Back to School

The first day of school came and went last Monday. I have to say I didn't even have to dab my eyes this year. I was and continue to pray for them as they transition to this very new and different environment. Boy do I have to say that I miss Legacy (their school in California). The girls are really enjoying their new schools and I have to say I am shocked that Taylor loves her new school so much! I think having a friend like Claudia helps. She is always excited about new adventures and very optomistic. Jo has made lots of new friends and Tahlia has made one. Well at least there is one. I know there will be more in time. I will continue to keep an open mind about their new public schools. It seems like there is lots more out to experience in school (different behaviors, socio-economic groups, english as a second language students) but its all about the choices the girls will make within this new framework. So far so good! The girls love wearing "Free Dress" everyday and Taylor feels like hot stuff in middle school switching classes, dressing for P.E., etc. She is doing great with all that!

More of Jon Getting Ready to Tour with the Pros

Another Successful Day on the Water

We took the boat out on Friday with a great family we have met here, the Shealy Family. We have a lot in common with them and our kids and theirs get along great! Anyway, their oldest daughter Claudia has been on the boat with us 3 times and has seen us wakeboard. We have been promising her she could try wakeboarding next time. Well on Friday, Claudia got out there to try it. She got up on the first try and stayed up like a champ. I guess Taylor had told Claudia that if she tried it, Taylor would give it a try. Taylor has tried and tried and tried for the past 2 summers and has gotten so frustrated and exasperated. Earlier this summer she vowed that she would NEVER try wakeboarding again! Well, she made this deal with Claudia and was so inspired with Claudia's performance that this time she was going to get up. Taylor jumped in the water and on the second try was up. She got up a couple more times and stayed up. When she got out of the water she was positively radiant!!! We are so proud of her persistence! Claudia tends to have this affect on Taylor. She tends to be a point of inspiration. What a great friend to have. Having said all this, I forgot to bring my camera on this trip, SO.......


Everyone was itching to take the boat out again yesterday after church. We went to the reservoir, no tubing, just wakeboarding. We were going to just go out for a couple hours. Well a couple hours turned into 6 almost 7 I think!


Taylor got up every time and wakeboarded forever working on maneuvering the board. Jo was working on her jumps off the wakes, too cute! Tahlia just rides and smiles. Jon of course just gets bigger and better. When he got out of the water, Jordan jokingly says in the goofiest voice,

"You're SOOOOO great, I'm your BIGGEST fan!"

She cracks me up! Seriously, sometimes it hard to be married to someone who is SOOO great at everything! ~SMILE~ No actually, he is my point of inspiration to get my butt out of bed. I've gotta try to keep up. Speaking of, I got out on my wakeboard and learned a very important lesson. Try like hell to never catch your front edge!! I smacked the water SO hard face first and my feet and board came up backwards to meet my head, bending myself in two, kinda like a taco. My back hurt so bad and knocked the air out of myself. Anyway, I'm having a little trouble moving today. I feel like the right side of my body has stoked out. Just kidding! Anyway, enjoy the pictures. We as a family had a GREAT day!!!!

The Vaulter

I was driving Jo to the gym today when she pipes up from the backseat, "Hey Mom!" Yes, I said. Guess what Casey (her new coach) says is my best event. I started guessing knowing which one it probably was without guessing it. Its the event that is the most improved and that she has REALLY been working on. VAULT, she says! Why don't you come hang out and watch! Her sisters just love when I hang out and watch. Jordan LOVES her new gym. It is brand new and bigger than I have ever seen and beautiful. They have a phenomenal boys gymnastics team, a girls rythmic gymnastics team, a tramp and tumbling team and and of course great girl's gymnastics team. Jordan's coach is terrific!

A couple of days ago I told Jo I would take some pictures of her doing gymnastics. Well I took a couple of pictures and realized flashes going off in the gym when gymnasts are working on flips and flyaways can probably cause a pretty good break in distraction. Jordan tells me later, one of the girls on my team said, hey, who is that lady taking pictures with flashes! Oops!!! Well, here is the 1 picture I got of Jo getting ready to vault.

The Artist

Jon says to me, "So are you going to feature one child a week on the blog?" In other words, shouldn't you do a write up on what each child is doing? He's right, It's just that I started with Tahlia and got distracted.

On Sunday, Taylor got very inspired that she would like to paint the naturescapes on canvas that would add just the right touch to the walls of her room. She now is very specific in her likes and dislikes. Gone are the days of me picking something out for her. She is definitely growing up. Anyway, Jon set up her easle and canvas and she went for it. She was one with nature and her sisters were inspired as well. Jo drew while Tahlia was her water cup holder. Her painting turned out great and is now ready to hang. We LOVE that she sees the world a little differently than the rest of us!

The House

Here are some of the pictures of the house. The front, front/right side (you can kinda see Jon weeding in the right side of the picture and of course Apollo forever by Jon's side) , the right side and driveway of the house and part of the view from the top of the driveway to the backyard. We are loving our new house and all of its spaces. The girls say its like being on vacation. We'll wait and see what they think when school starts! :)

HEADGEAR??!!!

Tahlia, what a character! I decided to cut my hair into a bob a couple of weeks ago. I went and had it cut in the evening after Jon got home. It felt like a mini vacation, being able to go all by myself. The lady that was going to cut my hair was a little stressed that I had to wait a little bit but I was in heaven with a couple minutes to myself and a magazine. Anyway, I'm off topic, when I arrived home Tahlia, actually all the girls but especially Tahlia loved my haircut. She kept following me around all evening stroking and playing with my hair. She has such an appreciation for a good cut. She wanted her hair cut the same way, so viola here she is.... All of the girls got their hair cut... but she is so funny about the way she can appreciate and admire fashion, style, design, etc.... Jon and I know she will grow up to be probably similar in temperment and personality to my dear friend Heather Tomlinson. We told Tahlia she had to go to and finish college first but if she still wants to go to beauty school she can. I can absolutely see it at such a young age. She just cracks me up. Today I sent her up to her room with her clean clothes to put away. She comes out of her room a little while later proudly proclaiming that she had just organized all four of her drawers before she put away her clothes. Tahlia LOVES to sort and organize things.
One last note about Tahlia, before we moved from California the dentist told us we needed to consult with an orthodontist regarding Tahlia's teeth. Well I waited until we got here. Of course her sisters were with her when they did their x-rays and analysis. They laid out her course of treament starting with a heavy duty expander in her upper palet. There were so many appliances they will use in her treatment just in this first phase that I can't remember them all, but when they said headgear, her sisters said together, HEADGEAR!! One of the girls told the ortho, my Aunt Tonya had headgear. It just threw me back to Tonya's geeky headgear days. Kinda like a scene from 16 candles. Anyway, Tahlia will have to wear it at night... Poor Tahlia but in the end, she will have gorgeous teeth just like Aunt Tonya!