GO MARK!!!

I am so proud of my brother Mark that I just have to brag!!! He has not smoked for over a month now!!! WHOOO-HOOOO!!! Great job Mark! Oh.. and for those who don't know, this lovely gal with him is his fiancee Lyndie! Welcome to the family! Be sure to e-mail Mark some words of praise and support at ruzenlire@hotmail.com
WAY TO GO MARK!!! WE LOVE YOU!!!

Alyssa's 1st Day of Kindergarden

School Started 3 weeks ago and I am now blogging it! I think I am finally OK with Alyssa gone everyday until noon!!! I know... first grade is going to kill me!

This was the open house for Alyssa. She has two teachers. Mrs. Cowan (left) & Mrs. Durrant (right).

This is Alyssa's first day. She loved her new uniform in the morning. When I picked her up after school, she hated it because it was too hot and hard to play on the playground with. 3 weeks later, she's better about it. I love not having to fight with her about matching colors on outfits.



This is where Alyssa sits. However, today they moved her to the back... I wonder if Alyssa is too social for the middle seat. =) I can't wait for parent teacher conference.

This was how Keira entertained herself while her big sister was at school. The sunglasses, pacifier, succor and cell phone were all in my diaper bag! I am such a pack-rat! I didn't even knew I had a pacifier in the house since Keira never used one when she was a baby. Keira misses Alyssa the most! When it's time to get Alyssa, Keira RUNS to the car with a toy for her big sister.

Sleepover

What happens when you get 4 girls together and leave them alone for 5 minutes???

This is what happens! AHHHHHH! My House! Keira is in the middle there. She loved having 2 extra mom's to baby her! We helped babysit my brother & his girlfriends kids over the weekend. We had a great time and I miss them already!


The kids attacking Grandpa Ray's house. Trust me though... he's not as defenseless as he would like you to think! Even when he's outnumbered by 3 squealing girls!!!

The best part of the zoo!


Dalia, Alyssa, Marcela, Keira & Grandma Gina

Creepy!

Every statue was a climbing photo-op. No statue was safe!

I LOVE this picture!!! This was just before the bird show.

California Rapture, cousin to Bald Eagle... but double the size! This one is still a baby! Very cool!

Love at first sight!


See what I mean about the statues?!

Daddy's in charge

I left in the morning to get some kid-free errands done. I came home to this....

Shane doesn't have any boys... so his girls have to been rough, tough hockey fans! Go Colorado!!! Oh, if you can't tell, they are holding up number 1 fingers.

Utah State Fair 2008

We had a blast at the fair this year!

I love Alyssa's face here! What a cutie!

I love the Little Hands on the Farm! What a great idea!!!

Ewww.... this is dirty mom!

Keira tried to eat the fake apples. Yum!

I hate those clowns that make the balloon animals. First you stand in line for much to long... then you finally get your chance and the lady doesn't know how to make what you really want. So you settle for a dumb hat and flower. Then the kids fight over which of the dumb balloons they really never wanted in the first place... then it pops... then the tears come. THEN they want you to go back and wait in line again for another one! AHHHHHHH!!!

Can't smile... eating!


Ewww... don't touch me!

I love the big yellow slide!

This was the highlight of the whole day!!!

This video is really long because Shane put the camera in his pocket without stopping the video... I don't have an edit program. So... just watch a few seconds and click it off. Sorry... I am still learning how to blog properly.

What a way to finish the day! Got to love that sugar!!!

Thanksgiving Point - Last day of Summer '08

Ok, so we are a little late posting our last day of summer. But I wanted to because the video at the end of this post made me smile!

We spent our last day of summer going to the Thanksgiving Point. It was too cold to play in the water, so we took a looooong walk around the gardens. The kids did so great and it was fun to spend time alone with them outside of the house.






This was my favorite part... they loved rolling down the hill after each other.

Alyssa loved the Secret Garden. It was a fun place for kids.

Alyssa saw me blogging and insisted that I add the picture of these cute baby birds we found just before we left. The girls watched them for 15 minutes while the mom bird fed them.

I hope you enjoy the video as much as I did! What a fun way to end the summer!