First Day of School

Ahhhh, finally parents all around the country are breathing a sigh of relief.  The first day of school is a welcome change after the long dog days of summer.  Although we had a great summer, I think we were all very ready to get back into a routine.  It always makes me a little sad to realize how quickly these little ones are growing up.

Can't believe the twins are second graders!  They look so grown up (and a little goofy) with their big front teeth.  Isaac is also well on his way.  One more year before Kindergarten.  Sigh.  I'm just glad to have him home for one more year.  I hope to make the best of it ... now I realize how fast it all goes by.  

Meet The Talented Miss Ripley

Well, I never thought I would be posting about getting a dog... but here I am. Yes, you heard me right, the Lewis family now has a cute little Jack Russell named Ripley. We inherited her from our dear friends who moved away to Montana and couldn't take her with them (actually guilted me into taking her...right Lisa?). Anyway... she is 6 years old, already house trained, trained to sleep in her kennel, will do tricks for food, and is a sweet little thing. She is also a very talented soccer player, which is one of the reasons I love her... at least now I have someone who I can always get to play soccer with me!

Although she looks angelic, she is already getting a reputation with some of our neighbors. The only problem we've had with her is she just loves to terrorize the neighbor's cat.

Our neighbors have a cat door in their garage and they always leave their garage door open when they are home. On two occasions when Ripley has gotten out, she went straight through our neighbors cat door and into their house. You can imagine the look on my neighbors face when I knocked on her door to tell her that our dog was in her house. "I didn't see a dog..." she said. Just then Ripley raced by chasing after her poor unsuspecting cat. The first time it was kinda funny, the 2nd time my neighbor wasn't laughing.

My neighbor has now informed me that her cat is suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Although I have apologized profoundly I think she may be sending me a bill for her cat's psychiatrist. (Shane, a disliker of cats, thinks this is quite funny). What can I do, she is a hunting dog and would never hurt a fly but just loves a good cat and mouse chase, or dog and cat chase (whatever). We have been very careful about not letting her out, but she is a dog of many talents and one of them is being an escape artist. I think we may have to change her name to Houdini.

The week that we got Ripley she had a full body of fur... I took her to the groomers and they shaved her (she looks cute either way). She had never been shaven before so I guess we will just count this as her initiation into the Lewis family. (If you know how I cut my boys hair you'll know why that's funny)

P.S. We miss you Rakes Family!! This post is dedicated to Amanda, Ripley's very first owner who is in the hospital right now. I hope this will put a smile on your face! XOXO

Jason Lezak, YOU ROCK!

Just had to thank the USA men's relay team for the most exciting moment in swimming ever! I was sitting on the edge of my bed trying not to scream and wake up the kids!

Way to go, USA!

Time for a Summer Post (Now That it's Nearly Over!)

We are back from our Tour De Utah 2008. We had an action packed 3 weeks with family and friends (well, unfortunately we didn't have time to see friends much), and it all started with our travel plans going awry.

The Escalator Pile - Up--

We arrived at the Dallas airport after our 2 1/2 hour drive, and wrangling 4 kids, a stroller, car seat and five big suitcases into the check in line, when to our dismay the airline informed us that our flight had been rescheduled two months ago, and there were no other flights out to Utah that day. Shane and I shared a look like, "please-tell-me-you're-kidding". Nice if we would have been contacted, right?! Well, I think the people behind the counter could see we were in a huge predicament so they got us tickets on an American Airlines flight that left in 30 minutes. Only the terminal was a mile away so we would need to jump on a shuttle. After getting on and off the shuttle with our troops, we were running as fast as we could with 4 kids under the age of 7 and a cart packed full of suitcases.

When we arrived at our terminal we couldn't find an elevator in the immediate area so Shane decided that he was going on the escalator---with the cart which had probably 150 pounds worth of luggage. As smart as he is, he was convinced he could defy the laws of physics, more likely though, he was just desperate! I immediately knew this was going to end in disaster...but something I've learned in the years we have been married is that nothing I could say or do would stop him. He jumped on the elevator ahead of all of us, and told Isaac to get on behind him (an even worse idea) Mason and Jackson came in behind Shane and I brought up the rear with Isabella.

In slow motion I saw the top bag begin to slip off to the side. Shane tried to pull it back on top, but as he reached the end of the escalator he couldn't maneuver the cart over the bump and all of the luggage fell in a huge heap. Leaving the boys nowhere to go, they also fell in a heap on top of the luggage. I was right behind with the stroller and nowhere to go. I was terrified that our kids clothes or fingers were going to get sucked into the escalator. Shane grabbed each of the kids and tossed them over the luggage onto the other side. I was helpless holding onto the stroller, just yelling for help. Thankfully the man behind me had the sense to jump over the side of me and quickly pushed the emergency stop button. We were completely humiliated but thankfully none of us were hurt.

To add insult to injury, our tickets were flagged (because the airline changed them at the last minute) and we had to go through the extra security screening. Silly how we waste these tax dollars flagging people with 4 small children, who's flight was changed by the airline. Ugh... Thankfully our flight was delayed or we would have absolutely missed it.

Lake Powell- Fun with the Lewis Clan

(Pictures to come! Sadly, we misplaced our camera at Lake Powell, so all of our pictures will be borrowed ones!)

When we finally arrived in Utah, we had a great time with the Lewis Family at Lake Powell for a week. The boys loved playing in the water, tubing, knee boarding, and little Isaac even took a shot at skiing. We ate way too much good food, stayed up way past our bed times and had a great time doing it. One evening Shane and I took the boys on the wave runners to a little swimming cove with two small islands and we had a great time jumping off the rocks and swimming around as the sun was going down. There couldn't have been a more perfect moment.

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa Lewis! We had a great time!

Me and my friend Nicole with her cute baby Lindsie

Hunter's Birthday

The day that Shane flew back home, July 13th was my niece Hunter's birthday. She passed away earlier this year (see previous posts) and I was so thankful to be able to celebrate her 8th birthday with my family. We brought her some balloons and flowers and sang her a happy birthday song. It was a beautiful day to celebrate the life of an even more beautiful little girl. Happy Birthday Hunter! We miss you more than we can say.


Fun With The Gomm Family

Isaac, catching the Olympic Spirit at the Gateway Fountains

With Cousins Jaycee, Taylor and Byron

My American Idol Moment



My Mom and Dad surprised me with an invite to the American Idols Live concert! It was a treat for me to spend time with my mom and be a part of such a crazy audience. I didn't watch much American Idol this year but was totally amazed by the depth of talent from this year's competition. I went with my Mom's sisters and had an amazing time acting like teenage girls. At intermission my mom and I spotted a previous American Idol Runner up from the first season... Justin Guarini. I have to say I have only voted once for an American Idol...and Justin was it, (don't laugh!) We ran down and quickly got our picture with him (hard to tell it's him with that beenie on)... I was so excited and I couldn't hide it!

Cherry Hill

We had a great time with Eric and his family at Cherry Hill. Here is a cute picture of cousin Byron and Izzy.

24th of July 10K Race


I had a great time running in the 24th of July 10K with my friend Amanda (who I never saw because she smoked me!) and my nearly 60 year old father-in-law who leaves us all in the dust every year! As well as my brothers-in-law and my brave nieces and nephews. I ran with my 7 -year old nephew Jeremiah who kept a steady pace and never gave up. I'm glad he was there to keep me company!

Me, My Dad and Izzy after the Race

The Fatigue Factor

I hesitate to post this because I know each and every one of us fellow bloggers have crazy hectic lives. But I do believe that Shane's life has taken the meaning of chronic fatigue to a new level.

The above picture demonstrates the illness that strikes every resident at some point, for Shane it is totally chronic. This picture was taken a few days ago, the boys were trying to show Dad their Pokemon cards (That's a whole other blog post...what's up with Pokemon cards?) anyway, you can see the level of interest in Shane's face. I personally love the foot up on the couch... So I try to wake him up to interest him in a more comfortable piece of furniture, say a bed... he mumbles that I should just let him sleep. 30 minutes pass and he still maintains the same position. Then the pager goes off. Immediately he is awake and asking me why I let him sleep so long. Go figure. He gets up and goes to bed and I ask him if he returned the page. "Oh did my pager go off?" he says.

Although Dad's sleepiness is an inconvenience when you are trying to show off your prized Pokemon cards...Jackson and Mason have now figured out that you can do fun things to people when they are asleep. Like in church today, Jackson decided it would be funny to tie his Dad's shoe laces together because Shane was of course, asleep. (Note: this is not typical Sunday behavior, but the rascals have been into playing practical jokes lately) Surprising to me, I didn't even notice him doing it until Mason pointed it out to me. I told him to untie them immediately which he would have done if they weren't in a hopeless knot! Needless to say sleepy Shane woke up to an unpleasant surprise and had to untie them himself. A few weeks before that...I caught Mason poking his sleeping father in the nose with a pencil. Even Isaac gets in on the action and loves to yell, "wake up Dad" as he body slams his lifeless father. Poor Guy!

Not only does he work hard when he's awake...I have also heard him ordering a multitude of tests, and performing surgery when he's asleep at night.

Only 3 more years to go...Will we survive?

Happy 7 Months Izzy!

Okay I couldn't resist posting these gorgeous pictures that a friend took for me. They are absolutely beautiful and I am so grateful to have some nice pictures of my little girl. I hope the boys don't feel slighted because their baby pictures were, well, cost effective. Usually the fourth child is lucky to have ANY pictures at all... Anyway here are a few of my favorites.