Cody had one last summer celebration before school started. My sister's in laws invited us over to BBQ, and let the kids slide down this huge water slide they rented. Cody had a blast.

 Cody catching some air

And then it was time...to go back to school. He is now in 3rd grade. He pretty much hates school, but who really enjoyed it all that much, right? He's a good student though. I stayed and helped his teacher yesterday with a craft she was doing with all of the kids in the class. It was fun. Those kids just love when parents come to help and I knew a lot of them from working in Cody's class last year. Cody is back playing kickball, so that makes his days better and he stays after school for an hour to play. We are looking forward to what comes next. Daniel finishes his training this week so we will be happy when he's back on his normal schedule. Instead of just being the Paramedic/Firefighter, he's now an Engineer too who will be driving the engine and/or the fire truck. He's excited, not to mention the long hours he's been at training will end. We were only seeing him a couple of hours a night before bedtime and then he would have to stay up and study. I really do not miss those days of studying for tests. So, yeah for Daniel! We are proud of him!

The day that still brings tears to my eyes

Every year September 11th rolls around and it still makes me cry. So many lost their lives. Being that my husband is a firefighter, this day hits close to home. I still have the images burned into my mind of the day I woke up, and turned the TV on. I remember freezing when I saw the first tower on fire and then the second plane hitting the second tower. I remember my heart completely sinking as I watched both towers fall with so many people still inside. It was a horrible day and I don't think I left my couch for hours because I wanted someone to say I was dreaming, that it was pretend. 

Fast forward to today. I've watched many documentaries on 9/11. It's like a titanic thing, you still can't believe it happened. I've had many discussions with Daniel about the mind set of all the firefighters who were going up the towers trying to get people down and wanted to put the fires out. Those brave men (policemen as well) were just doing their jobs. I still feel the anger at the men who flew those planes. It will probably be something I struggle with for the rest of my life how anyone could do that. 

My main point is please remember those people who were doing their jobs that day in those towers, those trying to save others, those fighting fires, and all those who lost their lives. 

Idaho trip

 This cute man is my Grandpa. He passed away a couple of weeks ago so we made the trip up to Idaho where he lived with my grandma for the funeral. He was a wonderful, funny, hard working man who lived a very full life. He worked as a volunteer firefighter and so they had a fire engine there to pay tribute at the church where the funeral was. He was also in the military so he was able to have the 21 gun salute at the burial site. It was a bitter sweet day because my grandpa was ready to go for a few months now. He had Alzheimer disease and didn't remember who anyone was or where he was most of the time. So it's nice to know now that he's out of his misery but we will miss him a lot! Many tears were shed that day!

 This is Cody comforting my his great grandma at the burial site. He kept giving her hugs the whole time we were there. But he was strong and didn't cry at all. 

 later that week we attended a cousin's birthday party and the community pool for the cousins to swim and play. They all ended up laying on the sidewalk within half an hour after getting there.

 There was a lot of Lego playing at great grandma's house. The legos are over 30 years old but still have lots of fun to be had.

 We also attended the rodeo before coming home. Cody was pretty impressed and entertained. 

Vegas baby!

After a lot of time spent at Grandma's pool we decided to take a mini vacation to Las Vegas. Instead of staying at one of the hotels on the strip we decided to opt for my parents timeshare that was about a mile before the strip. This is the first time we've used the timeshare and we are so glad that we did!! This place was much nicer than a hotel. It had two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a full kitchen, washer and dryer, and living area. 

 We took our neighbor, Tyler with us so Cody would have a friend to play with. They had a blast. We first hit up the outlets and bought them these rashgards. They were so excited to hit the pools.

 We headed down to find the lazy river first. We stayed there for quite awhile. It was so nice to just lay back and relax. And Cody and Tyler played so well together and had so much fun.

 Daniel did some relaxing too. We usually go to a water park this time of the year but the one we liked was closed down this year so they could build it up and add stuff to it. 

 This was one of the Jacuzzis. The boys loved the waterfalls.

 This was another jacuzzi. We explored every pool and jacuzzi. The place had 4 pools and 2 Jacuzzis. 

 We were sad to leave. We are definitely going to go back again next year!!

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!!

We had a fun day. The people on our block are big 4th of July people. All of the kids play all day, swim, have water balloon fights, play, ride bikes and scooters, eat and socialize. The adults hang out, socialize, eat and watch the kids play. Cody and his best friend played a little ping pong in the morning. This year there was a band on our street and the street next to us so we had plenty of music and entertainment. 

 We decided to stay at home and let Cody swim next door with his friends instead of at Grandmas this year. 

 300 water balloons lasted about 5 minutes and then the water guns came out!

 This is just to show how many fire works our neighbors buy. There were about 3-4 of these big boxes and the rest of us who had our smaller boxes. Needless to say...there were a lot of fire works going off on our block!

 This was the small bad on our street that played just about every type of music.

 Cody loves to climb in our tree.

Hope everyone had a fun and safe holiday!

busy weekend

This past weekend was a bit busy. We started off on Wed. (I know, not really the weekend yet) by going to the beach with my sister and her three boys and my brother and his family who are visiting from Utah. The kids had a blast.

 Cody's newest thing is standing on his head. Why??? I don't know, maybe he will be a break dancer someday.

 On Friday we had Daniel's sisters wedding in Utah. We flew out on Thursday. Cody was just hanging out while everyone was taking pictures. The wedding was very nice and Elyse looked beautiful of course.

 Not the best picture but it was unfortunately the only one we ended up taking as a family. This was at the reception hall out on the balcony. It was a really nice place and a really nice evening to be outside.

 Saturday night we headed up to Kaysville to visit my parents. They were out of town until late that night but we had a little bit of gaming going on before hitting the sack. We spent Sunday in Kaysville and enjoyed visiting with my parents and my other brother who lives in Utah. It was good times for all.

 Cody absolutely loves his grandparents dog, Mollie. He is quite the dog guy. But hanging out with Mollie made him miss his own two dogs at home. We flew home early Monday morning. We went from 100 degree weather to an overcast sky and a perfect day once the clouds went away. It was nice to get back to California weather. 

But it's always fun to spend time with family in Utah. Too bad the trip had to be so quick. Maybe we'll be back around in the fall. (My favorite time of the year!!)

Let Summer Begin!

This past week we've had perfect weather! What's better on a warm day than a water fight?!! Cody and some of the neighborhood kids had a squirt gun fight one day. And the next day Cody and Daniel had a water balloon fight. And then after that we hit up the pool at Grandma's house! So it's been a very water filled week!