4th grade begins!

On Monday Mckenzie started the 4th grade. She was super excited. She woke us up at 5:30 asking if it was time to get up and around. This year is her last year at the elementary school. Bittersweet! She is becoming such a great, smart, young lady. She hopes to be on the yearbook staff, ambassador, and the kindergarten monitor. She loves school sooooo much and it makes it easy for us, but Jimmy and I often look at each other and wander where she gets it from... It's a mystery!

No more little kid back packs. This was an adult one. :(

She is too cute and too big! Can someone please slow time down?!

Working in Vegas

In the last few months, we have updated our office with new equipment and software. This has def taken a toll on our minds. It will make things run so much more efficiently and smoother, but our brains are overloaded with information. We had recently taken a trip to Vegas for conferences to help us with our newest toys and to teach us more. We had a BIG time. Big thanks to Dr. Walt and Sudie for making it a once in a lifetime experience.

The pic of Mckenzie and I was right before I left. She was all smiles until I dropped her off. Her and Jimmy had a great weekend without me. It was definitely some much needed daddy/daughter quality time.

The pic of my mom and I is at Caesar's Palace. We were doing a little shopping before we headed off to dinner.

Revamping the Fortin Community Pool

Over 20 years ago, we had to sacrifice a trip to see all of our relatives in the Northeast for a family pool. We have definitely put in several hours of work and play here. Every summer we have to work to earn our right to swim. :)

Over the years we have brought trampolines, little kiddie slides, and etc. to spice up the pool. They never last long. This year the grandkids convinced Nan to buy a "bouncier" diving board or a big slide. It doesn't ever take much to convince them, because those girls do not give up, especially Mckenzie. She is usually the master mind to all of the projects and gets the other kids on board. It's pretty funny, but man are we in trouble. Needless to say the boys were working on one of Mckenzie and Ayla's ideas this past weekend. This should be ready to enjoy this weekend.

Nan has already made a list of rules for the slide and I am sure that it will get even longer. One of the rules is "kids only." Well, I am kid. Her kid to be exact. So I will be going down head first. :)

Many memories/injuries to come!

A day at the lake

This year I convinced my husband that we needed a boat. It didn't take much, but once we had convinced another couple to go in "halfsies" with us, the search was on. It has been so much fun. I am not one to swim in water that I cannot see below me, but I love it. Except the creatures, I will never love the creatures. And I am not the only one that is obsessed. We cannot get Mckenzie off of the tube. She will try anything, which I love, but she scares me. The other couple that we go with most of the time, Josh and Chelsea, are just like Jimmy and I, (very laid back and love life to the fullest). Josh is quite the daredevil too. If you tell him that he is scared to do something or dare him to do it, he does it. Since Mckenzie is not scared of anything, he usually drags her into it too. They usually tube together, because they like to go the fastest and hit all of the bumps. This trip, they decided to jump off bluffs.

This makes for one nervous "mum." She loved it! I am sure next time we go there will be much bigger bluffs with for bigger thrills.

Bathroom Renovation

First of all, I want to say how blessed we are. We are so lucky to have our health, each other, great friends, and all of the opportunities that we get to do in our spare time. Many people we know, and close friends aren't as lucky. So with that being said this is what we have been up to. :)

We have lived in our house for 7 years now. We have done a few minor repairs around the house, but have never dared to venture into anything major... Until now! We have looked over our outdated bathroom for let's say... 7 years! It had the 1970's tile everywhere, bathtubs, walls, and sinks. We started this project a few weeks ago, in a spur of the moment deal. When I say we, I mean me. When I get something on my mind, I am ready to do it then. So I started the demolition 2 days before Jimmy was set to go out of town for a few weeks. Smart me, huh? I didn't care. I wanted to do it. I wish I had taken a before pic, but I forgot to. Here are some pics of the progress. We are in no means, close to being finished but it is getting close. Since our house was built in the early 1970's we had no electrical outlets in the bathroom. So my handy husband and pops installed them. This is what I am most excited for. :)

We got a ways to go, but until we are finished, you will keep getting photo updates!

1/2 Birthday

This weekend we celebrated Mckenzie's 9 1/2 birthday. It was a luau theme, poolside. Every year we have such a hard time deciding what we are going to do for her birthday party, but she gets so discouraged because it is in December and so close to Christmas it is hard to plan something. So half birthdays we get to do something more fun. Not a lot of money or time is spent putting it together but we always have fun celebrating it. 

This tradition started shortly after Jimmy and I had gotten married. Mckenzie was pouting that her cousins always got to have "cool" birthday parties, whether they were at the park, pool parties, or just somewhere that we didn't have to worry about the weather affecting the outcome of her party. Then my mom told her that we should celebrate half birthdays. Her face lit up. We explained that there wouldn't be presents, just a party. She didn't care, she loved the idea. After the party, we were determined that she would forget, of coarse she would. She was 3 1/2. Man were we wrong! The next year rolled around and a month before she started asking about it.

This year we invited a couple of our friends and family and had a small cookout. Partnered with half of a cake, we were bound to have a great time.

Also, we have been practicing tricks on the trampoline. We have mastered the flip! Any suggestions on what to try next?