Back to School!!!

WOW!!! I can't believe summer is over!!! School time again. I love this time of year, new clothes, the smell of just sharpened pencils, new teachers and for us a whole new school situation. For those of you who do not know- Grantsville Elementary School suffered a huge fire this summer. Making it impossible to have students return there for this school year. So both Asthon and Rylie are "displaced". I do not know why terrible situations bring the best out in people but it always seems to be the case. Our little community has been amazing. I cannot even begin to imagine how many volunteer hours have been put in to make everything possible for this year to be a success for both the teachers and the students!
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This would have been Ashton's first year at Grantsville Elementary School! But now she is back at Willow Elementary in a PORTABLE!!!! She thinks it is great? Although her teacher Mrs. Chamberlain is very optimistic I know she is crying inside having to stuff 24 kids into a space not much bugger than a shoebox.

Davin is also at Willow! His teacher is Mrs. Jennings. He is glad that he has Ashton here one more year (and at the look of things, she will probably be there for 4th grade also). I am glad because the parking, dropping off and picking up at this school is ridiculous, now that they have added 16 more teachers between the 3rd and 4th grade, it is impossible! These two will be walking to and from school everyday!!! "Even in a BLIZZARD?" asked Ashton. "Yes, my dear, in a blizzard, tornado, monsoon, what ever comes our way!" I answered. I guess it is a good thing we only live a block away from the school's front doors!!!

Rylie is now at the Jr. High School! WOW!!! She is lucky, because her 5th grade class is the only one that is actually inside the school, the rest are in... you guessed it PORTABLES. She has Mrs. Aagard and is completely ecstatic about the fact that she has a locker and they can buy ice cream during lunch! I told Rylie this is so ironic, when I was in 5th grade the JR. High was a middle school and I was in this exact room, also during my 5th grade year our High School burnt down. So the high school students were "displaced" and ended up using our school (the middle school which is now the Jr. High) after us. So we went to school at 6:45 until 12:30 and the high school students when from 1-6. It was not until we went school shopping that I realized not only is she reliving my 5th grade fiasco year but that she will be doing it in the exact same fashions and styles that I wore at that age. I think I still have some of the florescent clothes that are now the envy of every 10 year old shoved in a keepsake box somewhere in my parents basement!

This is NOT Skylar's first day of preschool, but she was feeling very left out and wanted her picture taken also!


Even with all the changes, the first week of school went well and everyone is loving being back with all their friends!!!!..... I mean having the opportunity to expand their minds and gain knowledge!

Grantsville All-Stars Softball Season

This was such a fun summer with Ashton playing softball and Rylie playing soccer we were at some kind of tournament every weekend!!! It kept us busy but we loved it!Ashton did great batting!!! She can really pack a punch!There was just as much partying going on as there was softball playing!

Here is the team at

Chuck e Cheese in between games at the Kaysville Tournament!

Here we are again having a blast at McDonald's where the coaches treated the team to an

ice-cream cone in between games!

Our team consisted of girls from Grantsville, Stansbury and Tooele and they all got along so well and were the best of friends by the end of the summer!

In the Kaysville tournament we took 3rd place!


Showing off the hard earned medal!

In our last tournament for the summer we took FIRST PLACE!!! After playing four games back to back, we were able to claim the title!!!!
What a perfect way to end the season!

Ashton with her coach Troy!


Here is the whole team with their coaches! All four were amazing and not only taught the girls a ton in a short summer but were also fun and crazy always playing around and making each game fun and a positive experience! Thank you all for everything you sacrificed for this little team ! They did awesome!

No first place team comes into town with out a fireman's escort! The girls were so surprised when they found out they would be riding atop the fire truck and lead through town with sirens blaring, horns honking and people cheering! They all felt like celebrities! It is great living in a small town where people come out of their houses to wave and yell congrats and every passing car has a smile a honk and a wave for the team!!!!!

Great Job Grantsville Stars!!!!

Mulligans

Doug's summer work party included great food, great conversation, great friends and a fun filled night at Mulligans Family Fun Center!We got to do some batting practice. I think my kids would have stayed batting all night if Skylar would not have been begging them to go miniature golfing!

Davin taking on the fast pitch!

I am not sure what is going on here but they loved all the fun tunnels and

obstacles on the golf course.

Skylar giving her ball a pep talk before each "tee-off" and a

kiss every time it went in the hole.

The weather was great and everyone had a blast! Thanks Presidio!!!!!

24th of July---Yeah, I am a little behind!

This year we had a week long 24th of July celebration, I do not know how everything ended up this week we must just like to party! First Paige and I decided that Lagoon would probably be less busy on a weekday before a holiday weekend so we took advantage of that and loaded up the kids. It happened to be the hottest day of the year, but we still had a blast!Skylar loved all the rides and with no lines we went on lots and lots of rides!!!

Rylie and Lexi on the kiddie rides, I wanted them in a picture so they rode the ladybug ride for me, then they were off by themselves to hit the big rides! Thank goodness for cellphones, I felt a lot more confident letting them go by themselves knowing I could call them any second to check on them!

Ashton is tall enough to go on any ride at the park but she is too chicken, Brecken is to short to go on most of the rides but she is fearless and was doing everything she could to look taller!

Davin and Tate best buds!

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Next we went to the pioneer days and the Benson Grist Mill! All the kids had the opportunity to churn some butter.... Dip candles....

Rids in a horse-drawn wagon...

Dress up like cute little cowgirls.....
And last but not least was their favorite part, milking Bessy. I got them all excited about being able to milk a real cow only to find out Bessy was cardboard!!! My kids were disappointed to say the least and Rylie was not exactly thrilled I made her "milk" the cow for a picture!
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On the actually 24th of July we celebrated with Doug's family, his mom's birthday is on the 24th so after the primary parade and a little fun at the park we went back to her house and ate and ate and ate some more!!! No pics camera was not charged!

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The next day we went the the BEES game, this has been a family tradition for over 15 years, it is fun to have a huge baseball crazed family section screaming, yelling, chatting, eating and laughing altogether!

Davin brought his mitt, he really wanted to catch a foul ball, but this year Kylie was the lucky one to take home the foul ball she was sitting right in front of Davin but he could not reach it!!!

Skylar just wanted the fireworks to start!!!

Skylar and Avery with their favorite Aunt and Uncle Austin and Chelsi!

The fireworks were amazing as always!

These two are joined at the hip, where one is you will find the other!
It was a busy week but we all had a blast!

Bryce Canyon 1/2 marathon

Oh yeah!!! I finished the Bryce Canyon 1/2 marathon! I was just as surprised as anybody when I rounded the corner after 13+ miles and saw the finish sign. This picture is actually staged, they let me sneak in while no one was finishing to snap a picture. Doug was not there to see me really cross the finish line, I was way faster than he had planned on me being. Just kidding the traffic was a lot worse and they could only go as fast as the pilot car through the canyon. But is was ok we faked it!

I never thought I would say this but it was really fun! I am new to the running world but I would suggest the Bryce Canyon half to who ever is looking to run a 1/2 marathon. It was a beautiful run, perfect weather and enough down hill to make the up hills not seem so bad!

I ran with my sister-in-law. This was all her idea, and I am glad she dragged me along. There may have been a bit of kicking and screaming a few weeks ago when I started training, but over all it was a blast!


Here we are me, Megan (my sister in law), Laura (Megans sister), and Clint (Lauras fiance). We all were in this together!!


This is after the race. We needed to stretch our legs a bit!


The head band is so flattering I know, but if I do not wear that thing I would not be able to see because the sweat would be running into my eyes!!! It took me 2 hours and 23 min. to run and I am proud to say that I did run the whole 13.whatever miles this race was. I had two goals not to walk and to run a 10 min. mile. I 'm not quite sure about the 10 min. mile part. It took us around 2 minutes to get up to the starting line and there were the lines at the bathroom break that were included in my total time. However, I ran the whole blasted time so I felt ok about it and besides there is always next year right??????

If anyone is interested we could run together next year! Just let me know!!! I am committing Doug, Paige and Mark whether they want to or not! I am serious let me know we will have a blast!

Ashtons big day!

Ashton was baptised on July 5th it was a Sunday! We do not have a combined stake baptism. Ashton had the whole day to herself. She chose the hymns we sang, who gave the prayers, and who spoke on baptism and the holy ghost! It was so special to have so many members of our family there!

After the baptism everyone about 50 people ( I love that so many members of our family live so close) came over for desserts that Ashton picked out!I can't believe she is 8 already! I know she is taking this baptism thing very serious

and is truly trying to make better choices and be a good example to her little brother and sister and to her friends!

Ashton with her Great-grandma Curtin

She is the only great my kids have ever had on the Ekins side!!

Ashton with Great-Grandma Toni! Ashton with her Great-grandpa Dick and Great-Grandma Shirley! This picture is very special to me because you have to be very quick and sneaky to get my grandpa in a picture. This may be the only one they have together!

Ashton with Nana and Papa Jack!

Ashton and Grandma and Grandpa Ekins!

Ashton was so tickled with this bouquet of white flowers her primary teacher brought over for her! She is so kind and Ashton just loves her!