Sawyer's first day of Middle School

I can't believe he's old enough to be a middle school-er now. I kept offering to hold him back another year, but he wouldn't agree to it.

Today was a half day for 7th graders only at the school. They orient them to the school, lockers, lunch, etc. It's a great way to ease into this new life.

He said today was a lot of fun. Sawyer is a naturally happy boy and I hope he has the best year filled with only kindness and good.

Deacon

I can't believe my little Sawyer is 12 years old. Today he received the Aaronic Priesthood. It's a little surreal. He got a new suit for the special occasion. He's in size 14 pants here, size 8 1/2 M shoes, and his size 14 jacket was waaaay too small.

How is this happening?!

He was ordained after church by Kent. Kent's parents were able to attend. Mine are still on their Heber Valley mission and weren't allowed to leave. 

I made him get pictures before church. He didn't like it once other people started walking in, so we had to take what we could get here.

He also finished up his Primary Faith in God award just in the nick of time. Now on to Young Men's (my baby!!).

Pioneer Day

Today we visited my grandmother in North Ogden. My mom and aunts and uncle were at the table writing the obituary while we visited with my grandma. My cousin Danielle and her husband were there while we were too. My grandma talked about how nice it must be for Grandpa to be reunited with the mother he never knew as well as all his siblings. She received some visiting neighbors too who came to pay their respects. She was serene and gracious and as always so sweet and comforting to us all.

Later that night we lit some sparklers and then watched in the front yard as some neighbors did their Wyoming fireworks.

Scout camp

Sawyer attended 11 year old scout camp this week at Camp Tracy. Kent joined him for the overnight part and snapped a few pictures. 

Sawyer needed some pushing to trying things he wasn't sure he was good enough at to even try! He ended up passing off the target part of the rifle shooting merit badge. He also got a good start to archery. I'm glad he was pushed to try new things. 

Last day of school!

Today is finally our last day of school. Kind of. McKinley is doing a summer science class and PE class to free up her school schedule next year. She still has school.

But these guys are out of school! Wahoo!


Here are the first day vs. last day side-by-side pictures:

It was Sawyer's last day of Elementary school! I can't believe it!

After school we got a snow cone from Lani's to celebrate.

                          

day 7 Friday

Our last day in California. Our Go Card included a whale watching tour. We tried the Newport Landing tour. They had an earlier tour when we arrived to check in, so we were on the boat by 9:30. No whale sightings today. We saw some dolphins and sea lions. The captain gave us $7 return trip vouchers to come back again another time and try again for a better sighting day.

It was still fun seeing the common dolphins and being on a boat on the calm ocean. It was perfect weather and sea conditions.

After lunch the kids wanted to swim in the hotel pool. So we hung out there for a few hours. We got some ice cream at Hans Homemade Ice Cream shop in Santa Ana and then went to Corona Del Mar beach to watch the sunset on our last day. It was a pretty beach with rocks and tide pools, but it was high tide so we didn't see any tide pools while we were there.

on Saturday, day 8, we drove all the way home. We got to our house around 9:30 and ready for our beds! Now back to real life.

day 6 Thursday

Today we went to our 3rd amusement park of the week, Knott's Berry Farm. There were dozens of school buses with kids field trips here today. Otherwise it wouldn't have been crowded. Our longest wait was still only about 20 minutes. This park is a lot like Lagoon. There were plenty of older kid rides, and not too many that Josh wanted to go on. So he spent his time waiting for the big kids and eating cotton candy.

The park closes at 6 today, so we were going to leave early, around 4:30, but kids kept seeing "just one more" ride they wanted to try before we left. We did get out of there at 5:30 and headed over to Outback for dinner and a little birthday ice cream for the birthday girl.

day 5 Wednesday

Beach day! Yay! It was a little chilly for beach day, in the 60's to low 70's. But still a lovely day. We went to Huntington Beach this time. Near the pier. It has a lot of sandy open beaches so it doesn't feel too crowded and the enough shallow wading area for kids to enjoy. Long Beach, a few miles up the coast, has been sighting 15-25 white sharks close to the shore. We were afraid we wouldn't be able to get in the water at all. But there were plenty of people and surfers in the water so we were able to relax and enjoy here.

We ate dinner at Ruby's on the Pier, and stayed on the beach until sunset.