First day of school!!!

The day has finally arrived - Matthew's first day of preschool and Bryan's first day of kindergarted! I think I was the only one with first-day jitters. They were both so anxious and ready to go!

We took Matthew first since he's got morning preschool. He's at the same preschool that Bryan went to and we love, but he's got a different teacher and a new classroom so it's special just for him. He went in, put his backpack in his cubby, picked out his name strip and went to meet his teacher, Mrs. Beach. She asked him a question which determined where he put his name. The question was, "Do you like to sing?" and he said "No." I was a little surprised, but his teacher seemed to know that it wasn't really indicative of whether or not he liked singing. Just something to say. After that he found a race track and some cars to play with and he didn't look back. I'm glad he had no problem saying goodbye, but I was a little sad that it didn't phase him even one bit! I guess his Nursery class has prepared him well, and he's watched Bryan go to class for the last year and a half, so he knows what it's all about.

When we went to pick him up we could hear his class upstairs for their music/movement time and they seemed to be having a lot of noisy fun! It was cute to see him walk back to his classroom in a line, like he's been doing it for years. So grown-up! When we got to talk to him about his class he said he liked playing and singing silly songs. And he did say he likes his teacher and the other kids, so that's good. I was so proud of him! My little Matty's a school boy!

By this point Bryan was dying to get to his afternoon kindergarten class. Normally we'll have to rush home from picking up Matt so Bryan can catch his bus, but today I insisted on taking him, despite his pleas to let him go on his own. (I'm not quite ready for that just yet, I guess. Maybe tomorrow...)

He always insists on doing "cool guy" poses...

We got to his school at the same time his friend Janie was getting there, and luckily they're in the same class! Jana and I walked them in together and could barely keep up with them, they were so excited. When he got to his room he greeted his teacher, Mrs. Basso, put his backpack away, found the chair with his name on it, and began to color a coloring sheet at his table. He didn't say goodbye or anything, although I figured it was good to not cause a big, emotional scene. :) I'm anxious to hear about the rest of his day once I pick him up in a few hours. I'm sure he's having a great time.

David gave Bryan a blessing last night encouraging him to be obedient, choose good kids to play with, and be an example to others.  It's comforting to know, as I send him out on his own, that Heavenly Father's watching over him and can give him the strength he needs to face the things that lie ahead in these coming years.  It will be an adventure, I'm sure!  And it starts today, mixed feelings and all, whether I'm ready or not.  At least Bryan and Matthew are!  They couldn't have been more excited. :)

Weekend in Las Vegas

This last weekend, David treated his employees to an office retreat in Vegas.  They've been doing an amazing job, so this was a reward for all their hard work the last few months.  I was lucky and got to tag along. :)

Vegas hasn't been my favorite place in the past.  It's still not - too dirty, sexy, slimy, worldly...  But this time we didn't take the kids and I enjoyed it a lot more.  First of all, we stayed in the Trump hotel at the north of the strip, and I loved it!!  We got a great deal through priceline (where you get to name your price) and then the hotel didn't have record of it, so because we had to wait a few minutes while they figured things out, they gave us an upgrade and put is in a beautiful suite.  The bathroom alone was amazing!  Marble everything, big jetted tub, a TV in the mirror (which was David's favorite part, of course)... total luxury.  David and I have never really stayed in luxurious places before, so it was all especially nice.

Our daytime view...  It was much more spectacular at night.

That first night we ate at the Planet Hollywood buffet so David could check it out and make sure it would be a good place to take his employees.  It was really yummy that first night.  The only bummer was I got a migraine on the drive down to Vegas so I was not feeling my best.  We walked around after dinner and saw different hotels I hadn't been to before, but I had to try and avoid looking at the bright lights of the casinos, which wasn't easy.  Still, I enjoyed the fountain show at the Bellagio - my favorite part of the strip - and the whimsical flower arrangements at the Wynn and Palazzo.  We didn't want to lug around our big camera, so unfortunately the only pictures we took walking around were with David's phone.  Better than nothing, I guess.

Friday morning, we treated ourselves to a delicious breakfast at the restaurant in our hotel.  Then David went to visit an agent he knows in Vegas, and I got to go shopping!  The big fancy mall just happened to be right across the street from our hotel, so I was able to walk right over.  It was perfect.  There were tons of nice places I couldn't afford to buy anything from, but it was fun to window shop, and I did find some good deals at some more mainstream stores.  I was a little stressed about what I was going to wear that night for dinner with David's employees. They wanted to wear cocktail dresses, and that's pretty tricky to do modestly.  The dress I'd intended on wearing required a tank top underneath, and I realized at some point in the afternoon that I'd forgotten it!  At the last minute, though, I found a dress, matching jewelry, and sandals (all on clearance) and everything worked out just fine.

The only bummer about the afternoon was that I didn't get to enjoy time at the pool like I'd wanted to.  Besides spending too much time at the mall, I'd forgotten to bring sunscreen, and the sun was way too intense for me to be in the sun without anything.  I tried it for a minute or two, but that was all I could take.  I went and read a magazine in our room instead.  David did a little better and stayed out for about a half hour before he had to come in as well.

That night we met Patty and her husband and Janelle and her sister at the Planet Hollywood buffet.  It wasn't nearly as good the second time around, but we still enjoyed ourselves.  Afterward they wanted to walk on the strip, but I hadn't been planning on walking around much and didn't bring a change of shoes.  So I had to walk and walk and walk in my new wedge sandals and my feet hurt SO bad!  If I stopped every now and then, I was okay, but it made for a long evening.  We walked around the Bellagio and the Forum shops at Caesar's Palace, which I love, so that was nice at least.  We ended up at the Paris hotel where we rested with a few drinks.  Only two of the six of us drank, so we got some weird looks from the waitress when we mostly ordered ice water.  Oh well.  David had wanted to go dancing, but we were all pretty beat, so we called it a night after that.

Saturday morning we met up with Patty and her husband at the Outlets where we shopped for a couple hours.  (David spent more time shopping this weekend than he normally does in months!)  Then we met up with Janell and her sister back on the strip where we hung out for another couple hours before telling them all goodbye.  David and I decided to end our trip by eating a late lunch at the Wynn buffet.  We'd heard it was amazing, and we were totally not disappointed.  It was SOOO good!  Mmmm, thinking of the dessert alone makes my mouth water.  David loved it because they had queso manchego, jamon, gazpacho, and a number of other things he loves from Spain.  I thought the decorations alone were amazing!  It was perfect.

So overall the weekend was a lot of fun.  I missed the kids, of course - Ariana stayed with Heather and Cambria and Javi and Jose watched the boys at home.  Still, it was kind of hard to leave our nice hotel and all the yummy food and come back home to normal life.  I guess it's good we were only there for a few days so I couldn't get too accustomed to the fancy life.

I have to say my favorite part of the trip was spending so much time with this guy...  Thanks for the fun weekend, babe!  We'll definitely have to do it again! :)

Using their imagination

Matt and Bryan have gotten really good these days at using their imaginations, as Bryan likes to point out to me quite often.  When it's too hot to play outside and I've banned them from the TV, they pull out their blocks and make all sorts of creations.  Bryan would prefer to play with smaller Legos, but I'm glad they still have fun with these bigger ones.  They're much easier to clean up!

They're big fans of knights and pirates, and I found this pirate ship online for an amazing price.  It's been so much fun!  I just love seeing their creativity in action, and the fact that they do it together is even better!

The cow says "booooooo!"

That's what Ariana says, anyway.  We got to go to Farm Country at Thanksgiving Point with Heather and Cam the other week, and we had lots of fun!  It was especially fun with Ari being so into animals these days.  We took pictures in front of this fake cow, but the real ones were much more interesting to look at.

The kids all loved playing at the bug and plants exhibits.

Here's Matt all smiles on the wagon ride.

I think our favorite animals to look at were the goats.  They were so cute and friendly. :)

As long as Ari could walk around and see the animals up close, she was a happy girl.

"Booooo!"

Ariana at 16 months

Our baby girl is getting so big!  Well, I guess big isn't the right word.  She's in the 1st percentile for weight at barely 18 pounds, so she's definitely petite.  But she's growing up and learning things so fast!  It's so much fun.  Here are some things about her right now...

- She LOVES books!  She'd sit on my lap and look at books all day long if she could.  She takes my finger and points it at her favorite things, and makes me feel all the touch-and-feel things instead of feeling it herself.  Her favorite books are the animal books.
- She LOVES animals! :)  After having boys that are crazy about cars and machines and things, it's so fun to see Ariana's obvious interest in animals.  She gets so excited every time she sees or even hears an animal or a bird.  My favorite thing is to have her do her animal noises.  She does the noises for a dog, monkey, elephant, bird, duck, chicken, sheep, and cow ("booooo"). She uses her cow sound for any other animal she doesn't know, like a hippo or a giraffe.  It's so cute!
- She's still only got 2 little teeth - the two on the bottom that she's had for months now.  There are a couple peeking through on the top but they're sure not moving very fast!  The doctor says that babies who are slow to get their baby teeth eventually have better permanent teeth, so she should have a really great smile at the rate she's going!
- She has a blanket that she's attached to and sleeps with all the time.  And when she wakes up she likes us to wrap it around her like a cape or robe or something.  It's satin and minky and so cute - I'm glad she likes it so much! (Much better than Matt's attachment to my slip!)
- She's a fast little walker these days and wants more and more to be independent when we're out and about.  She's not so content to sit and watch her brothers run around and have all the fun.  She's even begun climbing - I found her standing on my desk this morning!  And while she goes up stairs just fine, she hasn't quite gotten the hang of coming back down, so we still have to keep a close eye on her.
- She eats a ton!  She eats more than the boys combined at dinner sometimes.  Her current favorite things are avocados, pinto beans, cheese, Corn Chex, berries, and ice cream.
- She loves baths and swimming and gets so excited any time we're around water.
- She likes trying to put things together - buckles, lids on things, etc.  She gets mad now if I don't let her do it herself.
- She loves to dance!
- She loves the swings, slides, and crawling on playgrounds.
- The first song she learned to sing was the Spanish soccer song "A por ellos..."  It's the only song she sings, in fact!  She sings it during the hymns at church, in the car, and even when she's laying in bed waiting to fall asleep.  David couldn't be prouder. :)
- She's learning more and more words every day!  Here's a list of the things she says:
Mommy
Daddy
"bah" (brother)
"Bya" (Bryan)
"Mah-ew" (Matthew)
uh-oh
"who-dat?" (who's that?)
"wuh-dat?"(what's that?)
book
ball
milk
more
please
thank you
all done
bath
eat
beans
cheese
hi
bye
no
baby
doggy
fishie
horsie
balloon
paci (said in a whisper)
hot (said in a whisper)
"go-ko-gye" (rock-a-bye)
"bappa" (Grandma/Grandpa - except when it's for Grandma she also pats her chest, which is what Mom always did when she was trying to teach her how to say her name)
"mmmmm" (when she sees something yummy to eat)

We love our Ariana (aka Ari, "Aninani", "Adi") so much!  What a sweet blessing she is in our lives!

We love Grandma!

The best thing about summer is having Mom here in Utah with us for so long.  This year she stayed for five weeks, and even that didn't seem long enough.  Her last week here we tried to do lots of fun things.  We visited BYU, ate lots of Mexican food, watched the Bachelorette finale, played lots of games, and played at the park.  We also went to the gardens at Thanksgiving Point.  Of course, we took a bunch of pictures...  It was a gorgeous day - hot, but beautiful.  The best part was playing in the splash pool around Noah's Ark.  The kids loved it!

Ari and Cami enjoyed seeing the animal statues and smelling the flowers. :)

Matt couldn't resist rolling down the big hill, and Bryan insisted on doing his "cool guy" pose each time we took a picture.

Here are some sweet pictures of Grandma and the boys.  I love this one with Bryan. 

Matt, we've discovered, is much more affectionate with the men in the family, so it was a big deal that he actually held Grandma's hand. :)

On Mom's last morning here we went to Gardner Village to kill time before she had to leave.  We managed to take some smiling pictures at Gardner Village's petting zoo, despite knowing we were about to say goodbye.

She's such an amazing grandma - so giving, loving, affectionate and fun. We're so blessed to have her in our lives, even if we are normally miles apart.  Thanks, Mom, for everything!  We love you!