East High

This might have been one of my favorite things EVER!! Yah, we went to EAST HIGH! It was fun and exciting and sort of embarrassing. School was still in, so we were able to go on a self guided tour. And drop some money on souveniers at the books store. Students were still there and probably laughing at us behind our backs. But the kids had fun trying to find all the places on the map where they filmed stuff. The only bummer was that the doors were locked to the gym and the auditorium. Otherwise, it was a perfectly enjoyable time!


Here is our gang in front of the school.

Can't you just SEE Troy calling Gabriella to come up to the roof.

These planters lined the walkway up to the entrance of the school.

The real mascot of this school is a leopard. It pretended to be a wildcat for the movie.

This was Troy Bolton's locker!!!! Zac touched this locker and we were all very excited.

Obviously this is Sharpay's locker. It was fun to see that they kept it pink.

Here we are in the cafeteria where so many dance scenes took place. Very cool.

We pretended to do some singing and dancing here. It was a blast! If you are ever in SLC, and have the time, check this place out. It is in a beautiful area of the city. I found several houses I would love to buy.

We ended our week by going to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house on Saturday after I picked up the kids from EFY. It is a beautiful temple and was neat to be able to walk through it with the kids. I would post a picture, but I am tired of trying to get pictures on here. So that was our fun trip to Utah.

Hogle Zoo

Friday night Vicky was able to get extra tickets to Dream Night at the Hogle Zoo. Dream Night is an international event that zoo's all over the world do. They open their doors to children with medical issues and their families and let them have a privite evening of fun. I think it is really cool that they do this.

Anyway, we had such a fun time. Thanks Vicky for letting us come along!





























At the elephant show, they had some workers helping the kids play music. They were cute.

Kangaroo Zoo

Here is the gang at Kangaroo Zoo. Kangaroo Zoo is a place that has lots of bouncys. And a black light mini golf area. The kids had a ton of fun running from bouncy to bouncy. They could have stayed there all day. I know we have a Bounce U here and it is a little different than that. There is no time limit. I hear we have a place in Mesa that is similar, so I think I might check it out.

The goofy golfing that they had was fun for most of the kids. It was unlimited play. They would finish and go and get another ball. Aly, just wanted to play with the ball and put it in the hole. I realized I do not want to take Matt or Aly to Golfland.

Friday's activities are coming next. It was probably my favorite day. So stayed tune!

Utah!

I am back from Zion!! We had a blast with my sister and are extremely exhausted. I can't believe I drove the whole trip! I was really nervous about it. Ususally my mom is with me and will drive when I get sleepy. This time it was just me and the kids. I stopped a couple of times to close my eyes, but I did it! Yeah!

First off, the weather in Utah was gorgeous! Sure it rained a little almost everyday, but I loved it!

Monday I took Kyla, her friend Maren, and my nephew Alec to EFY at BYU. Here are Maren and Kyla in front of their room when I dropped them off. This also happens to be the only picture Kyla took the whole time. Actually I took it.

Tuesday we went to Sweets Candy Factory and did a tour of the factory.

They had a chocolate room that smelled like heaven. At least that is what heaven will smell like to me. It was lots of fun. Then we went to a park to let the kids play in the water. That lasted about 5 min then they were all cold. And they went to play on the slides and stuff.

Natalie and Rachel.

Matt, Josh, Jake, Rachel, Katie, Aly

The kids eating a treat before the ride home.

Tues night we went to a local TV Station to listen to the news anchors speak and find out how a news show works. We had a ton of fun. We went courtesy of a group called Hope Kids. It is a really fantastic program for kids that have or have had cancer and their families.

Natalie and Rachel. They are 6 months apart and Nat towers over Rach. I don't know where Rach gets her shortness from.

We only took the kids that were 8 and older to the news station. We got a sitter for the other four. While we were on this tour, there was a really bad storm coming and they had to do a live shot for the weather. It was sort of exciting.

Next up: Kangaroo Zoo

DISNEYLAND

(Our group of girls. We had 13 girls and 5 chaperones.)

Disneyland. I love that place. This was one of the quickest trips I have ever been on. We left Kyla's school about 12:30am on Wed morning. We had a boy bus and a girl bus. That girl bus was pretty loud on the way there. Sometime between 2 and 3 they turned out the lights on the bus to encourage the girls to get some rest. The bus was super uncomfortable and many of us ended up on the floor trying to catch a few moments of rest.

We got to L.A. about 7:30 and stopped and ate breakfast. We then headed to Disneyland. I haven't been there in 13 years. It was so exciting to go there and remember back to the times I had been there before. Those are wonderful memories and I was glad to be there to make some more. Being with Kyla and her friends was really fun. It was interesting to see how these girls interacted with each other and with the boys. They are growing up. It was fun to be a chaperone with some of the funnest ladies I have met. We laughed and giggled like we were teenagers. We left the park when it closed and headed home. This time, the bus was silent. Everyone crashed. It was exhausting. On the way home we had a little bus trouble, but after about an hour stop, we were headed home. The bus was my least favorite part of the trip. I have heard that this trip is like childbirth, in that you forget the bad and only remember the good. That is until you are ready to do it again. Then when you are in that moment of getting on the bus, you remember, but it is too late to turn back. Hopefully that is true because I think I would like to go with Jake. But right now, maybe I'll leave that trip to Curt.

The fearless leaders.

Some of the girls with Goofy.

Some of the girls with their "ears". I didn't know they had sooo many different kinds of ears.

The kids loved this ride. They went on it at least twice. And were soaked and cold.

Sometimes I really hate blogger. I keep trying to make the layout different, but it doesn't seem to want to save it the way I want it saved. It has a mind of it's own.

Post 2-Graduation Day(s)

Matt graduatated from preschool on Thurs the 21st. He had such a wonderful year with Miss Jill and he is SOOOO very excited to go to Kindergarten. For the program, Matt recited the rhyme Hickory Dickory Dock. Here he is with his props.



















Matt with his friends Kylee, Ty, and Tylee.











Matt with Miss Jill. This lady is a saint. I don't know how she did it! We loved her.









Both Matt and Grant were graduatating that day. So Grandma L was able to come to Matt's and brought a little something for the boys. I forgot to grab a picture with Granny Franny. I am so glad that we have our grandma's close by.













Promotion Day for Kyla was an interesting one! Sunday, Kyla started not feeling good. I thought she was just getting a cold. I was sick a few weeks before, so I thought maybe she was coming down with that. She didn't have a fever, so on Monday I sent her to school. By Monday night she had a fever and was feeling miserable. So I took her in to the after hours clinic, where we were told it was the flu. We started on an anti-viral that night. She had the last day of school on Tues, and graduation that night, then on to Disneyland. The doctor told me that she wouldn't be allowed to go to school Tues, but the rest was up to us. After talking to a few parents and teachers on Tues, we decided if she felt okay, then we would still go to graduation and Disneyland. So when Kyla woke up on Tues morning she was fever free and stayed that way!! I made her rest all day, then we got ready for 8th Grade Graduation!! I can't believe I have a child going into High School! I am so proud of her. We had a long year and I am glad it is over! I love you Kyla!








Kyla with her friends Sydney and Maren.

This was classic. Kyla and a girl named Aston wore the same dress! And because of last names, stood right by each other!! It was hilarious!








Tori, Kyla and Jessica.









Kyla with the parents.









And finally, Kyla with her really excited and proud brothers and sisters. It was so choatic. I think they had ants in their pants. I was standing in the back with chatty Aly and they kept getting up to come and ask me questions. Why did I think it was important for them all to be there?? I am crazy sometimes. Next post.....DISNEYLAND!!

Post 1 - May

We have had an adventurous month! Lots of fun things have been happening in our family! We have gone on field trips, have had 2 graduations, been to a first dance, and the highlight: a trip to Disneyland!!!

The most exciting thing for Jake and Rachel is that school is now over!! Welcome Summer! They both had great years! Jake almost reached his goal of getting straight A's this last quarter. He worked really hard and we are so proud of him. Rachel finished the second grade with straight A's all year! We are really proud of her also.

Matt is now done with preschool and is looking forward to Kindergarten next year. We went on 2 field trips this month with his class. The first one was Basha's (a grocery store). The kids enjoyed seeing the back rooms and they were most impressed with the freezer that had the ice cream.

The second field trip was to Superstion Farms. It was really fun and the kids got to touch and feed farm animals and learn about where they get their milk. I learned a lot that day!

Here are Matt and Aly on the hay ride around the farm. We got to see the cows eating. Way fun.

This is the closest Matt got to any animal. He is so afraid of animals. It is ridiculous.

This is "Phyllis Diller". Isn't she great!

Blogger is making me nuts, so I'll continue this post later.