friday favorite

Today I am just so happy that it is currently 84 degrees.  I did a little investigating on the web and  I estimate the past 88 days have been over 100 degrees here in Phoenix (although it might not be 100% accurate, it's close) .  Today, tomorrow and Sunday it is only forecasted to be in the 90's.  Aahhh, I needed a break from the unrelenting heat!!!  Have a great weekend!

first day of preschool

new shoes

a new backpack

a new outfit

and after a long wait

preschool begins again

and we both couldn't be happier!

first day of school

7:20 a.m.
a sevey...

That is what Travis likes to call her, now that she is a seventh grader.  I guess that is what they called you in Shelley way back when he was a seventh grader.  When I was a seventh grader it was just called awkwardness.  Chloe doesn't have that awkwardness, she must have gotten over that stage back in 5th grade or something because she waltzed right into seventh grade without even batting an eye.   I never had the kind of confidence this girl does.  I was nervous for her. I kept asking her- are you okay? do you know where all your classes are?  do you know the order?  do you remember where they all are?  are you nervous?  look here is the map and I wrote numbers, just follow it like this, okay?  You know what Chloe says to me?  "Mom, its fine, I'm not that nervous, and if I can't find my class there will be teachers I can ask."  Calm as can be, and with that she got on a bus and off to Junior High, just like that. 

Now that we are about three weeks into school, I can say with 100% assurity, WE HAVE A TEENAGER on our hands. YIKES! Keep our family in your prayers.

7:50 a.m.

the boys go out the door to their new school

We decided to transfer the boys and try out a Charter School this year.  So far, they have both loved it.  The first day of school it was like 112 degrees but the rule at the new school, is you have to wear long pants unless you are wearing the "uniform" shorts & shirts.  The only problem, we did not get their "uniform" shirts before the first day so they were not allowed to wear the shorts.  So dripping with sweat, jeans it was.

Luckily, the shirts were delivered and here they are on the second day, in their spiffy uniforms.

Chloe and I had a hard time finding a cute backpack that was big enough to haul ALL her stuff in.  Here is AZ, for safety reasons, there are NO lockers at the Jr. High or H.S.  You have to carry everything around with you.  That is why you need the very large backpack.  And of course you have to look cute while doing it.  Remember those huge Espirit bags we hauled everything around with in Belgium.  The one that caused Jennifer a shoulder injury. It is so important to look cute.  And because you always want to look cute... we had to embellish Chloe's backpack.  Here is how it turned out.

Pretty Cute. That goes for the backpack and the kids.

a belated birthday celebration

Holden had his 11th birthday on July 14th while we were at Bear Lake.  We have celebrated his birthday there for the last 3 years but for some reason this year I couldn't get it all together before we left Idaho Falls so I told him we would celebrate with his cousins at Bear Lake and then when we got home to AZ we would celebrate his birthday again on August 14th with just our family. 

August 14th snuck right up on me but we still did some celebrating.  Holden invited a friend and we went to the movie "Despicable Me". We had his cake and most importantly he got his present(s)!

Bear Lake Celebration

We went for snow cones instead of cake the day of his birthday.  We think this particular snow shack located in Garden City, UT next to the KOA has the best snow cones on earth.  Holden got the "volcano" since it was his birthday. If you notice the pout face Nicholas has in the above picture, it is because he didn't get a "volcano".

Celebration II at home

Happy Birthday Holden boy!  I can't believe you are eleven.  Please don't get any older, pretty soon I am going to have a house full of teenagers and that makes me feel old.  I liked it when I had a house full of toddlers.  But no matter how old you are, I love you!

P.S. Don't even think about buying another lizard with this batch of birthday money.

m.i.a.

I have been missing in action. Travis keeps asking me when I am going to post something new. Here's what has been going on -getting back into the groove of school has thrown me for a bit of a loop.  As much as I was sick of the fighting, the "what can I do"s, the "why do we have to do jobs?" and the constant smorgasbord of food flowing from the kitchen pantry, I have been I little blue since the kids started back to school. 

I don't ever remember feeling like this in years past.  But... I have never had to endure an Arizona August before either.  I would say an Arizona August equates to an Idaho February.  You are couped up in the house trying to escape the blazing heat, you try to avoid going out at all costs, and you have to keep your blinds shut so that you do not go bankrupt when your electric bill arrives.  My kids all left me and I have no sticky Popsicle trails to mop.  What's a mom to do with herself?

I did find time start coupon shopping again.  I found a GREAT deal on Capri Suns so I took Travis with me one night and we loaded up. 

I won't be M.I.A. anymore because I didn't even catch up on our trip this summer and now I am going to really be behind if I don't get blogging so, see you tomorrow, no more slacking!

friday favorite

I saw this sign at the church up the road- I liked it.

People ignore God,
then blame Him
for the chaos that results.

canoe trip

Holden & Travis went on a canoe trip this weekend.  It was Holden's first official Boy Scout event. Everything they needed had to fit into two 5 gallon buckets.  Two buckets a piece and it had to include all of their -

•  clothes
•  food
•  sleeping bag
•  stove to cook the food on
•  and anything else they might need to survive out in the wild

The only thing outside the buckets could be a gallon of water and fishing equipment.  Good thing packing is one of my talents. People are either packers or non-packers (did you know this?), other fellow packers are my brother-in-law, Ryan, my brother, David, my Dad, mmm I can't think of any others right now.  Oh, ya, someone in the Malouf family...I remember when my cousins Rebecca & Sam came to visit us in Germany and they had everything you could ever possibly need packed neatly in individual Ziploc bags.  That obviously made an impression on my young mind.  Anyway enough on the packing tangent.

Leaving.

They rowed five miles across a lake to get to their campground.

Then they did a lot of swimming and some fishing.

Cooked their own food and had a SLEEPLESS night.  I noticed no pics from Travis of the sleeping conditions, I think that is because by that time they were so miserably HOT they were just hoping the night to pass as fast as possible. According to Travis it was unbearable.  They had to go into tents because there was a skunk in the campground, then there was a monsoon storm but the heat and humidity were relentless.

The next morning they cleaned up camp and rowed the five miles back across the lake to come home.  They came home tired, sore and more thankful than ever for air conditioning.

journey to utah/idaho

I am going back about six weeks to document our trip this summer. This was on our way to Salt Lake where we stopped for a few days to visit my parents, celebrate Father's Day with Travis and then drop him off at the SL airport so he could come back home & work while we played in Idaho.

On Sunday morning we went to the "Sounds of Sunday" at the Conference Center. Austin stayed home with Grandpa and they went on a hike up the canyon to look for rocks.  Afterwards we walked back to G & G's apartment where we had a delicious Father's Day brunch.

Then all of us went on a hike up to the Utah Capitol building.  I had never been inside and discovered it is a very pretty building.

No one is around in the Capitol on Sunday, the doors are open but there isn't a soul around.  I am sure if there were someone they wouldn't want little hooligans hanging from the statues.

or riding the wild buffalo

or trying to wrestle them head on...very dangerous


My mom showed the kids a small pioneer cemetery she found while walking to work.  The kids liked looking through the names on this headstone and saying, "how would you like it if your name was Moriancumer Jedidiah?".

And of course, I love looking at the flowers around the Temple Square area.

But my favorite part was seeing this....

I got so excited about getting to my favorite part, I got a little ahead of myself.  After our journey to the Capitol we dropped Travis off at the airport and said our sad goodbyes and then we booked it up I-15 to get to Idaho Falls in time for James' 9th birthday celebration.  AAH, home at last!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY TRAVIS & DAD(S)!

007

With school starting in just a week, our days and NIGHTS have been packed with fun.  The kids are trying to squeeze every last drop of fun out of summer vacation.  We have been playing a night game called "oo7".

This group of boys shows up on our driveway about 8:30 and begs for drivers. 

Travis laying out the rules.

These are the rules & the way you play.

1. establish a perimeter
2. pair off into groups and you CAN'T split from your partner/group
3. establish the destination and remind everyone of the rules
4. we load everyone up in the suburban and take them to a start location, then you remind them again to be safe & obey the rules (don't hide under cars or in the back of trucks, don't go in any backyards, etc. etc.) You can play with 2 cars looking at once and it is actually easier this way you just have to find 2 other parents that want to spend their night hunting down boys.
5. give the boys a 3 minute head start and then start hunting them down with a spotlight
6. they have to make it to the destination without getting caught by us
7. if we catch them in our spotlight or by calling out their name they have to come get in the car with us until all the boys are either with us or at the destination

That is basically how we play.  We usually play 3 or 4 rounds a night.  And I am telling you afterwards we have some extremely gross sweaty boys.  Nights around here are hot and muggy!  The last few times we played it was about 95 with 85% humidity. Yuck!  The kids LOVE it!