Back to School 2016

August 22nd was the first day of school for all 4 girls. We're 3 weeks into the school year now and life feels SO BUSY! The length of the school day was increased throughout the district, which means Ashlyn and Brenna are getting home later. And Kaylee is in middle school now, and riding a bus, so she gets home way later than she used to. We're adjusting to our new normal though.

McKell is in preschool 3 mornings per week. She enjoys school, especially recess. :) 

Brenna is a big 1st Grader now. She was pretty excited to find out she would have Mrs. Potts for a teacher, since Ashlyn had her previously and raved about how great she is. 

Ashlyn is in 4th grade, and since the district is doing some re-alignment next fall, this will be her last year at the elementary school. She has Ms. Endsley for homeroom, but gets to rotate between all 3 of the 4th grade teachers each day. She has had all good things to say about her teachers so far, and I'm crossing my fingers for a great year!

 And here's Kaylee, our grown-up 6th grader. She has felt somewhat overwhelmed with the number of classes and teachers to keep track of, and stressed by the longer school day which means less time for homework and studying. She's doing great though, and already got perfect scores on several of her exams.

McKell is FOUR!!!

Our adorable, spunky, little girl turned 4 on August 21st. She was SO excited about her birthday this year. She has recently become very interested in Dora the Explorer, so the gift she asked for was a Dora house, and she requested a Dora cake. 

For some reason she struggles with normal smiles for the camera.
This crazy face is pretty fun though.

All the sisters are excited when it's time to open presents. 

Saving the best for last - she had to search for her Dora house after opening everything else. 

I couldn't think of a feasible way to make a great Dora cake, so I did what I often do when the kids request some character cake: buy a toy and stick it on. :) McKell did get to choose all the candies to decorate her "Dora house" cake.

We had a fun day celebrating, and truthfully, every day with McKell is fun. She's such a bright and beloved part of our family.

Summer Vacation - Utah

We flew from Portland, OR to Las Vegas, NV, then rented a car and drove 2 hours to St. George, UT where my family had rented an awesome home for us to stay in for our reunion. We arrived Thursday and stayed until Tuesday.

Our reunion began with an outing to see a production of the musical "Peter Pan". We all wore our new neon green Walton shirts. :)

Cute cousins!

Ready for a fun afternoon at the local swimming pool.

The Summer Olympics began while we were together, so we had to plan an Olympics party of our own, complete with a torch relay, long jump competition, high jump event . . .

and a medals ceremony. Here are the older kids.

And the younger ones.

McKell was twinning with the Barbie she won.

Russ was the family puzzle master. He worked almost non-stop until all 1000 pieces were in place.

We had a sports themed baby shower to celebrate the upcoming arrival of Linda and Jared's baby boy. Here's Brenna taking a turn in the relay.

And this picture of Adam shows how much he loves being with us all. :)

Nate and Adam planned an "Amazing Race" where we split into 3 teams and competed in different events and challenges each day.

Rafe's amazing puzzle skills propelled the blue team to victory on this challenge!

The selection for our annual movie party was "The Lego Movie", so of course the meal of choice was Taco Tuesday.

Good looking bunch of Master Builders.

Ashlyn's tablet made her very popular among the cousins.

These cuties enjoyed the ice cream that was everyone's reward at the end of the Amazing Race.

And it wouldn't be a gathering of Waltons without game nights.

I sure love my fabulous family!!!

Summer Vacation - Oregon

Oregon was the first stop on our summer vacation this year. We arrived Saturday afternoon and departed Thursday morning. We went out to visit Russ's parents and grandma, but were lucky enough to spend a few days with Russ's 3 siblings as well. They all flew out for the weekend as a belated surprise for Russ's Mom's 60th birthday.

The trip began well for Russ - loading up on fruit at the local produce stand.

McKell was also a happy camper when she finally got to play with Nana's Barbie collection she'd been dreaming about.

The deck was all set up with tables and chairs from a wedding reception held at the Burnett's home the night before our arrival, so we enjoyed most of our meals outside.

Wouldn't be Nana and Papa's house without the tire swing.

The girls got to meet and fawn over their newest cousin, Millie. 

Brenna and Ashlyn got a ride on one of the horses stabled in the barn next door.

And Kaylee got the birthday gift she'd been anticipating for months (we were in Oregon on July 31st, which was the release date for the book).

Blueberry picking is a must if we are in Oregon during the time they're ripe.

McKell decided to pick blueberries AND flowers.

Happy boy.

Aunt Angela hosts a Harry Potter party every summer, and since Kaylee and Ashlyn are both huge fans, this year she planned her party for one of the days we were together in Oregon.

The day after the other siblings returned to their homes we headed off to the beach. It was the most lovely day on the Oregon coast I have ever seen - perfect temperature, no wind. It did start to sprinkle late in the afternoon, but we would have headed out around that time anyway. 

Playing in the waves, exploring, walking along the beach, building sand castles, climbing up the sand dune - definitely one of our favorite days of the whole trip.

And this may be my favorite picture of the whole trip. :)

McKell toted around her little bag of chips for the whole day. She wouldn't let go of it for anything.

So glad we got to be in beautiful Oregon this summer!