The First

 Katelyn and Kylie's FIRST day of FIRST GRADE!  

What?  I don't even know how or why time has gone so fast.  

I just can't believe my baby girls are in 1st grade. 

 They are in the same class, as requested by them, and have Mrs. Maldanado as their teacher. 

 They really like school, although it was rough getting used to at first.

School here is so long and coming from 3 hours of Kindergarten a day last year this was a big change for them.  School starts at 8:20 and doesn't get out until 3:45 so they get on the bus at 8 and get home at 4. 

Plus they only have ONE 20 minute recess for the entire day.  Something I absolutely don't agree with. 

But they do a lot of fun things and the girls are really excited for their first field trip to the Denver Aquarium.

 Speaking of Aquariums, I didn't get a picture of them of what they want to be when they grow up like I did last year (it was a paleontologist) but this year they have decided that they want to be Marine Biologists when they grow up. We have had fun reading and learning all about Marine Biologist and looking on the computer at what they do.

 Katelyn and Kylie getting on the bus on the 1st day of school. I offered to take them but they really wanted to ride the bus. I am just so glad they have each other. Makes it so much easier on me. 

 Mason's FIRST day of preschool!! 

A group of Moms and myself are doing a preschool group together.  We take turns teaching and rotate homes. It has worked out great and Mason loves going, and I only have to teach every 6 weeks. 

I did teach last week and wow, 7 three year old kiddos, plus Tyson, can be tough! But we survived. 

 Tyson's FIRST day of nursery.  

This little boy boy melts my heart but seriously, those last few months before kids start nursery are always hard. They just can't hold still anymore, so I was more than ready for this boy to go.

I thought he would have a hard time the first couple of weeks like the other 3 kids but nope, he was so excited to go and when I went to pick him up at the end of church he didn't want to go! He is a social little guy.

 Our FIRST time fishing in Colorado.

For family home evening one night we went fishing with some good friends. 

The kids loved every minute of it.

 That same night the kids caught a frog! There was quite a few around the lake we fished at. 

As we were getting into our cars to leave our friends drove by us and he got out and ran over and put a frog on our windshield and then ran and drove away. Haha, we should get along well with them.

This is Katelyn and Kylie at their FIRST soccer practice for fall soccer.  

They were so excited to start!

This is the FIRST and the last time Mason will have pony tails. Well, maybe not the last, it was pretty funny. We cut his hair the next night.

This was the FIRST time I wondered if owning a home in Colorado was a good idea!  

When we moved here, there had just been a ton of homes destroyed by fires in Colorado Springs, then there was the tornado and hail storm, and then the flooding.

 

Our house has had a lot of work the past few weeks. 

 I am glad we bought our house, but really, I am hoping for no more natural disasters in Colorado for the next 3 years.

The flooding was crazy. I felt so bad for all of those who lost their homes. Our house was safe, but it was sad to see how many people had to be evacuated in Greeley and how many people lost their homes here. Part of our ward was in an area where they couldn't flush their toilets or put anything down the drain, so no laundry, showers, washing hands, or doing dishes. 

There was a lot of good pictures in the newspapers and on TV but here are a few shots we took with my phone.

Such a mess!
Look at the telephone poles.

I am glad my sisters inspired to me to get 72 hour kits ready.  I literally got these ready 5 days before the flooding started. It was comforting to know that these were ready in case we had to leave, or if we couldn't use any water in our house.

 

This isn't the first time we have eaten at the hospital, but it was the FIRST time that we had a Sunday dinner at the hospital, just so we could eat with Troy.

We like to stop in every once in awhile to see this guy.  Sometimes his surgeries get pushed back so he is just waiting around. 

One night we stopped in to say hi and get goodnight kisses.

  Sometimes we get lucky and get to eat in secret places like this cool picnic spot on top of the roof of the hospital!