::our trip to the circus::

Yesterday, we all went to the circus (our family, Grandma & Papa Kitty, and Billy's family)! We got there a little early so we could go down on the floor and see some of the animals and watch the jugglers and see things up close. The kids (and Matt) kind of didn't know what to think (as you can see from the pictures-haha). It was pretty cool! They had the aerialists, trapeze, tight ropes, elephants, tigers, a few fireworks, motorcycles driving in this ball thing, lots of cool things. The kids enjoyed the first half, but by the time the second half got there, they were tired and kind of ready to go. I think their favorite part was getting toys from the gift stand...Portie got a fourwheeler, and Chloe got a little light-up crown :) Then we all went to dinner and came home.

Watchin the jugglers. Waaay cool! They would juggle with 3 people like 12 things at a time (behind the back, between the legs, you name it!)!!
Quick picture during the preshow (it was SOO crowded!!)
The elephants...crazy what the trainers can make them do!
The end of the show-elephants, dancers, acrobats, horses...fun show!

""finally, something new...::

So, I STINK at blogging lately!! I forget what pictures I have to post, I don't have time, or I just don't feel interesting enough to share little things we do every day. So I was looking at my camera and found some pictures that I totally forgot about!!

These are from our get-together for Grandma-Kitty's birthday a couple of weeks ago. My brother and his family came up too for the party and also to help load 90 sheets of sheetrock into the basement!!

Not too sure about this picture...fixing her hair maybe??

Chloe told her to close her eyes before her "coconut, vanilla, peanut butter" cake got to the table.

Just kidding it's CHOCOLATE!! Surprise!

Lots of help with the candles :)

Chloe and Porter LOVE to nap together! Any time I tell Portie it's nap time, he says "can I sleep Chloe bed?" And I let him. Don't they look sweet all cuddled up together?? :)

::Chloe's first day of preschool::

Today was Chloe's first day of preschool! She's been nervous about it for a good year or so (since last year when we were enrolling her, but then decided to wait 'til this year cause we thought she might get bored with it). So today was the day!! She picked out her outfit, her headband, got bathed, dressed, ate breakfast, and off we went. She was nervous walking in (so was I!!), and I thought she might cry when I left, but she did great! I, of course, cried when we got in the car to go home, and Portie said "don't cwy mamma, it's awight." He called for her a couple of times at home (out of habit), and was really excited to go pick her up. Then he said "It my turn to go teacher." Anyway, Chloe had a great day, and was all smiles when we picked her up. She's excited to go again.

Before....

After....

::hoooooola::

We went to Grandma & Papa with the kitty's house this weekend for a little visit (spent the night on Sat.). The kids brought their hula-hoops down to show off their mad hula skills. We couldn't be more proud :)

(remember to turn off the music at the bottom of our blog so you can hear the video)

::pick-i-nack::

How nice was the weather today?!? We played outside ALL day (well, until naptime)! We had a "pickinack" (picnic), drove the Barbie Jeep, jumped on the tramp, watered the flowers, and played in the sand. I only got a couple of pictures (for the blog), but they were so excited to play outside today and not sweat to death! Yay for cooler weather!! I know it's supposed to be back up to like 96 next week, but we loved today!!

They had some icecream cones....

...And Porter decided to water the roses...and everything else!

::flying trampoline::

Did you know trampolines could fly?? Neither did we...'til Saturday night. We woke up in the middle of the night (3 or 4-ish) to some loud thunder and rain and wind outside. Chloe came in our room cause she was scared, and the power went out for a few minutes, so we had her flashlight on. Then we looked out the window to see what was going on out there, and Matt said "where's the trampoline?!" We couldn't find it! It wasn't in its usual spot in the corner of the yard, so we looked in the front yard and didn't see it. Then a bolt of lightening flashed, and I saw two trampolines in the neighbor's yard! One was theirs, and the other was ours! It flew over the fence and landed in their yard right side up! We couldn't believe it. There wasn't any damage to anything in their yard or the fence; just some damage to the encolsure on our tramp.

(Top pic is where it's supposed to be in that corner, and bottom pic is where it ended up after the storm)

So the next day, Matt and some family members came over and lifted it back over the fence and back in its spot (a little broken, but back home). This is our second trampoline this summer (the other one got flipped over and bent like a taco). Maybe one day we'll learn that we need to stake it to the ground :)

::done and done::

Matt's done!!!!!!! Yep...He's done!!! FOREVER!! No more school ever again! We can't get used to that idea, but we're all so excited! He had his LAST class last night, and I had all these plans for him when he got home @ 10:30 (gifts out, BIG sign all painted on the garage, cake ready...). BUT...he got home at 9!!! So I wasn't ready. Adam had to kind of drive around the block so me and the kids could paint the sign and get all the gifts out and the camera ready. It didn't turn out as great as I had hoped, but he knew we were proud and happy for him :) The picture is really fuzzy cause I had my camera on the wrong setting.

We gave him Rock Band for the Wii. We got it for him like 3 weeks ago, and Chloe did so good! She didn't even come close to telling him what he was getting! She just kept telling him the lamps were his present (cause we got new lamps at the same time). We framed his 3 diplomas too (the MBA one I just wrote "MBA" on a piece of paper and framed it cause he doesn't have that one yet-haha). We got him a little cake and made our (sad) sign. It was still wet, and I got paint all over me when I was hanging it :)

It was a fun little night. We played Rock Band for a minute, and then went to bed. He's done so well, and worked so hard, and we're SOO proud of him. We're excited to have him back and have some free time with him!!

::kangaroo zoo and an 89th birthday::

This weekend we had Grandpa Halling's 89th birthday party! We went to his house for dinner and some pictures. The whole family (almost) was there, and it was fun to see everyone and be with Grandpa on his birthday.

Then, Saturday, we headed down to Salt Lake (for a hair appointment :) ) and then we met up with my parents and brother and spent some time at the Kangaroo Zoo! We had seen it on the news, but hadn't decided to go until Nicole posted her cute pictures on her blog-thanks, Nicole!! It was so fun! The kids LOVED it! They ran around, jumped all over everything, slid down all the slides, had some (much needed) juice boxes, and fell asleep in the car on the way back to "Grandma-Kitty's" house. Then we had a little party for Billy's birthday, Suzie's efforts in passing her beauty school final test, and Matt getting his MBA. We had dinner and cake, and spent the rest of the night playing Cootie with the little kids and Rock Band with the bigger kids-hehe :)

The pictures are a little out of focus, but everything (and everyone) was moving!! (Click on the collage to see it bigger)

::which disney princess are you?::

You Are Jasmine!

Independent and adventurous. You don't want much; just to break out of the guilded cage society has put you in and experience life to the fullest. Following orders isn't really one of your strong points, and you would rather live a life of poverty than being forced into something that you hate.

Which Disney Princess Are You?

::"waaaaaaalle eeeeeeeeeva"::

Yep, Portie, Chloe, & I saw Wall-E today. We didn't have anything else to do since it's kinda rainy and muggy out. The kids liked it okay for a bit, but then got bored. It was a little too big for them. The whole idea was hard for them to understand, and Port fell asleep towards the end!! It was something fun to do on a rainy day. They both loved the popcorn and candy and had fun flippin' the chairs up and down. Good thing there were only like three other people in the theater!!