Ward Activity

Tonight we went to the our first "official" activity at our church. They were camping. Mac was supposed to work on Saturday so we just planned to go to the evening activities. It started around noon with dinner being at 6:30. When Mac got home we headed to the camp grounds (about 30min away). It took a little over an hour to get there because the sign for the actual road and camp site was 2in by 10in. Our GPS said "you have arrived" but when we looked around we didn't see anything so we kept driving (getting a little lost). Eventually we circled around and found it. It is a narrow single lane road to the campsite with an 100 ft drop off on one side and the hill on the other and no shoulder. I was just a little nervous as I was the one driving trying not to look down.

We did make it in time for dinner, only being 45min late but people were still arriving. (There were more people there then I have ever seen at a ward activity- even the Christmas Party) I took Parker and Mackenzee while Mac parked the car. I got their hot dog buns and we headed out to the grill. As I opened the door I noticed 2 gigantic dogs (they were bigger then Mackenzee - kind of like overgrown police dogs) I was about to warn Mackenzee but it was too late. She screamed, threw her plate in the air- along with the bun, and ran inside thus causeing Parker to do the same. It took a few minutes to calm them down to let them know I was going to go out and they could stay inside. Mac came in and we got everyone fed.

Now it was time for some SMOES (s'mores) and tallent show. This meant we had to go outside. Parker refused to go out unless someone was holding him. We convinced Mackenzee to be brave and just look at me and hold my hand. There was a cute mosaic stepstone path to the fire pit. Mackenzee asked me who had died and why we were allowed to walk on these ones. I guess it is from visiting all the cemataries this summer :). Eliza loved the s'mores. She ate 2! Everytime the dogs walked by the kids freaked. It was kind of funny after a while.

The tallent show was cute. Several elementry school age children and younger got up and sang primary songs or told jokes. A few even did skits. There were a couple of adult acts too. One being Mac. He got up and sang "A UTAH man am I" (U of Utah song) because there are so many BYU grad/ fans in the ward. My favorite act of the night was rockin out to Tom Petty's Free Fallin on an accordian. It was great! The guy that played the accordian was pretty good too.

There were so many people camping we wished we could have stayed. Next year we will totally stay. Mac will make sure he is not working that weekend. Mackenzee and Parker were a little bummed we were not camping but got excited when we told them we would be back. It was nice to get to know some more people in the ward.

Picture Day

Today is picture day and since you never know how they will turn out we took one in front of our house before school. The lighting is not the best. If her hair is not too crazy when she gets home maybe we will try it again.

To get caught up...

I will have to post both past and present at the same time.

Present:
Last week was Mackenzee's School's Family Picnic night. It was so much fun. We ate and played games. They had balloon toss (which both Mackenzee and her friend got out on the first toss thus getting each other wet), tug of war, sack races, spin on a bat and race, dancing, and the limbo. It was great to meet some of the other families and to just see what a great school we go to.

Balloon toss

Sack race

Tug of war (they won)
Next round Parker helped (they won again)

Chicken Dance

She is loving school. We walk either to or from or both everyday. We love it!

Past:
Before we left we had a little get together with some friends for Mackenzee to say good bye. We swam ate pizza and they gave Mackenzee a cute little picture of all the kids together in a "friends" frame. She now has it by her bed.

Mackenzee and Emily

The whole group (minus Ashley and Eliza)

Star, me and Amy
This was the best picture I have because we had the kids take our pictures.

Thanks for helping Mackenzee to say good bye. I think this wraps up all of our little "good bye parties".

Now if I can just get the rest of my crazy summer done I will be doing good :)

One door closes another opens

I never posted Mackenzee's last day of Preschool. We loved her teachers so much. She misses them and although she loves her new teacher she still talks about Mrs. Christina, Valerie and Heather. I wish we could send Parker to the same preschool but the 8 hour commute is just not worth it :) Mackenzee and Mrs. Christina

Mackenzee and Emily

Mackenzee and Mrs. Valerie

Mackenzee and Mrs Heather

That was on June 20th.

Now for the beginning of this school year. It was quite the ordeal to get her into school. We got back from our trip to KC the day before school started. Since we didn't have a permanent address they would not let us register her. I called the school and school district Monday (the 1st day of school) and they said the same thing there is nothing I could do. Here my first child was supposed to be starting her first day of public school and no one would help us out.

After breaking down crying (when I got off the phone) I decided that would not get me far and started to think of what I could do. Pray first. Then I looked on the schools website and saw the principals email. I quickly emailed her explaining our situation how we had an offer on a house for over 2 months with no word. I asked if I could get some materials so I could home school her until they would allow us to go to school. Then I let it go. I got a call that afternoon from the principal telling me she thought Mackenzee should be in school and that she would make it happen. I loved this lady right off the bat. I told her we were looking at more houses the next day and if we didnt find something we were also trying to rent in her school boundries. She invited me to Parent Night the next day and to report on how the hunt had gone.

Tuesday we went out and found the most awesome house! We knew we were supposed to get it. We immedatly put an offer on and then I went to the Parent Night. I let the principal know what was going on and we had found another house 2 blocks from the school. Then next afternoon she called me and said this is crazy Mackenzee was not in school and she was going to go ahead and register her as homeless but not to be offended by that. Trust me I wasn't my daughter was finally going to be in school!

Thursday we went to school got her registered and the principal walked us the the classroom. Mackezee got the teacher I really wanted (from meeting them at parent night). She did great! She loved the class and adjusted quickly. The only thing she didnt like was the hour commute one way! We had to leave at 7am to make it to school by 7:52 (their start time). Here are some pictures of her first day!

Showing off the new Tinkerbell backpack

We are alive I promise

We just got internet today (and phone service). I will try posting something in between unpacking boxes. Yes we did get a house, finally, for those who didnt know. We are in the area we wanted. Email me if you want our address and new number. My cell is still the same.

We have traveled a TON. I just got back from another trip on Saturday. We have car trouble with both of our cars (van is in the shop now and we are taking the other car back when we pick up the van).

Oh the joys. We do love our house and our ward and Mackenzee's school. We have met some really nice people. Mac was visited by the Sheriff today while I was helping at Mackenzee's school (which she loves). They had a warrant for the guy who used to live here. Needless to say we are changing all the locks.

Mackenzee started crying a few nights ago because she misses all her friends. She was holding a picture we got when we left and said I really miss my friends. I was trying to explain it is okay to miss old friends but she needs to make new friends. I told her the song:
"Make new friends,
But keep the old.
Some are silver,
and the other gold."

Her response was "Mom there are no silver people."

Sorry if it takes a little to get pictures and stories up, they are coming. Hope all is well with all of you.