A SUPER CUTE ballerina preschooler

Katie has officially started her last year of preschool and she loves it!

Ready on her first day!

Katie and Miss Kelly

She has also started tap and ballet. At first she was so excited to be a ballerina. But now that she has experienced the tap shoes, those are her favorite! It will be nice when those loud taps get some rhythm. :)

Done with the first day of class!

Katie, Savannah, Hailey, Chloe & Adyson

San Francisco

Child-free vacation, Summer 2010

For memorable purposes, I wanted to post about our trip to San Francisco this summer. My parents in Oregon were able to keep the girls for a week while Chris and I jetted off. The kids and I had already been there for a month so they were very used to all of our Oregon family and were in a great routine.

After a fun 4th of July weekend in Vale and 2 1/2 hours of sleep, Chris and I drove to the Boise, ID airport at 2:30 in the morning to make our flight. I think that was were my first mistake was.....lack of sleep! Chris will tell you.....I was beyond crabby when we arrived. :) This started day 1 of being sick. By the end of the week I was super sick with 2 ear infections. Another week after that it was determined (after 3 doctors and multiple medicines) that I would need to have my ears surgically drained and tubes put in.

The happy part is all the pictures you see below. We had a wonderful trip and were able to really explore this great city and it's surroundings. Every Mom, Dad, couple......everyone with kiddos needs a chance to break free from that routine and just relax. Thanks to my family we were able to do just that.

A fun boat ride in the bay.

Ghirardelli square was very close to where we stayed at the wharf and we were here multiple times!

The Golden Gate Bridge was amazing.

Muir woods was neat. It was made of HUGE trees and beautiful forest.

Chris took this picture and was so proud of himself. We laughed forever!

Chris is 6'4".......if that puts this picture in perspective!

Alcatraz

Union Square

1 of MANY monstrous hills that make up the city

Chinatown

The "painted ladies" where Full-House was filmed

Yosemite Nation Park

SOOOOO glad we took the 4 hour drive to get to Yosemite. It was breathtaking!

Next we went North to Wine Country and the Napa Valley

All the vineyards were beautiful

Here we are at the Castello di Amorosa, the castle of love. A man traveled all over the world hand selecting different materials to construct his castle. Ever seen The Bachelor??? (LOVE IT!) This is where Jake, Vienna and Gia all ate and stayed the night at. :)

My most favorite part of the trip was WICKED! I LOVED IT! Ironically, my cousins, who live in Sacramento went to the exact same show and we were able to have a fun afternoon and dinner with them!

I am so grateful for such great experiences and especially for a husband who makes sure we are able to do these fun things together and spend some time alone.

HOWEVER, be sure to take a jacket! We did no research and had no idea that San Fran was a giant Air Conditioner. :)

Our Exciting NEWS!!!!

From the title of this post I am sure you can guess what has happened in our house......YES, Katie has lost her first tooth! I was shocked that she even had a loose tooth, and Chris was panicked! LOL

It wiggled around for 10 days and then 2 days ago she "pulled" it out as it hung by a thread. She was soooo excited for the tooth fairy to come.

She was actually playing at a friends house when it happened so she brought it home in a ziploc. She immediately asked me for a glue stick and some glitter to make her tooth "shiny" for the Tooth Fairy. That night it was her turn to say family prayer and she said a lengthy prayer concerning her tooth and the Tooth Fairy. It was so sincere and cute! The one right next to it is already loose too!
Our other ENORMOUSLY great news is that Aunt Kara is ENGAGED! Pres surprised her on her birthday, August 15th, and popped the question. We are SOOOO excited for them and this new phase of their lives. "Kara Crawford," Isn't that cute!

And of course the bling!

Family Family Family Fun!

June was a great month! The girls and I went to Oregon to spend time with my (Hiatt) family. There is a lot I miss about farm life.....and a few things I don't. ;) However, I am so grateful that my girls get to experience it, even if it is only for a short time, coupled with being COMPLETELY spoiled by their Nana & Papa!

The "Vroom Vroom" (as my nephew Canon says") was a HUGE hit from the beginning. The first morning in Vale the girls were at the door waiting for Papa to take them for a ride. Brooklyn wasn't as sure, and opted for the safer/more "in control" option.
That lasted only a short while when it was too hard to keep up! Soon enough she was fighting for the front of the 4-wheeler. Later that day, Lauren claimed ownership on the 4-wheeler and got very upset every time Papa took "her 4-wheeler!"

Later, the girls and I helped my Dad move some pipe in the fields. We parked the 4-wheeler at one end and worked back the other way. About half way up the road, Kara noticed Lauren drop something out of her pocket. It was the 4-wheeler key and apparently she took it out and no-one noticed! Thank goodness Kara saw. From that point on, we had to take the key in the house and hang it on the hook far out of Lauren's reach.

Brooklyn got very brave with the cat and really wanted him to come in and play.

Workin Girls!

While everyone else was weeding the families "community garden," Lu & Boo ate chocolate cookies atop the wood pile. Partly because they were spoiled and partly because they kept stepping on the corn!

Katie completed this 100 pc. Princess Tiana puzzle in 2 days. She was so excited and we were very proud of her.

Here is Brooklyn enjoying Grandma Hiatt's house. The first morning after we returned to Tennessee, the little girls woke me up asking to go to "Gama's" house. This was a favorite place of theirs where all the parties and fun events are held.

Playing with the cousins was a huge highlight for the girls.

Lauren, Brooklyn, canon, Ian & Ella

Nana's house has lots of strawberry patches and the kids would have eaten every strawberry if we would have let them. They thought this concept was amazing. Just go outside, pick it and EAT.

Lauren.....looking for the biggest ones!

Swimmy Lessons

June was the month for swimming lessons. Katie was thrilled. Lauren and Brooklyn thought they should be excited too. :)

(Lauren, Katie, Brooklyn)
(Brooklyn, Lauren)

Katie hopped right in. She did most everything her teacher asked of her, minus go down the slide...she was a little scared of that. She loved her teacher Miss Cassie and really looked forward to lessons each day.

Brooklyn's teacher was Miss Chelsea. She was quite the little "fishy" in the water. Earlier this spring (our first experience at a pool this year) she walked right over to the pool and jumped in without our approval. I have heard of kids doing that, but it really scared me when it happened. A lot of swimming this summer helped her to learn her limits.

Lauren's teacher was Miss Hannah. Poor Hanna.......Lauren cried/screamed the entire 30 minutes for the first 3 days. On Thursday she screamed only half the time and by Friday, she walked right in, flip-flops off and in the pool she went, all by herself! Good thing we had a few more weeks to enjoy "happy" swim lessons.

The babies could talk their teachers into playing with all the cool toys.

Happy Lauren & Hannah

Katie, swimming with her face in the water!

Brooklyn, cheesing for the camera.