  We were all too busy talking that I forgot to take pictures.  It was so nice to see them and hear how things are for them.  It's also nice having an aunt that is getting back in the church.  One day we'll get them all....not anytime soon, but I have faith that we'll get them one day.  I really do have awesome family on my mom's side.  They are always there to support one another, even if they're fighting and hate each other at the time.  They are by far not perfect, but the reason you love someone is for their imperfections =)  I love you all!!!!!  Thank you for always being there for me!

But that wasn't the end of our day.  I came home and we had a bbq a guy from Jason's work, Adam and his wife Amy and their 2 boys, Braxton and Taven.  Once again, no pictures.  These boys are so stinkin' cute.  I was cracking up listening to Braxton play golf on the wii.  It was his first time playing but after he swung once, he was an expert and had to tell everyone how to play.  It was fun hanging out with them.  Adam is going to school for the same thing Jason is so me and Amy decided that once school starts up again we need to get together more since both our hubbies with be gone all the time between work and school.  I love it when we find friends where we like both the husband and wife.....we both have sets of friends where one of us isn't all too crazy about the husband or wife.  The night before we had a bbq with some young couples from our ward here and it was nice to be able to hang out with people our own age and let all the kids play.  We are finally getting to know more people around here and I am really looking forward to having more people to hang out with and do stuff with.  Yay for friends and family!!

My new car!

We got a Jeep Grand Cherokee last night.  It's one year older than my old car, but it has less miles and the payments are lower.....which is a plus!  I'm still having mixed feelings at the moment though.  I like the car, but the sales experience was awful!  Jason got a letter in the mail the other day saying that the dealership would give us extra money for our car, above the blue book value.  So Jason decided to go down and just see what kind of offer they would give us and what kind of vehicles they had.  He found a couple that he liked that were in our price ranges so they let him drive them up to me, since I was at home with the kids.  He brought home a Jeep Patriot, which was nice, but no cruise control (i have a lead foot so i need that!).  Then he found this Cherokee that he really liked, but it was late at night.  So the salesman told him he could bring it home for the night, let me drive it around and then bring it back the next day.  So he talked to the finance officer to get round about prices, nothing final, and decided to bring it home.  They told him if I didn't like i then, we could bring it back, no problem, and get a different vehicle or get my car back.  I was driving it around yesterday and noticed a few things that i didn't like and that needed to be fixed so we decided to take it back to the dealership and get my old car back.  We get there and they start trying to pressure us in to getting it, and they had 3 different sales people talk to us, with about a half hour wait in between each time they talked to us and then they said they'd be back in a second while they checked stuff.  Since when did a few minutes translate into 45?  We told them that we just wanted to get my car back, then one guy comes over and tells us that the paper Jason signed last night when they told him he could bring it home was a contract of sale so were pretty much stuck.  He then told us he didn't want to be a jerk and wouldn't force it on us, since the finance person had told Jason something else.  But after us being stubborn and not wanting to give in and every time i asked if we could just get my car back, they started avoiding answering.  So it came down to that we were pretty much stuck getting a car.  Which got me very annoyed.  But our being annoyed and stubborn paid off.  They lowered the payment to $20 lower than our current payment, we didn't have to do a down payment, they gave us a little more on my stratus, and they bought us dinner at Lonestar.  As we were signing the papers I found a paper that said "Borrower's Agreement."  Can you guess what that paper is used for?  Yup, you got it.  That's the paper you're supposed to sign when you take a car off the lot and then are bringing it back, like what Jason did.  But did they finance guy have Jason sign that? No!  He was a slimeball and tricked him into signing the contract instead by saying that if he wasn't happy he could bring it back.  The finance officer we worked with last night was a different guy than the one Jason talked to before.  It's people like that that give dealerships and salesmen a bad name.  I told Jason when he called me the night before and said he was bringing a car back that I've heard of stuff like that happening.  If any of you remember, when I worked a t Western Wats  I was in charge of a project that called people who had recently purchased a Hyundai vehicle and I heard so many times of stories just like this happening so I didn't want that happening, but I was assured by both the salesman and Jason it wouldn't, but......it did.  I have to go back to the dealership so they can fix a few things so I'm going to go talk to that finance guy and give him a little piece of my mind about what he did.  If it hadn't been for the fact that we were under contract, I would have walked right out and gone somewhere else.  Ok, now that I got that out.  I do like my new car.  We have been talking about getting something like this for awhile.  It has more room, drives really smooth, and it very quiet.  Plus, it has a sunroof!  I was a bit iffy because I don't like to drive trucks or big vehicles, but this one doesn't seem awkward to drive.  Brenna and Ian love the sunroof.  Brenna started calling it a "hatch" and Ian picked up on it so every time we get in, he points to it and says "hatch."  Jason says I look like a soccer mom now driving it.....but how can I be a soccer mom without any kids playing soccer?