We went ice block sledding when we were in California! It was so much fun! My Mom started freezing a block of ice before she left to Utah. Unfortunately I couldn't remember to freeze more and we only ended up with two blocks that worked well. 

What is ice block sledding you ask? Basically you sit on a block of ice and slide down a hill. It is a Californian's way of sledding in warm temps! I always went ice block sledding as a youth and it was always a blast. We've taken the kids a few times and it is always love it. There are tons of pictures, sorry!

Cami's first time!

Tori was content just to sit on a block!

She did go down with all of us and really enjoyed it!

Cute sisters!

She is acting like she is scared but she really isn't! She liked going down, but her and Rhea preferred to run down the hill! 

 Cami and Rhea.

Jeff went with me as always. He helps balance the boy girl ratio Ammon is always losing!

Britain with my brother Joe!

Adam and his girl!

Jeff's girlfriend Kylie is always up for an adventure and is a huge help!

 
 Crazy cousins, Zoe and Mariyah!

I love how hard Ariana is working to push Gabi and Rhea!

 Getting a little creative and a might crazy!

This is Tori's favorite way to get up the hill! Being pushed!

Joey and his wife Sujin brought their two dogs. One is a little cutie named Lilu. Ariana and Rhea loved holding the leash and running down the hill with her! 

Tori had to lead Lilu around too!

Group picture! We missed Sujin since she was in the car because she wasn't feeling well!

As we are loading up the kids yelled, "Get the camera!" and I turn to see them all posing and acting cute!!

Nothing much is going on right now. Just trying to adjust to school life. Everyone is loving school! Even Nik! I know, it's great!! Anyways, I thought I would take this chance to catch up on our CA trip! 

The best thing about visiting CA  is spending time with family! My Dad is so busy during the month of July that we were lucky to see him at all! We had a whole afternoon with him and he put the kids to work harvesting his garden! It was great and they loved it! 

They dug up potatoes that we ate that following Sunday for dinner! They were delicious!

There was a lot of cabbage for the kids to pick! He made his Mom's coleslaw and it was amazing!

They picked tons and tons of green beans!

Okay, maybe not picking, but they did find a lot of them! It was Tori's job to gather all the beans the kids threw.

Ammon, Britain and Kalixta were so excited to find tons of "baby" snails!! There are no snails in Utah, at least where we live so they loved them! 

There were cucumbers, strawberries and tomatoes too! It was quite a harvest!!! 

Dad wore the kids out! Tori took a time out and had a little nap on the stairs platform!

 After the harvest Dad fed us. He has an awesome fire pit, that he made, and we were able to roast hot dogs and marshmallows after dinner! We all had a great time!

Today is hot! So hot I wish I could take my kids to the reservoir instead of school! So instead I will dream about the cool water as I look at the pictures I took the two days we were able to go play at the reservoir with my nieces! They all enjoyed the reservoir! I mean what is not to like really?! It's a fun place!

Cami is a little fish and is all over the reservoir!

It always better to stay completely in the water once you are there!

Zoe always takes time to play with Tori in the water!

My little ducky! Quack! Quack!

The boogie board is the best toy! Everyone wants to float on it!

 I feel the love!! So cute!

Ammon showing me he had a good day! 

 Love the reservoir!!

Did I mention Nik's home! Well, he is and I am ecstatic!!!! Adam brought him home late Sunday night! The other kids were bummed they had to go to school and didn't get to see him much! They all tackled him first thing in the morning when he walked up the stairs!!! Yeah, he is looking a little tired!

The first thing he wanted to do was go see his new cousin! He loves babies and just wanted to sit and hold him until the baby started "yelling at him!"

He spent the rest of the day with Ari, Tori and me. Once the others got home they wouldn't leave him alone!! They are always climbing all over him and he loves it!!

I am so happy that our family is whole again!!!!
 

Monday night Adam gave the kids their father's blessings! It is always a wonderful night that the kids all look forward to at the beginning of every school year. Each year I take a picture with Adam and each kid so they will always remember the special night!

I am so blessed to have such an amazing husband and such sweet kids!

Today two more kids had their first day of school! Nik started at the local junior high today! The school is huge and I was very nervous for him, but he had a great day. He was able to open his locker and find all his classes. He found a lot of kids there he knows and had a great time riding the bus home! 

Ariana had her first day of preschool today. She is doing a Joy School type preschool. Five moms in the neighborhood got together and we are doing school together. Ari goes to one mom's house one week and a different house another week. I get to teach about every five weeks. The class is all girls she knows from church so they are all her friends and she is in heaven! Thanks Denise for organizing all this!!  She was so excited to go today! She gets to bring something to show and tell everyday. Today she took this super soft pillow from Grandma Sylvia!

She had to take her back pack too!
 

She had a great time and is a little mad she doesn't have school tomorrow, only Tuesdays and Thursdays! I love to see all the back packs lined up and ready to go!! 

All the big kids ready for school. Ariana was still in her jammies, hopefully I will get one of all of them!!

Zoe, Ammon, Britain and Kalixta all had their first day of school today! Everything went perfectly! They were all so excited to go! It is hard to believe they will be in school all day long now!!

I love new backpacks! Can't you tell Britain and Kalixta decorated theirs with their names and peace signs and such?

Zoe ran off  to the fifth grade as soon as we got to the school! It is hard to see what a young lady she is becoming and that she doesn't need her mom any more!

Britain said she didn't need me to walk her to class, she is a first grader now, she just let me go with her!

Kalixta went to class like the first grader she is! I was a little worried about her but she didn't have one tear!!
 

But oh my Ammon, the third grader had more than enough tears! He cried and cried and refuse to go to class! He would just miss his Mommy way too much!! Thank goodness he has a wonderful teacher who knew he just needed a hug! That is what he got and off he went after he made sure I got a picture of him at his desk!

Everyone had a EXCELLENT day at school and everybody is ready to go back tomorrow!

As I walked out of the school with Nik I cried a little. Truthfully, I shed a few tears many times today! Nik just chuckled at me saying I should be happy to have everybody go to school! He doesn't realize how hard it is to watch everyone grow up!

Tonight was our annual back to school fashion show. Zoe, Britain and Kalixta enjoy showing off their school clothes. The other two just enjoyed being silly! It was fun though and it gets the kids excited for a new school year that starts TOMORROW!!! Crazy I know. We have been having so much fun with our cousins that we forgot all about school!

The three girls got to pick three outfits to show us today. Britain was a bit disappointed it was only three! That girl loves the lime light!!

Kalixta started out shy!

But quickly got braver.

And braver!

Britain did a wonderful job.

Then she got a little silly!

Which she probably got from Zoe because she was silly from the beginning!

And just got sillier! 

Ammon was our wonderful intermission act!

This time he is playing dead, his new favorite talent!

Ariana was our other intermission act, first as a cute girl!

Then as a alligator!

A special thanks to our superb MC, Marci Lin!

And our excellent audience (that I forgot to get a picture of)! We had a fun night! Now off to bed because school starts early!!!

Adam took Cami, Gabi and Mariyah home yesterday. The house has been awful quiet since they left. The good news is he will bring Nik home tomorrow!! I can't wait! 

The last adventure we went on before they went home was going to the Utah County Fair! Now, I have never been to a fair here in Utah, but I assumed that being farm country meant that the fair would be pretty big! Boy was I wrong!! The fair was small, I mean very small. We had a good time looking at the animal we could see. Many of the animals were in pens that had high, solid doors that the kids couldn't see over. That was kinda disappointing!

All the pigs were in pens like this except one so Zoe did get to touch her pig!

The sheep were all in stalls so that we could easily see and touch them. Tori and Ariana loved all the sheep and their noises!

Britain loved the crazy hair on many of the chickens!

Ammon liked, but was a little afraid of the huge cows!

We found one and only one horse. All the kids loved the horse and each took a turn petting it. Mariyah was the most fascinated!

The kids loved looking at all the art, crafts, vegetables, and sewing areas. Ammon was so sweet. He said that I should enter my jam at the fair because it is the best ever! He sure knows how to make me feel special! There was a display about Utah honey that the kids spent a lot of time at. They even had a bee hive that kept them occupied for a long time!

We had to take a picture with the only John Deere we found! 

As we were about to leave we found this little area where we could touch a few of the animals. These two boys had their bunny out and asked if we wanted to hold it. The braves ones took turns.

Towards the end of our trip it started to get really windy so many of the vendors started putting their tents down. We tried to stay sheltered so the kids were warm. The wind let up so we were about to leave when the down pour started! It was raining so hard! We got stuck inside a building with an aluminum roof and it was so loud! Kalixta, Tori, and Ariana were pretty scared but it went on for so long they got over it! It seriously poured for at least 45 minutes!

When it let up we decided to hurry and leave so we wouldn't get stuck in it again. That was a bad idea because it was flooded all the way to the car! The kids walked on the soaked grass and got their shoes and socks drenched! I had the stroller with three girls in it and had to walk in water up to my calves and right by all the car that were splashing on me! It sounds comical now that I think about it! Those drivers must have chuckled all the way home! I wish I would have taken a quick picture! All in all it was a fun adventure! The fair was the perfect size for the amount of kids I had by myself. Any bigger and I might have been a little stressed. I will go again next year, I will just check the forecast before I go!

My Mom went home today. She had been here for about a month and we have gotten used to her always being around! My Dad came on Tuesday to see Baby Platt and then drive Mom home! The kids miss her already. They have asked when Grandma is coming over a couple times today!

The great thing about Mom is that she is always willing to do something, whether it be taking a hike, going to the park, cleaning, playing in the yard, cooking with or for us, or reading a book. I could make a huge list! My Mom is great, I am glad I got this shot of her reading to Kalixta. Kalixta was forever asking Mom to read to her!