Kai's Friend is his Cousin!

Some of you may remember seeing pictures of Ben from Kai's birthday party. Well, we just found out that Ben is Kai's second cousin. He lives just around the corner on our street and the two boys play together almost every week. And guess what esle?! They are both in the same 1st grade class this year. (Their poor teacher!) But, I guess Ben's mom is the daughter of Justin's dad's sister. So she is Justin's cousin, which makes Ben, Kai's 2nd cousin. "It's a small world after all!" Seriously, how often do we get to sing that song!

It was hard to get their picture because they were both busy playing games on the computer. Don't they both look like the 'Lay Family'! I think so! The longer we live in Utah, the smaller our world gets, I swear!

School's 'Pirate Day'!

Friday Kai's 1st graders had a 'Pirate Party' Day where the classes made maps for the other classes and then the kids got to follow the maps to find a treasure. (I think all the kids were led to the gym for candies and toys.) But we were VERY excited at dressing up and being able to participate in the activities.

Keala was a little jealous of the attention given to Kai. So I found some 'other' bandanas, and wrapped some around her in the same manner that I wrapped some around Kai, and then we called it good! (She finally took them off before she went to preschool - thank goodness!)

Bre Bre! Eat your Heart Out!

I thought you would appreciate my "labeling" in my storage room. Theres more to come! I ran out of containers. (Got more beans!) You know it! They're my favorite!

Labor Day Boating

Our neighbors have been inviting us for weeks to go boating with them on Utah Lake. We were finally able to join them and their family Monday afternoon with Austin and Kasey. My kids already had plans to spend the day with their dad so they didn't come.

They taught us this new "surfing" technique to ride the curl off the back of the boat. This is Austin getting instructions from our friend, Dave on how to get up on the surf board.

Notice his hands are pulling himself up the rope. You have to bring yourself up to the curl off the back of the boat, then let go of the rope and ride the curl. Dave made it look really easy!

Kasey makes it look fun! But we all took a while to get used to the pulling and find our balance. By the time that happened, we didn't have anymore energy to stay up.

Brent stayed up for a really long time but couldn't find the right balance to ride the curl. Look how close he is to me... and I'm on the boat! It was a weird concept, but still fun to try.

I did the same as everyone else, trying to balance and pull myself to the boat, but ran out of energy fast trying to pull all the concepts together.

I am almost to the curl in the wave, and I've pulled myself up the rope, but once I got to the curl I was exhausted from pulling, so I bailed out.... Now I am on a new vitamin regime every day! Seriously! That was exhausting! But still a blast. I've never seen Brent's kids laugh harder!

A Room with a View

After Brent went down to California twice in the last month to help his sister move, she told him he could have anything he wanted out of the last load he brought back to Utah. So he picked this couch. (Now I need to find a new home for my Laz-i-boy couch.) But it gives our room such a nice new feel. We are actually really excited to have it!

You may not have remembered the last set of bookshelves that used to be in this room, but we had to move them into our bedroom and bring this bookshelf back out here for a swap. The previous ones looked too cumbersome with the new couch. Now we can walk back in that space to get to the closet thats in the corner.

Heres the full view of the couch. We also got rid of our large computer desk and put in a smaller one that Gran'ma Joan gave us. That helped us move the treadmill forward so we could put the plant in the corner. The whole room has such a fresh new look. Its nice to have a change every now and again! Now what to do with the deer head?!

Back to School!

Monday afternoon Brent and I drove Kasey up to Logan and helped her unpack (both cars) and move into her apartment at USU. It wasn't a lot of stuff, just a really small space to move into. I have to admit, Logan is honestly a beautiful city to live in. She is really excited to be there.

Kasey shares an apartment with 5 other girls, two girls to a room. We just wanted to show all the boxes! (But good thing her boyfriend is not too far away.) They can help each other aclimate.

She only had on cupboard to herself, so I tried to help her by packing things in the best I could. Another mother was helping her daughter unpack her boxes too. Not a job for just one person!

We wanted to show "progress" in this picture by her getting the sheets on her bed (and a few things put away.) It always takes a while to figure these things out. So after a "little" bit of help we left her to fend for herself. She is undoubtedly excited to start the new year, and the new adventure. We went out to eat!

Joan was a good sport in watching the kids for us while we were gone. Kai started 1st grade on tuesday. Austin starts school next Wednesday and has already begun golfing tournaments and practices with his high school. Then Keala starts preschool in 2 weeks. I have never been happier for a school year to start! Lets get the ball rollin'!

Kids in the Neighborhood

Keala's dad has promised them bikes all summer. So she was the first to get hers. (Kai wanted toys instead... postponing Justin's budget on a bike for another day.) Keala takes VERY good care of her bike! She always puts it away when she's done. (I don't think I EVER did!)

Always a ham! I never get a normal picture of her. Why's it always seem like the jokes on me?!

These are the 3 yr old twins from across the street. Taden has the lighter hair and Brennen has the darker hair. They are both adorable! The house bulges a little at the seams with the extra kids. (But they really only bother the teenagers!) Kids like to tease- Austin gets it from all angles!

Taden got on a neighbors skate ramp, crashed, fell on his chin, bit his tongue, and here's the result .... oooh, poor kid! I could not believe my eyes when he showed me. So I just had to get a picture - poor baby! All the kids can't stop talking about ALL THE BLOOD!

The twins have matching bikes, where they training wheels came off just two days ago! Yeah! Unbenounced to me, my son had been riding the bikes as well. (Mind you - these kids play for hours every day! But mostly IN MY house.... I had no idea Kai had so much practice on their bikes outside!)

So here he is - proving to silly ol' mom that he really can ride! I couldn't believe it! Hence a picture to prove to you too! When I told Brent, he was just as shocked. This kid has talent! I can't believe he taught himself - and I never saw him practicing!

These kids are so stinkin' cute! Kai just LOVES all his friends. (And you all know Keala holds her own in a crowd of boys!) But Kai tells me daily to make a list of all his friends to invite to his NEXT birthday party. (I finally got out the calendar and showed him just how far away that is!)