Cougar Craziness

Thus far the Ballard family has successfully carried out three awesome Cougar parties. We had a big conference for our church this past weekend so our party was set aside, however, with the amazing discovery of DVR we were able to return home spiritually uplifted and still watch our Cougs beat out Virginia. It was awesome! We don't need any parties to cheer on our team, but it's sure been fun to watch the kiddos support their Dad's alma mater with such excitement and gusto.

And They're Off

The kiddos headed back to school last week. We now cover 7th grade, 5th, 3rd, and Kindergarten. Ryley had a great experience with Calvert Online Academy last year and is excited to continue forward with them once again. All three elementary aged kiddos will head back for another year at Honeycutt, with Haley joining to experience kindergarten. It's been a big adjustment with all day school and her first time away from Mom, however, she loves her teacher, friends, and music class. She leaves hesitant, but returns to me running with a huge smile and hug. Azure is not excited to lose her "best play friend". She is slowly accepting me in Haley's place, although she reminds me daily that I do the animal voices all wrong. :) That statement is always followed with the question, "when is Haley home"? I foresee a great year of learning and growth!

                                        

Southern Utah '14

The second part of our trip was enjoyed in the beautiful surroundings of Southern Utah. We cannot get over how incredible the red rocks and mountains are in that area. We played hard there as well, enjoying countless hours in Grandma and Grandpa's pool, a number of fun hikes with awesome cousins, and a great night at the outdoor theater to enjoy The Little Mermaid. Steven and I also got the chance to run a 5k with Kadyn, and Thatcher loved his first sleep over with his "boy cousins". Near our final day in Utah we had the awesome experience of taking Ryley to the temple where she baptized nine of the family names she's found over the past few months. It was the perfect ending to a wonderful few weeks with our family out West.

Northern Utah '14

Our visit out West was wonderful. We left NC with happy, excited kids and returned with happy, tired kids. When we got on the first plane, Azure grabbed my hand and said "hold me tight". By the time we returned she was a seasoned traveler, and instead of asking me to hold her hand she decided to sleep during the 4 1/2 hours home. We experienced other tender mercies along our entire journey as well, including a flight being held for us, a security worker picking us to skip the crazy long line - making it so we didn't miss a different flight, and, ALL of our luggage showed up on time. It was awesome. We first headed for Salt Lake City where we visited with two sisters, one brother, and their cute families full of fun cousins for our kiddos. We played hard everyday and enjoyed some of the best food we've had in a long time, because let's face it, Utah has great food. It was a great start to a great vacation.