Now what am I going to do all day?

Kelsey on her first day of 1st grade.

On Monday everyone started school, including my baby! Where did the time go? She was happy to find a friend from her soccer team sitting next to her. I thought I'd be so sad, but I really wasn't the first day. I felt a little lonely on day 3. Fortunately my calling in the YW's keeps me busy and I have lots of lans to do all the things I've always wanted to do, but couldn't. I'm going to start piano lessons next week, I'm going to alternate going to the temple or the family history library weekly with a friend, I'm going to take an institute class and I'm going to help in my kids class rooms and do some more in PTA. Maybe I'll even keep my blog more current--who knows?

Kelsey ready for 1st grade, Brandon for 5th and Hayley for 3rd grade.

Cory ready for for his first day at the High School--wow a big 10th grader. (To bad he's not as excited about the 1st day of school pictures anymore.)  Cory even got his drivers liscence the week before school started.

Kyle ready for 8th grade.

Orlando Trip with the whole family June 2008!

We flew in and out of Tampa since we found nonstop flights for cheaper there. We stayed the first night in Tampa and were thrilled when we found a "Panera" on our way to our hotel. It really was amazing to have been at Tyler's High School Graduation the night before and then we were sitting on the beach in Tampa the next evening.

All our trips seem to happen at once, but we've been trying to squeeze them in before Tyler is gone. Tom's parents graciously let us use one of their time shares so we took the whole family to Orlando for a week. It was so nice to just relax and not worry about anything else. The resort was awesome with lots of pools and lazy rivers and slides.

We got a week pass to Universal Orlando and spent lots of time riding coasters at "Islands of Adventure" and spent a fun day at Universal Studios. We also spent a day at each of the Disney Waterparks (Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach). We loved them both, but especially Typhoon Lagoon. I don't know if we'll ever be able to enjoy another regular wave pool again after that one. It was awesome, starting with 12 foot waves at the one end of this huge pool--the kids loved playing in that as well as the lazy river that took a good half hour all around the park.

Kelsey even got in with Tom and snorkeled in the pool with real sharks and stingrays--GO KELSEY!

London Trip with Tyler May 2008

Tom and I took Tyler to London to see my parents on their mission and the sights before we have to say good-bye to him for 2 years. We went the first week of May after he'd finished up at BYU and while the other kids were still in school. We had a fabulous time. The thing I liked the most was seeing my parents.









We also loved going to the London Temple, seeing 4 plays (including Spamalot, Lion King, Stomp and Phantom of the Opera), seeing tons of museums (including the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Science Museum, the Natural History Museum, British Museum, & War Museum) and tons of Historical Buildings (inlcuding Tower of London, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace & Westiminster Abbey).

Tyler's Mission Call!

The most exciting thing that has happened to our family for quite sometime was Tyler getting his mission call on April 2nd! The Bishop can check the online system and told us it was coming on Wed March 26th. I checked the mail and--NO MISSION CALL! Talk about sending a mother over the edge. The Bishop checked later that night and the system now said that it was being "processed" and no longer "sent". He swears it said "sent" before, but we will never know. We had to be patient and wait another week. We know Tyler got the call he needed and maybe it just took extra time.
I wish I had a video of when we told my Dad later that same evening about Tyler's call. My Dad is currently serving his 5th mission in London in the Family History Center with my mom and we told him via Skype. My Dad got so excited he could hardly speak. He served in Mexico 58 years ago and back then Mexico was all one mission and even included some of Guatemala. The very first area he served in was Cuernavaca, Mexico! We also discovered Tyler's mission president is our neighbors uncle--blessings from heaven!

This picture just came up on my screen saver and I thought it was so cute that I'm going to put it for everyone to see. This was over Christmas break when we went to San Diego and went to Wild Animal Park with our Gill cousins!

My little "who's" in "Suess"

Saturday my girls were in the cutest play called "Suess". They have been going to a neighborhood singing class each week in preparation. Kelsey was not sure about it the first performance, but by the last one she was really getting into it.