Jacks' Friend

When we were coming in from the bus today Jacks found a new friend. There was a praying mantis just outside the front door. I'm not sure what Jacks really thought of it, but if nothing else the boys will love it when they get home from school. 

First Day of School

It's that time of year, school. There comes a point where everyone is ready for school to start. The boys were excited to see their friends and Emery was excited to just be able to start. Jacks was excited to start school too, we just didn't break the news to him right off that he didn't get to go. 

It was fun getting Emery ready, she wanted her nails painted like the turtles on her shirt, and she couldn't wait to show her teacher them too. 

We just dropped the boys off in the morning then took Emery to class in the afternoon. She seems too young still to be going. I didn't know how much I like twins until I've had to do things with single babies. They had a built in friend. I wasn't worried about them not having someone to play with, but with Emery, it's just her. Then the other part is now it's just Jacks and me... I've never had just one kid at home. There has always been two. They have always had a friend there to play with, but now it's just Jacks. I think we should have had twins at the end too. 

 She loved her first day and can't wait to go back today. 

 Jacks however hated the first day and still thinks he's going today. He cried the whole way home taking both kids to school. 

She was really excited for the bus too. She couldn't believe she was going to get to ride it twice a day!

 It's a little tradition that Brad makes the kids a candy poster for their first day. The boys remembered last years and couldn't wait to get this years. Emery was happy to see the one on her bed when she got home. It's getting harder and harder because now he has to think of three different things to say and ways to use candy. 

Zoo

This weekend we went to the Hogel Zoo with the kids. Jacks hasn't ever been and he loves animals, so it was a good time to go. The weather was a little cooler, which made the animals more active. It was a lot of fun.

 The boys have a few pictures with this gorilla. This time they thought it was pretty sweet how big he was.

Jacks loved the train ride. They moved a few animals around, so it was a little more interesting to see then the other times we have gone. 

 Camden was our navigator. He loved looking at the map and telling us where we go next. 

 Beck wanted to take pictures of everything, here are a few of what he took. 

 This gorilla kept coming right up to the glass. They boys like it, Emery not so much.

It was cool to see the baby elephant. This may have been the only animal Emery liked. 

 Emery and Jacks didn't want a moving animal on the carousel, which I think is the only thing that makes then fun. 

It was a fun final activity to do before school started. I am so ready to be on the normal school schedule. Summer was fun, but I'm so glad it's over. 

FOB!

Brad and I went to a concert last week also. Last weekend we drove about 800+ miles in 3 days. Needless to say I'm done with traveling for a while... well until this Saturday when we go to Utah again. 

We dove to and back from Orem in one day, but the concert was really good and worth it. 

First a band called New Politics came on stage. I wasn't excited for them, but am now a fan. They did a great job. 

 Next was Paramore. They went on way too long I though. 

Next came the best, Fall Out Boy. They were so good. I could have done without the middle group and listened to them longer. It's nice when they don't sound horrible live, and this group sounded really good live. All the songs they played we knew and liked too. Defiantly a group I'll go see again. 

 

Picture and New Friend

A few weeks ago I opened our irrigation box to turn on the water and saw something run in it. After a small freak out I looked into it more and saw a salamander. I ran and grabbed Brad and the boys to show them. We put a stick in there for him to get out and when I went to take a picture of it, I couldn't find it so I thought it was gone. This week I went to turn the water on and found out that he was still there and getting bigger. The boys want to catch him but he seems to be doing ok in here. I guess we can just watch to see how big it gets. We have no idea how it ended up in here, but it's cool to look at. 

 The turtle picture wasn't centered on the wall just right, so Brad had to make something to off-set that. He made these and each lettering is a different symbol that had to do with the turtles personality.  Orange is brother, blue is leadership, red is strength/bravery and purple is wisdom. I think it's a nice finishing touch to the wall and Jackson loves it. 

Arrington Reunion

We had an Arrington reunion last weekend in Boise and it was a lot of fun. We went to the water park there,Wahooz and had a Man vs. Food Challenge. For the challenge the first round was eating bugs. Cam and beck joined in on this one. they ate a worm frist and did that easy and fast. 

Next they had to eat a cricket. When we said go, Cam just looked at it and decided it was a no go and didn't even try to eat it. 

 Beck worn this challenge. I tired the adult one but didn't win.

 Next was a hot challenge. The kids ate a jalapeno pizza and the adults ate a habanero pizza. Beck started this one but it got hot fast and since he won the last one I told him he could stop because he couldn't win again. 

 The adult round was fun to watch and Brad even won it. 

 Emery absolutely loves that she has a girl cousin close to her age. Emery and Avery followed each other around the whole weekend. 

I was forced to dance... and I can't dance. 

 The first night we played some yard games and Camden really loved this game. Not sure what it's called or how to play, but he seemed to like it.

I didn't get pictures at the water park but it was a lot of fun. The kids really liked it. Well other than Jacks. He doesn't like getting splashed and he kept getting splashed. 

Wahooz was fun too. Lots of games, races and lazer tag. 

This is a video of some of the challenges. 

Emery Dance

Finally we got Emery into a dance class. It was a summer 6 week class, but it was perfect for her to get to know if she likes it, and she loved it. We are putting her in it again this school year and she couldn't be more excited. She is now looking forward to school and dance class. 

Dirty Dash

This past weekend Brad and I did the Dirty Dash in Boise. It's a mud run. It was about 5 miles with obstacles and lots of up hill. It took place at Bogus Basin Ski Mountain, so the hills I should have known. You can make teams and ours was Mudventrue Time. We all were different Adventure Time Characters. I was Lumpy Space Princess, Brad was Finn the Human (that's why he has a hat on), Chuck was Lemon Grab, Cameo was Princess Bubblegum, Mackenzie was Gunter, Marshall was Ice King and Jake was Peppermint Butler. 

 There were tubes of mud to crawl over and under, rope walls, hay bails to jump over, pools of mud to run through while they sprayed you with water, tubes with soapy water to climb over. This picture is near the end. There was a guy how was bursting air through the mud that made it spray at you. 

 The last two were a big inflatable slide to go down and a big mud pond that had very thick mud. The slide was fun and I was zooming down until I came near the end and another lady was sitting in the middle of it. I wasn't able to stop and ran into her.

 These are our ending pictures. The top one is right after Brad and I finished, a little bit later was when we took our group one. We defiantly will be doing this again next year. I'll train more outside and not just a treadmill and do more walking on hills. Our shoes were filled with sand and mud at the end. You could donate your shoes and they'd clean them and donate them, we did that. So everyone start training now, you're doing it next year with us.