Firsts.....

Our first child has experienced "3" of life's BIG firsts in 1 weeks time!

She took her first driving test and passed, getting her first license!

She was put under anesthesia for the first time, and had her wisdom teeth removed!

She bought her first car, (with help from us) and drove it all by herself!

I think Rick and I aged a lot this week....kind of weird watching her drive off for the first time by herself.

Makes me realize how grown up she really is and how much closer the time is coming that she won't be in our home for much longer...makes me want to roll back the clock to all the smaller firsts, first smile, first tooth, first laugh, first step, first word...

The $5 Tooth Fairy

This past week has been filled with teeth and more teeth! After most of the summer plans had come and gone it was time to get down to business! Aubrey (16) needed her wisdom teeth extracted and Ashton (12), in preparation for braces needed 4 healthy big permanent teeth removed!

Being the scheduler I am, I scheduled them for the same day, on a Thurs, so we had a long weekend for recovery. We decided to let Aubrey take a "nap" during her ordeal, and Ashton decided he was going to let the world's best dentist pull all his teeth on the same visit! Ouch!

The night before I could hear them both talking, and they came to Rick and I and made us "aware" of the fact that the tooth fairy that "comes" to our home brings $5 a tooth, and they did the math and figured out that they each get $20 from the tooth fairy! These kids know how to work the "system" and believe in anything that will truly benefit them!

Ashton's appt ended up being more difficult than Aubrey's and was upsetting for him. It was sad to see him hold back the tears through the whole appt only to let them ALL fall out as soon as he was in the van. I know what that's like, I still do that....

So, both kids came home, and took their pain medicine and went to sleep. As for their recovery, Aubrey literally slept in her cave for 4 days. Ashton bounced back after 1.5 days. They ate tons of the best pudding, Swiss Miss, Jello (the kind made with REAL sugar) ice cream and applesauce! On day 5 I ruined Aubrey's life by putting her on plain advil and real food!

I am happy this is over with for them and that they are now back to feeling 100%!

P.S.
For those of you who didn't know, YES, there IS a toothfairy and that next day they were smiling with a few less teeth and $20 extra bucks in their pockets!

Blogging Failure 101

Note to self: Never start a blog just before summer vacation starts. You will feel like a complete blog failure after 4 weeks!

So this Summer has caught up with me and I haven't had enough hours in the day to make an entry. We made a quick trip to Cali to visit good friends, eat tons of fried foods at the Del Mar Fair (San Diego Fair~new name) and the beach!!!

We just returned from my first ever road trip without Rick to see my family in Colorado. Thanks to my folks for being my travel companions!


I love this photo of them. It is sincere, unposed and the parents "I" recognize.

We missed Rick tons, but enjoyed the layed back schedule and just hangin' out at my sister house with all of the family visiting! It was such a great trip and so many great memories. The best keepsake was these photos that my sister in law took of my kids (yes, Shauna Thompson, you are MY sister in law :0) I am a huge fan of her skills and talents and was so thrilled that she found the time to take us to the park and capture my cute kids! (Here is her blog) blog

We survived having our #1 helper, be gone for most of the summer, 1 week girls camp, 1 week pioneer trek, 1 week drivers ed classes, 1 weeks drivers training and now she is out for the count recovering from wisdom teeth extractions!



Ashton enjoyed his first ever week long scout trip! He earned 6 merit badges and had so many great adventures! I can never thank the scout leaders enough for giving up there week to spend with my child! He is recovering from 4 teeth extractions just in time to get braces the week before school starts!



Carter loved every minute of the Colorado trip hanging out with Tristan! His favorite boy cousin! Getting to have a full week of sleepovers was a real treat! We have chosen to not do sleepovers as a rule for our family and so this was a big bonus for all our kids! My sister has kids about the same ages so everyone got to have a sleepover buddy while we stayed with them! He has spent all summer riding bikes and playing the wii with his friends. He has loved keeping up on cub scouts and can't wait to be in 4th grade!



Parker has muddled through the summer always wanting to play with his best friend Merek and "surviving" his little vacations. He is a homebody, except when it comes to school! He loves school and our bus driver Moe and he can't wait to be in school all day and eat lunch at the cafeteria! (For those of you who know him, this will be a challenge, he doesn't like most foods and eats fewer....this kid makes me really question my validity as a mother!) He did love having his pictures taken and this is why I love him so much....



As for Hunter, my official 2 1/2 yr old, he is my baby. He loved Colorado and being able to have me all to himself. Without Dad around he didn't have to share snuggling at night and always made sure his hand or foot was touching me in the night. He doesn't like being alone. He likes to know you are there...reminds me a lot of the way I feel about the Savior, knowing He is always with me, IF I live my life righteously and do all that I ask. When I see Hunter I am constantly reminded of that knowledge. It brings me peace. Here is a group shot of the kids, and this is MY Hunter, 90% of the time....he brings so much joy to our home!