The End of Summer....

I'm not one of the moms who counts down until the end of summer and can't wait for their kids to go back to school. I really wish summer could last forever! What's better than lazy days at the pool? We spent our "last" day of summer enjoying the pool and each other.



If the girls weren't so excited to go to school I might keep them home forever...but instead we shopped for school supplies and started going to bed early again. Allie is very excited to be in the 1st grade and loves her new teacher, Ms. Cook. Her first day back was Tuesday, the 19th. I was not happy when I realized that she would be gone for 7 hours each day but luckily it is flying by. Allie's favorite things about 1st grade are:
1. Recess.
2. Lunch AT school.
3. Her new Hello Kitty Backpack and Hannah Montana Lunchbox.


Kate started pre-school at Alton Darby on Tuesday the 26th. She couldn't wait for her first day because our house without Allie is pretty boring. She is very excited to have new friends. Her friend Sam from church is in her class and also her friend Ella. She loves her teach, Mrs. Racz (pronounced Rots). Her favorite things about pre-school are:
1. Recess.
2. Something about Rockets which I need to get the details on.
3. Her Friends.

Luckily Kate's school is exactly when Roman naps in the afternoon so I'm hoping to catch up on some projects...or at least housework!

A couple of quick funny notes before I log off.... AND PLEASE DON'T TELL ALLIE ABOUT THIS. lol
This was just too funny to not post. ...
Darin, Roman and I made a quick trip to Arizona last weekend. My sister Cari was nice enough to come out and watch the girls. They had a WONDERFUL time. Cari was great at playing Polly Pockets with the girls and doing art projects, tea parties, etc. While they were playing Polly Pockets Allie said, "Oh my gosh, I almost forgot to tell you something." Cari asked what it was and Allie replied, "We have a Hooters here!" Cari asked her if she knew what that place was and Allie replied again, "Yes. It's a bad place where girls are not modest and all wear the same thing and men go there to drink bad things like coffee." LOL Cari kept a straight face and said, "Yah, I don't think that's a good place." So why did my daughter need to update Cari on this??? Good question...her bus last year went right past it and the kids were nice enough to educate her on the establishment.

The other HILARIOUS Allie story...
Cari and the girls were doing an art project. Allie was sharpening her pencil at the garbage can and dropped the sharpener in. She let out a yell and said, "OH NO! My sharpener fell in. I need someone to get it." We told her to just reach in and pull it out. Her response was, "No, that's gross and embarrassing. People will laugh at me if I reach in a garbage can." I told her, "No, you can even brag to your friends that 'one time you reached in a garbage can'." Allie immediately said, "No Mom, don't tell ANYONE! And WHATEVER you do, DON'T PUT IT ON YOUR BLOG!" LOLOLOL I couldn't stop laughing at that one and sadly, I HAD to put it on my blog.

Roman's Favorite Song

Here's a little entertainment from our last FHE...

More updates of the bugs...

Roman looking like the boy he is (oh the chairs are out to cage him in)!

The kids in their gifts from Mexico (yeah, the background is pretty unsightly)....

New Blog for the Shoppers

A few weeks ago I taught an Enrichment class on "Shopping On A Budget". As I was preparing it I thought of starting a blog dedicated to announcing great sales. Don't you just hate when you find out about a great sale after the fact?! So, I started this blog but never did anything with it until now. It's definitely a "work in progress" but hopefully it will be a great resource with contributions from all of you. I'm not making any BIG promises about how often I'll update it but I plan to whenever a sale really warrants it. Also...if you're not in the Columbus area you can still post sale items for your area...it could help a sistah out! Also, if you're looking for a particular item, post a question and hopefully I or one of the other bloggers can help you out. K, that's it. Here's the link : http://fabyouless.blogspot.com/ annndddd..I've already put some sales up.

Where Have We Been???

It feels like we haven't been home much..we went to Missouri to visit Darin's sister and family and then almost immediately turned around to go to Cancun. I still need to update the blog on our awesome Denver trip from earlier in the summer and now the Missouri trip...but alas my heart is still in Cancun. SO...that's what I'm going to post first.

We stayed at an amazing 5 star resort that is a few miles away from the resort strip. That was really nice because the beach was private and we felt completely away from any madness. That resort was just AMAZING. The service, the restaurants, pools, everything...so if you ever head to Cancun consider the Excellence Playa Mujeres (oh and consider taking me with you!).


Darin's mom was awesome and came out to watch the kids. She said they had a great time and wasn't exhausted from all the work - since she has eight kids of her own (all grown now) I'm sure it wasn't too hard for her but we SERIOUSLY appreciated it. Our girls keep saying that they miss Grandma. They told her some pretty funny stuff while we were gone too...wow, the things our kids latch onto is crazy!


Here are a few highlights of what we did... (you can click on any of the pictures to enlarge them).

1. Our Room and Balcony

2. The Resort...most of the time we just hung around the pool or beach reading and relaxing.

3. Dinner! (It was an all-inclusive resort so we could order whatever we wanted, sooo nice. The wait staff thought we were weird when we kept ordering virgin drinks!)

3. Sunrise on the beach. We found two HUGE seashells to bring home to the girls. They love collecting them.


4. Tulum. Darin speaks Spanish so we decided to save over $200 and take the public bus for a 2 hour trip to Tulum. It's an awesome Mayan village that is still very much in tact. I was pretty sick that day but was able to make it. You should have seen the look on the Mexicans' faces to see two white Americans riding the bus and then to hear Darin speak Spanish....so funny, they loved it! I LOVED Tulum. Our tour guide was Abinidi. Yep, he's a Mormon tour guide and gave us a great perspective of our faith as it relates to the ancient Mayan civilization. For those who aren't familiar, Mormons believe in the Bible but also believe that after Jesus died he appeared to the people in America and taught them His Gospel. It's very interesting to see how the buildings and places we've read about in the Book of Mormon look exactly the way you've imagined. Oh...this is also on the beach, whew because it was HOT!




5. Our last night... :(. It was a great 'Final' dinner, Darin had steak and I had lobster! mmmmm



This trip was wonderful and made me really appreciate all of the blessings we enjoy in the USA. I can't even begin to describe the guilt I felt as we drove through Cancun to the resort. I've never seen living conditions like this. What I thought were abandoned huts were homes. As we rode the bus to Tulum it was even more heartbreaking to see how poor the people were. The staff at our resort worked at least 12 hour shifts and ALWAYS with a smile on their face! I know that tourism is what fuels their economy but I have to say that I felt so bad to go to the most beautiful area of their country to be served by the people to deserve to enjoy it. Yes, I'm smiling in the pictures and had a wonderful time but leaving made me question what I can or should do to help....just thinking aloud.