Back To School

School's back in session. Summer flew by, but it is good to be back on our routine and schedule. We love the modified year round schedule our district follows. Short summers with 2 long breaks during the year.

Wade is in 2nd grade.
So far he loves it! He has 2 of his favorites in his class: Jackson and Anthony! His teacher seems amazing and both Wade and I are excited to see what he is going to learn about this year.

Seth is in Kindergarten!
Both Seth and I are thrilled for him to start kindergarten. ALL DAY kindergarten! He needs it, he's ready for it and there were no tears on his first day. He could not wait to get started. I would be lying if I said he didn't complain about school after a few days into it saying, "I don't want to go to school, it's too long" or "school is BORING." Get used to it buddy :).

On the first day, we walked to the school yard. My boys look so big :(.

Seth was excited to see his buddy Weston right away...

I made him turn around for this last pic before going inside the kindergarten playground.
He hesitated only for a second before he spotted his friends and was off. He never looked back.
Wade ran right off too. There were lots of crying mama's, but I was not one of them. I love my kiddos very much, of course, but the past year has been CRAZY because I had 3 at home and I'm loving just the 2. I feel like a free woman :). I'm sure I would have had a harder time letting them go if they were sad, but they were just as excited to learn, see their friends, play at recess as I was for them.

The grocery store, Target, maybe even the mall are all possible now. Its going to be a great year for all of us :).

California 2011

We decided that summer isn't summer without a trip to the beach so we did just that...took a trip to the beach AND we talked the Bryner's into joining us which always makes for a good time for all! We stayed at the "La Costa Resort" in Carlsbad. We got a great deal on our room and loved staying at such a nice place.

First stop on our trip was the "San Diego Zoo" which was incredible! I had only been once when I was 12 and on vacation with all my cousins, but had been previously promised "Six Flags", but ended up at the zoo. You can imagine the attitude we had at the zoo wasn't the best(you should see the picture of all nine of us with scowls on our faces...so spoiled!) It was a real treat to return and enjoy myself so much.

The animals are SO interactive here! I swear they are robots :). When you are used to walking through a zoo at 100 degree weather to see napping animals you would think the San Diego animals were robots too, though.




It was an awesome day and we will go again for sure!

"La Costa" has a live band several nights a week and large common area which makes a perfect scene for people watching, eating and dancing. Our kids--especially the one in purple--LOVED the dancing part!



We also played tennis, visited the resort pool and devoured some yummy treats during our visit.

Now for the reason for our trip...the BEACH!



It was cold, but the kids still had a great time and I STILL managed to get sunburned despite the 75 SPF slathered all over my it's-so-white-it's-translucent skin. :)


Loved catching sand crabs!



Finally, the Roper's cannot visit California without a trip to Disneyland, right?

Awesome as always, we love being at Disneyland and know why it is deemed the "happiest place on Earth." As far as we are concerned, it most definitely is!

Logan's Birthday Party

Logan is 4 and we can hardly believe it! We loved spending the day with him because Logan is a celebrity around the Roper household--we all love him to pieces! Happy Birthday Log!!

Utah Summer Trip

Nothing beats Utah in the Summer. We love to escape the UNBEARABLE heat in AZ and head North for cooler temps and family fun. This trip took us both to SLC and Cedar.

My kids adore Ampa and I'm pretty sure the feeling is mutual. I love how my dad makes as much time as he can to spend with us when we come to town. In these pics we are at a park near where I grew up with gigantic grass hills. The kids loved the push, to increase their rolling speed, given from Ampa.

Ah, "Lagoon." It doesn't get much better than good ole "Lagoon." So many memories. Our kids are now creating memories there as this was our second time taking them. They love it as much as I did!

The bumper cars are our traditional start and Rylee loved them so much, they all went 3 times in a row...loving every second!


This might be Wade's last year on the bumpy whales :).
Musical Express.
Puff the Magic Dragon.
I have never seen the glamour in playing the games at "Lagoon." If you ask me, they are an enormous waste of money with little chance of winning and an even smaller chance of getting a prize that is worth a fraction of what you paid to win it, but it must be a girl thing because my boys (Matt included) LOVE the games. They continually ask all day to play the games until "meanie mom" finally gives in and forks over the dough.

$50 dollars later, this is what we ended up with:
For whatever reason, Seth was the lucky one with the balloon dart game and happened to pop the balloon with a "medium prize" card inside in addition to another balloon with a "small prize" card inside. Wade was not so lucky and the picture is worth a thousand words. They should've listened to me :).

When we have no naps, a long day in the sun and constant moving we will always end up with at least one grumpy kid...
and immediate sleep comas before leaving the parking lot.

There are a lot of July birthday's and anniversaries in my family. While growing up we would have a July BBQ every year at my grandma's house to celebrate. I looked forward to it and loved it every year! I share my bday with my Grandma and Grandpa's wedding anniversary. Everyone in this picture has a special day in July:
My dad hosted the July BBQ this year.

We have spent every 4th of July in Cedar with the exception of 2 since we have been married and I do not see this tradition changing anytime soon.
Yay for Fourth of July babies!
We love the parade!

Alyssa was in the parade with her dance group this year.
Up to their old tricks wasting money on Carnival games (thankfully they are MUCH cheaper than "Lagoon's" games.)




Wade wanted to climb the rock wall and set the goal to ring the bell at the top. Although he has never climbed a rock wall before, he gave it his best effort and....
reached the top!

Gotta love carnivals!

Matt took the boys fishing in the man-made lake in Cedar and Wade caught one! They were all thrilled!

Now for the good stuff...FIREWORKS! This pack was INSANE! I mention this every year, but this is proof that Matt is definitely a PYRO! That thing was 5 feet tall!

Everyone loved the show!

Finally, to wind up the trip, we took the kiddos to the skating rink. Just like the one I went to growing up...the kids had a great time!



It was an awesome trip and really hard to leave the cool temps and family fun and return to the 120 degrees!