..::Alexa's 1st Day of Kindergarten::..

 

My firstborn started Kindergarten today!!!

To say she was excited would be a HUGE understatement!!!

 

 

She even rode the bus her very first day.  Here she is waiting for the bus with her best little friend, Ally, who also happens to live right across the street AND is in the same kindergarten class!!!

 

Getting ON the bus!

 

Sharing a seat with Ally!

Getting OFF the bus at school!

 

Her home away from home for the next year!

 

And her teacher, Miss White....I can tell already that we are going to LOVE Miss White!

 

Her table...and two of her friends we already know, Ally and Krew, were assigned to the same table!

Coming home after her 1st day of Kindergarten!  Such a big girl now...only 12 more years to go!! :-)

 

Mortenson Family Campout 2012

It's that time of year again...time to go camping! (MY personal favorite time of the year...no sarcasm whatsoever!!!)  However, my sweet Mister LOVES camping, as do my kiddos, so it's a small sacrifice on my part!! :-)

 

Alexa and Barrett look ready to start our camp out, don't ya think??!!!

 

 

We went up to the Whitetail Campground on Mt. Lemmon this year and it was a great campsite.  Spots for 6 or 7 tents, a campfire area and a covered eating area, complete with electricity.  Oh and separate bathrooms for each campsite so we didn't have to share with any other families.  It was great!!

 

The kiddos had fun playing t-ball with Grampa!

 

They always love to spend time with Gramma and Grampa!

 

The "Triple A" cousins all born the same year (Alexa, Ainsley and Amelia)...such cute girls.

 

Can you believe they used to be THIS...???

(can you tell which one is Alexa??? oh my...I sure make squishy babies!!)

 

We had fun roasting marshmallows for s'mores.

But even more fun eating them!!! 

 

Barrett's favorite spot was the van...he wanted to play in it constantly!!

We went on a little bit of a hike the 2nd day...and Barrett even got to go, had the best seat in the house in fact!! 

The treacherous mountain terrain was worth these views...my handsome Mister AND the landscape!! :-)

Alexa chose to stay back at camp to play with cousins so this is our family picture from the hike.

We realized while we were up there, that ALL of the Mortenson siblings made the trek...several cousins and spouses had stayed back at camp, but all of the actual siblings were there so it was definitely picture time!

This little guy just loved being outdoors...sure wish this picture had been in focus cuz he's one handsome little dude!  Man, I love this boy!!

 

And this little lady was beyond infatuated with her new baby cousin, McKinley.  She'd been dying to hold her the whole weekend and was so happy when she finally got the chance!!

Grampa and Gramma with all their grand kids...what a cute, lovable, crazy bunch!

Thanks to all who made this a great campout...looking forward to next year!!

New Shoes...and Curlers

In preparation for Kindergarten next week, Alexa and I went school shopping.  She needed new clothes and she especially needed new shoes.  She was so super excited about these new shoes, that she had me take a picture of them on as soon as we got home.  Best part...she learned to tie her shoes within minutes of having these babies on for the first time!  She's so ready for Kindergarten!! :-)

 

 

I also bought Barrett his first pair of rain boots...you would think the kid had died and gone to heaven.  He put them on and wouldn't take them off until bedtime!  I think he liked them!!

 

Payton had recently gotten a pair of cute, pink sandals too...so the girls had to show them off together.  They are rockin' those new shoes!

 

Then last night, I did something that took me back to my childhood...I put foam curlers in my girls' hair.  I remember getting these same kind of curlers put in my hair EVERY Saturday night after a bath and then having THE curliest hair every Sunday.  But I also remember how uncomfortable they were so I was a little skeptical as to how the girls would handle them.

 

Well, Alexa was a trooper and went to sleep with them still in her hair, but Payton...she didn't make it 10 minutes before she was begging me to take them out.  Silly girl...can't say I blame her though! 

 

And here's my pretty girl this morning!!  I'm not sure if she'll ever let me do that again...but at least we did it once!

 

Aspiring Artists

So I have this new fabulous friend, Gretchen...well, we've been friends for awhile now but anyways, she has 3 fabulous little girls who my girls just adore.  We met at the gym, turns out they are members of the Church too, our kids love to play together, we enjoy chatting while we're working out, and we enjoy hangin' out outside of the gym too.  It's wonderful.  Anywho, Gretchen is in the process of moving within the city, so I took her girls for the day so she could get things done without interruptions!

 

And after spending some time outside in the sprinklers, the girls decided to make some artwork...lots and lots of artwork.  They wanted to make an art gallery too...so here they are displaying all their fabulous pieces!

 

Then I had to pick my favorite from each artist and they proudly displayed them!

 

What fun girls...sure love them, and their mama too!  I'm so grateful for wonderful friends!

Canada Trip: Part 5 - The Final Segment!

On Sunday, after the family reunion was over, we went to church in Cardston 1st Ward, the ward that I have the most attachment to from when we lived there, even though we were in Cardston 2nd Ward for the last bit before moving to Calgary.  It was fun to see a few familiar faces, especially my good friend, Leslie's parents.

 

After that, we drove back to Calgary to stay at my sister, Jenn's house for the last couple days of our trip.  Alexa and Payton LOVED hangin' out with their cousins!

 

On Monday, we went out to Stacey's new house in Airdrie for a quick visit.  It's weird for me to think that it wasn't all that long ago that Stacey and I were roommates, yet it seems like a lifetime ago all at the same time...and so much has changed.  But every time we see each other, it's like it always has been...I guess talking on the phone nearly every day helps with that.  :-)  I'm so grateful for the good friends I have been blessed with in my life!

 

And, once again, Bubba was a lil' tuckered out!

 

After visiting with Stacey, we headed to my niece, Nya's, birthday party.  The girls were sooooo excited to be able to go to that since they never get to attend their Canadian cousins' birthday parties!  And even though it was a rather chilly day for what us sun-lovin' Arizonans are used to...the girls jumped right into the lake and had a blast splashin' around with Gramma and their cousins!

Barrett was more than happy to just play in the sand!

 

And eat it too!

 

 

Grampa was showing them how to make funny faces of themselves on his Ipad.

Cousins!

Me and my mamacita!

 

Katrina and me with our mama!  Thanks Trina for letting us share in Nya's fun day!  And also for lettin' us bunk at your place our first couple nights in Canada!

Sisters...and mama!

The girls were soooo excited to get some fun Canadian things from Grampa!

Showing off their loot...don't let Alexa fool you, she really was excited about the presents from Gramps, she was just done with all the picture-taking! :-)

After Nya's party, we spent some time at my parents so the kiddos could just play since we were leaving the next day.  Auntie Beeta even came home and got in on the fun!

Then Auntie Beeta came back to Jenn's and got coerced into reading the girls bedtime stories...

...which ended like this!!  Hahaha...sorry Auntie Beeta!!

Our last day in Canada...the girls getting in some last playing time with their cousins!

Barrett didn't want to be left out!

Jenn and me with mamacita!  Thanks Jenn for having our crew disrupt your lives for a couple days.  We sure enjoyed ourselves!!

Gramma saying goodbye to Bubba!

 

Gramma and some of her cute grand kids!

 

Phewf....I think we made it to the end!  What a week we had.  Busy busy busy!  But a lot of fun. Thanks everyone for making our trip a great one.  We love you all and hope to see you again soon!