what happened in august, yo?

let me tell ya about it. of course, these are just the things that didn't make their very own post.
8.3-kg and the girls went swimming. i actually joined them in the pool, for the first and only time of the summer, after work and then we went to outback steakhouse.
8.5-the girls and i went to olive garden with sandee for lunch. then we went to get a shaved ice and saw shannon and the kids there. it was about time we saw them there. :)
8.6-anne and ryker were supposed to come and help me with the girls by taking them swimming. that was canceled once shattered glass was found in the pool. the pool had to be shut down for a week, right in the heat of summer, until it was all removed. there are some real jerks out there.
8.7-sandee watched the girls for me that day and then i met them all at the races that night. thanks for the help sandee!
8.10-happy birthday kg! happy birthday jenna!
8.11-happy anniversary kris and jer! that night the girls and i shared a free birthday meal at arby's and then we went for shaved ice.
8.12-kg took the girls to the second part of the madison reunion while i worked. i ran to the bank for work and got a shaved ice. that night kg made chicken scallopini for dinner and cheese cake for dessert. it was divine!
8.13-friday the 13th and happy birthday to me! i was born on friday the 13th and this is my 6th birthday on that day.
8.15-we went to my parents to celebrate our birthdays with my family and kg's family. we received some funny cards, cash and a gift card. thanks all!
8.16-we went to buffalo wild wings for dinner and got free birthday cake to take home. that night 'ice cream chris' and his wife watched the girls while we went to kindergarten orientation. he even gave them ice cream! after that the girls and i got free birthday ice cream to go at cold stone. our coupon expired that night so we had to go but we saved it for another night.
8.17-happy birthday adam.
flower spent the day with tianna and her family. i'm sure flower was in heaven because tamarah said the girls played dress-up for hours! they also watched barbie and the magic castle. both tianna and flower have it memorized. tamarah said flower was the dark haired princess in the movie, tianna the blonde. they sang and acted each part perfectly. i wish she would have recorded a snippet of it. i can only imagine those two together! the rest of the day was spent at ivy wild water park. she came home exhausted which is always a good sign of seriously fun play time. we will sure miss tianna when she moves.
8.18-as i was leaving to go to flower's school i felt something in my lower back 'pop' and i was unable to walk. and i was in so much pain. i caved, found a chiropractor in our network, and went that afternoon. i dislike going to new doctors. turns out i knew him! 6 years prior he was part of my cousins practice as my cousin was 'training' him and helping him get started. super nice guy. oh, and my pelvis was completely out. i felt so much better(as good as someone with chronic back pain can feel). because of the pain and inability to chase river around i put out a desperate plea on facebook for help with the girls. jamie and her daughter kylee came to my rescue. i dropped the girls off there before my appointment and picked them up after work and the girls had a blast! thanks guys!
8.19-river was so cute at the clubhouse. she found a barrette and asked me to put it in her hair. she always says, "pretty hair" and hands us barrettes or pony tail holders and we know what than means. then she said, "pitur". i have trained her well in the fact that she wanted me to take a picture of her barrette. :)
except she wouldn't hold still so her face is a little skewed, but you can still see the barrette. too bad she won't leave them in for more than 5 seconds.
that night we finally got anne to babysit for us while we went to ward temple night and golden spoon for dessert. anne did a great job and she is so delightful. the temple was nice. for various reasons i knew i had to go. i needed to go. i begged and pleaded asked kris if she would come and was totally overjoyed happy she obliged. i've been slightly overwhelmed/down lately as i've mentioned. even though kg went, it was nice to have her sitting next to me. half way through the session i heard a very distinctive voice say, 'just do your best' and then a rush of calm came over me and a couple tears streamed down my face. seems so simple but when your in the thick of things, that's hard to remember. i've repeated that phrase a lot lately, especially when i start feeling overwhelmed again and it's helped. it really is all i can do. if it's not good enough there's not much i can do. but i'll feel better knowing i at least did my best.
8.20-kg's brother ryan came over to swim with kg and the girls while i worked. then he came over to our place for dinner. kg made yummy garlic and mushroom chicken and couscous. so delicious!
the girls loved hanging all over ryan and showing off for him.


8.21-laura watched the girls for me while i worked. she brought adam and erina over swimming with the girls and then eventually took them all back to her house. the girls had lots of fun! i then met them at their ward party that night for mexican food. thank you.
8.22-happy birthday val!
i found my wedding ring! i haven't been able to find it since we moved here 2 1/2 years ago. i was also missing a charm bracelet filled with charms from our travels and a couple of cheap but significant items. i was looking through my underwear drawer looking for a bra that might fit since my boobs are shrinking(hallelujah! queue the chorus of singing angels). anyway, i have a pouch in that drawer that holds any $2 bills i've received in the last 10 years as well as a $10 bill from the year i was born. weird i know. when i saw it i was reminded that i received a $2 bill from the theater when i went to see eat, pray, love. i haven't looked in there for a while(2 1/2 years) so instead of just shoving the bill inside, i decided to take a gander and low and behold, all those things i haven't seen in a couple of years were there hiding amongst the bills! yippee! it was a nice walk down memory lane. apparently when we moved i thought that would be a safe place for the ring and other items and i was right. they were safe.
8.25-happy birthday ashton!
that evening kg went to the temple with the youth in the ward. he had some neat experiences. the girls and i went to sturgill's to take matty some birthday cookies and balloons, and jenna some get well balloons. we enjoyed some much needed, relaxing time outside with kris!


every 3 seconds the girls would say, "mom, mom, mom, watch this, watch this" we could barely have a converation and pretty much gave up so it was at this point that kris yells, "look at me, look at me, i'm scooping poop" i'm still laughing!
it was a little gross how excited flower was to help with that task. :o/
and while the girls ate tomatoes from the garden, me and my pretty toes sat on the steps and enjoyed my views. love it there.
8.26-happy birthday matt!
this was the first day that the girls were watched in the afternoon by emily. she is a gal in our complex. she has three children and she and her husband are really great. his name is kj of all things. to say the girls get confused is an understatement. :) it's time for me to not have the girls at work with me anymore, mostly river. so hopefully this will work out well because it's very convenient and the girls had a great time. emily will also feed them dinner on the days she has them which is a huge help for me since the girls go to bed at 7 now that school has started. it will just be 2 or 3 days a week depending on kg's days off. even though it's a great situation and will be better for work, it's really hard for me to have someone else watching them. i don't ever want to miss anything. :(
8.27-kristen and cameron came over to play! they went with us to get our final shaved ice for the season. :( i'm already having withdrawals! then we got taco time to go and came home to eat and talk and laugh our tails off. we were watching 'say yes to the dress' and i swear everything is more funny with kristen. i watched the same episode by myself several weeks prior but missed so many great parts! we kept rewinding and laughing. it was great. 'sissy aint gonna like it' will never have the same meaning! 1:00 am came too soon.
8.28-the girls and i met sandee, spencer, kas, jenn, anne and ryker at the saturday market. we had a nice time walking around and chatting. we indulged in some peanut butter fudge.
and sandee's gang indulged in kettle korn.
i then took the girls to laura's while i worked. they had fun playing, jumping on the trampoline and eating cookies! thanks mom!
8.29-sunday, before church, the girls were being so cute. as i was making us breakfast, they came in feeding their babies.
then later they played dress up with kg's and my shirts. :)
after church we all watched 'diary of a whimpy kid' and ate caramel corn. yum.

8.31-the girls were going nuts at work and barb was getting overwhelmed so i took the girls on a quick break to the bank and sonic to get free real fruit slushies thanks to emi. :)
very busy month filled with fun. but now school is in full swing so we are on much more of a routine and it feels good. i'm also feeling better since the temple and my 'me day' on the 23rd. i just need to remember to take care of myself and do my best.

dave made me deaf

but i loved it.
late on monday evening i got a text from kris asking if i'd want to go to the concert on tuesday if there were two tickets available. hell ya! i wanted to go to this show with kris so bad but couldn't justify spending money we don't have, to see a band i had seen last year. but free? yes please.
i quickly scrambled to find someone to go with me and someone to watch the girls since kg worked.
sandee was my date and kimmie was my sitter. done.
aside from getting a crappy dose of reality that night, we had a good time.

we had great seats.

i didn't care for the opening band. :( after their show we walked around for a bit and went to find kris and gang. said hello and then headed back to our seats.

but then dave came out and all was right with the world.

he played the song i really wanted to hear, you and me,
which is kg's and my 10 year anniversary song. love it. had chills the entire song.

violinist boyd tinsley is so talented and entertaining!

dave is amazing. he was so goofy the entire show! i'm not sure he ever used his 'normal' voice during the show. he was sure having a good time on that stage. i loved his funky dance moves.

i LOVE drummer carter beauford. he had the cutest smile plastered on his face the entire time!

jeff coffin totally represented by wearing a bsu hat and shirt. he is amazing!

the encoure

no matter how hard i tried, i could not stop my legs and hands from tapping to the beat. i just feel music so deeply. i sang, i laughed and i had a good time. thanks for coming sandee!
parting tips:
to the girl getting escorted out after only 2 songs!: was it really worth getting drunk and stupid to only see two songs? that's an expensive few beers.
to the other two people we saw getting escorted out: was your immature drunk behavior really worth it?
to the constant flow of people stumbling down the stairs: by the time you're stumbling down the stairs, it's time to stop getting more beer!
to the lady that was lost: by the time your lost, it's time to stop getting more beer!
to the batshit crazy dancing girls two rows in front of us: if you really think it's that necessary to be the only ones dancing in our section, at least put your open cup of beer down first. i'm just guessing by the way they stood up and screamed at you, but i'm pretty sure the guy and girl in front of you were not pleased to have your beer in their hair. oh and your pole dancing lessons paid off. i'm pretty sure you gave the guy right behind you some wood. but you can hardly blame him. i mean what can you expect with a giant ass shaking out of control and gyrating two inches away from his face for two and half hours.
to the constant stream of people coming and going on our row: did you forget you were coming to a concert? not the bar. is that much beer really necessary? at least i have short legs and didn't have to stand every 5 seconds for you to pass. unlike the very tall guy sitting next to me. like he said, "sit the eff down and enjoy the show!"
to the enormously tall guy behind us-i'm sorry you had to be so squished. i didn't blame you when you kept bumping my seat. they certainly didn't take you into consideration when they made those isles. my short legs on the other hand had no problems. except maybe not being able to touch the floor. that tends to get old.
to the bsu parking nazi's-was it really necessary to give my sister a parking ticket after we'd already paid $10 to park? another car could have easily parked next her and you still would have made your $10. charging her another $15 was ridiculous. thanks for nothing.
to kris-you came with the wrong friends. see everything you missed! you have to go to concerts with people that know concerts and where the real entertainment is! then you'd actually enjoy it! but thanks again for the tickets. made my day. you rock more than dave. muah!(that's a big kiss on your cheek)
and you can see, we had a great time. making fun of people people watching is my favorite part of concerts. i laughed so hard!
thank you and goodnight.

off to kindergarten...

...and flower was so excited and so ready for it. let's rewind to the week prior to school so we can show you how she got ready for the big day!
a week and half before school started, on monday the 16th, kg and i went to the orientation. that made me so excited! she has an awesome teacher that we heard great things about and therefore requested. she brings 22 years of experience. she taught 2 years of 2nd great at one point but went back to kindergarten because she missed the enthusiasm the kindergartners have. i'm so thrilled she has a teacher that genuinely loves the children and is so passionate about them learning. she brings experience, knowledge and passion to the table. then at the orientation we also met the other kindergarten teacher who flower will also be spending time with. she is youthful and energetic. the two of them together are going to make the perfect team! i'm really excited. we were also given the children's schedule. on mondays flower will have p.e., tuesdays and thursdays are music, wednesdays are library, and fridays are free day. i'm so excited that she is going to have so much variety and opportunity to learn. i cried when i got the truck. i can't believe this is all happening. it's a whole new phase of life for us. no turning back now. ;)
on wednesday the 18th we took flower to the school to meet her teacher. the teacher had her do several educational things and said she is more than ready for kindergarten and should excel.

here she is standing at her new classroom door.

this reminds me of two kids sitting outside of the principle's office ;)

drawing a picture for the classroom wall.

flower and her new teacher, mrs. mortin.

this is the girls on our way home from the school. i love when river does this with her arms.

on friday the 20th kg took her school supply shopping. she tried on several backpacks before picking her favorite. we will wait to debut it with her first day of school outfit. :)
i loved school supply shopping when i was a kid. i wanted to go so bad with her this year. but with work there was no time that i could go at the same time as kg, so i let him have the honors.

here she is making sure they got everything on the list.

he then took them out to lunch.

monday the 23rd we took flower to target to pick out two outfits for school. i know i wrote about this already but it needs to be in her school post as well. we let her model her new outfits when we got home.

she chose a shirt and skirt for her first day.

that is her adorable new backpack that she picked out with kg.

and she chose this very pretty dress.

she has so many jeans. not kidding. like 15 pair. they are handed down from her two cousins and in perfect condition so there was no reason to buy pants. she also has enough shoes for her entire class because her feet haven't grown in two years so no need for new shoes. these two outfits were perfect. while at target i also let her pick out a new polish color, which you'll read about next. :)
tuesday the 24th, the eve of the first day of school, it was time for some pampering. i gave flower a manicure and pedicure so her fingers and toes would be beautiful for school. :)

here is our set up.
hand supplies on the left, feet supplies on the right, her polish color of choice in the middle.

we started with the feet. she soaked them and then i massaged and scrubbed them before giving giving her toes a painting. she thought the toe separators were hilarious.

while i was painting her toenails she was trying to scrub old polish off her fingernails. :)

then i soaked, massaged and applied lotion to her hands. the hand massage was her very favorite part. she kept saying how good i felt. and then i painted the nails.

she got to watch 15 minutes of dragon tails while her nails dried. ;)

and then she had beautiful pink nails to show for our evening together.

and it was my pleasure. :)

AND FINALLY! the big day has arrived....wednesday the 25th, the first day of real school. we all got up together. we started the day with kg giving flower a father's blessing for the new school year. very special. then we got her showered, blew dry her hair, curled it, got her dressed and she was ready for the world and feeling so pretty. we took her to the school together. just prior to this photo i was mistaken for a 6th grader by another 6th grader's mother when she asked her daughter if i was a little friend of hers. totally made my day!

here she is in front of her school sign.

right outside her classroom window. she's so pretty.

we thought we were supposed to wait by the back door. we were not alone in that thought. we soon realized that wasn't the case. as we were heading back to the front door i saw a sweet little girl, fatuma, waiting by the back door crying. she was alone. i immediately grabbed her hand and took her with us. kg and river were behind us and he too saw another girl, heather, left there crying so he grabbed her hand and we lead our little clan inside. these poor girls were left to figure this all out on their own. well not with me around. we helped them do everything they needed to do and made sure they were settled. that just broke my heart. they are the girls in the lower right corner of the photo with the black shirt/black hair, fatuma, and green shirt/blond hair, heather. then as kg and i were leaving the classroom the boy in the forefront left in the photo tried to escape and i grabbed him from the hallway and took him back in. poor kid. i'm so glad flower is well adjusted and excited for new things. she had no problem with us leaving.
we saw lisa and topher as we were leaving. little miss independent, river, wandered the sidewalk while we talked.
at 10:30 we all went back to pick up flower. here she is lined up with her class waiting to go inside after touring the playground. can you see how tiny she is compared to her class? and she was also wearing two inch high flip flops. oy. she's the 7th one in line.

here is river striking some poses while we waited for flower to come out.

she was trying to copy kg.

that's her thumbs up and cool dude attempt.

they were so happy to see each other!

bright sun in our eyes.

this is her friend rudy.

she lives in our complex and her mom will be taking the girls to and from school in september.

and here we are leaving after a successful first day of school!

at 2:00 we took flower out to her first day of school lunch celebration to chow chows.

the week before school has been so fun getting her ready and making it as exciting as we could. loved every minute. i'm so proud of flower and hope she has a wonderful year. i can hardly wait to watch her blossom.