New Moon

My friends and I went to see New Moon this opening weekend with the whole craze that goes with it and it was SO good! I really enjoyed the movie, and enjoyed the night out with girlfriends even more. I have always been a "Team Edward" fan, but after seeing the movie, I could certainly switch teams at any time! I really loved Jacob in the movie, and was never that big of a fan in the books. It certainly made the movie more fun to watch when the cast is full of eye candy!

I went with Wende, Janae, Karrie, Kristy, and April. Patsy couldn't make it because she was enjoying the evening with her newly returned missionary, Brian. We had such a fun night. We went to dinner at Z'Tejas, then to the movie, then back to Z'Tejas after the show for dessert. They food was great, the movie was fun with screaming fans (us included), and the time with friends was fantastic. What a fun night!

IT'S OFFICIAL!!

It's official! We have 3 drivers in our family now. James got his driver's license yesterday. I am so excited to have someone else help get everyone around. And James is so excited to drive himself to school. It will be so nice to not have to pick him up every time he goes somewhere. Yay! Let's just pray for NO accidents!

Roomie Retreat

Last week I went down to St. George with my cute college roommates from 19 years ago. I can't believe it's been that long! It was so fun to see everyone and get together. Jodie, Trish, Cathryn and I all live in the Salt Lake area, but Jen, Kristin, and Lori all flew in. It was amazing that we were all there together. It's the first get-together that we've had all of us. Jen flew into Salt Lake and we picked her up and the 5 of us drove down. We got there Friday evening and shopped while we waited for Kristin and Lori to drive up from the Las Vegas airport. They were a little delayed so they didn't get in until late. We had so much fun chatting and catching up. Then on Saturday we went hiking, shopping, movies, and food, of course. It was pretty funny - we were at lunch and ran into one of Jodie's boyfriends from college, Mark Brousseau. It was fun to see him and pretty ironic that we'd run into him when we were all together. We headed back home Sunday morning, so it was a quick trip, but it was so great to see my old friends. I treasure their friendship!




All 7 of us



The original 4 roommies



Jodie and me - we went to high school together




Hiking Johnson trail





Lunch at Brick Oven



Jodie and Mark

Life in Rewind

We've been living life in fast forward the past few months, so I'm going to rewind and give you the recap of our lives lately. I'm really not MIA. Just really busy. So, here's the overview of the last little while so I can move on from here and hopefully stay more current!
We went waterskiing for the last time this year with the Moores. It was a fun and relaxing trip.






We spent UEA in St. George with Mom and Dad, Jeff and Jenny and the Moores. We celebrated Ava's birthday.



Cheered Jenny on as she ran the marathon - you go, girl!






Had a birthday party for James - he turned 16!!! How did that happen???







Hung out at the house, made cupcakes, swam, and played!







James went to Homecoming the week after his birthday. What a fun first date! He took Emma Steed and had a fun time doubling with his friends, BJ and Andrew. Jenny was their chauffeur since they didn't have their licenses, yet, and I got to teach James how to put his corsage on his date. They went to the pumpkin patch and went through the corn maze, ate dinner at the Olive Garden, and had a great time at the dance.






James had his "official" 16 birthday party with a projector screen movie in the backyard with all his friends. We had about 30 kids over and enjoyed pizza, Paul Blart Mall Cop, and smores on the firepit. James loved it!




The girls had their annual Halloween Piano Recital at Bountiful Music. They both played very well.





Halloween was a lot different than previous years. It's so weird that my kids are so grown up that Natalie was the only one still young enough to trick-or-treat. Carri and Nick brought Lexie over to trick-or-treat with us and we took the 2 girls around the neighborhood. James and Lauren both had parties at friends' houses, but still dressed up. We also went and saw Grandpa Hutchinson, like we always do. He was so glad to see us. I think he really enjoys having his kids come visit. It was a fun night.



We spent a fun family day raking leaves and the kids had a fun time playing in the leaves.




Lauren got a 4.0 on her report card again this term. Yay, Laur! James missed it by one A- and ended up with a 3.952. Still pretty great for his first term in high school.
Natalie won the Reflections contest in dance. She was the only entry in her category and they showed her dance video over and over the entire Open House. It was so fun to see her so excited, and a little embarrased, too! I hope she'll place at the regional level. We should know in a couple weeks.

First Day of School

This morning started another year...I can't believe we're doing High School, Jr. High, and Elementary all at once. It was a little heartbreaking to watch James leave for High School today. I can't believe he's that old! He's really excited, though, and I know he's gonna do great. Both Lauren and Natalie seemed like it was just another day. They just walked out the door ready to do it all again! I hope we're up for all that comes with the schedules and homework. But ready or not, here we come!

Last Day of Summer

For the last hurrah of summer, we spent the day at Cherry Hill one last time. The kids had a fun time with the Moores and Chloe, and we even had Lexie with us for a while. It was a hot day and we were glad to be able to cool off in the lazy river. We really enjoyed spending time at the waterpark this summer. It was a fun way to spend time together and have some lazy days.