Reid and Stefani Adopt

 Jaydon's birthday was at DEFY trampoline park on Saturday.  He turned 8 and will be getting baptized soon.  Because I am working, Reid and I did our best to throw together a party.  We were a little bit last minute and got out the invitations super late.  I paid for 10 kids to come to the party.  Only 6 showed up.  That left room for Isaac and Esther, and Jaydon's birth brothers.  Unfortunately, I didn't get the message to Jaydon's birth mom soon enough that there was room for his brothers and they didn't show up.  Isaac and Esther also didn't show up, because they decided to spray paint our driveway while Reid was in the shower.  I had already left with Jaydon and the party supplies so we could be there on time to welcome guests.  The rest of the family wasn't ready yet.  When Reid got out of the shower to find that Esther and Isaac had spray painted the driveway for no apparent reason other than they thought it would be fun ...

 This year for Halloween, my principal had all the teachers dress up as Dalmatian dogs, and some of the administrators dressed up as Cruella DeVill and Horace and Jasper.  Esther was a Cat-stronaut, and Jaydon was a hotdog.  Cooper was cute.  And Reid failed to be anything but his amazing self.  We had our friend Jodie over to go trick-or-treating with us this year.  Her mom, Pat, stayed at our house and handed out candy for us.   Isaac was invited to go trick-or-treating with his friend Isaac.  The two Isaacs love to hang out.  This was the first year that Isaac wasn't with us as a family.  He's hitting the tween years and now wants to hang with friends more than hang with the family.  It is kind of sad for me, but I know the stage, and at some point, it needs to happen.   From L-R: Esther the Cat-stronaut; Jaydon the Hotdog; Stefani the Dalmatian; Reid the stud-muffin; Jodie with a wig from the show "Descendants."   Jayd...

 Who hasn't had some good old fashion fun at Wally-world?  I know that I still like to make the cart go fast and ride it, at least for a few yards in the parking lot sometimes.  Ever since I started my new job, time with the children has to be a little more intentional, even if we are just shopping as a family.  I know that my kids are all big enough to walk and not be pushed in a cart, but I couldn't say no to this one. 

This year, the first day of school was very bittersweet.  I had to leave the annual picture taking to Reid as I also had to go to my first day of school.  It was pretty cute, though, when Jaydon bounced into my room at about 6:30 AM wearing his school uniform and a big smile.  He had also styled his hair.  He was SO ready to go.  I'm glad Dad took these pictures so I could see my babies all ready for school.   He is GENUINELY excited and happy. Get ready, 2nd Grade!  Here comes Jaydon! Esther, in true Esther fashion, just wet her hair down and slicked it back instead of brushing it for the first day of school.  I have little animal erasers as an incentive to get that girl to do her hair in the morning.  At least she's got the uniform and a smile on and is ready for 4th grade. Isaac is the only child who will wear a belt.  He looks so handsome. Isaac is in 6th grade this year...his LAST year of elementary school!  Unbelievable. ...

For our last week of summer, we went to church and wore "Rose Colored Glasses" that our primary music teacher, Sister Gibson, brought for us.  They weren't really rose-colored, but they were super cool, and all of my kids had to try them on.    Sister Gibson and Esther. Esther absolutely adores Sister Gibson. Isaac and the "Rose-colored Glasses" Jaydon and the "Rose-colored Glasses" On Tuesday and Thursday, we went to the beach for the first time all summer just because that's a summer necessity in Florida.  We've been avoiding it all summer because Jaydon had surgery and wasn't supposed to go and Isaac had soccer camps that conflicted with the beach.  So we went twice in one week just to make it happen.   *Side note on a personal level: On Thursday, while I was at the beach with the kids, I was offered a teaching job--which I accepted.   Esther, the little mother hen, had little kids helping her dig for things in the sand.  It was pretty c...

About a month after our Asheville trip, we went to Utah.  We started off in St. George for Reid's family reunion.  After a week of that, we hopped in the car and drove to the southeastern side of Utah to visit my sisters--Jen and Kati.  I will remember this trip as the "See as Many National Parks as You Possibly Can Handle" trip.  I saw 5.  The rest of my family saw 4.  As a native Utahn, I can handle more National Parks than they all. Before I dive into the national parks, here are a few tidbits from the  Archibald family reunion: Grandma's Pajamas Reid's mom likes to sew.  She likes it enough to personally sew Christmas pajama pants for each grandchild.  She didn't get to do that this past Christmas, so one night we sang silent night and she handed them all a pair of pajamas.  My hat's off to her.   4th of July The cutest float that I saw and also had NOTHING to do with our country's independence from Great Britian.  Wait...M...

 This summer our little family decided to do a vacation, with just the 5 of us, to Asheville, NC.  We spent 5 days there.  Each one of us took a day to plan what we wanted to do on that day.   Monday was Esther's day.  She wanted to see nature and catch salamanders.  We went on a hike.   Tuesday was Jaydon's day.  He chose to see waterfalls. There are tons of waterfalls nearby to see.  There is even one you can slide down.  The water was frigid, though.  Luckily, there was a hot tub to get into afterwards.   Wednesday was Mom's day. We went to visit the historic grounds and mansion of Biltmore. I took way too many pictures to post.  I'll just show you the one we paid for.  Sadly, it's not better than the ones we took... Okay, okay.  You convinced me.  I'll show you some others. This is the renaissance experience at Biltmore.  This is the famous painting "The Birth of Venus." We stood where Venus was sup...