Cousin Time

Grandpa took the boy cousins and headed to the park (I'm not sure where else they went).  While we settled in for some girl time.  We painted the nails and toes and helped them make rag-tie flipflops.

We also bought the girls matching suits while we were there.  We went swimming at an indoor community pool.  Some ladies there couldn't get over how cute they all looked in the matching suits.  I couldn't get over how amazing the indoor pool was.  It had about 15 lanes for lap swimming!!!  It also had a smaller pool where the same instructor taught a few classes while we were there.

I'm not sure anyone ever got a picture with just the boys.  I'll have to ask my SILs. 

We also got in some adult girl time.  Melissa, Amanda, and I snuck of for a shopping trip.  We were going to leave Jared and Dad at the park with all the kids but Rachael decided to stay and help them.  I'm not sure if she didn't want to shop or if she was just nicer than the rest of us and felt bad.

First day of School

More on our trip to come, but in the meantime.  Here are some photos of the first day of school.

Katy getting ready to walk out the door for her first day of middle school (6th grade).

She almost missed the bus.  It comes over 5 minutes early every day.  We've missed it as much as we've made it.  It already is supposed to come at 6:50 (school doesn't even start until 7:50) so I take her across the street to her friends neighborhood where the bus comes 1/2 hour later.

Bella leaving for her first day of second grade

Xandy's first day of 4th grade

With little brother who was a little disappointed he missed the cut-off.  (I was grateful; not quite ready for my baby to be gone all day!)

I didn't even get to put them on the bus since they start late every Wednesday and the 1st day was a wednesday.  The bus was running late and I was going to be late for my class if I didn't leave so my friend Rachael saw them off.  It was upsetting to me, I like to do those little things with my kids.

Trip to Las Vegas

We went to Las Vegas to visit Jared's family this summer.  It was the first time in about 9 years that all the silbings were together at one time.  We flew out Wednesday evening.  We drove our car to a park n ride bus stop not too far from our house.  Our neighbor later picked up our car and drove it back to our house so it wasn't sitting at the bus stop for two weeks.  The bus made a few stop and then took us to Midway.  The plane we were supposed to fly on was delayed leaving the previous city.  By the time it arrived an hour plus late we were having a lightning storm so it couldn't land.  It eventually ended up being re-directed to St. Louis after circling Chicago for while.  Soon after it was diverted, the lightning stopped and we had to wait for another plane to be prepared.  By the time we landed in Vegas it was the middle of the night which made it early morning our time.  We were exhausted!!

We picked up our rental car and headed to Henderson.  Can I just say that I LOVED the rental!!!!  We got an incredible deal on it through priceline.  It was a 2012 GMC Yukon.  We're seriously considering getting one for our next vehicle.  Although, I hope I can get several more years out of my van.

The first 5 days of our trip were spent at Jared's parents house.  We went to the sprinkler parks with Grandpa, Grandma, and the cousins.  We did several evening hikes (its too hot during the day in late July).  We always seem to go to Vegas in the heat of the summer or over the Holidays.  Sometime I would like to go in the Spring or Fall when hiking is more comfortable and really explore the area.  I had to wake up early to try to work out but that was hard with late nights of fun.  I usually managed to get out around 7am and it was already 90+ by then. 

We took the kids to see the new bridge that bypasses the Hoover dam.  Here are some views from the pedestrian pathway.

The kids straddling the state line.  One leg in Nevada, the other in Arizona

Kristin and Grandma came with us.

Jared was teasing me about going since I have such a bad fear of heights.  I did pretty good on the bridge though.  The concrete wall is so high that its not too bad.  I did make Jacob move to the other side when he sat down to rest though.  I wasn't comfortable with him leaning against the side with the drop-off.  I actually had more of an issue when we were driving the switchbacks down to the parking.  As we were driving a mountain goat walked down the rocks alongside the road and crossed in front of us.  I tried to get a picture but it came out blurry.

Jared's parents work in the temple a couple Saturdays a month.  Jared and I went to the temple towards the end of their shift.  The plan was to meet up when they were down and have lunch together. Mom ended up being assigned to the session we attended so that was neat.

Summer Fun

We had the Ott Family reunion at Presque Isle again this year.  This time our family spent the night so I got to run on the trail along the lake shore.  It was so beautiful and relaxing.  I wish I had enough time to run farther but I did get 8 miles in. Natalie took some pictures of us at the beach. Here are some of my favorites.

My parents got this backyard water fun for Alexandra for her birthday.  This was the test run.  The kids had a lot of summer fun with this slide.

I though the positive thing about moving away from St. Louis was supposed to be more tolerable summer temperatures.  We had a lot of days this summer that had my car thermometer reading triple digits.  If it was going be that hot, I might as well have been in St. Louis.