Big 5

Xander had a birthday on the weekend, and then started Kindergarten this week too!

We went to a magic show for his b-day. It was fun, and both boys got called up to help a lot (there wasn't a big crowd).

5 years old

Presents from the grandmas

Here was Xander on the 1st day of school. He's loved it so far!

He went on the bus, but I drove to the school to make sure he made it to his classroom safe and sound.

They said the Kindergartners are escorted by office staff to and from their class. Here was Xander after getting off the bus, but before going to his classroom. I was a little unsettled at how unorganized things were. It seemed like there was a lot of confusion and lack of communication:

I made sure he made it to his room, and couldn't wait to hear about his 1st day later.

I waited for Xander at the bus stop pick-up, but when the bus finally arrived (oh, did I mention I'd been waiting for almost an hour in the hot sun with a wild child) guess who wasn't on the bus...... my son! They put Xander on the wrong bus on the way home! They walkie-talkied for a minute and located him, and informed me that he would be returned to the school and I'd have to pick him up there. I was so mad!!!! Good grief- they have their bus # pinned on to their stinkin' shirts in bright yellow! Get it together people. Grrrrrrrr.

Family festivities

We went up to UT for my brother's wedding.

The happy couple: Dixie & Dan

Here are all of my sisters and I with the newlyweds.

My foxy mom with 3 of 5 grandkids.

The boys and I passing time between pics.

A couple days later we headed down to Lake Powell for a week on the lake with Blair's family.

Xander got pretty good at kayaking on his own.

Here was Will trying to be like Xander.

Blair and the boys coming back from a ride. The 1st time I took Will for a ride on this waverunner he cried and had a huge tantrum afterward because he didn't want to get off.

Xander going off the slide from the houseboat.

Blair right before hitting the water off it.

Will and I up top. Will said the slide would be too scary for him- but he had fun pushing me down.

Xander and Will with a bunch of cousins for a tube ride.

Grandpa and grandma with all of the grandkids. (We all tie-dyed shirts the day before we went down)

Our fam

The kids and I were "cliff diving."

This is Blair and his brother jumping off a real cliff! AAAAAAAA

This cute little critter came to visit us at Lake Powell- along with bats, bugs, a mouse, a scorpion, and a rattlesnake (that was promptly beheaded when found on the boat-scary!)

On the way back home to NV, we stopped where a sign said "Pipe Springs National Monument," to see what it was. It happened to be a weekend that was free entrance to national park stuff so we were happy we didn't have to pay, and we stayed and looked around. It's on an Indian reservation, and we found out that there would be the annual Indian pow wow that was free to the public up the road that evening.

We couldn't pass it up!

It was so neat to see the costumes, dances, and song- not to mention free food too! An indian man sitting next to us recognized us as outsiders (don't know why) and explained to us what everything was. So cool!

Oops

This clip is from a few months ago when Blair was hiking in Zion with some of his buddies from school. The water was freezing cold (45 degrees) so Blair was trying to be extremely careful on this descent. It makes me laugh everytime.