St. George

Over Labor Day, we jumped in the car and headed up to St. George to meet up with Justin and Erin one last time. As always, we had a wonderful time together. It was super hot so we played in the pool a bunch, hit the Farmers Market, the Outlets, and enjoyed some Cafe Rio. It was great to see them and especially hard to say good bye!

We also were able to sneak in a visit with Shelly and her family. Garrett and Shelly were both a part of the Utah Hospital Task Force that went to Haiti after the earthquake. Marjorie and her son Gus were staying with Shelly while she had her new baby girl, Grace. Marjorie, along with her husband, own an orphanage in Haiti. Her 2-year old son was kidnapped before the earthquake and is still missing. She is an amazing woman and I was honored to have met her and hold her new baby.

Birthday Boy!

Davis's birthday this year was full of excitement and anticipation for months leading up to it! He was very aware of his big day and what was in store for his special day. We woke up early with him saying, "guess what mom, it's my birthday today!" We opened presents immediately and then had a special oatmeal breakfast, his favorite! We got to go to meet his teacher at his new school and then he chose to go to McDonald's for lunch. They had some really cool super-hero happy meal toys that made his day. If I would have known how happy he would have been over that toy, I could have saved myself some money!

Later that day, we had "cupcakes in the cul-de-sac" with all of his favorite neighbors! We made basketball cupcakes and sang happy birthday! Daddy even let him stay up as late as he wanted, but that back-fired when he was still awake at 11:30 and we wanted to go to bed! I think I actually ended up falling asleep before him! He had an extra special day! The only problem was the very next day he seemed to think it should be his birthday again. We are still working on that one!

1st Day of School

Summer ended fast when we started school on August 11 this year. It seemed so early and I don't think any of us were ready yet! Braden was excited for his 5th grade year, his last year of elementary school and Avery and Carson are big 2nd graders! The excitement was huge for a few days and then they quickly settled into the normal "do we have to go to school today" routine! They all picked out their "1st day" outfits and Braden was especially opinionated this year about his "fashion." We had to have a more "mature" backpack, some new skinny jeans, and a flat-brimmed hat. Hmmmm.

And Davis was super excited for the start of his new Pre-k school at Ms. Michelle's. He was ready to go and once again, loves his orange backpack! (I am still trying to find out what happened to the picture I took on his first day!)

Rubiks, Boston, and MIT

11x11...whoa!

Cubing buddy...Byron

Braden's cube collection

1st subway ride

Braden got to drive the Duck boat!

While we were back in NC, Garrett and Braden snuck away on their 1st "Dad" trip. Garrett is planning on doing a "Dad" trip with all of the kids when they turn 10 and when they are 16. He was originally wanting to do one every other year, but figured out fast with 4 kids he might not be able to fit them all in, let alone afford them. So this is the plan for now. Braden chose to go to Boston to attend the Rubiks Cube Nationals held at MIT. Big surprise, huh? They flew up from Wilmington while we all finished out the beach week and rendezvoused back in Raleigh with us a few days later. They enjoyed the competition, the sites of Boston on a Duck Tour, and laughing as they quoted Napolean Dynamite. Braden posted some of his best times in the 2x2, 3x3, 4x4, and Mega-minx. His rankings and times are updated here...world cube association.

In my mind I'm gone to Carolina...

Garrett and his sweet Grandmother Crane

What would a trip to the beach be without a YIMP pose?

Silly faces with the Pool's

"It's eating me!"

All the kids had to get their picture with this frog at the NC aquarium

Taking a bench break at the NC Aquarium

Walking back to the house from the beach...all12 kids!

Sand castle's and tide pools

Ready, set, JUMP!

Your the man, Garrett!

Digging for crabs with Delaney and Whitney

Avery finally caught a wave!

3 little boogie boarders waiting for the "big one"

One of our most favorite places!

Braden finally caught one!

Run, Davis, run!

Avery posing for her Dad.

Carson-bear!

The colorful neighborhood we stayed in!

The whole family minus John Kilgore

The Durham Life and Science Museum with the Taylor's

Winn and Davis intently trying to make their experiment work!

How many more kids can we get on that thing?

Davis was tuckered out!

Carson literally fell asleep like that on the boat!

Not so much air, but really cool sunset!

Beautiful NC sunset on Lake Gaston

We ditched Steve with all the kids and decided it was the Mom's turn!

Avery and Scarlett hanging on!

Chase, Braden, and Skyler...cute boys!

Me and my girls!

Giggle girls!

At the end of July, all 6 of us boarded the "red-eye" in San Diego and headed back "home" to North Carolina for 3 weeks. It was the first time the whole family went back since we had moved to Cali. The kids were super excited to see all their friends, cousins, aunts/uncles,and grandparents. We packed in all of our favorite things, like the lake with friends, a beach house with cousins, a visit to Trevor & Heather's, the best donuts ever, and some really good BBQ. We enjoyed seeing the beautiful trees, but did not miss the hot and humid weather! We had a wonderful time and it was great to see so many of our dear friends and family that we miss so much.