Brooklyn's "New Preschool"

Brookie's First Day

Brooklyn started her second year of preschool on September 1st. She is going to a new school this year, the same one that Jacey went to as a 4-year-old, and is now going 3 days a week instead of 2. I LOVE her teacher and the set-up that she has at her house (converted garage with classroom, playroom, and pint-sized bathroom), as well as her awesome backyard with tons of playground equipment and ride-on toys. Brooklyn is in heaven there and loves it, which makes the long drive to get there worthwhile (it is about 15 minutes away). She is always asking each morning if she gets to go to "New Preschool" that day. She also loves her little buddy Ethan who is in her class and drives in our carpool with us.

Since starting "New Preschool", I have also begun to panic as I realize that Brooklyn is only 1 year away from starting kindergarten! How can that be? As smart as she is, I have discovered that Brooklyn needs a lot of help when it comes to learning to write her letters. The poor girl doesn't even know how to hold her pencil the right way! Since Jacey picked up a crayon and started coloring and writing virtually on her own at a very young age, I guess that this kind of caught me by surprise. Brookie would much rather be playing cars and trains than be bothered with the tedious work of printing letters and coloring in the lines. It is so interesting how my two girls have such different personalities!

Riding the trike in the backyard!

Packing it up for another day!

Jacey's 7th Birthday!

How do you go from this:

to this:

in just 7 short years?

Jacey turned 7 years old on September 1st. It is hard to believe that my little baby girl is growing up so fast! If the years aren't proof of that, her sassy attitude and love of clothing and all things GIRL are. Some days she seems to be 7 going on 17. I am not quite sure how she got this way given the fact that I am more of a tomboy and not into all the girly-girl things. But I digress.

The big celebration started the Saturday before her actual birthday with her friend party. Since it is still quite warm outside we decided to have a water-themed party, with a little Hannah Montana thrown in (more about that later).

We got out the big water slide. . .

and played some games using water balloons.

A couple of girls even got the brilliant idea to use water balloons in some more creative ways!

The girls made visors. . .

Jacey opened up her presents, which were mostly make-up items (ugh!). . .

and then we had cupcakes, ice cream and punch!
(Jacey wanted a Hannah Montana party, but the only things that were "Hannah" were the cups and napkins.)

She definitely felt like the "Queen of the Party!"

A couple of days later was her actual birthday. I took some goodies into her classroom and her teacher spotlighted her while I was there. That night we went out to eat at Applebee's (her choice) and then we came home and opened up her presents and had ice cream. As you can see, she got quite spoiled! She got a big sticker book from her "Red Grandma", some books and Justice shirts from California Grandma, and a shirt, DS game, headband, necklace, AND a new bike (training wheel-less) and bike helmet from us. We have already been out a few times teaching her how to ride her new wheels, and she is doing great!


Jacey is such a sweet and sensitive girl. She is always quick to give hugs and kisses and also quick to forgive. She is the ultimate first child in every way, and is very responsible and helpful around the house as well as with her brother and sister. I am so grateful that our family has been blessed with this sweet little girl! Happy birthday Jacey!

Wal-Mart--Always Poor Customer Service. Always!

I have a million more important things that I need to blog about, such as Jacey's birthday, Brooklyn's first day of pre-school, soccer games, etc., but I just could not resist posting a rant about Wal-Mart's sub-par customer service. I have come to expect that when I go to Wal-Mart I am going to get a better deal on my groceries and such, but that I should not go there if I am in a big hurry (10 customers in line for every cashier) or have any questions about where to find something ("Huh? We carry that?"). I often get a rude response or at best a blank stare from the robots who work there if I request even the slightest thing. Today was no exception.

As the cashier checked out my groceries today, I noticed that she scanned a large can of banana chips that I had bought for food storage twice. I asked her about it, and she said,"Well you did get two cans of banana chips, right?" Yes, that was true, but the problem was that the other can had already been bagged so I was convinced that she had also scanned that one earlier. I said "Oh, so you must have not scanned the other one earlier then?", to which I got the "Hmm mmm." Okalee dokalee. I was in a hurry to get Brooklyn from preschool and knew that if this lady messed up I was not going to have time to go to Customer Service to get my money back, because at Wal-Mart you do not get to see your receipt to check such things until after you have already paid and the cashier cannot do anything to fix it. I think that may be part of their strategy for making their huge profits. I can't tell you how many times they have wrung up something for the wrong price and I have not had the time or the guts to go stand in line to get my 50 cents back. But at $5.99 a can, I was not going to let this one go!

After she finished checking my things, I uncomfortably asked "Um, before I pay would you mind just checking the receipt to make sure that you only scanned those bananas twice?" Sigh. Hiss. How dare you ask me to do that!!! The cashier curtly pushed the magic button on her register to print out the receipt so I could see it. Mind you I only bought 17 items, so they weren't hard to find. She took her pen and checked them off "Here's one here. Here's one there. And, uh. . .oh there's another one there." No apologies, or "I was wrong", just an angry yanking of one of those cans out of my bag to void the entry. As I paid I said "Thank you for checking on that for me" to which she replied, if you can believe it, a robotic "You're welcome." I felt redeemed, validated, but also somewhat perplexed at how Wal-Mart keeps these awesome employees when so many people are looking for jobs right now. And maybe a little more perplexed at why, despite the numerous times I have had these kind of encounters there, I will still go back again and again.

My Little 2nd Grader!

So Jacey started school again last Thursday. Poor Brooklyn woke up so sad that morning and wore the biggest frown as Jacey got ready. I asked her what was wrong and she said "Jacey is going to school and this day is going to be boring!" Thankfully Brooklyn starts preschool next week and will have something of her own to look forward to!

This year seemed a little surreal, as if it wasn't really time to start up again yet, but when I looked at the school calendar from last year it showed that we were actually starting school a week later this year than last. The first day of school Jacey was excited yet nervous to go, saying "What if the kids or the teacher don't like me?", etc. But when I dropped her off at school she was right back into her element, hugging all of her school friends and seeming quite the confident little cookie. She was also very excited because I got her a new shirt that she really wanted, along with a matching silver headband. Add to that the silver sandals we bought recently and this girl was all about the bling! She apparently also had quite the sassy attitude to match that day. She told me that when she walked by a group of boys in the hall that she knew their mouths dropped open when they saw her (her version of events!) She said that she stuck her tongue out at them, and then flashed them a big "L" (for loser--where does she learn this stuff?). In other events, she also said that she resumed her favorite recess pastime--chasing boys. Here's to another year of growing up!

Standing outside her classroom
Sitting at her desk

Looking studious already with those cute glasses!

End of Summer Fun!

Wow, it's hard to believe that summer is already wrapping up. Didn't it just barely start? Although I thought that we were going to have a long, boring summer this year due to the baby just being born, it ended up being anything but. We took more trips than we normally do, going on quick day jaunts to Zions, Cedar Breaks, and Kanarraville Falls, along with week-long trips to see both sides of our family. We also tackled swim lessons, started soccer, played with friends, broke out the water slide a few times, and just seemed to keep busy constantly! I am not ready for the fun, lazy days of summer to end! Here is a wrap-up of the end of our summer:

At the end of July Brooklyn and Jacey took swim lessons and did great! They are both improving so much and getting really comfortable in the water.

All done for this year!

The day that we finished with swimming lessons, we packed up the car and headed out for our yearly summer vacation to Southern California to see my family. We had a lot of fun there and enjoyed being able to spend more time with "California Grandpa" than we usually get. Here are some pictures of our adventures there:

On our first night there we got as close to Disneyland as we were going to get this trip--we went to check out Downtown Disney and watched the fireworks!
The girls had fun trying on the Minnie Mouse ears
Grandma made sure that Landon didn't feel left out!

On Sunday we went to church with my family, and then after Sunday dinner we engaged in a Mitchell Family tradition--a game of croquet in the backyard!Hey, the boy has to learn how to play sooner or later!

On Monday we ventured out to Irvine Park to ride the train through the park (Brooklyn loves trains!) and to play on the playground. It was a hot, muggy day, but we did have a lot of fun.

Uncle Michael is hiding in this picture, apparently too embarrassed to be caught riding the "Kiddie Train"!
The girls with Grandpa! Brooklyn with her favorite Uncle Michael!

Swinging so high! Landon fell fast asleep in the swing, just like at home!

On Tuesday it was on to: Wait, you guys have the wrong family!

Brooklyn and Jacey rode their first big roller coaster there!

Brookie's favorite ride--the "galloping" horses
Jon's favorite ride--the pirate ship where you could spray water guns and soak unsuspecting people!
The kids LOVED getting soaked in the splash zone
Jacey with some creepy old man!

In Mini-Land USA, a LEGO rendering of the Obama inauguration

Also in Mini-Land, a LEGO Vegas Strip!

On Wednesday and Thursday, we were so tired from the previous days that we kind of went low-key and just did some shopping and hung out around the house. My parents did give Jon and I a date night one of those nights and took the girls to McDonald's while Jon and I went out to dinner. As always, it was hard to say goodbye when we had to leave. Thanks for the fun week Grandma, Grandpa and Michael! Let's do it again next summer!Oh and P.S.: Grandpa, you have won over the heart of another grandkid!

Our Weekend With the Pendy's

In the middle of July Jon's sister Arryn and her family (the Pendleton's) came down to visit us for a weekend. We had a blast with them and even ventured out to a couple of places in So. Utah we had never been before, namely Cedar Breaks National Monument and Kanarraville Falls. I guess it takes someone with an adventurous spirit to drag us homebodies out into new territory!

On Friday, we broke out the waterslide for the kids since it was broiling hot that day. The kids had a lot of fun squirting at each other and trying treacherous tricks down the slide. Here are a few pics of the action:

On Saturday, we went out to Cedar Breaks where we stood in awe of the beautiful scenery and hiked around a little bit. Thankfully, we also managed to keep the kids safe despite some "too-close-for-comfort" encounters with steep cliff dropoffs. After hiking around a bit we went to a campground area for a "picnic dinner", and then Jon and I headed home with Brooklyn and Landon while Jacey stayed behind with Mike & Arryn and her cousins for the ranger's program and star gazing. She had a lot of fun and it was amazing how much she learned about planets and constellations there. Here are some pics of our day at Cedar Breaks:

The "Amphitheater"There were beautiful wildflowers everywhere

Cute Girl Cousins!

Jenna and Jacey taking in the spectacular view!

Jon fell off the side of the cliff and needed to be rescued!
(Okay, not really, but it made for a really cool picture!)

Standing in front of the 1,000+ year-old tree

Baby Landon just goes where we go!

On Sunday, Landon and I stayed home while Jon and the girls and Arryn's family set out to do what we thought was a short hike to Kanarraville Falls. About 4 1/2 hours later, the extremely weary crew returned after hiking for hours through slot canyons to the falls. They had a lot of fun but were exhausted! Apparently we tempted fate again that day because I heard afterward that there are usually a bunch of rattlesnakes on that trail! Luckily they stayed far away that day and no one got hurt! Here are some pics of their adventures to the falls:


Thanks Mike, Arryn and kids for making the effort to come see us! We had a great weekend and look forward to your next visit!