Well, well, well,

What have we here?
School?  Already?  Again?  Okay.
Koko started first and had a half-day at school so the Seventh-Graders could find their classes and lockers without the hassle of bigger, older, stronger kids in their way.  It was a gently way to break her into the world known as “not elementary school”.  But she’ll be fine, right?
She’s darling, she’s prepared, and she’s rocking those purple pants…. you go Koko!
On Monday, Emma and Colin started school.  Emma’s in Fifth Grade, but this will be her last year at elementary school because they are moving sixth grade up to middle school and ninth grade up to high school.  Then SHE will enter the world of “not elementary school”….I’m not familiar with this world yet, but I guess I will be before long.
She’s helping with Safety Patrol this week and since I am in charge of Safety Patrol this year, she is my go-to helper when we get to school.  Fun!
Colin could NOT wait to wear his BYU jersey to the first day of school.  I’m pretty sure he doesn’t care what happens for the rest of the year now.  He just loves his jersey.  He is in third grade this year, Spanish immersion.  I love my little senor. 
Camri is full of sass and frass as she enters the first grade, also in Spanish immersion.  She is an “all-day” kid now and gets to eat lunch at school AND have extra recess!!  I think she’s ready…she hasn’t been tired at all this week, I think she’s still running on pure adrenaline. 
Beau is my big, super helper at home now.  It’s so fun to have this time with him, I love my little buddy!  This is our time.
Sweet Annie couldn’t be left out of the fun!  I am also enjoying my time with her and enjoying the fact that she still takes naps.  It gets so quiet around here sometimes….where am I??!!
Time to say goodbye….Joe took Koko one way, I took the younger kids the other way.  And so it begins….

Aren’t they darling? 
Bring on the school year!!  We love our little students!!

Heugly Summer Olympics

This summer was full of fun and work!  We like to do a summer program ‘round here so we can have something to work towards, instead of just wasting the days away (which would be so easy to do!) 
This year, we switched it up a little bit.  Instead of earning educational degrees, we decided to go for medals….gold, silver, and bronze.  The program didn’t change much, they each had goals in Educational, Service, Create, Spiritual, Personal (Daily 5), Weekly Chores, and Physical categories. 
And by george, they did it. 
Annie got a prize just for being so dang cute.  Pom-poms for my little munchkin….

Beau earned a Gold medal for cleaning the sitting room, a Silver medal for sharing, and a Bronze medal for cleaning his room. 

Camri really stepped it up this summer.  She got Gold medals for weekly chores, education, service, and create.  She got a Silver medal for spirituality.  She got Bronze medals for daily 5 and exercise. 

Colin did amazingly well!  He got Gold medals for create, weekly chores, education, service, and exercise.  He got a Silver medal for daily 5 and a Bronze medal for spiritual. 

Emma was a superstar in the personal category…Gold medals for daily 5, weekly chores, and education.  Silver medals for spiritual, exercise, and service.  She also got a Bronze medal for create. 

My biggest helper of all, Koko rocked the Program.  She got Gold medals for spiritual, weekly chores, education, service, and create.  Silver medal for daily 5, and a Bronze medal for exercise. 


It was a great way to spend the summer!  They had to read every day, take care of their rooms (and themselves), pitch in around the house and yard, serve each other, among many other things.  I’m proud of my kids, they really showed me they could do it and exceeded my expectations!! 
After the awards ceremony, we took the kids swimming.  It was the final hurrah to our wonderful summer! 

First Official Pre-Season Game

Colin had his first game.  It was the first time he ever played a real game, with real refs, on a real non-practice field.
It was awesome! 
Setting up camp. Our super coaching staff. 
Because they are Gremlins, Joe and the other coaches get to be on the field while they play.  They help the kids remember what they’re supposed to be doing.  It’s a good idea for these little first-timers. 
My new favorite number is 21…
Grandma and Grandpa joined us for the fun!!


Halftime chat before the boys ran through the banner….

Camri liked the game okay, but quickly found the nearest Barbie and made some new friends. 
Colin made some pretty good tackles, it was fun to watch my boy!
The game was super long, almost two hours.  They are supposed to be just over an hour long, but I think our new refs had a trigger finger when it came to stopping the clock. Maybe we didn’t win, this time, but no matter, we had a great time.  It even rained for a minute, so we cooled off a little.
It’s a great day to be a Husky!!

Sunshine and Butterflies

As I was reading my most recent posts, I realized that to the casual observer, our life may look like sunshine and butterflies all the time. 
It’s not.
As I was discussing this with my husband, I mentioned that I don’t want to share all my innermost thoughts online. My main purpose in blogging is to create a family scrapbook at the end of each year.  There are things I don’t want to forget, so I write posts that I don’t publish, but that are included in our books.  Maybe it’s too personal or maybe it’s too opinionated or maybe I just don’t feel like sharing a particular thought with the world. So far, we have 5 books on our shelf and it’s fun to look back at our lives.  
As I wondered out loud to Joe if I should include more of the “nitty-gritty”, he made a good point.  Our memories are enforced by what we record.  If I write down everything all the time, the good stuff will get lost in the clutter.  When our kids flip through our books, they will “remember” our fun activities, the time we spend with their grandparents, baptisms, blessings, birthday parties, and other fun stuff.  Much like any book of record, we have to decide what we want to remember.  This is not to say that we gloss over our difficulties, but maybe we can learn from them rather than dwell on them. 
While our lives are not lollipops and rainbows all the time, we do have pretty great kids and I have a pretty great husband.  I’ll just keep writing about that, I guess…

The Zoo!

The last week of summer always seems like a good time to go to the Zoo.  So we did.
Grandma Heugly came with us and we had a grand time!  First order of business was riding the train…we hardly ever do this, so it was a treat.  Who needs Disneyland when you can ride the Hogle Zoo Express (or whatever it’s called) ? 

I want to kiss her cheeks right now. 
And hers!
Camri even wore her zebra shirt, just for the occasion.  Annie kept calling it a zeebutt.  Close enough. 
We saw some fun things on our train ride that you don’t see when you just walk around:
Covered wagons and the cemetery with tombstones for Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday, among others.  I’m reading a book about these two right now, so the timing was impeccable!

We caught the early bird show in hopes of seeing our neighbor there….she wasn’t working the bird show, but it was entertaining anyway!  These guys flew right over our heads.

Talking to Poco, which sounded like Koko.
Talking to Bo, which sounded like Beau.
We had to go see the elephants (my fave, Emma’s too!). Mom, Dad, and baby Zuri were just hanging out. 
Camri’s tummy was rumbly (she wasn’t feeling great) and the other kids were just hungry, so we got our super fancy Zoo Ice Cream Cones!
I think there’s a rhino under there somewhere…
Yep.  Koko?  Can I help you?Little bird, you found a new home!
Little bird, the sun was too bright!
Little bird, what are you afraid of?
Trying to catch a glimpse of the sea lions…
And our very favorite part of the whole day….Bears!  Mr. Polar Bear swam back and forth right in front of us.  He looked very cool and refreshed in his personal playground.  So cute!!
Peek-a-boo, I see you!
The kid standing on the other side of the glass had the best view….right place at the right time!

Right next door we saw the Grizzlies.  The two buddies looked like two little brothers playing (fighting?)….Colin and Beau, is that you?

This is where we missed Dad the most, he had to work today, but he is CRAZY about bears.  These pictures are for you, babe!



Best friends forever!

Love this one!
We saw the tigers (Grandma’s fave)….they were beautiful, but lazy.  It’s exhausting being this magnificent all the time!
These tigers are more kid-friendly…
And of course, our obligatory Gorilla picture. Every time we go to the zoo, we have to take this picture. 
We left before it got too hot or crowded, but we spent at least 3 hours there.  We missed a few exhibits, but we’ll catch them next time.  There’s no such thing as too much Zoo, thank goodness for a family pass!