Let the summer partying begin...

And boy did we party! The last week of May was essentially filled with swim suits!

Memorial Day brought with it the sunny delightful weather that summer is supposed to have. It even felt HOT. So of course we went back to city pool with Daddy!

Cara even went off the diving boards for the first time and she LOVED it. Mom had to bribe her to get her to try it and then she wanted to go four more times before we left.

Then on Tuesday, Mom surprised us with a little one night get away with Aunt Angie down to Lake Las Vegas. We stayed at the Westin and it was awesome. They had a fantastic pool! We went down early in the day and played on the Vegas Strip at the Coca Cola Factory and the M and M factory. It was silly and fun.

We bought Dad some Star Wars M and Ms!

We checked in to our hotel early so that we could have plenty of time to swim!

We ran back into Henderson and grabbed a smorgasbord for dinner!

We made sure to head out to the pool as soon as we realized it was open the next morning to maximize our time!

 Iva LOVED the slide. She begged to go on it over and over. We had to wait until the last hour that we were there for it to be open, but it was worth it!

This is what our van looked like on the way home! Ha! We were all very sleepy!

It was a great START to our summer!

The Last Week of School!

It finally came. The last week of school. I was kind of sad, but mom kept bouncing up and down over the idea that it was summer so it was hard not to be excited too.

On Monday, it was cold and rainy. However, the school had scheduled the fire trucks to come and spray us down and let us play so we just ran with it. I was one of the brave ones who played in the water quite extensively!

On Tuesday, I was given the Panorama Achiever Medal. I had to do eight things that were above and beyond my normal school work. Only 39 students in the school did it!

On Wednesday, my wonderful teacher, Mrs. Seegmiller, had us walk the Red Carpet in her class room. I got the "Role Model Award". 

Then Thursday was the big day. The last day of school. My final day in first grade. I wore all black to mourn the loss. I wish I could stay in Mrs. Seegmiller's class forever!

Despite the fact that it was still kind of cool and rainy, we had our end of the year water fight in our neighborhood!

AND we decided it was just warm enough to go celebrate the opening of the St. George City Pool. This might have been our third or FOURTH year in a row going on opening day!

Now hopefully our summer weather will show up next week and we can all get sunburnt and bleached hair and exhausted from all the swimming!

Camping in Moab

The weekend that Cara graduated from preschool was supposed to be this awesome multi family camping trip to Moab, but the weather during May has been HORRIBLY uncooperative. It has been rainy and cloudy and cool EVERY SINGLE WEEKEND. Except the weekend of the 70.3 Ironman. Then it was 90 degrees. Anyway, at the last minute Dad decided to go on the campout anyway and planned to just sleep in the back of Mozzy. To his surprise, I was very disappointed that I wasn't getting to go so he let me join up!

We headed out after work on Friday. Just him and me. And our camping gear. We were prepared for rain, but we also brought a tent just in case. We were planning on meeting his friends, Braden, Steph and their daughter Emery, and Greg, just outside of Goblin Valley State Park.

The weekend did NOT disappoint. It was great! We slept in Mozzy the first night and looked at the stars. It was a little cool in the morning, but no rain and there was sunshine!

We went on this awesome hike in a slot canyon. It was a little long for my taste, but according to Dad, I did really well. It took us about 5 hours and involved some strategic maneuvering past water holes.

I may have been carried sometimes...this is Steph. She was awesome. She let me talk her ear off.

And when I said strategic maneuvering around water...I meant for me. Dad just ended up getting in. 

He even carried Braden who was carrying Emery through the last puddle. 

There was an awesome fairy house at our camp so I built one too!

Saturday night, Dad and I actually set up the tent and the other group packed up and left so we were truly all alone. I slept really hard once we hit the sack. I was tired. The next day he took me into Goblin Valley and let me check out all the neat rock formations. This was my favorite part!

 We may have stopped at Denny's on our way home, but it was well earned. I can't wait to go back even though it was quite a drive.

Mom entertained Iva and Cara back at home. Apparently they just hung around, but had fun anyway!

Cara Finally Graduates Preschool

She's been going to Miss Traci's for TWO AND A HALF YEARS and the era is finally over. Cara has been tearful about this. She cried when she realized she only had four days left in preschool. I mean really cried...for almost an hour. However, as the day of graduation drew near she seemed to really perk up and get excited about it. She can't wait to go to Panorama for kindergarten, but her heart still has a tender spot for her preschool.

I was prepared for her to be sad Friday morning as we got ready for the program, but she was positively beaming. She couldn't wait to go!

Iva insisted on a picture!

We got there really early and she was beaming!

We took silly pictures!

The program was darling and we will include a video at the bottom!

She got her diploma from Miss Traci!

And then she ran straight into my arms and it took me a minute to realize that she was bawling! I had no idea. I asked her if she was sad and she said no, but we finally determined her heart was too full of feelings and it made her cry which of course made me cry.

We took pictures with each of her awesome teachers. Here is Miss Wren!

Miss Dani and Miss Taylor

Miss Carli

and Miss Marie!

And of course the big one....Miss Traci. Cara was still kind of recovering from her tears.

Cara learned so much in preschool and I'm really grateful she got a bonus year when I decided to make her the oldest since she has a very late July birthday.

Here are some video highlights!