Schoolio

 Things I love about my first grader:

Miss Congeniality, I never have to worry if Syd will make friends

because she is one friendly girl. Thank goodness, with all

of our frequent moving it has not seemed to phase her to start a new.

When she went to get on the bus she grabbed a little girls hand (total stranger)

and said "What's your name? Do you want to sit by me on the bus?" 

I was so proud of her. When we told her we would me moving in a month

she said "Good, I will have even more friends". 

Good Luck Sydney !

Syd's fan club....

The drop off...

I wish she were a little sad about leaving us.

Even though Emmy is a little young to take on preschool,

she loved it in the Philippines, so we enrolled her this

year.

I Love Emmy's:

ENERGY! I have know idea where 

she gets it, but it truly emanates from her.

She makes us laugh and cry, she is 100%

our most affectionate kid.
To you Em, I say,

-"Go, spread your love...."

I LOVE TATE'S:

 Humor, even though he

may still be learning when it is appropriate,

he keeps us all laughing...A LOT.

I have no doubt that it will get him 

through preschool with flying colors.

Fish Lake

Trent's idea of Heaven is for sure, Fish Lake.

We had a family vacation this year at Fish Lake

and when I say family vacation....I mean, the 

whole fam damly.

It was awesome, one of our favorite traditions is stopping

at the Hot Spot drive in...I am certain it is the 

hottest spot in this town.

I am not sure what Tate is doing here...but it is one

of the many reasons I love him.

Capt'n Crazy Eyes...I guess we were excited for the tater tots!

We went down a day early for some little family bonding time.

Fish Lake is always a fun getaway.

Tate gave up on fishing and tried some coloring.

Rad. Totally rad.

Sydney sunshine.

My Fish Lake Loving Man.

AND THEN....
the troops came.

Cousin hike...ok, walk.

Benson gathering wood...what for? I'm not sure.

 I love this curious age...

 Mindy...what a good mommy. She packed little Simon 

all over. No, she is not nursing on the trail.

Aunt Cassie held cousin exercise class.

Syd and Uncle Mac getting ready to watch the show,

the Uncle Beetle water skiing show...

The coolest uncle ever...literally. This is the first
time I have ever seen anyone water ski on Fish Lake.
I think watching his facial expression was the highlight of
everyone's trip.

This is it....
the whole Shoell crew!

"All because two people fell in love"
...that's good stuff right?

Tate's Pad

I have not shared much about our furnished apartment living....

Maybe because it makes me a little blue to think about it.

In my world I thought that we would have found a house quicker than we 

actually did.

Tates world too!

One morning I guess he was fed up with his tight quarters and 

made himself a nice little room it the entry way.

I am happy to report, that we finally found a place to live.

Sandy, UT....I guess this means it is time to let go 

of the "Vanilla's in Manila".  (deep sigh).

Snow Birdies

We spent a Saturday afternoon at Snowbird. Our Kids clearly had not acclimated

to the fresh mountain air. We really do live in a beautiful place, sure its not the sandy

beaches that the Phils had to offer but these mountain views are hard to beat.

And....

No Grandma "Linna" in the Philippines.

She joined us for the tram ride to the top of Snowbird.

My favorite part of the day was watching Trent and Syd

ride the Alpine slide down.

Trent is a mountain boy through and through.  I love seeing

him so happy.

Welcome Back!

This was the best "Welcome to Utah gift" a girl could ever have.  

Leave it to my sister to do things right. Cassie showed up on our apartment doorstep 

with this bad boy and I have fit right in this town ever since.

P.G. PRIDE!

Pioneer Day!

It has been years since we have lived in Utah,

and it felt good to celebrate the 

24th of July (when the pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley).

We went up the canyon and had a weenie roast with family...of course:)

We were going for the "hard day on the planes pioneer look" in this photo.

 

Grandma Gaye and Grandpa George!

It has been nice to reconnect with family, especially my sisters and Mom.

Almost as nice as having someone clean your house and wait on you

all day long. Well, maybe not that nice. (Laugh)

The kids have been loving the canyon. Tate asks if we can

drive are car "on top of the mountains?" 

Which, the "Utah" in us replys:

"Heck yeah!"

Happy Pioneer Day!

Cousin Camp

While I have been going through my Philippine withdrawls

the kids have been in heaven, cousin heaven.

When I ask Sydney if she is missing her old life...she

always replys with a "not really." I can't decide if I should be offended or 

happy? The truth is, cousins are instant friends. And as good as life

was for me, I guess cousins can top that for our kids. Weird.

Playing "school". (Syd, Anna, Tate, Bens and Max)

 

 Nothing like sharing a bowl of cocoa puffs  with your cousins.

Champions!

When parents tell everyone how 

cool their kids are...You can bet that I am the one

rolling my eyes in the corner and most likely making slightly 

sarcastic comments under my breath. Just kidding, I never do that.

But what I am about to tell you is... how cool my kids are.

Yep, Pleasant Grove pool champions.

When I say my kids can rock the pool its because they can. If Emmy could sign autographs

she would. She is the only two year old (as far as I know) that can slay the 

Pleasant Grove pools diving board. Running jumps, belly flops you name it

she can get a crowd cheering her on. Never mind that is usually a bunch of fifth and sixth graders, and that I am on the side lines ready to have to do a deep dive rescue.

One year of swimming every day has paid off. Well,that and a little help from

the annual P.G. Pool swim lessons.

Emmy, Tate and teacher Sydney!

Yep, pool champ for sure.

A Blur...

That is what our Summer has been....

A blur. I have so missed having our computer, actually,

I miss a lot of things. The kids each packed a back pack with

their favorite toys and let me tell you a back pack is not enough for the

dog days of Summer. We try to leave our furnished apartment as much

as possible. We spend a lot of time at the local swimming pool, and exploring parks with

our cousins, in between looking for houses, enrolling our kids in school and all thoughs things that come with relocating. At least we are in a familiar place and have the 

pleasure of being around family...that's it, pleasure.

Seriously, they have been our saving grace this Summer. Even though I am way 

behind on our blog, I would still like to add a few more posts dedicated to our last 

couple of months here in Utah.

I can not neglect adding  the famous "sand hill" pictures from Lake Powell.

I am pretty sure this is the worst activity 

that exists at Powell....but for some reason the whole 

darn family wanted in on this torture.

Tate looked like I felt.

We made it!

The sand hill cheese.

My Powell Heros...

This post is dedicated to ALL who had to endure

one week of Powell with us.

You are my Lake Powell Heroes....

Uncle Troy; 

for being Tates wrestling buddy, Co-Captain and best Uncle ever.

Sophie;

for being Syd's boat buddy ALL week.

 I think they spent most of their days in this position....

Aunt Cec;

For entertaining Emmy most of the week....

(That should give you top hero spot) 

Grandma Susan;

For her patience, kindness and invitation 

THANKS GRANDMA SUSAN! 

Uncle Jim;

For many reasons....

Keeping us on schedule,

 Coaching Syd how to be a wake board Momma,

 This is her almost succeeding. 

Next, knee boarding... 

This guy should get a trophy for how much

time he spent in the water with Syd!

Showing us his mad wake boarding skills...

And for his overall humor...Thanks Jim :)

T-Man;

For his sweet chocolate milk making skills,

wake board technique, water weenie driving

And being the best Daddy...EVER.

  

Aunt Lisa;

for keeping it real, 

I am thankful for her always,

happy attitude. And, how she knows all the 

lyrics to the 80's.

 Kolton;

Need I say more...

 Tanner;

Probably the coolest nephew ever, he

pulled me up on the water weenie

more than any nephew should have to.

I think that he and Kolton thought it was worth the work....

Well, maybe.

Aunt Carri and Tamz;

For enduring Blondie #3's torture chamber

Cute Cousins;

for making our trip fun, fun!