School's in Session!!!!!

I love summer! I love not having the "schedule". I have lived in AZ my whole life and yes summer is very HOT, but I don't know any different. So we swim all summer long and love it. We go to the movies. The kids "hang out" with friends and then there is our annual Beach Camping Trip to California. Of course I attempt to have them work on reading, math facts, and their "jobs". They do pretty well but I get the occasional "Mom, it's summer". That being said, by the time the end of July hits, the kids are getting a little cabin fever and are ready for school to start, and so am I :)

I love the beginning of a new school year. I love the school clothes shopping and seeing how excited they get when new shoes make them run faster. I love hearing Truleigh say, "look mom, sooo cute, as she tries to grab handfuls of clothes off the rack. I love new school supplies. I don't know what it is about a brand new box of crayons or markers. They are so much fun.

This is what I tried to keep repeating to myself as I took all four kids to Target to get the needed supplies from the class lists. This is what I tried to remember as Truleigh was screaming her shrill scream for a Dora backpack and wanted anything with Dora on it and while I had my back turned to grab some supplies she emptied the contents of my wallet into the cart. Mental note when it's to quiet there is usually a good reason!

We did survive and the kids all had a very exciting first day of school! I can't believe how big they are getting. Edynne was so excited to finally be in Kindergarten. Tiege said this is the best year yet, he says that every year because every year he has loved his teacher. Now Peighten is probably the most excited because 1) she is in 6th grade, 2) she is in student council, 3) she loves her teacher, 4) all of her friends are in her class, 5) she has really gotten in to clothes, 6) she thinks she might get a cell phone this year when she turns 12! ??? we'll see....

It's Summer!

To kick off summer the kids and I went to the AZ Grand resort with a bunch of other moms and kids from the surrounding neighborhoods. The kids had a blast going down the slides and the lazy river. Edynne and Tyson like the hot tub the best. They even made friends with some of the teenagers that were hanging out there too.

That night we ordered Barro's Pizza for dinner and the dad's came out to hang out with us and took the kids to play on the slides again. I think that one of their favorite parts is staying at a hotel? They think it is sooo much fun!

Truleigh's 1st Swim Lessons

In May Truleigh started swim lessons with Celeste. All of the kids have had lessons with Celeste. I can't believe she is the last one. I thought that she would be yelling out her ear piercing screams....much to my surprise, she cried the first day and then loved it.

She is quite the chatterbox and during lessons would not utter a word. As soon and we were down the sidewalk with her licorice in hand she said "that's fun Mom".

T-JO's Graduation

On May 8th we went up to Flagstaff for my brother Tyler's graduation from NAU.

Side note, he is known as T-JO (Tyler Johnson) in my family, because when I got married almost 15 years ago, I married Tyler Treece. So there were now two Tyler's in the family and my cute 12 year old brother at the time got his nickname.

It was a great day for him! We are so proud of you TJO!

Tyler and Amelia in front of Lumberjack!

All of the kids who tried to be sooo patient waiting (2 hours) for TJO to walk up and get his diploma!

Tiege's 8th Birthday

May 14th this cute boy turned 8. He had to wait until June to be baptized. I wish I had some baby pictures that I could post. You see when he was born I still used a 35 mm film camera. I am realizing that I need to scan all of my old photos into the computer.

He had a great birthday. We had chocolate cake and opened presents...

His baptism was on June 12th. It was a great day. He DOES NOT like his picture taken. So it was rare for me to get him in so many pictures.

Tiege with mom and dad...

"The Family Picture"

Truleigh, Tyler, Edynne, Kori, Peighten and Tiege

I am so glad that I have a picture of this. These are my grandparents. Tiege's great-grandparents in case you didn't figure that out:) On the left are my dad's parents, Kenneth and Caroline Johnson. On the right is Marion Harper (Bama). I am so lucky to still have my grandparents.

Tiege and his grandparents. On the left, Fred and Margo Treece and on the right are Mona and Ernie Johnson.

The Nielsen Family (Marc, Mckinley, Carson, Christian, Hayden and Mauri)

This is Tiege with Uncle Pete!!!

Tiege and his best buddy and cousin Tate Tidwell

All of Tiege's Cousins!

My Aunt Angie Holladay and grandbaby Paige Shappell, Cousins Kyle and Todd South.

Our great friends, Mike and Kristie Crockett with their cute babies, Hadley and Cohen.

This is my sister and stand in for Phil photographer, Kelsie Green and cute baby Jett. Phil couldn't be with us because he was flying (airline pilot) just in case you thought he was something else :)

This is Amelia and Uncle T-Jo with Tyson Tidwell.

This would be Trey Tidwell. It seems that Tessie managed to not be photographed, but her boys were able to "hang" out in some. Garrett also couldn't be here today due to work.

This is cute Lexi Wing in our ward and our great friends. She was also baptized today.

Thanks everyone for coming and supporting us. We love you all.

The day wouldn't be complete without visiting our favorite restaurant, Cafe Rio!!!

Catching Up....

I feel really behind the times when it comes to blogging. I can't quite figure out how to get headings and the other "stuff" at the side to work right. So I give up for now because I've spent a couple hours just playing around with things and not really getting anywhere....so it's not a cutsie right now.

I started this to be the "family journal". Now its like the real handwritten one that you write a couple of entries, then don't come back to it for like 6 months and think that you'll get writer's cramp to try to catch up on everything that has been going on. So I guess I will make my best effort to fill in the last few months.

Happy 2nd Birthday Truleigh!

Her Birthday was in March too! Since I did a Birthday post for Edynne I thought I should do one for Truleigh too. What a cute 2 year old she is...looking at her sweet baby pictures makes me remember what a sweet girl she is (most of the time) 2 yr. old tantrums are in full swing :) She is definitely my busiest child at this age, climbing on everything and full of sassiness!! She knows how to get exactly what she wants from everyone, typical of the baby of the family right? She is "truly" a funny girl! She spends most of the time finding flip flops to wear (anyone's but hers that actually fit), and following behind me all day long making messes of what I just cleaned up. She wants so bad to be "big" like the other kids. We love you Truleigh!