First Day of School 2009

so, this is a little late, but here are some pictures from the first day of school. Jesse is in 9th grade, Cross is in 1st grade, and Cole was just going to daycare.

Zucchinis!!

I do not have a green thumb. Sometimes I have trouble keeping house plants alive! But, this spring I decided to plant some herbs and a few vegetables out in my front flowerbeds. The herbs did well from the beginning and I have started getting tomatoes. I only have one yellow squash and I don't think any more will grow. But, check out these zucchinis. I don't know when they got so big!! I picked a normal size one last week and then Monday night I went out there to get a tomatoe and I found these two huge zucchinis.

I planted too many plants in a small area, so it is a little hard to see what is growing with all the big leaves. I guess I just missed them.

Jennifer's Visit

My oldest sister, Jennifer, and her family came from Kansas for a visit July 9th-12th. We did a lot while they were here. They flew in, so straight from the airport I met them at Six Flags and dropped Lil Jesse off to spend the rest of the day there with my 16 yr old nephew, Alex. Jennifer also went in with my niece Kerstin and my step-nephew Austin (from Barry's side of the family) Jennifer, Kerstin, and Austin only ended up staying for a couple of hours due to the Texas heat of over 100 degrees! But, Jesse and Alex stayed til almost closing. Everyone else met for dinner at Hibachi (one of the Japanese restaurants where they cook in front of you at the hibachi tables) The kids love going there! Then Sunday and Jennifer took the little ones back to the hotel they stayed out to swim, while I went and picked the two older boys up at Six Flags. On Friday we took the kids to a pool to swim and had a great time. It was also my niece on Jesse's side, Aubree's 10th birthday, so my family went to her house to have some birthday cake! Then we all went to Lone Star Park (live horse racing). They were having a concert with an Elvis impersonator. The kids were having fun watching the horses and cheering for them. On Saturday we loaded up in two cars and drove about 2-1/2 hours to Georgetown, TX to go to the Innerspace Caverns. When we got there we all mined for gems. You bought bags of dirt from inside and then you take them outside and empty them into the sifters. Each bag had different gems and crystal, and fool's gold in them. The kids were having a great time and we had to go back in and buy more bags because they wanted to keep doing it. Then it was our turn to start the tour. You load up into a little train car (which Cole loved!) and it takes you down a tunnel into the cavern. The guide takes you on an hour tour, pointing out things and explaining how things were formed. It was very beautiful and interesting. The pictures don't really do it justice. Even the little ones were following the tour guide and asking questions! After driving the 2-1/2 hours back, we just all went to my house for some dinner and visiting. On the last day, we went to see a movie at Studio Movie Grill. That is a place where you sit at tables and you can order food and drinks during the movie. Steve (Jen's husband, Alex, and David ( Sunday's fiancee) went to see Transformers 2 while Jen, Sunday, and I took Cross, Cole, Jude,and Kerstin to see Ice Age 3. It was good and all of us liked it. We had lunch while watching and then it was time to say goodbye so they could get on the road to the airport! We should have taken some more pictures, but the only ones I took were while we were at the caverns. Oh well!

Grandma Miller's Visit

My Grandma (my mom's mom) who lives in Kansas came for a visit. While she was visiting we had a barbecue at Mom and Barry's after they were sealed in the temple and for Grandma's birthday. Then Grandma flew to Utah to visit there for a week. When she came back to Texas she visited with an old girlfriend who lives in Denton for a couple of days. Then Sunday and I tool her to a day spa for a late birthday gift. We had facials, manicures, and pedicures. After that we all went to Red Lobster for some dinner. Cross, Cole, and Jude were crazy for the live lobsters in the tank. They were over there watching them. One of the employees came over and started taking them out so they could see them out of the water. This freaked Cole out completely and he ran back over to the table - he was calling them monsters instead of lobsters! But, Cross and Jude were loving it and they got to touch one! Then they wanted to eat lobster, so the waiter played along and said that the fried shrimp and chicken tenders we had already ordered for them were really lobster. On the Friday before July 4th we took Grandma and the little ones to the Dallas World Aquarium since we were all off work for the holiday. It was packed, but we had a great time. They have so many different animals there in addition to the aquariums. When we were done with that we all went back to my house. All the ladies relaxed and watched Walk The Line (the Johnny Cash movie) while my great husband grilled up a ton of food!
It was so nice to get to spend some time with my Grandma and for the kids to get to spend some time with her too.