Happy Birthday Reggers!

Today Regan turned 6 years old. It has been fun this evening to look back at the pictures of her. She is such a great kid with a big heart. There really is nothing she wouldn't do to make someone happy. We are so lucky to have her in our family! Happy birthday sweetheart. Some of the highlights for her past year? Starting 1st grade, learning how to read, completing her first year of ballet and learning how to swim. We can't wait to see what she will accomplish this year.

Here she is through the years...

1st birthday...she wouldn't "dig in". She only stuck her finger in to lick frosting. So lady-like...

Blowing out her candles on her 2nd birthday...

3rd birthday

4th birthday, and the beginning of the Spongebob obsession. She's holding a crabby patty she made out of playdough.

5th birthday, her first in Boise

Here she is, almost 6, at the Shosone Falls.

Regan's Groovy Birthday Party

Regan's birthday is coming up this weekend, and since it is a long one, most of her friends were going to be leaving town, so we had a party a little early. She wanted a tie dye party, and me, being crazy, said okay. We ended up with 13 girls (including Regan and Hadyn). We tie dyed shirts, made blown ink art, sculpy art, and generally had fun. Here's the group of girls. I don't think I've heard so much giggling ever!

Here's the birthday girl blowing out candles. I made her a t-shirt cake and "tie-dyed" it. She loved it. I even poked holes into it before I frosted it, and doused the cake in Jell-O water to tie-dye the inside of the cake. It turned out better than I thought, and Regan seemed to like it. We'll update more birthday stuff later, since we have my cousin's family coming for her actual birthday on Sunday, and the Luke's are getting together on Monday for the holiday and we'll have birthday cake there. This is not a good time to start that diet...

Playing Catch-Up

Just some glimpses at what we were up to for the last month of summer vacation. We were busy, and blogging sort of got lost in the shuffle. Sit back and enjoy. Seriously, this may take some time. . .

At the beginning of August, we took the girls to Twin Falls to see the new temple. My parents were able to meet us there, which was awesome. As was the temple itself, although, we didn't end up with any pictures. Take my word for it, it is beautiful. We also went by Shoshoe Falls, which I had never been to. They were so beautiful.

The next weekend, we went camping in the City of Rocks with Jeff's brother's family. It was also amazing, and, again, I had never been there. As much as I like to travel, it seems I neglect to go to some pretty cool places right in my (relatively) back yard. Here are the girls in a covered wagon replica. We had been in the car for some time by the time we got here, and so we were letting the girls climb and play to their hearts content. As we were leaving, we finally got around to reading the plaque that was installed next to the wagons. It gave information about the area and the wagons, as well as warned us to "not climb or play on the wagons". Hmmm, perhaps the sign should have been more prominent...
These are the rock formations that surrounded our campsight. The rocks were a weird texture, and it was easy to climb on them without slipping. Regan and Hadyn loved playing on them. That's Jeff's brother, Matt, in the background (is it just me, or would this be a really creepy picture if we didn't all know that was Matt?) Our families had so much fun camping!
From the camping, we drove directly to Bear Lake for the Luke family reunion. We stayed in a cabin that was big enough for everyone. It was so nice, and the lake was so warm. Nothing like I remember my previous visit to Bear Lake. The kids had a blast. Here's Hadyn collecting for a bouquet that she later presented to me. So sweet.Here's all the cousins. I actually think everyone is here. Impressive. As a quick note, I am always stopped in stores by people alerting me that "studies show red heads are going extinct." Check out the front row of the Luke family. We are doing our part to keep the red-headedness (is that a word) alive and well.
And, lastly, just a couple cute shots of Hadyn. She is a sweetheart, but she is also the messiest child ever. It is due, in part, to the fact that she has the energy of three children, and loves everything, so, she must do everything at warp speed, so she can move on to the next "something". Here she is finishing Jeff's McDonald's chocolate sundae...

Wait for it.....

She is cute, but she needs a bath about every hour and a half :).

Tag!

This is an easy and fun tag, it's one word answers. And I tag... well, nobody. I think every blog I follow has had this already posted, I'm just the last one to post (although I was tagged in early-July I think... {head hung in shame}

1.Where is your cell phone? bag
2. Your significant other? Jeff
3. Your hair? short
4. Your favorite thing? date-night
5. Your dream last night? nope
6. Your favorite drink? milk
7. Your dream/goal? organization
8. The room you're in? office
9. Your hobby? cooking
10. Your fear? dark
11. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Boise
12. Where were you last night? home
13. What you're not? rested
14. Muffins? CostCo
15. One of your wish list items? Bosch mixer
16. Where you grew up? Ririe
17. The last thing you did? laundry
18. What are you wearing? jeans
19. Your TV? off
20. Your pets? never
21. Your computer? Dell
22. Your life? ever-improving
23. Your mood? happy
24. Missing someone? many
25. Your car? Mazda
26. Something you're not wearing? shoes
27. Favorite store? Target
28. Your summer? over
29. Your favorite color? blue
30. When is the last time you laughed? tonight
31. Last time you cried? yesterday

Memories

I was supposed to do this a while ago. We all know I am slow at this stuff, give me a break...

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!
2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses.

If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

I'm Too Young to Have a First Grader

I swear we I just dropped Regan off for her first day of kindergarten last week, and here we are starting a new school year! She was very excited, she loves school, but she was a little nervous that she would be there ALL DAY. I was a little nervous about that as well, but she did great. Here she is as we were leaving for school.

And here she is in her new classroom with one of her close friends, who, luckily, is with her in first grade as well. There are six kindergartens, and six first grades. She had such a great class last year, that I would have liked for them to move the whole class together, instead of splitting them off to different rooms...surprisingly, no one asked for my opinion...

Also, I know I've been a total slacker in the blogging department. In the last two weeks I've had to get Regan ready for school, go to girls' camp, we took the family camping in the City of Rocks, and attended a family reunion at Bear Lake (I'm breathless just typing it!) I've had no time to blog, but I'll get some updates from all our travels soon. Tune in!