Cole's Birthday

My little Cole turned 2 on August 9th. Meg and I had such a fun time planning his party. Cole LOVES Mario Kart so I decided to throw him a Mario Party. Let me just say easier said than done, there is absolutely nothing at the stores to help with this, so the whole party was home made. We spent a couple of days making some decorations, then for the big finale Meg made an awesome cake once again. We got the idea online from some other poor sole who threw a Mario party for her child. But it all turned out super cute and lots of fun.

The decorations!

The birthday Boy

Awesome cake Meg!

Meg work so hard perfecting all of the details

All of the silly kids. Love the hats!

What a goof.

Presents!!

Thanks for the puzzles Nana and Papa

Mr. Bump made him cry. I had nothing to do

with it, no matter what you've heard.

Time to eat the cake.

Principal Pride

It is just like my little Gabe to stand out on the first week of school. Gabe came home with a Principal Pride award. The Principal Pride award is given to 2 students in each class every month and Gabe got it on the very first week of school. Now a part of getting this award is that the students get to have lunch with the principal in the library. Gabe was so funny when he came home to tell me about the award.

Me: Wow you get to have lunch with the principal!

Gabe: I know! I wonder what he will be wearing?

Me: Probably a suit or something.

Gabe: Oh man, I am going to need a suit or something.

In the end Gabe settled on wearing his Oakcrest Eagles shirt from his school. I just want to know what kind of six year old thinks about those sort of things. I was able to go to the lunch with him and see him get his certificate, it was a lot of fun to see him at his school. His teacher filled out his certificate which said. "Gabriel Franc has been honored for following our class rules so well. He listens attentively at rug time and does his seat work efficiently. He also remembers to fold his arms and keep them to himself while walking through our school." Now that is a lot to accomplish in just one week.

Gabe digging into his lunch

Gabe and his friend Connor

Gabe

Me and Gabe

My big first grader

My son Gabriel started first grade yesterday. It is just crazy how fast life goes by. He is getting so big everyday going through life's fun events. Last year he had afternoon Kindergarten, so it is a little weird getting up and having him out the door by 8:00 in the morning. We were ahead of schedule so I decided we could walk. Well, the kids rode their bikes and I walked. Gabe was so excited to get to have lunch at school and of course get 3 recesses. When we got there he was so cute talking to all his friends from last year and finding out which friends were in his class this year. Then today came. The morning started out the same, breakfast together, get dressed, and out the door. Gabe hopped on his bike and took off. Well, by the time I turned the corner with Cali and Cole, Gabe was about a block and a half ahead of me with about 20 other kids crossing the cross walk. Without a care in the world. He didn't even realize that he had left his poor mom behind. So I just yelled ahead to remind him to lock his bike up and have a good day, and off he went. So I guess you go to first grade one day and your already big enough that you don't need your mother anymore. Me and the kids turned back around with Cali asking why we weren't walking with Gabe. I am so glad he is such an independent and friendly kid, I just hope he doesn't forget about his mother in the mean time.

First day!

Family bike ride to school

Gabe in front of school

Gabe in line. Bye Gabe.

Bye brother.

24th of July Tradition

There are a few things that I look forward to every year and the 24th of July is one of them. Every year we pack up for a long weekend at our cabin in Kamas. The cabin has been in our family since before I was born and now belongs to my mother and her siblings. I love the fact that on any given weekend in the summer you can go up there and see many different relatives. Now the 24th of July has always been a huge thing in Kamas but we have truly made our own fun traditions that make the weekend a blast. This year we headed up Thursday after Kwinton got off work, once we were there it was off to the "kids carnival" a part of Kamas Fiesta Days. Friday was a beautifully hot day so of course we all headed for the creek or "crick" as we all say. The men jumped right in and got to work building a damn so the kids would have a little pool to play in, which turned into a bigger project when Amber suggested we some how build a water slide. Well just leave it to our men to pull that off, and boy did they, soon enough the other cabins had heard about the awesome water park that we had. Complete with a water slide type area and a kiddie pool for the little ones. The day ended with some good BBQ and a sunburn on Kwintons back that will haunt him for years to come. Saturday started with a little rain, but that didn't stop us from having our Saturday morning parade. The kids all bring up bikes and for wheeler, get them all decorated up, and parade them down our little dirt road. Now this isn't the grandest parade you'll ever see but it's my kind of parade. Over in about 5 minutes and you even get a little candy thrown at you. After the parade the annual horseshoe tournament gets underway. This year it included 33 teams. That is 66 adults out there throwin shoes. As usual I was out without a win, which I will undoubtedly blame on my partner Ryan even though he wasn't that bad and neither was I, we just didn't have luck on our side, and it makes me feel better. The big winners this year were my mom and her partner Joe. The very close runners up were Angie ans her partner Mark. It was an exciting day with a big finish by mom and Joe having to beat Angie and Mark twice in a row for the win. The defending champion Kwinton will surely blame his early elimination on his sunburn. It was a great weekend just as we had planned Chris and Meg even showed up unexpectedly for one night, and my sister in-law Sadie came up for horseshoes. "I will remember not to invite her next year as she is the one who eliminated my team." I totally forgot to even pick up my camera on Saturday so here are the pictures that I have.

Standing in line at the carnival

Gabriel

Enoch

Hannah

Emma

Payton

Cali

Hannah, Enoch, Payton, and Cali

Smile Chris and Meg

They all wanted to jump in Sponge bob

Kyla

Cheese Jarom

mom getting the pits ready

Making a plan

Putting there plan into action

cool water slide

kids waiting patiently

a little break to try and catch a snake

Kwinton

Gabes first ride

Then he took Cali

too cold for Cali

Do you want to try? NO

Amber even gave it a try

Cole

Gabriel

What a day!

A little bocce ball anyone.