*** First Day of School ***

August 20, 2009

I am so sad :(, yes it is that time of year again..... another school year is here. Usually I am ready for the kids to go back, but not this year. This summer went by so fast. We didn't even go on a trip, but we had a lot of fun day activities. We were constantly out doing things. It was so nice to not have a schedule we had to stick to. I am sure I will enjoy being back on a schedule, but I am still missing summer :(. The kids were not looking forward to going back to school either, except they were excited to wear their new school clothes.

Daxton 8th Grade

Jada 5th Grade

Brayden 4th Grade

I had to get a picture with Dawson (3 yrs), he had on new clothes also.
He was very excited!

I hope we all have a great year, and can make it through another school year without to much homework! Especially homework that the parents have to basically do for the kids. Ha...Ha.... That was for all you moms who know what I am talking about :).

I want my kids to know how proud of them I am. They do so well in school. They are hard workers. I love you guys!!

Daxton's 13th Birthday Party

I know I already blogged about Dax turning 13, but now I am going to blog about his party. I am really behind in updating my blog. His birthday is July 18th, but we celebrated on July 21st, so I am a bit behind. This was the year to just have a fun outing with our family and 1 friend. Daxton decided to go to Boondocks, and brought his friend Josh!! We had such a great time!

We were at Boondocks for a little over 5 hours :\...we were all very tired by the time we left. We got unlimited wrist bands, so the kids got to do everything!!

First they chose to ride the bumper boats. It was very fun, but they got very wet. The boats have guns that shot water, so the kids were chasing each other all over. After the first ride on the boats I asked if Dawson could ride with Dax, and they let him :). He was so happy. He really enjoyed squirting everyone!

Dax & Jada

Brayden

Josh

Dax & Dawson

Let the drenching begin!

Dax & Jada getting soaked!

After the kids finished on the boats, we moved on to the race cars. Jada and Brayden rode the smaller cars, and Dax and Josh rode the bigger slick track cars. All I have to say is good thing we still have a few years before these kids get their licenses. Josh spun out, and they kicked him off the cars for good :(. It wasn't even his fault.

Get ready...Get set...Go!!

Jada & Brayden racing!

Daxton & Josh preparing for the big race!

Notice Daxton chose a Pink Princess car :)
Thats our Dax, very comfortable in his style!!

Watch out world...here comes Dax!

Poor Dawson had to do a lot of watching :(

Unfortunately for me, my camera batteries died after these activities (maybe that is fortunate for anyone who reads my blog). We did a lot of fun activities I did not get to take pictures of. After the cars, we went and played laser tag. I asked if Dawson could go in with the kids, and they said yes :). Dawson had the time of his life. He did not stop talking about the guns the rest of the night. Next it was on to miniature golf, then the 3d motion rides, lots of arcade games.... finally back to the bumper boats! Yes they got soaked for the ride home.

I hadn't made a cake yet, so Dave talked Dax into getting Frostys at 11:30 at night in place of cake. Then in true Starkey style, we stopped and bought wrapping paper at 11:30. Wrapped Dax's presents until after midnight, and finished opening presents at almost 1am. I know.... we really are crazy people. Actually, I like to think we just know how to party :). We do things at all hours of the night!!

Dax getting ready to unwrap!

Dax with all his presents!

Dax got a guitar strap, a skinny tie, a watch, a vneck shirt, a fedora hat, a Jack Johnson music book, a pair of awesome Vans, and an airsoft gun with extra bullets. He really got lucky this year. I think Dax had a great birthday!! We all had such a great time at Boondocks.

Happy 13th birthday Dax!! Luv ya buddy!

*** Happy 11th Birthday to our Jada Babe ***

Our beautiful daughter!

Happy Birthday Jada Baby!! I can not believe she is 11 years old. My how time flies.... Yes it is another birthday for our family. We have just recently had Daves, Daxtons and now Jadas. In two weeks it will be Braydens. July, August, and the first of September hold almost all of the important dates in our lives, except for Dawson Birthday. So it is a crazy couple of months ;\.

Today we started off the day with Jada requesting Lehi Bakery donuts for breakfast!! It made breakfast easy for me, and I can never pass up a request for Lehi Bakery. If you have never had it, you are really missing out. They are The Best Donuts EVER!!! The above picture is Jada with her birthday foot donut.

Every other year we have a friend party, and the next just a family fun outing. The birthday kid gets to bring one friend. Jada choose to go to the Hogle Zoo for her activity, and brought her friend Savanna with us. Lucky us we have a year pass, so financially, we got off easy. However we did let her spend a lot at the Zoo. We spent 4 hours at the Zoo. It was so much fun. Unfortunately, the Zoo closes at 6:30 so Dave was not able to come to with us. Jada was sad, but he promised we would party later. We brought all kinds of snacks. The kids got animal mugs to refill with soda, cotton candy, ice cream cones, and got to ride the carousel. All in all, I think Jada had a great time.


Jada did not want to wait until tonight to open presents, so we brought along a few with us. Daxton suggested we open them in the car, so we did not have to carry them around the Zoo. So here are some pictures in the car of Jada opening some presents.

Here are some pictures from our day at the Zoo!!

I think they had more fun climbing trees, than seeing the animals!

Our boys!

Savanna, Jada and Dawson. There is a Snow Leopard behind them!

Everyone loved the Carousel!

Dax & Brayden always have to be crazy!


Just some fun pictures at the Zoo & Playground!

After the Zoo we came home and had Spaghetti for dinner. At our house on your birthday you get to decide what to have for dinner, Jada chose Spaghetti? She is a funny girl. Then we opened presents, and had cake. She requested Brownies instead of cake! Here are some pictures of her opening presents. Dawson is not in any of these pictures, we wore him out at the Zoo. He went to bed at 7:45pm. He is going to be so mad at me in the morning, all he talked about all day was giving Jada her presents....hopefully he won't remember in the morning!

Our 11 year old Princess!


Jada got this Giraffe to help her remember her 11th Birthday at the Zoo!

She also got a Hello Kitty Telephone for her room!

The present Jada was most excited about...A fish tank!!

Jada with her presents!

Jada with her Birthday Brownies!!

I just want Jada to know how much I love her! She is the best daughter, and brings so much joy to our lives. Not to mention she is the best second mom to Dawson! He loves her so much. Sometimes I worry he loves her more than me...Just kidding! Jada is so kind to everyone, and is excellent at sharing. I am so proud of her, and hope she had a great birthday!!

Love ya Jada Babe!!