First Day of School...Ever!

Since I knew this last year would be my last having Tatum home with me, I decided to do Preschool with him at home. It was a lot of fun and totally worth all the hard work but Tatum was so ready to be out of the house for school. So when the time finally came for him to go to Kindergarten you can imagine how excited he was! 

I took these pictures all on his first day of school and it shocks me to see him so grown up!

For Kindergarten Tatum goes to Cedar Ridge Elementary and has Mrs. Reiber. A few months ago I got up at 5 in the morning to stand in line to request this teacher and was so glad that Tatum got her for a teacher.

After his first day I asked Tatum how school was and he said "it was the best day ever!"  He made a new friend his first day named Cody and he was so excited to see 4 of his neighborhood friends in his class.

Good job bud on your first day of school! 

I hope your excitement continues for many years to come!

Lagoon

A few days before school started Eric had a slow day at work so we decided it would be a great day to take the kids to Lagoon! It was such a fun day for our family and I am so glad we took advantage of the last few days of Summer before they were gone!

Tatum was in Heaven and had no fear when it came to rides.

Trey on the other hand started out good but soon broke down in tears on almost every ride!

I loved this little car ride, it was so stinkin cute!

Trey did not like this Dumbo ride one bit. He held on for dear life the whole time!

But he did love this boat ride, hard to tell because he never changes his facial expressions :)

This fish ride however was his favorite and I think he rode it 4 or 5 times!

Tatum's favorite ride was this roller coaster. Seriously I thought he would cry when he went on it but he was so brave and wanted to go again and again!

Half way through the day we changed into our suits and went to Lagoona Beach. It was so refreshing to play in the water for a few hours on such a hot day. Trey couldn't have been happier, he was all smiles!

 Trey and I loved just relaxing in the lazy river.

After some fun in the sun we changed back into our clothes and rode some more rides. The boys went on the bumper cars at the end of the day and Trey was hilarious on this ride. He just drove in circles and had no clue what was going on . I attached a video at the end, I don't think I have ever laughed so hard!

Yusuke

A while back one of my neighbors asked me if we would be interested in hosting a Japanese exchange student in August. Eric and I talked about it and decided it would be a great experience for our family. I was a bit reserved about it at first considering I would be the one home all day with him. We scheduled a meeting with one of the coordinators to discuss our concerns and figured out it wouldn't be bad at all. They come and pick the students up during the day and take them to do different activities around Utah and bring them back in time for dinner. Then they take them to Moab for a few days and all together they would only be here for 10 days. So we signed up! The only conflict was our scheduled pick up from the airport was exactly when we would be driving home from our Teton trip. So we stopped on our way home and picked him up. I hurried in the car and cleaned everyone up with wipes and changed our clothes so that we didn't look like a bunch of gross hillbillies!

Here we are straight from camping with our student Yusuke!

We had a lot of fun with him and tried to do as much as we could to make his trip to America unforgettable. We fed him all the classic American foods and he said that Hamburgers were his favorite. We took him to the lake with some friends where he got to experience his first time on a boat and on waverunners.

BJ took him on the wave runner and I wish so bad that I had it on video. It was so fun to see the giant grin on his face within seconds of taking off!

He always does the "peace" sign :)

Here is the whole group of students at the Salt Lake Temple. I thought it was cool that on Sunday they took them up there to see temple square and hear the Tabernacle Choir sing. Oh and on that day we had them drop Yusuke off at our church because Eric and I had to speak! That added a bit of stress to our crazy week!

Tatum and Yusuke bonded really quick. Yusuke said that he always wished he had a younger Brother and that is why he loved Tatum so much. They did everything together and Tatum would hold his hand anytime we went anywhere. Here are some bad pictures from our last night together.

I am so glad we did this and it will be something that our family will never forget. I love that Tatum has learned about Yusuke's culture and made such a bond so quick with him. I love that he has learned that people can look and talk different but it doesn't mean we can't be friends with them. I love that Tatum and Yusuke will be pen pals and write letters to each other for many years to come.

The Bradley Family Reunion

Two days after we got home from Lake Powell I left for Girls Camp where I was gone from Tuesday to Friday. A few days after that my Parents came in town to get ready for our family reunion at the Grand Tetons. This Summer has seriously been non stop but at the same time so much fun!

Our trip started with a 5 hour drive to our same camp site. We got there and had time to set up camp and eat dinner before it was time for bed.

The next morning we woke up and headed out for a nice hike to the wind caves. Eric and Jason stayed home with the kids so that Elan and I could go with my family on the hike. The hike was great and the views were amazing!

My cute parents with the cave in the background.

Before you reach the cave there is a waterfall at the bottom. Elan looks so small in comparison.

 

View of the valley from the cave

Cute family pic at the top

Coming out of the cave were more waterfalls and rocks covered in moss. 

Seriously it was so pretty!

The entire hike had beautiful wildflowers everywhere.

After the hike we went back to the campsite and played with the kids for a bit. Trey was constantly dirty. This kid is all BOY and loved to play in the dirt and find bugs.

Throwing rocks.

Playing in the dirt with tractors.

Tatum on the other hand hated to be dirty and constantly asked me to wash his hands. He just loved playing with the big kids. Here they are playing "ninja".

When Tatum wasn't playing with these boys he was on the bungee. Really it was hard to get this kid off of it!

 Trey...not so much!

 

The next day was our annual "Olympics". The kids did their penny hunt and totally scored!

We competed in some fun games.

Did the egg toss. Notice the broken egg on the ground. 

And we did water balloons.

Trey was hilarious. Again he is all boy and wanted nothing more than the throw each and every balloon.

Finally we had to drag him away and get his mind off the balloons. The only thing that worked was throwing rocks in the river with Grandma.

Here are all 12 kids in my Dad's family in order from oldest to youngest. My Dad is directly in the middle. In total we had 103 people camping! Every year the numbers get bigger and bigger, which makes this tradition even more special!

Until next year...