The Best Kind of Date.

While I was on a business trip last week I had a few free nights and so I decided to go on some dates.

The best kind of dates. Auntie Dates. I told each of my four (4) nieces and nephews that they could pick one place to eat and one activity. Needless to say, I spend quite a bit of time at Chuck E. Cheese (where a kid AND an adult can be a kid).

Date #1: Ethan

Dinner: McDonalds

Activity: Chuck E. Cheese

E and I decided to hit up McDonald's because they have a wicked playground and a mean sundae. His favorite meal is a happy meal, which made him a happy little man. (He ate 2 nuggets! - Who eats that little!?!) Ethan was a champ! He won a 182 tickets. And, he went on all the rides. (Can we call those quarter things that move about rides?!?). He got some cool prizes, and of course, bought tootsie pops for each of his sisters. Sweet kid! Anyway, I had a lovely evening. Apparently, so did E, because the next night when I went to pick up Livvy, he said that he didn't care what we were doing, he wanted to come!

Date #2: Olivia

Dinner: Chic-Fil-A

Activity: Nail Salon

Livvy is my glamour girl. She loves to do anything that's stylish and girlie. And, I couldn't love that more! She and I got our nails done. She got a lovely flower. I ALMOST got a lovely flower, but not intentionally, I just couldn't understand what I was being asked. I jacked up my pedi right away (but, luckily, Wes is getting me a new one for my birthday! - Whew). Livvy got a peppermint milkshake and loved it. After dinner and the nail salon, we braved the rain and went to the Loft to see if we could find any steals, she helped me find a darling new outfit. I think she's going to have her mother's taste in style!

Date #3: Chloe

Dinner: Chic-Fil-A (These kids LOVE Chic-Fil-A!)

Activity: We TRIED to go to Incredible Pizza, but it had been turned into a buffet or something, so we opted for Chuck E. Cheese.

We ate at Chic-Fil-A, and Chloe decided that she needed to try the peppermint milkshake too. Chloe trumped Ethan's score, and got a 257. We played almost every game in the joint. And, Chloe was a superstar! When she went to buy her prizes a little toddler was crying because he didn't have enough tickets to get the toy he wanted. Chloe bought the toy and spent 60 of her tickets. She's such a sweet little tender hearted sharer. We had a blast!

Date #4: Christian

Dinner: Chic-Fil-A (Christian couldn't stop talking about how he wanted to make Uncle Adam jealous by eating at his favorite restaurant - apparently all the ones in Manhattan are overrated?!?)

Activity: Well....

Christian could not get over how he was eating at Uncle Adam's favorite restaurant. He was also amazed that Adam ate 12 chicken nuggets AND fries AND a chicken sandwich... AND... he got Adam a present (look for it in the mail). Mr. C. kind of got the shaft, we didn't have enough time to go anywhere for an activity, so I took him to CVS (shameful, I know). I told him he could pick out two toys and I'd play with him at home for our activity. He picked out some wax sticks and a glow-n-the-dark something-something. But, he assured me that he would take any additional toys I wanted to buy him, why stop at two? (I also forgot to take many photos... oops).

And the Tooth Fairy is . . . JAKE?!

I just had to post about the package that came in the mail for Ethan while we were traveling last week. In all the hubbub of arriving home over the weekend and then scrambling to get ready for school on Monday, it slipped my mind to give it to him. I finally remembered to have him open it today, and guess what he got? A bag of Blow Pops from his cousin Jacob.

Here's the back story: During our family reunion in July, Ethan lost his first tooth, which was of course super exciting. Jake was really happy for Ethan and, for some reason, decided that he want to buy a whole bag of lollipops for Ethan to commemorate the occasion. (If I recall correctly, he had just seen a bag of lollipops at a convenience store and thought they would make a great gift. You can't argue with that logic.) After we got home from the reunion, Ethan mentioned a few times that Jake had promised to send the lollipops to him, and I told him that probably wouldn't happen because, 1) kids promise things all the time that they then either forget about or can't deliver on, and 2) Jake's parents likely wouldn't want the hassle of mailing a bunch of lollipops, not to mention the fact that they would cost twice as much to send as they would to buy in the first place. Not a big deal, anyway, since Ethan eventually dropped it and moved on.

Well, it turns out that Jake both has a better memory and is far more dependable than the average kid. When Jake gives his word, you can take it to the bank, baby! It also turns out that Jake's mom is both more patient and more willing to support her child's charitable impulses than the average parent. (Okay, fine, I'm talking about me.) Which isn't breaking news, believe me. So I've posted a picture of Ethan with his lollipops and, if you can make it out, the little gap where his two bottom front teeth used to be. (He lost the second one a couple of weeks ago.) The first words out his mouth when he saw what was in the package were, "I knew Jake would keep his promise!"

You've earned Ethan's undying trust, Jake, through the best possible means for earning any kid's trust--candy. Thanks for being such a great cousin. We love you and your sisters so, so much.

First Day of School

Everyone is off to a great start this year. Chloe is in fifth grade with Mrs. Powers and will be learning to play the cello for the school orchestra. Olivia is in third grade with Mrs. Thompson, who Chloe says is strict but Olivia insists is nice while Mom--in her own defense--claims "strict" and "nice" aren't mutually exclusive. Ethan is in his first year at Larson Elementary with the girls, and his teacher is Mrs. Carroll, a dear friend from our ward. She taught both of the girls as well and is a born Kindergarten teacher (meaning, she has the patience of a saint). Ethan loves being at the girls' school, his favorite parts being the cafeteria and the playground. Typical boy! Here are some pictures showing their downcast faces on the first day of school:

Such rejoicing! Like three convicts being let out of prison. I guess that gives you some idea of what our summer was like.

Summer Vacation 2010

Finally, we posted all our pics from our trip to AZ, CO, and UT. Just click on the picture to see them all.

We also have an album on Picasa of the kids' recitals, games, end of the year programs, birthdays, etc.

We miss you all so much...the kids ask every day when we'll see you again. PLEASE come visit!

The Oakley Family Reunion!

18 people. 1 house. 1 family. 11 people violently throwing up.

Stadium of Fire. Park. BBQ at the Marquis. Oakley Rodeo. Alpine Slides. ATV rides in Marion. Kamas Pool.

Oakley Cabin. Fishing in the backyard. Playing in the Creek. Laying in the Hammock. Talent Show. Go Fish Galore. Smores.

Great Vacation!

Thanks Mom and Dad (a.k.a meme and papa). We all had a wonderful time! We can't wait to do it again in 2012!



P.S. Click on the slideshow and you can download and print or order any of the photos.

Double Digits

Hi people! So wasn't that awesome? I mean that was. . .  Wait, maybe I'm getting ahead of myself. This is Chloe, if you hadn't already guessed. As you probably know, my birthday was about 16 days ago. Wow! (Man, it's closer to the actual day than I thought!) Anyway, I'm here to give you kind of, like, the whole agenda. Here we go:

Okay, so the first actually good or exciting thing that happened was we had pancakes. With M&Ms, of course! The next thing was Ali came over! THAT WAS AWESOME!!!!!! She gave me my present (which wasn't wrapped but that was fine because the wrapping doesn't matter). You'll never believe what it was--an Easy Bake Oven! :D So anyway, Ali and her friend Robin came over, and we chatted for a while, and then we went on a drive to Dallas. I got a little carsick (but I didn't throw up which was good because that would've been horrible), but we got there soon enough. Where did we go? To Eatzi's! Yay! So we ate there and went to look at fancy houses (which were very fancy, mind you.) Then we went shoe shopping. UGH! But by the end, I didn't want to leave! But we did, and we went to Razoo's for dinner.  We ate dinner, and we were going to leave, but the people who worked here came over and made me do a couple of humiliating things while they sang "Happy Birthday" to me. (See pictures.) As a reward they gave me a free ice-cream sundae. Yum! After that, we went home and ate cake and sung "Happy Birthday" again. Then I opened my presents. I got a grown-up journal from Daddy, a Littlest Pet Shop car, a Littlest Pet Shop house (with included Littlest Pet Shop animals), American Girl doll clothes, a stencil book, jelly beans, and more. It was great! After that we went night swimming. We turned the pool light on and swam a lot. Then it was time for bed. Yawn! I was SO tired! I went to sleep right away.

Didn't I tell you that was awesome? Anyway, I have to leave so I can't write (or type) anymore, but I will leave you with some pictures. Here, NOW LEAVE ME ALONE! Just kidding. Bye! See ya later!

Recital Time for Olivia

On June 5 I had my dance recital. I was so excited! We do it once every two years in a huge theater called Texas Hall. For the recital I had to wear stage makeup and wear three different costumes, which I loved. I had two rehearsals in Texas Hall in the two days before the recital. They each took about four hours. And all year long we have been practicing in class, two days a week. So it was a lot of hard work to get ready for the recital. I did a tap dance to "All That Jazz," a ballet dance to "Surrey with the Fringe on Top," and a jazz dance to "Ragtime Cowboy Joe" and "Hoedown Throwdown." I did great, and I wasn't nervous at all. After the recital, Mom gave me a beautiful bouquet of pink roses to put in a vase. Here are some pictures from that day:

 

Olivia's Long-Overdue Baptism Post

My baptism was the best day of my life! Later, after the baptism, it started to snow and it was the first day of spring, too. We were eating dinner at Joe's Crab Shack, and I looked out the window and saw snow starting to fall. I was excited that it snowed on my baptism day. Almost everyone in my family came, even Ali and Mo. I wish I could get baptized again!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HALEY!!!

Dear Haley,

I know you turned 9 yesterday.

I just wanted to say Happy Birthday from your Aunt Ali.

I sure do love you.

And, when I see you in July, we'll go to the store and buy you a present.

Hugs and Kisses.

Love, Aunt Ali

Good Times . . . Good Times

Now it's my turn. It's Ethan, everyone! We went on a lot of rides at Disney World and Animal Kingdom. One of my favorite rides was Space Mountain. But there was a roller coaster at Animal Kingdom called Mount Everest, and it was too scary. I loved seeing Jake's face when he got off that ride. It was great having sleepovers with Jake in our condo. He's so funny. And Papa let me ride on his shoulders all the time so my feet didn't get too tired. He's the best Papa in the whole entire universe for taking us on this fun trip.

Mick- Mick- Hooray!!!

Hi, peoples! It's me, Chloe, the best person ever! LOL Anyway, this blog post isn't just about me, (surprisingly), it's about the place we just flew on a plane to. Hint: This is about Disney World! Now, let me tell you a few of my favorite things about it. First of all, I went with the some of the best people in the whole world: Adam, Julie, Haley, Jake, Izzy, Sadie, Meme, Papa, and of course, Mommy, Olivia, and Ethan. That's 12 people! Next are the rides. They were awesome! My favorite land was Fantasy Land. Some of the rides I really loved were It's a Small World, Snow White's Scary Adventures, and Peter Pan's Flight. I also loved going to Animal Kingdom, where we went on a safari and a nature walk. Finally, here are some of my favorite pictures from Disney World and Animal Kingdom. See ya later, alligators!